Pronunciation of Vowels and Consonants

Generally speaking the short vowel sounds are lengthened slightly. The difference in some vowels sounds, for example the excessive use of the schwa (neutral central vowel as for father) and the lengthened flat /a/ (as for bath) is what makes the Oxfordshire accent distinct from other West Country accents and especially RP (Received Pronunciation). Consonants as a result appear to be clipped and unreleased. This is evident in the glottaling of intervocalic and final plosives, notably /t/.

This accent is rhotic, which means the /r/ sound is like the Irish or American /r/. Another notable feature of the accent is that all initial /h/ consonants are omitted, so the word horses will be ‘orses and so on. All words ending in ‘ing’ will not have the ‘ng’ pronounced, therefore for example swimming will become swimmin’.

The most noticeable feature of the rural Oxfordshire accent is the vowel shift in the diphthong for words such as ‘pint’ and ‘like’. See phonetic transcription below if this helps:

pint = [ pəɪnt ] night = [ nəɪt ] like = [ lɔɪk ]

Basically the pronunciation of the above is as follows:

pint = perynt night = neryt like = loike

Other vowels shifts also play a huge part in the distinguishing identity of the accent. See below for the changes:

The diphthong /aʊ/ as for words down and out become:

down = [ dəʊn ] pronounced derwn out = [ əʊt ] pronounced erwt

The diphthong /əʊ/ as for words such as old become:

old = [ ɔ^ʊɫd ] pronounced orld

Finally, the vowel sound /ʌ/ for words like cup, but, us and one take the form of the schwa in place of the /u/ as mentioned above. This really gives the accent the country flavour:

cup = [ kəp ] pronounced kerp us = [ ə^əs ] pronounced ers

one = [ wʊn ] pronounced wun as a northern speaker would say.

Lexis and Grammar

The language used in the 1880-1890 Oxfordshire dialect is quite similar to modern day. There is however certain words that have naturally gone out of fashion or are not as widely recognised outside of the villages. Below you will find a list of a few typical words and their meanings:

Lexis: word meaning

topping extremely good

tatie potato

greens vegetables

court to date/go out with

cause because

mare female horse

foal young horse

afore before

yonder over there

twevlemonth year

The most striking aspect of the dialect is the grammatical structure that makes the accent what it is. In the play this is done for you so there’s no need to convert the text into past dialect. A breakdown in more technical terms is represented below:

Grammar:

Third person plural was, for example: your greens was nice and greasy, your potatoes was nicely cooked.

Second person singular be, for example: you be doing well.

Verbal inflection with plural noun, for example: then in goes your greens.

Preterite done: that’s where I done my courting, I should think we done it for twelve months

Preterite come: he come in to see me milking these cows

Preterite come: years before that come about up here; I come up the road

Preterite done: I done that for a long, long while.

Multiple negation: I don’t want no more to be doing with you.

Relative pronoun as: the farmer was a man as liked his drop of drink

<a + ing> : to see these mares a-foaling, to see these cows a-calving

The construction I will finish is I shall finish

Relative pronoun as for example: not this one as I was looking after sheep in.

Multiple negation: there was no tractors nor nothing.

Verbal inflection with I: and well I remembers it too.

Third person plural was: what they was to do.

To be + past participle: the snow was drifted here six foot deep (the snow had drifted)

Old Rural Oxfordshire Accent and Dialect (1880-1890)

Lexis and Grammar