The Pocket Yorkshire English

A handy beginner's guide to 'how to speak Yorkshire'.

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The dialects of English still spoken in Yorkshire, known collectively as Broad Yorkshire, Tyke or Yorkie, are both colourful and instantly recognisable. In this pocket-sized guide, you'll find everything you need to give Sean Bean or Jodie Whittaker a run for their money.


First, you have to drop your Hs, from 'has' and 'her' for example - 'as and 'er. Then, the Ts need to go, from 'that' and 'cat' for example, to be replaced with a slight H sound, the so-called glottal stop - tha' and ca' - while 'the' becomes simply t'. A famous example (which no one ever actually says) is 't'in't in't tin, meaning 'it isn't in the tin'. In a similar way 'with' becomes 'wi'. Accents may differ throughout the Dales, but Ts and Hs are dropped throughout Yorkshire. 


And don't bother with the G in any -ing ending. Gs at the end of words count for nothin'. The 'ay' sound in a word, like 'day', becomes 'ee', as do some i sounds - 'right', for example, becomes 'reet'. So, in Yorkshire, you might say, 'I'm 'avin' a reet grand dee!'


Never say 'our'; you say 'us' - Wot's f'r us tea, Mutha? Yorkshire's a friendly place - anyone you meet could be 'love', 'pal' or 'fella'.


And do speak to everyone - you're not in London! So, don't be taken aback if someone hails you with 'Mornin', pet, reet grand day, i'n'it?'


Yorkshire is the birthplace of what is now the international language of modern English. The dialects have featured in the work of the Brontes, who were born and lived in Yorkshire, famously in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, also in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, among other classic works.

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