Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles

363 Pages·1993·7.84 MB·Real Language

by  James Milroy, Lesley Milroy

Real English
Real Language Series
General Editors
Jennifer Coates, Roehampton Institute, London,
Jenny Cheshire, Universities of Fribourg and Neuchätel,
and
Euan Reid, Institute of Education, University of London
Titles published in the series:
David Lee Competing Discourses: Perspective and
Ideology in Language
Norman Fairclough (Editor) Critical Language Awareness
James Milroy and Lesley Milroy (Editors)
Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles
Real English
The Grammar of English Dialects
in the British Isles
Editors: fames Milroy and
Lesley Milroy
First published 1993 by Longman Group Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-08176-5 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Real English: the grammar of English dialects in thc British Isles/editors,
James Milroy and Lesley Milroy.
p. cm. - (Real language series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-08177-7 (CSD). - ISBN 0-582-08176-9 (PPR)
1. English language-Dialects-Great Britain-Grammar.
2. Great Britain-Popular cuhure. I. Milroy, James. 11. Milroy,
Lesley. 111. Series.
PE1711.R41993
427-dc20 92-42775
CIP
Set in 10112pt Sabon
Contents
Contributors lX
Editors' preface Xl
Acknowledgements XVl
Part I: Dialect in Education
1 Syntactic variation in non-standard
dialects: background issues 3
fenny Cheshire and fim Milroy
1.1 The process of language standardization 3
1.2 Written standard English and literacy 7
1.3 The historical development of standard English 9
1.4 Social and regional variation in British English
today 11
1.5 Attitudes towards regional varieties of English 14
1.6 The social significance of regional syntactic forms 17
1.7 The rule-governed nature of variation 18
1.8 Peer group pressures on language 20
1.9 Language development in older children 21
1.10 Writing 22
1.11 Linguistic assessment 24
1.12 Education 25
1.13 Concluding remarks 31
References 32
2 Sociolinguistics in the c1assroom:
exploring Iinguistic diversity 34
fenny Cheshire and Viv Edwards
2.1 Introduction 34
VI REAL ENGL/SH
2.2 The survey of British dialect grammar 35
2.3 Reactions to linguistic diversity 38
2.4 Resources for diversity 46
2.5 Research in the Iocal community 47
2.6 Conclusion 49
References 50
3 Non-standard English and dialect levelling 53
jenny Cheshire, Viv Edwards and Pamela Whittle
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 The Survey of British Dialect Grammar 54
3.3 The questionnaire 57
3.4 Regions included in the Survey 59
3.5 Shared morphological and syntactic features of
British urban dialects 63
3.6 Conclusion 82
Notes 83
References 84
Appendix 3.1: Questionnaire used in the Survey 87
Appendix 3.2: Regions represented in the Survey 96
Part 11: Regional variation in English grammar:
case studies
4 The grammar of Scottish English 99
jirn Miller
4.1 Introduction: Scottish English 99
4.2 Morphology 106
4.3 Syntax 109
4.4 Organization of discourse 132
4.5 Conclusion 137
Note 137
References 138
5 The grammar of Irish English 139
john Harris
5.1 Introduction 139
5.2 The noun phrase 143
5.3 The verb group 151
CONTENTS vii
5.4 The expression of time 159
5.5 Complex senten ces 164
5.6 Negation 168
5.7 Prepositional usage 171
5.8 Discourse devices 173
5.9 Conclusion 177
Notes 182
Further reading 183
References 184
6 Tbe grammar of Tyneside and Northumbrian
English 187
Joan Beal
6.1 Introduction 187
6.2 The grammar of Tyneside and Northumbrian
English 191
6.3 The verb phrase 192
6.4 Interrogative tags 201
6.5 Interrogatives 204
6.6 The noun phrase 205
6.7 Sentence-final elements 210
6.8 Prepositions 211
6.9 Conclusion 212
References 212
7 Tbe grammar of Southern British English 214
Viv Edwards
7.1 Dialect grammar and South-eastern English
dialects 214
7.2 South-eastern English grammar 219
7.3 Negation 226
7.4 Relative pronouns 228
7.5 Personal and reflexive pronouns 229
7.6 Adjectives and adverbs 231
7.7 Demonstratives 232
7.8 Verb particles and prepositions 233
7.9 Nouns of measurement 234
7.10 Conclusion 234
VIII REAL ENGLISH
Note 234
Appendix to Chapter 7 236
Referenees and Further Reading 238
Appendix to Part 11: Glossary of grammatical terms 239
firn Miller (with additions by firn Milroy)
Part III: Resourees
8 A direetory of English dialeet resourees: the
English eounties 245
Viv Edwards
8.1 Introduetion 245
8.2 English dialects 248
8.3 The Northern Counties and the Isle of Man 254
8.4 The West Midlands Counties 291
8.5 The East Midland Counties and East Anglia 306
8.6 The Southern Counties 317
Index to Parts land 11 341
Contributors
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Joan Beal is a lecturer in English Language at the University of
Newcastle upon Tyne where she teaches courses on Dialectology,
Historical Linguistics and the History of English. She has published
several articles on the History of English and on T yneside English.
She is currently carrying out a study of Thomas Spence's Grand
Repository of the English Language, the first phonetic dictionary
of English, which was published in Newcastle in 1775.
Jenny Cheshire is Professor of English Linguistics at the University
of Fribourg and the University of Neuchätel, Switzerland. She
is the author of Variation in an English Dialect (1982) and
co-author of Describing Language (1987; 2nd ed. 1992) as weil
as other books and articles on sociolinguistics, English language
and dialect and education. She recently edited English around
the world: sociolinguistic perspectives (CUP, 1991) and is co-editor
of the Longman Real Language series.
Viv Eclwarcls is currently Director of the Reading and Language
Information Centre at the University of Reading. Her main research
interests are in language and education. Recent publications include
Multilingualism in the British Isles (co-edited with Safder Alladina,
Longman, 1990), Oral cultures past and present (co-authored with
T. J. Senkiewicz, Blackwell, 1990) and The world in a classroom
(co-authored with Angela Redfern, Multilingual Matters, 1992).
She co-edits Language and Education: an International Journal.
John Harri!> is currently Reader in Linguistics, University College
London. His publications include Phonological variation and