Understandin’ Yorkshire Dialect, Ci Thi
If tha ‘appen to be visitin’ Leeds, or any other bita Yorkshire, one of first things that tha’d notice when tha stepped out onto’ street is accent ‘n’ dialect ov place.
Ovver past fifty year, the accent as bin enjoyed in buks, tele and adverts. One a reasons that people like it is because its used in’ media industry to highlight a sense of care ‘n’ trust.
Tetley Tea ‘n’ ‘ovis for example, often use ar accent for adverts and on’t radio; it’s even in Last a’ Summer wine!
If tha were to ‘ear this though, without ever visitin’, tha’d be forgiven for thinkin’ that in Yorkshire, there’s only one way of speakin’.
Truth is, that throughart ‘ere, there’s lots.
For example, in Dee Dar Land, people tend to use the letter ‘dee’ in their words. To add to this, people also bend their words. For example, the word ther would often sound like deer.
If tha went up motorway for ten minutes, to Kesland, this would sound a bit different. More like, thier.
Though southerners dunt often come to Leeds, you can hear loads a’ noises int city.
What else can tha get stuck wi?
Nowt
Though wiv shortened this word darn a lot, people outside a’ borders often like to lengthen it to ‘nothing’. Though we dunt mind, ar way is a bit easier.
Mate
Outsida Yorkshire, people often enjoy sayin’ ‘friend’. Though we often say ‘eigh up’, I dart thad ever ‘ear a Yorkshireman say ‘ello friend’. Strange.
Reight
Reight then, thing is, this word means lots a’ things, but its often pronounced on the outside as ‘right’ which sarnds a bit like ‘flight’.
Ginnel
Dunt bother explainin’ what this really means, it’ll only confuse poor lads.
What’s tha got wrong?
Though that Oxford lad from 1984 said that we dropped the ‘h’ in us words, we ‘av to say, he were pretty reight.
Sometimes though, we do say ‘t’, but it int often.
It’s mostly due tho, cos French invaded years ago and killed most of the North. He left just enuff mind, for us to keep ar accent and dialect that we got from ar ancestors, across water.
Though Southern folk often find it confusin’, dunt worry, we’ll ‘elp yer along. It’s not your fault.
