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| Black Country dialect | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United Kingdom |
| Region | Black Country |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheBlack Country dialect is spoken by many people in theBlack Country, a region covering most of the fourMetropolitan Boroughs ofDudley,Sandwell,Walsall andWolverhampton.[1] The traditional dialect preserves many archaic traits ofEarly Modern English and evenMiddle English[2] and may be unintelligible for outsiders. This dialect is distinct from and maintains more traditional characteristics thanthe dialect ofBirmingham, which has been more influenced by standard English due to having been urban for a longer time. It has also influenced the accents of the towns and villages in the counties to the north, south and west of the region.
In general, the Black Country dialect has resisted many of the changes fromMiddle English that are seen in other dialects ofBritish English, resembling particularlyNorthern English andWest Country English.
The generalintonation exhibits notable similarities to that of theWest Country dialects, characterised by a distinctive undulating contour. However, this contrasts with the Brummie dialect, where intonation is generally monotonous, often descending in tone towards the end of sentences.[citation needed]
Pronounsthee,thy andthou are still in use, as is the case in parts ofDerbyshire,Yorkshire andLancashire. "'Ow B'ist," meaning "How are you?" is a greeting contracted from "How be-est thou?" with the typical answer being "'Bay too bah," ("I be not too bad"), meaning "I am not too bad." "I haven't seen her" becomes "I ay sid 'er." Black Country dialect often uses "ar" where other parts of England use "yes" (this is common as far away as Yorkshire). Similarly, the local version of "you" is pronounced/joʊ/, rhyming with "so."
Among older speakers,ye is used foryou, as it is in most northern parts of England and Scotland. It is also common for older speakers to say "Her" instead of "She" ("'Er day did 'ah?", meaning "She didn't did she?"). The local pronunciation "goo" (elsewhere "go") or "gewin'" is similar to that elsewhere in the Midlands. It is quite common for broad Black Country speakers to say "agooin'" where others say "going". This is found in the greeting "Ow b'ist gooin?" (“How are you, How’s it going?”), to which a typical response would be "Bostin ah kid" ("Very well our kid"). Although the term yam yam may come from ya'm (you am),[9] ya/ye is an archaic form of you and in many areas ye (pronounced like yea or ya) is used: "Owamya aer kid? — Ar ah'm owkay ta."
The neighbouring city ofBirmingham may be called "Brum-a-jum" (Birmingham's colloquial name isBrummagem, a corruption of its older name of Bromwicham[10][citation needed] and hence West Bromwich) or Birminam (missing the "g" and "h" out and saying it the way it is spelt). Natives of Birmingham (Brummies) meanwhile often refer to their Black Country neighbours as "Yam Yams", a reference to the use of "yow am" instead of "you are". However its unlikely yam yam comes from yow'm, as the sound is totally different; it's more likely fromye (archaic form ofyou), as in yer'm, which when said quickly sounds likeyam, as in "yam gooin daft" "you're going silly", or "don't be so stupid" in translation. How many still say this ye'm form is unknown. "Ye" foryou sounds different from "ya" (which is spoken with aschwa vowel), which also meansyou. "Yo" can also be used in the same sentence as "ye/ya" e.g. "Yo ay gooin agen am ya?" Some areas also use "yo'me" and "yow'm", depending on location and local dialect, and phrases as with Birmingham can differ from area to area, so there is dialect variation across the Black Country without differing in the basic Black Country words. Quick speech and blended words as in "shutyarow up" (shut your row up, meaning be quiet) can seem hard to understand and can even sound like "shutchowrow up". The blendings are to be thought of as products of Black Country pronunciation, not separate dialectal words.
A road sign containing local dialect was placed at theA461/A459/A4037 junction in 1997 before the construction of a traffic island on the site. The sign read,If yowm saft enuff ter cum dahn 'ere agooin wum, yowr tay ull be spile't!!, which means,[11] "If you're soft (stupid) enough to come down here on your way home, yourtea will be spoilt".[12][13]
In 2008, an internet videoThe Black Country Alphabet, described the whole alphabet in Black Country dialect, boosting the dialect's perception.[14][15]
TheSurvey of English Dialects recorded several traditional dialects from in and around the Black Country, which can be heard on theBritish Library Sound Archive website.
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