Editing Yorkshire dialect (section)

== Pronunciation ==
Some features of Yorkshire pronunciation are general features of northern English accents. Many of them are listed in the [[English English#Northern England|northern English accents]] section on the [[English English]] page.

=== Vowels ===
[[File:North West Yorkshire English vowel chart.svg|thumb|250px|Vowels of North West Yorkshire English on a vowel chart, from {{Harvcoltxt|Wilhelm|2018|p=6}}. The vowel space is compressed downwards, with {{sc2|FACE}}, {{sc2|GOAT}}, {{sc2|SQUARE}} and {{sc2|THOUGHT}} being given a monophthongal, significantly more open realization {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|e̞ː}}, {{IPAplink|o̞|ö̞ː}}, {{IPAplink|ɛ̞ː}}, {{IPAplink|ɒ|ɒ̝ː}}]}} than in RP and Scottish English. Conversely, {{sc2|FLEECE}} and {{sc2|GOOSE}} are realized as wide, Cockney-like diphthongs {{IPA|[əɪ, əʉ]}}.{{sfnp|Wilhelm|2018|pp=4–6}}]]
* Words such as ''strut, cut, blood, lunch'' usually take {{IPAblink|ʊ}}, although {{IPAblink|ə}} is a middle-class variant.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|pp=74, 76}}
* Most words affected by the [[trap-bath split]] of South East England – the distinction between the sounds {{IPA|[a]}} and {{IPA|[ɑː]}} – are not affected in Yorkshire. The long {{IPA|[ɑː]}} of southern English is widely disliked in the "bath"-type words.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|p=286}} However, words such as ''palm, can't, spa'' are pronounced with a long vowel, usually more fronted {{IPA|[aː]}}.
* In parts of the West Riding, ''none, one, once, nothing, tongue, among(st)'' are pronounced with {{IPAblink|ɒ}} rather than {{IPAblink|ʊ}}{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}} A [[shibboleth]] for a traditional Huddersfield accent is the word ''love'' as {{IPA|[lɒv]}}, pronounced with the same vowel as "lot".{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=94, 201}}
* Words such as ''late, face, say, game'' are pronounced with a [[monophthong]] {{IPAblink|eː}} or {{IPAblink|ɛː}}. However, words with <gh> in the spelling (e.g. straight, weight), as well as exclamations and interjections such as ''hey'' and ''eh'' (the tag question), are usually pronounced with a [[diphthong]] {{IPA|[ɛɪ]}}. Some words with ''ake'' at the end may be pronounced with {{IPAblink|ɛ}}, as in take to ''tek'', make to ''mek'' and sake to ''sek'' (but not for ''bake'' or ''cake'').{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}}{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=146}}
* Words with the vowel {{IPA|/əʊ/}} in [[Received Pronunciation]], as in ''goat'', may have a monophthong {{IPAblink|oː}} or {{IPAblink|ɔː}}.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}} In a recent trend, a fronted monophthong {{IPAblink|ɵː}} is common amongst young women, although this has been the norm for a long time in Hull (where it originates).{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=146}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/leeds-university-arif-ayeshah.shtml|title=BBC – Voices – The Voices Recordings<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=25 December 2019|archive-date=13 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113201926/http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/leeds-university-arif-ayeshah.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=143}} It has developed only since 1990, yet it has now spread to [[Bradford]].{{sfnp|Watt|Tillotson|2001}} historically there was a four-way split whereby a diphthong {{IPA|[ɔʊ]}} (west riding) or {{IPA|[au]}} (north and east ridings) exists in words subject to vocalisation in middle English (e.g. ''grow, glow, bow, bowt, fowk, nowt, owt'' for ''grow, glow, bow, bought, folk, nought, ought'' respectively").{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=124–132}} The Os in some words are pronounced as {{IPA|[ɒ]}}, such as ''oppen'', ''brokken'', ''wokken'' for ''open, broken, woken''. Other words spelled ow were pronounced with an aw sound {{IPA|[ɒː]}} such as ''knaw, snaw, blaw'' for ''know, snow, blow'', from old English āw. An {{IPA|[ɒɪ]}} (west riding) or {{IPA|[ʊə]}} (north and east ridings) sound was found in words that were subject to lengthening of Old English [o] in middle English such as ''coil, hoil'' in the West Riding and ''cooal, hooal'' in the North and East Ridings for ''coal, hole'' . Another was {{IPA|[ʊə]}} (west riding) or {{IPA|[ja~ɪə~eː]}} (north and east ridings) that originated from old English ā (e.g. West Riding ''booan, hooam, booath, looaf, mooast'' and North and East Riding ''beean, yam, baith, leeaf, maist'' for ''bone, home, both, loaf, most''). This four-way split was found throughout all of northern England and contrasted with the historic two-way split found in the south and midlands.
Due to dialect levelling, however, these sounds were merged into the modern monophthong {{IPA|[oː]}}, {{IPA|[ɔː]}} and {{IPA|[ɵː]}} (east riding) by the 1950s.
* If a close vowel precedes {{IPA|/l/}}, a [[schwa]] may be inserted. This gives {{IPA|[iəl]}} for {{IPA|/iːl/}} and (less frequently) {{IPA|[uəl]}} for {{IPA|/uːl/}}.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=217–218}}
* When {{IPA|/ɛ/}} precedes {{IPA|/r/}} in a stressed syllable, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} can become {{IPAblink|ə}}. For example, ''very'' can be pronounced {{IPA|[vəɹɪ]}}.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|p=218}}
* In Hull, Middlesbrough and the east coast, the sound in ''word'', ''heard'', ''nurse'', etc. is pronounced in the same way as in ''square, dare''. This is {{IPA|[ɛː]}}.{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|pp=143, 146}}<ref>''Handbook of Varieties of English'', p. 125, Walter de Gruyter, 2004</ref> The set of words with {{IPA|/ɪə/}}, such as ''near, fear, beard,'' etc., may have a similar pronunciation but remains distinctive as {{IPA|[iɛ]}}.{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=147}}
** In other parts of Yorkshire, this sound is a short {{IPA|[ə]}} or long {{IPA|[ɜː]}}. This seems to have developed as an intermediate form between the older form {{IPA|[ɒ~ʊ]}} (now very rare in these words) and the RP pronunciation {{IPA|[əː]}}.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Tidholm
 | first = Hans
 | title = The Dialect of Egton in North Yorkshire
 | journal = Language
 | volume = 59
 | issue = 2
 | jstor = 413603
 |pages=49–50| year = 1983
 }}</ref> 
* In Hull, Middlesbrough and much of the East Riding, the phoneme {{IPA|/aɪ/}} (as in ''prize'') may become a monophthong {{IPA|[aː]}} before a voiced consonant. For example, ''five'' becomes {{IPA|[faːv]}} (fahv), ''prize'' becomes {{IPA|[pʰɹaːz]}} ({{notatypo|prahz}}). This does not occur before voiceless consonants, so "price" is {{IPA|[pʰɹaɪs]}}.{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|pp=146, 156–159}}
* In the south of the west riding, Middle English /uː/ is traditionally realised as a monophthong {{IPA|[aː]}} or in the Holme Valley as a diphthong [ɛə] as in ''daan'', ''abaat'', ''naa'', ''haa'', and aa''t'' for ''down, about, now, how'' and ''out''
** The traditional pronunciation of these words is {{IPA|[u:]}} in the east riding and the eastern part of the north riding; in the western half of the north riding and northern west riding it is {{IPA|[əu]}} as in ''doon, aboot, noo, hoo, oot''.These are now far less common than the RP {{IPA|[aʊ]}} found throughout Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Tidholm
 | first = Hans
 | title = The Dialect of Egton in North Yorkshire
 | journal = Language
 | volume = 59
 | issue = 2
 | jstor = 413603
 |pages=98–99| year = 1983
 }}</ref> 
* Words like ''city'' and ''many'' are pronounced with a final {{IPA|[ɛ~e]}} in the Sheffield area.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}}
* What would be a [[schwa]] on the end of a word in other accents is realised as {{IPAblink|ɛ}} in Hull and Middlesbrough.{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|pp=143, 146}}
* A prefix to a word is more likely not to take a reduced vowel sound in comparison to the same prefix's vowel sound in other accents. For example, ''concern'' is {{IPA|[kʰɒnˈsɜːn]}} or {{IPA|[kʰɒnˈsɛːn]}} rather than {{IPA|[kʰənˈsɜːn]}}, and ''admit'' is {{IPA|[adˈmɪt]}} rather than {{IPA|[ədˈmɪt]}}.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jack Windsor|last=Lewis|url=http://www.yek.me.uk/centnthpn.html|title=The General Central-Northern, Non-Dialectal Pronunciation of England|at=points 4–13|access-date=6 June 2014|archive-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819151223/http://www.yek.me.uk/centnthpn.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In some areas of the Yorkshire Dales (e.g. [[Dent, South Lakeland|Dent]], [[Sedbergh]]), the FLEECE vowel can be {{IPA|eɪ}} so that ''me'' is {{IPA|[meɪ]}} and ''green'' is {{IPA|[greɪn]}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://centre-for-english-traditional-heritage.org/TraditionToday6/TT6_Petyt_Dialects.pdf|title=A survey of dialect studies in the area of the Sedbergh & District History Society|last=Petyt|first=K.&nbsp;M.|access-date=17 October 2020|date=2014|page=14|archive-date=20 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020070135/http://centre-for-english-traditional-heritage.org/TraditionToday6/TT6_Petyt_Dialects.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The following features are recessive or even extinct; generally, they are less common amongst younger than older speakers in modern Yorkshire:
* Words originating from old English ō (e.g. ''goose, root, cool, roof, hoof'') historically had an {{IPA|[ʊɪ]}} sound in the West Riding word-medially (''ɡooise, rooit, cooil, rooif, hooif'') as well as an {{IPA|[jʊ~ɪə]}} sound in the North and East Ridings (''ɡeease, reeat, keeal, reeaf, yuf''). Today a more RP-like pronunciation {{IPA|[ʊu]}} is found in all Yorkshire accents.
* Traditionally in the West Riding, in word final environments and before [k], ''ō'' is realised as the vowel {{IPA|[ʊu]}} in words such as ''book'', ''cook'', and ''look'', this also occurred in the east and north ridings, where it was realised before [k] as an {{IPA|/iu/}} and as {{IPA|/iː/}} in word final environments.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=168–172}} 
* Traditionally words such as "swear", "there", "wear" take the diphthong {{IPA|[iə]}}, often written ''sweer, theer, weer'' in dialect writing. This sound may also be used in words originating from Old English ēa, commonly spelt ''ea'' in standard english spelling: for example, ''head'' as {{IPA|[iəd]}} (''heead''), ''red'' as {{IPA|[riəd]}} (''reead'') ''leaves'' as {{IPA|[liəvz]}} (''leeavs'').{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}}
* {{IPA|[eɪ]}} may take the place of {{IPA|/iː/}}, especially in the West Riding in words such as ''key, meat, speak'', with the second two often written ''meyt, speyk'' in dialect writing.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}}{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=146}}
* Words such as ''door, floor, four, board'' may take on a variety of diphthongal pronunciations, {{IPA|[uə, oə, ɔə, ʊə]}}. This is a consequence of an incomplete [[horse–hoarse merger]]. {{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=75}}{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=132–137}}
* Words which once had a [[Voiceless velar fricative|velar fricative]] in [[Old English|Old]] and [[Middle English]] or a vocalised consonant may have {{IPA|[oʊ~ɔʊ]}} for {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (e.g. ''browt, thowt, nowt, owt, grow, gowd, bowt'' for ''brought, thought, nought, ought, grow, gold, bolt'').{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=74}}
* Words that end ''-ight'' join the FLEECE lexical set. Today they can still be heard in their dialectal forms. For example, ''neet'' {{IPA|[niːt]}} and ''reet'' {{IPA|[ɹiːt]}}.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=75}} This can also be heard in [[Nova Scotia]], [[Geordie]] and the [[Lancashire dialect]].

=== Consonants ===
* In some areas, an originally voiced consonant followed by a voiceless one can be pronounced as voiceless. For example, ''Bradford'' may be pronounced as if it were ''Bratford'', with {{IPA|[t]}} (although more likely with a [[glottal stop]], {{IPA|[ʔ]}}) instead of the {{IPA|[d]}} employed in most English accents. ''Absolute'' is often pronounced as if it were ''apsolute'', with a {{IPA|[p]}} in place of the {{IPA|[b]}}.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|p=205}}
* As with most dialects of English, final {{IPA|[ŋ]}} sound in, for example, ''hearing'' and ''eating'' are often reduced to {{IPA|[n]}}. However, {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}} can be heard in Sheffield.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=76}}<ref>See section on "Conservative Northernisms" in [http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/yorksdial-uni.htm Our Changing Pronunciation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007035500/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/yorksdial-uni.htm |date=7 October 2014 }} by [[John C. Wells]]</ref>
* [[H-dropping]] is common in informal speech, especially amongst the working classes.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=76}}
* Omission of final stops {{IPA|/d, t/}} and fricatives {{IPA|/f, θ, ð/}}, especially in function words.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=76}} As in other dialects, ''with'' can be reduced to ''wi'', especially before consonants.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=146–147}} ''Was'' is also often reduced to ''wa'' (pronounced roughly as "woh"), even when not in contracted negative form (see table below).
* A glottal stop may also be used to replace {{IPA|/k/}} (e.g. ''like'' becomes {{IPA|[laɪʔ]}}) at the end of a syllable.{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|p=147}}
* In the Middlesbrough area, [[Glottalization#Glottal reinforcement|glottal reinforcement]] occurs for {{IPA|/k, p, t/}}.<ref name = "Beal">Joan C. Beal, ''An Introduction to Regional Englishes'', Edinburgh University Press, 2010, pp. 95–99</ref>
* In some areas, an [[alveolar tap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}} (a 'tapped r') is used after a [[labial consonant|labial]] (''pray, bright, frog''), after a [[Dental consonant|dental]] (''three''), and [[Intervocalic consonant|intervocalically]] (''very, sorry, pair of shoe''s).{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=368}}

Some consonant changes amongst the younger generation are typical of younger speakers across England, but are not part of the traditional dialect:{{sfnp|Williams|Kerswill|1999|p=159}}
* [[Th-fronting]] so that {{IPA|[f, v]}} for {{IPA|/θ, ð/}} (although Joseph Wright noted th-fronting in the [[Windhill and Wrose|Windhill]] area in 1892).<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Joseph |title=A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill |url=https://archive.org/stream/grammarofdialect00wrigrich#page/n3/mode/2up |year=1892 |publisher=Trübner & Co. |location=London |page=91}}</ref>
* [[T-glottalisation]]: a more traditional pronunciation is to realise {{IPA|/t/}} as {{IPA|[r]}} in certain phrases, which leads to pronunciation spellings such as ''gerroff''.
* [[R-labialization]]: Possible {{IPAblink|ʋ}} for {{IPA|/r/}}.

The following are typical of the older generation:
* In Sheffield, cases of initial "th" {{IPA|/ð/}} become {{IPA|[d]}}. This pronunciation has led to Sheffielders being given the nickname "dee dahs" (the local forms of "thee" and "thou"/"tha").{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=79}}
* {{IPA|/ɡ, k/}} realised as {{IPA|[d, t]}} before {{IPA|/l/}}. For example, ''clumsy'' becomes {{IPA|[tlʊmzɛ]}}.{{sfnp|Stoddart|Upton|Widdowson|1999|p=76}}{{sfnp|Petyt|1985|pp=216–217}}

====Rhoticity====
At the time of the Survey of English Dialects, most places in Yorkshire were non-rhotic, but full [[Rhoticity in English|rhoticity]] could be found in Swaledale, Lonsdale, Ribblesdale, and the rural area west of Halifax and Huddersfield.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=368}} In addition, the area along the east coast of Yorkshire retained rhoticity when {{IPA|/r/}} was in final position though not when it was in preconsonantal position (e.g. ''farmer'' {{IPA|[ˈfaːmɚ]}}).{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=368}} A 1981 MA study found that rhoticity persisted in the towns of [[Hebden Bridge]], [[Lumbutts]], and [[Todmorden]] in Upper [[Calderdale]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Patchett|first=J.&nbsp;H.|title=The Dialect of Upper Calderdale|journal=Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society|volume=XV|issue=LXXXI|year=1981|pages=24–37}}</ref>

Rhoticity seems to have been more widespread in Yorkshire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: for example, the city of Wakefield was marked as rhotic in the works of A.&nbsp;J. Ellis, and the recording of a prisoner of war from Wakefield in the [[Berliner Lautarchiv]] displays rhotic speech, but the speech of Wakefield nowadays is firmly non-rhotic.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Aveyard|first=Edward|title=Berliner Lautarchiv: the Wakefield Sample|journal=Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society|year=2019|pages=1–5}}</ref>

=== Further information ===

These features can be found in the English Accents and Dialects collection on the [[British Library]] website. This website features samples of Yorkshire (and elsewhere in England) speech in ''wma'' format, with annotations on phonology with [[X-SAMPA]] phonetic transcriptions, lexis and grammar.

See also {{harvp|Wells|1982|loc=section 4.4.}}