| Mackem | |
|---|---|
| Wearside English, Sunderland English | |
| Native to | England |
| Region | Wearside |
| Ethnicity | English |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Mackem,Makem orMak'em is anickname for residents of and people fromSunderland, a city inNorth East England. It is also a name for the local dialect and accent (not to be confused withGeordie); and for a fan, of whatever origin, ofSunderland A.F.C. It has been used by some people from Sunderland to describe themselves since the 1980s, prior to which it was mainly used inTyneside as a disparagingexonym.[1] An alternative name for a Mackem (except in the sense of a football supporter) is aWearsider.
According to theBritish Library, "Locals insist there are significant differences between Geordie [spoken in Newcastle upon Tyne] and several other local dialects, such asPitmatic and Mackem. Pitmatic is the dialect of the former mining areas in County Durham and around Ashington to the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, while Mackem is used locally to refer to the dialect of the city of Sunderland and the surrounding urban area of Wearside."[2]
There is much debate about the origin of the word Mackem, although it has been argued that it may stem from the phrase "Mak ‘em and Tak’em" - with Mak’em being the local pronunciation of "make them" and Tak’em from "take them".[3][4]
According to the current entry in theOxford English Dictionary, the earliest occurrence of the word Mackem or Mak’em in print was in 1988.[5] However, as evidenced by the attached news articles, the word Mak’em (or Mackem) has been much in evidence for a great many years prior to 1988. Indeed, one of the articles attached dates to 1929.
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It has been argued that the expressions date back to the height of Sunderland's shipbuilding history, as the shipwrights wouldmake the ships, then themaritime pilots andtugboat captains wouldtake them down the River Wear to the sea – the shipyards and port authority being the most conspicuous employers in Sunderland. A variant explanation is that the builders at Sunderland would build the ships, which would then go to Tyneside to be outfitted, hence from the standpoint of someone from Sunderland, "we make 'em an' they take 'em" – however, this account is disputed (and, indeed, as an earlier form of the name was Mac n' Tac, it seems unlikely).[6] Another explanation is that ships were both built and repaired (i.e. "taken in for repairs") on the Wear.[1]
Evidence suggests the term is a recent coinage. According to theOxford English Dictionary,[7] the earliest occurrence of it in print was in 1988.[8] The phrase "we still tak'em and mak'em" was found in a sporting context in 1973 in reference to Sunderland Cricket & Rugby Football Club.[8] While this lends support to the theory that this phrase was the origin of the term "Mak'em", there is nothing to suggest that "mak'em" had come to be applied to people from Sunderland generally at such a date. The name "Mak'em" may refer to the Wearside shipyard workers, who duringWorld War II were brought into shipbuilding and regarded as taking work away from theGeordies onTyneside.[9]
There has been very little academic work done on the Sunderland dialect. It was a site in the early research byAlexander John Ellis, who also recorded a local song calledSpottee.[10] Ellis regarded Sunderland as speaking a variant of the North Durham dialect, which it shared with much of theDurham Coalfield. He considered Sunderland to be situated near a dialectal boundary. The nearby village ofRyhope and a narrow coastal strip running south, which at the time had not yet been incorporated into the coalfield, were placed within the South Durham dialectal region. This region also included the dialects ofWeardale andTeesdale.[10] Ellis also noted the influence on Sunderland speech from migrants to the area from Ireland and Scotland.[11]
Come all ye good people and listen to me,
And a comical tale I will tell unto ye,
Belanging yon Spottee that lived on the Law Quay,
That had nowther house nor harbour he.
The poor auld wives o’ the north side disn’t knaw what for te de,
For they dare not come to see their husbands when they come to the Quay;
They’re feared o’ their sel’s, and their infants, tee,
For this roguish fellow they call Spottee.
But now he’s gane away unto the sea-side,
Where mony a ane wishes he may be weshed away wi’ the tide,
For if Floutter’s flood come, as it us’d for te de,It will drive his heart out then where will his midred be?
— An excerpt of the song Spottee fromThe Bishoprick Garland. The song includes features considered archaic in the modern dialect.
In theSurvey of English Dialects, the nearby town ofWashington was surveyed. The researcher of the site,Stanley Ellis, later worked with police on analysing the speech in a tape sent to the police during theYorkshire Ripper investigation, which became known as theWearside Jack tape because the police switched their investigation to Wearside after Ellis's analysis of the tape.[12]
To people outside the region, the differences between Mackem and Geordie dialects often seem marginal, but there are many notable differences.[13] A perceptual dialect study by theUniversity of Sunderland found that locals of the region consider Geordie and Mackem to be separate dialects and identify numerous lexical, grammatical, and phonetic differences between the two.[14] In fact, Mackem is considered to be more closely related to Durham dialects than to those of Tyneside.[15] There are even a small but noticeable differences in pronunciation and grammar between the dialects of North and South Sunderland (for example, the wordsomething in North Sunderland is oftensummik whereas a South Sunderland speaker may often prefersummat and people from the surrounding areas prefersummit).[citation needed]
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Unlike some Northern English varieties the definite article is never reduced. As in Scots and other Northumbrian dialects the definite article is used in a wider range of contexts than in standard English, including kinship terms, names of institutions, temporal expressions, illnesses, and even numbers.[15]
The indefinite article is used withone in certain contexts.
Modalscan andwill as well as the verbde (do) have uncontracted negative forms.[15]
| Word | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| do | de | dinnet |
| will | will | winnet |
| can | can | cannet |
The use ofdinnet contrasts with Geordiedivvent.
| Standard English | Mackem |
|---|---|
| I, me, myself, mine, my | I, is, mesel, mine, me[15] |
| we, us, ourselves, ours, our | we, us, oursels, our |
| you (singular), you (plural), yourself, yours, your | ye, youse, yoursel/yersel, your/yer |
| they, them, themselves, theirs, their | they, them, themsels/theirsels, theirs, their |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
