Thursday 6 August 2009

Local accents

About a year ago I did a first level teacher training course and as part of it each 'student' had to do a short teaching session. The course was run in a college in Cornwall but most of the people on the course worked for the college but ultimately many came from other parts of the country, including Devon and counties further afield. One of the students did a session on 'How to speak proper' and by that he meant how to speak with a Devon accent and in Devon dialect. It was great, mostly because he got us incomers to practice using role plays and some folks hadn't got a clue what they were saying.

It is true to say that the Devon and Cornwall accents and dialects are still strong (especially in the rural and agricultural areas). We know several locals some of whom speak with such a broad accent it is very difficult to understand them (no idea if they understand us either!). Some locals though have very slight accents and I know a Cornish lady who I would have said was an incomer her accent is so slight.

I often think that I am a bit of an accent magpie in that wherever I go I pick up accents quite quickly, even so at the North Devon Show this week I was talking to a couple who had come to our stand (and were incomers like us) and they picked up straight away that I was 'not from round here'. I wonder if I went back home if friends would think I had picked up a burr.

I do think that local accents are so important and it saddens me sometimes when I talk to local friend's children who seem to have lost the accent altogether. I suppose it is because of the TV and radio where regional accents seem to have disappeared to be replaced by home counties or just a 'non' accent. I do hope that these beautiful voices aren't lost forever in the great melting pot that our country has become. I would have liked to have thought that if we had children that they would have picked up a local accent from school, but that just doesn't seem to happen anymore judging from children I know round here.

A few examples of local place names as they would be said by local people and confused the life out of us when we first came down here.

Launceston - Lanson
Holsworthy - Olsery
Bude - Boode

Here's to local accents, dialects and languages, lets hope we can keep this valuable and beautiful heritage going.

2 comments:

Pattypan said...

Hello Lotti

Dialects are a very rich part of our folk custom and I would think it would have been interesting to learn a few local customs. My Dad was born in Lincolnshire and had quite a broad village accent until he went to Grammar school where they made him speak "properly" but he could lapse into local dialect very quickly. Same as his father was a Cotney. Pop had no accent but every so often would drop into the rhyming slang then you realised where he was from.

There are a couple of villages about 20 to 30 miles up the road from Peterborough whose names are not pronounced as spelt. The first one is Aslackby pronounced Azleby and Folkingam pronounced "Fockingham". And Horncastle is pronounced Hornsell by the locals.

I love your little snippets of life down in the West Country - its one of my favourite parts of the country.

Take care

Tricia aka pattypan


By the way you have been tagged for more information see my blog at http://www.tarragonnthyme.blogspot

Lotti said...

Hi Tricia

There are some great accents up your way and some wonderful place names.

Glad you enjoy the blog, haven't had a look at yours for a while but will do.

BW Lotti