beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4624 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian
| Message 1 of 10 14 February 2013 at 1:58pm | IP Logged |
The Yorkshire dialect of English has a curious habit of omitting articles. Not just in stereotypical phrases such
as "I'll put kettle on" but frequently in everyday speech.
I was waiting on bus.....
I gave driver ten pound note...
Found seat up the back.
Where does this practice originate from? Not using articles is something I associate more with Slavic
languages, not Germanic ones.
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Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian*
| Message 2 of 10 14 February 2013 at 2:06pm | IP Logged |
Germanic languages did not originally have articles either. In Old English articles only
started to appear (to become obligatory).
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PinkCordelia Diglot Newbie Wales Joined 4813 days ago 31 posts - 77 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Welsh
| Message 3 of 10 14 February 2013 at 4:34pm | IP Logged |
I lived in Yorkshire for 15 years although a native of London. To me it often sounded as
though the article was severely shortened rather than missing. For example, 'I was ont
bus'.
Obviously, it's easier to stick that /t/ onto the end of some words than others and the
example I've given is one where it would be clearly distinguished. I also heard older
colleagues shorten 'the' to just the consonant sound (if that's possible) but sound it as
a distinct word/syllable rather than a modification of the preceding word/syllable. E.g.
'I used to work down tuh pit.' (No stereotypes here then.)
However what conclusion you might draw from that I've no idea.
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stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5834 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin
| Message 4 of 10 14 February 2013 at 5:26pm | IP Logged |
I agree with PinkCordelia, the definite article is shortened, not omitted.
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wber Groupie United States Joined 4303 days ago 45 posts - 77 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Vietnamese, French
| Message 5 of 10 15 February 2013 at 12:39am | IP Logged |
I also agree with PinkCordelia. There might an odd expression or two that doesn't use articles but they're the exception. For some words, we slur the article. Other times, the /t/ by itself feels out of place, so it becomes a mix of t and d. And then there are those times we copy the French with the liaison. This is more often with indefinite articles though.
Ex. He is going to store (here, "store" would be a verb as in to store)
He is going to the store ( here, with the definite article, "store" is now a noun)
Articles can change the entire meaning of what you want to say.
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dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4667 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese
| Message 6 of 10 15 February 2013 at 11:59am | IP Logged |
This just turned up (from an unrelated source) in my inbox:
Quote:
A Yorkshireman's dog dies and as it was a favourite pet he decides to have a gold
statue made by a jeweller to remember the dog by.
Yorkshireman: "Can tha mek us a gold statue of yon dog?"
Jeweller: "Do you want it 18 carat?"
Yorkshireman: "No I want it chewin' a bone yer daft bugger!"
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and
Quote:
A Yorkshire man takes his cat to the vet.
Yorkshireman: "Ayup, lad, I need to talk to thee about me cat."
Vet: "Is it a tom?"
Yorkshireman: "Nay, I've browt it wi us. It's in bag on flooer"
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stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5834 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin
| Message 7 of 10 15 February 2013 at 1:42pm | IP Logged |
Those are great dampingwire.
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dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4667 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese
| Message 8 of 10 15 February 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
Having butted in, I think I should contribute something more substantial.
Yorkshire DIalect Society: http://www.yorkshiredialectsociety.org.uk/.
Some real "Yorkshire" from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScELaXMCVis.
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