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Transactions of the Cumberland Association for the Advancement of Literature and Science
Vol. I, 1875-6 Keswick
As the Cumbrian is only one among a great number of dialects which are spoken in Britain, each of which differs more or less from the other in pronunciation and idiom, it perhaps may not be out of place, by way of introduction to the subject under consideration, to glance at the probable origin of the dialects in past times, and the causes of the slow but gradual disuse which they seem destined to fail into in the future.
No one who has thought at all on the subject can fail to see that the origin of so many different modes of speech in this country has been principally owing to the absence of a written language, and, in a less degree, to the imperfect means of communication which existed in primitive times between one district rind another. It is little more than four hundred years since printing was first introduced into England, and although there might be printed books a few years sooner, and manuscripts some centuries earlier still, these, besides many of them being in Latin, were so extremely scarce and inaccessible that there could not be said to be any written language available to the common people, among whom the dialects originated, until towards the end of the fifteenth century. Now, it is supposed that the first inhabitants of Britain were Celts, who crossed over from Denmark about five or six centuries before the Christian era; and, assuming this to be correct, there was a period of more than two thousand years during which the people of this island had no written language, and consequently no fixed standard of speech-a fact which is of itself quite sufficient to account for all the variations and irregularities which have prevailed.
Setting out with the assumption (which is by no means certain) that the first settlers all spoke the same language, or dialect, which would of course be Celtic, we can easily imagine how, in the course of time, when the coast where they had first established themselves became overpopulated, parties would wander off from the main body, and go in search of other favourable situations, where they would build their huts and form separate communities; how in these new settlements any word which by chance got a different pronunciation, or any new phrase or idiom started by one, would be imitated by the rest, learned by the children, and so perpetuated; how other words and phrases would follow, and other colonies branch off to other parts of the island. And when we reflect that Britain was then a vast wilderness, without roads or means of communication between the different settlements, we can easily understand that in the course of ages every district would have a community in a great measure isolated from the rest, with a dialect of its own. How these dialects were acted upon and modified in after ages by successive incursions of new comers from different parts of Europe is a subject beyond the range of this paper. No doubt many of them were almost entirely changed in their character, but that they were never totally obliterated is evidenced by the numerous Celtic words and roots which still remain in all of them. We may, however, observe that the dialects would not all be acted upon in all equal degree. For instance, in the southern parts of the island, where the German intruders were most numerous and longest established, the Anglo-Saxon would become the dominant tongue. In the Northern parts the Danish and Scandinavian elements would prevail; while in the more inaccessible districts such as North Wales, the Celtic would remain almost unchanged.
As, therefore, there can be little doubt but that the great diversity of speech in this country arose, as has just been stated, from the absence of a written language, and the imperfect means of communication which formerly existed between one district and another, it would seem to follow as a natural sequence, that, these wants having been supplied, the dialects would quickly die out. How is it, then, it may be asked, that many of them and notably the Cumbrian, are nearly as vigorous as ever? In replying to this question, and taking the Cumberland as the dialect with which we are best acquainted, we may observe that though books, periodicals, and newspapers, are now so plentiful and cheap as to be easily obtained by every one, arid although the means of travelling and postal communication have become almost perfect, the people who speak the dialect in the rural parts of the country have hitherto as a rule, neither read, written, nor travelled. There is, however, a marked change taking place in this respect. Newspapers and books are becoming far more common in country houses; and it is probable that as our dream of general education becomes gradually realized, old prejudices will be given ill), old habits laid aside, and at some future time the rural inhabitants of Cumber- land may perhaps, converse together in the ordinary Queen's English. The intention of this paper, however, is rather to treat of the dialect as we find it, than to inquire into the changes it has undergone, or to speculate upon the length of time which may elapse before it is entirely laid aside. It will therefore be limited in a great measure to the two questions-"Where is the dialect spoken at the present time?" and "What are its chief distinctive characteristics ?"
To the first question, " Where is the dialect spoken at present ? " we may answer : It is spoken under one form or another over all the agricultural and pastoral districts of Cumberland, and by the common people in the towns as well, but only in its pure state towards the middle of the county, being mixed with other dialects around the outsides. This may be accounted for in the following manner. In former times, when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms, and almost constantly at war with each other, there was a strip of land, a few miles in breadth, stretching from Berwick, on the German Ocean, to the Solway Firth, which was called the debateable ground, being a sort of overlap of the boundary; and this land was claimed by both nations, but could not properly be said to belong to either. Now, something similar to this happens, wherever two districts meet in which different dialects are spoken. There is a sort of overlap, where the words and phrases have become so blended and intermixed, that the folk speech cannot be said to belong exclusively to either district. Hence, in that part of Cumberland bordering on Scotland, from the Cheviot Hills on the east, to Silloth on the west, the dialect is half Scottish. In the higher part of the dales, such as Borrowdale and Wythburn, which run up to the southern boundary of the county, it is mixed with that of Westmorland. In the east, towards Crossfell, it has many Northumbrian words; while in the west, of late years, since the iron manufacture has become so much developed, the Cumbrian, Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and other dialects, have become in some instances rather awkwardly jumbled together. It is, therefore, only in the central part of the county that the Cumberland dialect is spoken in its purity; and this central part may be defined as a tract of country surrounding the Skiddaw and Blencathra range of mountains, and ex- tending about fifteen miles east and west from their base, and some five or six north and south.
To those persons who have always looked upon the dialect as something exceedingly vulgar and outlandish, it will no doubt appear paradoxical when we refer to its being spoken in its purity. It will therefore be as well to observe here that there is nothing necessarily vulgar about it. One may be vulgar either with or without it. There are some people excessively vulgar who do not speak the dialect, while there are others who use no other form of speech who have not a particle of vulgarity about them. They make quite as great a mistake who think that all dialect words are corruptions, or wrong pronunciations of ordinary English. On the contrary, there can be little doubt but that a great many words now used in standard books, were formerly so used exactly in the form in which we now find them in the dialect, but have since been modified and altered to suit our modern ideas of speech. In proof of this, if we look into the writings of some old authors-books which, no doubt, were standard works at the time they were published- we find numbers of old words written in just the same way as they are now used in dialect writing; and it is quite possible that many old dames, who have spent all their lives up in the dales, could give a much more sensible explanation of some doubtful passages in Chaucer than many learned members of the Philological Society.
We will, however, proceed to point out a few of the peculiarities of vocalism and idiom which render the dialect so difficult to understand by persons not acquainted with it. One of the first things that will strike a stranger on hearing it is the way in which the double vowel or diphthongal sounds vary from the ordinary English. The proper diphthongal sound of "on" or "ow" is changed to that of "oo" : thus, house becomes "house"; cloud, "cloud"; round, "roond"; and so with "ow," cow is "coo , now, "noo"; how, "hoo"; and so on. Then such words as have the "do" sound in ordinary English require "eu" in the dialect book is "beak"; look, "lehk"; school, "scheal"; and fool, "feat." Again such words as in the English have the long "o" and "oa" sound, are sometimes pronounced in the dialect as if spelt with a "w," so that note is "nwote; coat, "cwoat"; and boaf, "bwoat"; but sometimes the long "o" is changed into the proper diphthongal sound of "ow," so that brought is "browt"; thought, "thowt," &c. The sound of the long "i," too, is often changed to that of "ee"; and right is "reet"; light, "leet"; bright "breet"; and so on. The short "e" also is occasionally changed to the long "e," when head becomes "heed," and dead, "deed." Passing from the vowel sounds, we will proceed to notice some other peculiarities of pronunciation. In the dialect the termination "en" is invariably used instead of "ing" -thus writing is "writer';" walking, "walker';" working, "worker'," and so on. The dental sound of "th"is seldom heard in the dialect either-as : father is "fadder"; mother, "madder"; and brother, "brudder"; twentieth is "twentit"; and thirtieth, "thirtit." Even in the article "the" the "th" is not sounded. Instead of, saying "The master and the mistress," a Cumbrian says "T' master an' t' mistress." "And" is always contracted to "an," "thee" to "the'," and "with" to "wi"' thus, the sentence "I will go with thee," is shortened to "I'll ga wi' the'." It will be seen from these few examples, that in the Cam brian pronunciation there is a marked tendency to contract, or shorten the words, a tendency of which many more specimens might be given, such as "slape" for slippery; "flate" for frightened; "'pleen" for complain, and such like. The few words we have noted will, however, be sufficient to give a fair idea of the Cumbrian vocabulary, and therefore we will next glance it a few of its idiomatic peculiarities. Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the way in which the dialect is spoken, and its worst feature, is the total disregard which the speakers have for all the rules of grammar. They use pronouns in the objective case instead of in the nominative;' and singular verbs instead of plural ones in almost every sentence. Instead of saying "He and I are going," a Cumbrian says, "Him an' me's gaan." They do not use the possessive case of proper nouns at all. Instead of saying "George's cow and Harry's horse," they say " Gwordie coo and Harry horse." Then they have an odd way of omitting the object of a sentence, and leaving it to be guessed at. They will say, " They're ante wesh," or " They're ante clip," without saying whether they are going to wash clothes, or the sheep, or themselves; or whether they are going to clip the sheep, or a hedge, or something else. The anecdote told by the butcher was an instance of this kind. A butcher went to a farmhouse to ask for his weekly order, when the old dame said to him, " Nay barn, we'll nut want envy this week, we're -ante kill oorsels." That did not mean that they were all going to commit suicide, and so would not require any more meat, it simply meant that they were going to kill a sheep of their own. They sometimes confound quantity and numbers in a droll way, too. They will say, " A few poddish " or " A few broth," but they would laugh at you if you said a few water, or a few milk. Although these and other peculiarities of the idiom, which might be pointed out, render the dialect almost unintelligible to strangers, they are so perfectly familiar to those who speak it, that they do not hinder conversation in the least. Only give two or three Cumbrians some subject of dispute- for instance, the merits or demerits of some particular horse or cow,-and they will argue the different points with as much energy, and as fluently, as if they had all the rules of Lindley Murray by heart. Indeed it is when listening to an argument, or "fratch" as it is called, that one may pick up some of the broadest and richest specimens of the dialect. It will be seen, however, by all impartial critics that the irregularities we have mentioned are simply corruptions and excrescences, which no more affect the real character of the dialect than the bad English of uneducated Londoners, or the coarse slang of the American rowdy affect that of the English language itself.
We will next notice some of the redeeming traits of the dialect. Chief among these are its conciseness and its expressiveness. We have already referred to the shortness of Cumbrian words, and pointed out how monosyllables in the dialect are frequently synonymous with ordinary English words of two or three syllables; and when we consider that, besides this, many of the phrases, too, are extremely laconic, it is easy to understand that a Cumbrian requires far less time and breath to express his ideas to his neighbour than would be required to do it in Queen's English. Take, for example, the questions, " Where are you going? " " What are you doing? " and "What is the matter?" It will be observed that each of these questions consists of five syllables, whereas, in the dialect, they only require three each, thus, " Where's to gaan?" " What's to deim ? " and " What's t' matter ? " Numerous examples of this kind might be given; but as the above will give an idea of our meaning, we will proceed to make a few observations on the expressiveness of the Cumbrian mode of speech. We cannot illustrate this part of the subject better than by giving a few specimens of the short says with which the folkspeech of Cumberland abounds. Indeed, there is hardly a circumstance or incident in the lives of the dales people, but there is a figurative phrase of some kind applicable to it. Here are a few. If a person is thought foolish they will say, "He's nobbut hofe rock't," or "He is thin as a cat" If one is slow in his movements, they say, `Tho'll gang farder i' two days ner yan." When an old courtship is renewed, they say, " Auld ke'all ur seuner warrn't nor newens meade. " If a man marries for money, they say, " He's weddit t'iniddin for 't sehko't muck." If a person is not to be depended upon, " He's not to ride 'i watter on." If an insignificant person has had a narrow escape, it is said "That 'at's nowt's niver i' danger. " If a person is cross and cantankerous, " He's as creuk't as a tip horn." If one is sly and deceitful, th( y say, " smooth water runs deep." We might go on quoting these old saws, but the few specimens even may serve to give some notion of their character, and though many of them may not be so very refined, we must at least admit that they are uncommonly expressive and much to the purpose.
Alluding, in a former part of this paper, to the corruptions and irregularities of speech which abounded among the dialect-speaking people of Cumberland, we remarked that such irregularities were no obstacle in the way of conversation, but to any one attempting to write in the dialect it is very different. In composition (even in the dialect,) a writer is obliged to pay some attention to the laws of grammar, and consequently is prevented from writing many of the most common and striking phrases exactly as they are spoken; and although the pronunciation may, as a general rule, be pretty clearly indicated by means of phonetic spelling, there are some words in use the sound of which it would be impossible to give a correct idea of on paper by any combination of letters. It may perhaps be asked, " But what is the use of writing in the dialect at all? If people will write, why not write in ordinary English? " Well, perhaps it is fancy as much as anything. Tastes differ so much, that it is said there is no accounting for them. Talents differ very much, too. People who do write ordinary English have very different ideas. One writes prose, another poetry. One truth, another fiction. One songs, and another sermons. But there may also be utility in dialect-writing. If, as we surmised at the beginning, the Cumbrian mode of speech is destined to die out in the course of two or three generations, it may be desirable to preserve as many specimens of it as we can, from which our grandchildren and great grand children may see the rough and homely garb in which their forefathers were wont to clothe their ideas. And further, the peculiar manners, traits, and above all the humour of Cumbrians may be far more forcibly depicted in the dialect than in any other way. If any one wishes to know about the manners and customs o£ the people who lived in this county towards the latter end of the last and beginning of the present century, he will do well to read, not Nicholson and, Burn's or Hutchinson's History of Cumberland, but the dialect writings of Anderson, Stagg, and others. From the songs and ballads of these writers, one may get a far better insight into the peculiar traits and rough manners of the Cumbrians of that time than from any other source whatever. Our old border county has been peculiarly rich in native writers. Not to speak of Wordsworth and others, who have distinguished themselves in the higher walks of literature, Cumberland has never, for the last one hundred and fifty years, been without its dialect writers; many of whom have enjoyed a large amount of local popularity. The first who attempted to rhyme in the vernacular (of whom we have any authentic record) was the Rev. Josiah Relph, of Sebergham, who died in 1743. He was followed in succession by Evan Clark, of Wigton; Miss Gilpin, of Scaleby Castle; Miss Blamire, of Thackwood; Blind Stagg, of Burgh-by-Sands; and Robert Anderson, of Carlisle. The last has been commonly styled the Cumberland Bard, and has been the most popular of all the dialect writers. Then, there were Mark Lonsdale, John Rayson, and Woodcock Graves; and there was Alexander Craig Gibson, who, I have no doubt, was personally known to some here present. There are still living Mr. William Dickinson and Miss Powley; so that we have a continuous chain, or succession, of dialect writers, stretching from Relph to the present time.
It may be that but few educated persons take much interest in the dialect, nevertheless, if entered into without prejudice, or affectation, the study of it, as the study of most other things, may become very interesting. I have in my possession a letter which I received from the late Dr. Gibson, two or three years before his death, in which he styles it our "Grand old dialect;" and when we reflect that, to the people of Cumberland, it has for hundreds of years served every purpose for the inter- change of their ideas; that they have ever found in it words and phrases which were amply sufficient to express every emotion of their minds; that in it they have told their joys and their griefs; their hopes and their fears; and that in it they have sung their loves and their sorrows, their sports and their rejoicings,-I think that if we do not go so far as Dr. Gibson, to style it our "Grand old dialect," we may, at least, respect and value it as an old and faithful servant.
(The CHAIRMAN afterwards observed that the author had alluded to writers in the Cumberland dialect past and present, but his modesty had not permitted him to tell them that he himself was one of the foremost dialect writers of the day. Mr. Richardson's book was one of the very best that had been issued, and was remarkably free from the errors that some of the writers in the dialect had fallen into. They were very much indebted to Mr. Richardson for his paper.)