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BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk
Title:
Lewes, East Sussex
Shelfmark:
C1190/36/03
Recording date:
22.11.2004
Speakers:
Collins, Shirley, b. 1935 Lewes; female; folk singer/author (father milkman/Post Office engineer; mother
bus conductress/housekeeper)
Lewis, Bob, b. 1936 Midhurst, West Sussex; male; retired farm worker/agricultural engineer (father office
worker; mother housewife)
Muncaster, Martin, b. 1934 Tillington, West Sussex; male; broadcaster & writer (father landscape & marine
painter/writer/lecturer; mother housewife)
Smith, Tina, b. 1945 Portsmouth; female; retired FE College librarian (father b. dockyard carpenter/off-
licence manager; mother teacher)
Smith, Vic, b. 1943 Edinburgh; male; retired headteacher (father b. Oxfordshire, Navy/telephone operator;
mother b. Edinburgh, housewife)
The interviewees are all friends with established roots in Sussex.
ELICITED LEXIS
pleased chuffed (“pure slang”); happy; glad (“oh, I’m so glad”); delighted; tickled to bits1; tickled
pink∆ (disliked by grandmother as presumed rude)
tired dozy; knackered; flakers∆; flaked out; worn-out; whacked; exhausted; dead beat; plumb
2
tuckered (thought to be American)
unwell I don’t feel very well; ill; pretty out of sorts; poorly (“are you feeling poorly?” associated with
schoolteachers, considered comforting); under the weather; sick (“have you got a sick note?”,
disliked); measled○ (used by mother); terrible; dreadful; green (suggested by interviewer,
1 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) includes ‘to bits’ in sense of ‘extremely’.
2 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) includes ‘plumb’ in sense of ‘absolutely/completely’.
○ see English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905)
* see Survey of English Dialects Basic Material (1962-1971)
‡ see Linguistic Atlas of Scotland (1975-1986)
× see Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (2009)
∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006)
◊ see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010)
♦ see Urban Dictionary (online)
⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings “green around the gills”
∆ associated with ‘Just William’
3); off-colour (suggested by
interviewer, not used); sickening (“sickening for something” used by grandmother of serious
illness, also used for “maddening”); under the doctor
hot boiling (of self); sweltering; all of a muck sweat; scorching (of weather); “it’s fair-to-
middling hot today” (typical understatement used by grandfather in past); warm; warmish;
sweating (disliked by mother, “horses sweat men perspire ladies merely glow”4)
cold chilly bonkers⌂ (presumed idiolectal); freezing; perishing; parky
annoyed riled; irked; “something was a blithering nuisance”; pissed off (“crude”, used to own
husband/friends); pretty mad (“mad at him”); got the hump; cross
throw chuck; lob; bung; toss
play truant bunk off; playing hookey; slope off5; sloping off
5; skiving (suggested by interviewer, more
commonly used of absence from work), AWOL (used in Forces)
sleep went to bed; went to sleep; laid down; kip (modern); shut-eye; go to bed; “get upstairs” (used
by grandmother at bedtime); up the wooden hill◊; nodded off; nod off; doss down; dossing;
have a nap, doze (of brief sleep); cat-nap (suggested by interviewer, used); forty winks (used
by mother of brief sleep)
play a game play (of e.g. cricket/football/darts, “play footy” used by neighbour’s children); larking about
(of something “mischievous”)
hit hard bannick○ (“gave him a good bannicking” of person); bash, clout (of object); thump (of
person); slog (“slog it to the boundary” used in cricket, “slogger” used of big hitter in
cricket); give somebody a good larruping (of person); a good thumping (of person); clout
round the ears, clip round the ear (of person); a skelpit6 leathering (“I’ll gie
○ you a skelpit
leathering if you don’t stop that” used frequently by Scottish grandmother)
clothes togs; clobber; gear; outfit (“what outfit are you putting on today?”); smocks (of clothes worn
by shepherd in past); frock (“put your frock on” used locally in past of shepherd’s smock);
gaberdine (of smock with large collar)
trousers britches; breeks (used by Scottish grandmother); pants; trousers; trews (disliked); yorks,
boot-legs○, nicky tams (of strap/string tied below knee on shepherd’s trousers); corduroys
(used by grandfather of gardening trousers); cords
child’s shoe plimsolls; trainers (modern); pumps (“you’ve got PE today don’t forget your pumps” used by
father); plimmies∆
mother mother; mum; ma
gmother (none supplied)
m partner my husband (of own husband); Vic (i.e. by name), darling (to own husband); partner (used of
daughter’s thirty-something boyfriend); old man; my other half, my better half∆ (disliked)
friend playmate; mate; pal
gfather granfer; gramps* (used by Bob Copper’s7 grandchildren); grandad
forgot name whatchamacallit; thingummy; thingamajig; thingy; whatsit; what’s-his-face∆; oojit⌂
kit of tools budget (associated with folk song “here’s me bag and me budget I bid them adieu”8, used in
past of container for packed lunch); tool-kit; tool-box
trendy swankpot (used by mother in past of female); flash Harry (used by mother in past of male);
dead common (used by mother in past of female); bling (current, associated with ‘The
Sopranos’9)
3 First title published 1922 in series of 39 William Brown books by English author Richmal Crompton (1890-1969).
4 A Dictionary of Catch Phrases British and American from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day (1985) includes
this expression. 5 OED (online edition) records ‘slope off’ in sense of ‘to depart surreptitiously, sneak off’.
6 Collins English Dictionary (online edition at http://www.collinsdictionary.com/) includes ‘skelpit’ in sense of ‘slapped’.
7 Robert James Copper, Sussex-born English folk-singer (1915-2004).
8 See folk song Sheep-Crook and Black Dog (Roud Folk Song Index 948).
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 3 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings f partner her indoors (heard on TV); the old ball and chain; the old woman; missus (“the missus” also
used in past of “farmer’s wife”)
baby moppets (used frequently of own children in past); pretty dears (“let’s go and see the pretty
dears” used by great-grandmother of self and sister in past); little’uns∆; nippers; tots (“little
tots”); ankle-snappers10
(suggested by interviewer, thought more likely to refer to small dog);
ankle-biters (used by teacher colleague)
rain heavily chucking it down∆; pouring; raining cats and dogs; pissing down; bucketing down; tipping it
down♦; stair-rods (“raining stair-rods/coming down in stair-rods”)
toilet toilet
walkway twitten (used since living in Sussex); lane; alleyways; passage; cut; slypes (used by mother,
thought to be unique to Hastings/Rye area)
long seat settee; sofa; couch; Chesterfield (used by grandmother); chaise-longue (not used, “too posh
for words”); settle (used in past of wooden seat similar to “church pew”)
run water brook (“babbling brook”); stream; dick; ditch; rill; spring (common on The Downs in past);
lavant (of seasonal stream, name of local river); bourne (of chalk stream, used in local stream
names e.g. “Winterbourne” in Lewes); chalybeate (thought to be used of mineral springs in
Tunbridge Wells)
main room living-room; sitting-room; front room (used in past of room reserved for special occasions);
parlour (old, thought to be used in north); lounge (disliked, only used in past of room in
pub/hotel)
rain lightly drizzle; mizzle (used by mother); soft○ day (used by Irish friends); spitting; “it’s trying to”
(i.e. “trying to rain”)
rich moneyed; loaded; rolling in it11
(“oh, they’re rolling in it”); toffs, landed gentry, toffee-nosed,
posh (used negatively of upper class); three bob millionaires◊12
, all fur coat and no
knickers×13
(used recently by builder from Rottingdean to express disapproval at influx of
wealthy incomers locally, “fur coat and no knickers” also used in Edinburgh of residents of
old town); more money than sense14
(used to express disapproval of people who “flashed it
about”); old money, gentry (used positively of established wealth); new money, nouveau riche
(used negatively of recent/ostentatious wealth)
left-handed cack-handed (also used for “awkward/clumsy”); corrie juked‡ (used by Scottish mother)
unattractive drab (of e.g. room); ugly; plain; unattractive (of e.g. plant); something the cat dragged in15
(used frequently of person in past)
lack money stony-broke; skint; boracic (< boracic lint: skint, “rhyming slang”); hard up (“really hard up
this week” used frequently); down on my uppers (used by father of short-term lack of money)
drunk legless; pissed; skinful; Brahms and Liszt◊ (“rhyming slang”); blotto; one over the eight
pregnant expecting; pregnant (not used in past); in an interesting condition16
(common euphemism in
past); bun in the oven (“terrible expression”); “when are you better?”⌂ (used to own pregnant
wife when visiting family in Dundee); up the club, up the pudding club, up the duff (common
locally in past in e.g. pub, “horrible”)
9 US TV crime drama series originally broadcast on HBO 1999-2008.
10 OED (online edition) records ‘ankle-biter’ in this sense.
11 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense.
12 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘two bob’ in sense of ‘inferior/second rate’.
13 Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2009) includes this phrase in sense of ‘a certain pretentious and showy
exterior belies a lack of substance’. 14
Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘have more money than
sense’ in this sense. 15
OED (online edition) records ‘to look/feel like something the cat has brought in’ in sense of’ ‘to appear/feel
exhausted/bedraggled’. 16
McGraw-Hill’s American Idioms Dictionary (4th
edn. 2007) includes ‘in an interesting condition’ in this sense.
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 4 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings attractive good-looking (of person/object); attractive; handsome; buxom (of “rosy and plump” female);
cracker (“cor, she weren’t half a cracker”)
insane doolally (“cor, he doolally, he is” used in past by father’s gardener); daft; silly as a rook*;
addle-headed; screw loose; twopence short of a shilling◊17
; not all there; half-there◊; potty;
loony; short of a sheaf up top18
; barmy (“he’s absolutely barmy”); empty barn don’t need no
thatch⌂; his elevator doesn’t stop on all floors
∆19 (“American”); not quite the shilling
◊20;
penny short of a shilling◊17
; moonstruck; dotty
moody misery (“misery guts”); a grump; grumpy; the blue devils (associated with Shakespeare);
glooms (“you’ve got the glooms” used by own doctor); down in the dumps∆; broody;
cantankerous; seasonal affective disorder (suggested jokingly); mardy (suggested by
interviewer, not used); niggly (of being “slightly cross slightly crotchety”)
SPONTANEOUS LEXIS
afore = before (0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church in their best Sunday
smock and that on a on a Sunday morning)
antimacassar = protective/ornamental cover over upholstered chair (1:38:27 (always called it the
‘Chesterfield’) (oh right) (‘Chesterfield’, yeah, yeah) with an antimacassar on the back (probably yes, yes,
probably there was))
argufy = to argue (1:24:04 then old grandfather he’d suddenly wake up in the corner there and he’d say he
says, “there’s so much argufying going on round here I reckon we’d better have a song”)
(as different as) chalk and cheese×
= totally different (0:09:24 he said that’s believed to be the origin of
the expression ‘as different as chalk and cheese’ suppose because cheese was Hampshire and chalk was
Sussex)
back-along = back, some time ago (1:16:11 and Slindon Cricket Club they had their two-hundredth
anniversary back back-along some time in the 1950s I think it was)
back-end = late autumn (1:07:39 you know a lot of places didn’t have electric in fact we didn’t have it until
about 1961 or 62 (that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t have it either;
1:18:30 he didn’t say, “last October” he said, “at ba… at the back… back-end” (‘back-end’ yeah) “back-
end” he said, “back-end back-end we had we we we had the uh electric come in”)
billycock = low-crowned felt hat worn by men (0:42:38 did they go to church wearing their hats ’cause I
remember my father always talked about (oh, yeah) yeah, me… the old our old gardener he had a billycock
hat)
bill-hook short-bladed pruning knife (1:28:26 for example you you had something that people some people
called a ‘handbill’ but we’d call it a a ‘b…’ a ‘bill-hook’ or a, you know, and there’d be and you’d got
you’d got a longer one called a ‘s…’ uh we used to call a ‘slasher’ […] ‘fag-hooks’ were ‘swap hook’
(yeah, yeah) (‘swap-hook’, yeah, my father used that))
blimey = exclamation expressing surprise/disbelief (0:08:12 I absolutely fell over when I read this and I
thought, “blimey, that has to be the origins of this story”)
Brum = dialect/accent of Birmingham (1:57:29 but they were all talking actually Brum)
bugger = mild expletive (1:36:12 (or the vicar came round) (yeah) (or something, you know, you they took
in went in the front room but it was always just so and kept looking pristine but it was never used and we
had a room like that) “oh bugger, it the vicar”)
chap = man (0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down from London and they are going round
in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about these sheep that were missing and um they went in this
particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything; 1:07:00 he was a chap employed by the
17
Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘two pence short of a bob [i.e. ‘shilling’]’ in this sense. 18
New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) includes several examples of ‘NOUN (part) short of
NOUN (whole)’ in this sense but not ‘short of a sheaf’; OED (online edition) records ‘up top’ as ‘reference to brains/intelligence’. 19
New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘lift doesn’t go to the top floor’ in this sense. 20
Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘not the full shilling’ in this sense.
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 5 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings council used to come round and check up if people hadn’t gone to school; 1:07:53 and this chap used to
turn up in a car with all his paraphernalia his tools and all the gear like that you know in the back)
chum = friend (0:07:12 I had a chum of mine and that who he was librarian and that in Chichester
Library)
dead = very, really (0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap
trendy clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead common’)
dinky = ‘dual income no kids’, i.e. professional working couple with siginifcant disposable income
(1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t use it any more because it’s gone, you know, there was a
time when ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little things came in)
dreckly○ = presently, in a short while (0:56:00 and you will find that mushrooms start to come with the new
moon up to the full moon and dreckly you’ve gone past full moon the mushrooms will wane off until you get
to the next cycle of the new moon; 0:57.11 and if you want to be urgent about it you know what they’d used
to say I mean it’s something that’s dropped out of fashion now but if you said ‘dreckly minute’ (now) that
would mean you’d do it straightaway)21
drenching-horn = device for giving medicine to animals (1:29:47 apart from crooks and things you’ve got
sort of dipping irons and goodness kno… and and then drenching-horns and goodness knows what else)
electric = electricity supply (1:07:39 you know a lot of places didn’t have electric in fact we didn’t have it
until about 1961 or 62 (that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t have it
either; 1:18:30 he didn’t say, “last October” he said, “at ba… at the back… back-end” (‘back-end’ yeah)
“back-end” he said, “back-end back-end we had we we we had the uh electric come in”)
Estuary English = accent associated with south east England considered to contain elements of traditional
London and RP speech (1:53:41 (you know, there’s so much so much of this um uh emphasis on well
regional accents or regional dialect and one thing and another) that’s right Estuary English (you’ve got
you’ve got, you know, it’s either) (yeah, Estuary English) (yeah))
fag-hook = scythe, implement used to reap corn by hand (1:28:26 for example you you had something that
people some people called a ‘handbill’ but we’d call it a a ‘b…’ a ‘bill-hook’ or a, you know, and there’d
be and you’d got you’d got a longer one called a ‘s…’ uh we used to call a ‘slasher’ […] ‘fag-hooks’ were
‘swap hook’ (yeah, yeah) (‘swap-hook’, yeah, my father used that))
fella = man (0:01:20 uh I was born at Tillington in Sussex which is very near Petworth so I’m very much a
a Sussex fella; 0:16:48 and these two old fellas they were sitting there uh talking about nothing in
particular and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a
cracker”; 0:17:10 these two old fellas they they was watching her across the square)
footy = football (1:10:26 I suppose if I mean today like the boys next door would play football they’d talk
about going to play footy)
gaffer = man (0:06:25 there’s an old gaffer sat underneath the fire, you know, up up by the chimney and
that and he says he says, “I knows who had them”; 0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up
there and he buys this old gaffer a pint of beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”)
Geordie = dialect of Newcastle upon Tyne (1:55:54 the accent I think I really like are people from the
North East you would describe them as Geordies)
granny = grandmother (1:37:01 and what I especially loved about granny’s harmonium both me and my
sister Dolly was that we used to have to pedal the foot pedals um to uh, you know, when she played it;
1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny was in service and my mum and my
aunt Grace went into service um, you know, from the age of about fourteen)
grandad = grandfather (1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny was in
service and my mum and my aunt Grace went into service um, you know, from the age of about fourteen)
handbill = short-bladed pruning knife (1:28:26 for example you you had something that people some
people called a ‘handbill’ but we’d call it a a ‘b…’ a ‘bill-hook’ or a, you know, and there’d be and you’d
got you’d got a longer one called a ‘s…’ uh we used to call a ‘slasher’ […] ‘fag-hooks’ were ‘swap hook’
(yeah, yeah) (‘swap-hook’, yeah, my father used that))
jolly = very, really (1:30:54 jolly expensive now (they are they are) a poor a poor working man wouldn’t be
able to afford one of them now)
21
Glossary of Surrey Words (1894) records ‘drac’ly minute’ in this sense.
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 6 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings kid = young child (0:37:40 new plimsolls (yeah) was one of the best things in life when I was a kid; 1:52:10
but nowadays kids are picking up this Australian thing from the telly, aren’t they?)
mummer = actor in traditional play, esp. performed at holidays/festivals (0:46:05 well they were in the old
tipteers, you know, the, like, the mummers and that (oh, yeah) at at Tillington and Upperton)
PC = politically correct (0:31:14 Bob is right that, you know, PC has sort of run mad at the moment)
politically correct = in line with liberal opinion, avoiding discriminatory language or behaviour
(0:28:49 I don’t see how you can have a conversation like this if if it’s gotta be politically correct
because this is all a load of nonsense, isn’t it, you know (yes) you can legislate as much as you like
but you can’t alter human nature, can you?)
rick = haystack (1:26:04 and then he uh he would help with the w… with the hayricks and so on bu…
making the hayricks and all that)
shock = to place sheaves of corn upright to allow them to dry (1:25:41 (and he’d get the real feel of it and
and he helped with the stooking of the corn ‘stooking’ of the corn […]) I called it ‘shocking’ corn actually
we always used to call it ‘shocking’ corn (‘shocking’ corn that’s right) we seldom used you seldom used
the word ‘stooking’)
slasher = short-bladed pruning agricultural knife (1:28:26 for example you you had something that people
some people called a ‘handbill’ but we’d call it a a ‘b…’ a ‘bill-hook’ or a, you know, and there’d be and
you’d got you’d got a longer one called a ‘s…’ uh we used to call a ‘slasher’ […] ‘fag-hooks’ were ‘swap
hook’ (yeah, yeah) (‘swap-hook’, yeah, my father used that))
smoke-room = room set aside in pub/hotel for smokers (1:37:40 what on earth happened to the sensible
solution of a smoke-room or smoking room that they used to have in pubs years ago and if you smoked in a
pub you went into a particular bar that was called a ‘smoke-room’)
some = quite, somewhat (0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this old
gaffer a pint of beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”)
stook = to place sheaves of corn upright to allow them to dry (1:25:41 and he’d get the real feel of it and
and he helped with the stooking of the corn ‘stooking’ of the corn […] (I called it ‘shocking’ corn actually
we always used to call it ‘shocking’ corn) ‘shocking’ corn that’s right (we seldom used you seldom used
the word ‘stooking’))
summat∆ = something (1:22:46 in winter evenings they’d be sitting in the cottage and uh mum would be
mother’d be one side the fire uh knitting or or doing a little tatting or summat)
swap-hook = scythe, implement used to reap corn by hand (1:28:26 for example you you had something
that people some people called a ‘handbill’ but we’d call it a a ‘b…’ a ‘bill-hook’ or a, you know, and
there’d be and you’d got you’d got a longer one called a ‘s…’ uh we used to call a ‘slasher’ […] ‘fag-
hooks’ were ‘swap hook’ (yeah, yeah) (‘swap-hook’, yeah, my father used that))
tat = to sew/do lace-work typically used to make e.g. doyleys (1:22:46 in winter evenings they’d be sitting
in the cottage and uh mum would be mother’d be one side the fire uh knitting or or doing a little tatting or
summat)
tipteer○ = Christmas mummer (0:46:05 well they were in the old tipteers, you know, the, like, the mummers
and that (oh, yeah) at at Tillington and Upperton; 0:46:42 and they got as far as Benbow Pond (yeah)
which was all frozen over and there was a load of swans on there and they didn’t like the look of these
blooming tipteers coming along the road)
trug = shallow oblong basket made of wooden strips with handle from side to side used for carrying
fruit/vegetables (1:30:01 I mean I suppose probably the most distinctive word that that a lot of people
recognise today is a ‘trug’ (yeah) (yeah) you know, and you think (yeah) and um trugs were made for all
sort of jobs never mind the sort of gardeners one, you know)
woe betide22
= expression used as warning of/allusion to negative consequences (1:08:22 woe betide you if
you slowed down because I think the old drill used to sort of jump)
yuppy = young professional person (1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t use it any more because
it’s gone, you know, there was a time when ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little things came in)
22
Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2006) records ‘frozen/chilled to the marrow’ in this sense.
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 7 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings
PHONOLOGY
KIT [ɪ]
(0:02:43 I’ve just finished [fɪnɪʃt] work as a Further Education College [kɒlɪʤ] librarian; 0:53:59 well you
look down on the pavement there and there’s a great big [bɪg] brass strip [stɹɪp] goes up ac… up across
there and it says the boundary of Sussex and Kent; 1:10:21 but that implied [ɪmplɑɪd] something [sʌmθɪŋ]
mischievous [mɪsʧɪvəs] (it did) slightly as well, didn’t it? [dɪdn̟ɪt])
<em-, en-, es-, ex-> (0:03:50 I come from a uh country background my grandad was a um head
gardener on a big estate [ɪstɛɪt] just outside Battle; 0:41:24 quite often when a couple got engaged
[ɪŋgɛɪʤd] wi… the the or the the bride-to-be, you know, the the wife-to-be would make her hu… her
husband’s Sunday smock; 1:07:00 he was a chap employed [ɪmplɔɪd] by the council used to come
round and check up if people hadn’t gone to school; 1:30:54 jolly expensive [ɪkspɛnsɪv] now (they
are they are) a poor a poor working man wouldn’t be able to afford one of them now; 1:52:28
people se… seem to think that it enhances [ɪnhɑːnsɪz] the language all these new words coming in
but it what it seems to me to do is to narrow it)
missus (0:28:28 the farmer’s wife, you know, that she’s sort of slightly in charge as well sometimes
‘the missus’, [mɪsəs] isn’t she, she’s got a position of importance)
DRESS [ɛ]
(0:34:36 and she said [sɛd] but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap trendy [tɹɛndi]
clothes she’d have said [sɛd] she was ‘dead common’ [dɛd kɒmən]; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean
uh uh men [mɛn] still went [wɛnt] to church in their best [bɛst] Sunday smock and that on a Su… on a
Sunday morning; 1:08:00 and the thing that we all dreaded [dɹɛdɪd] was having to pedal [pɛdɫ̟] this bicycle
thing that he had he literally had a like a monocycle)
TRAP [æ ~ a]
(0:12:28 I wouldn’t ever call a person ‘unattractive’ [ʌnətɹaktɪv] I don’t think but I might call um say a
plant ‘unattractive’ [ʌnətɹaktɪv] (um, yes) or or if a room someone, you know, someone’s decoration was
drab [dɹab] possibly, yes; 0:31:14 Bob is right that, you know, PC has sort of run mad [mæd] at the
moment; 1:43:24 my grandad [gɹændæd] was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny [gɹæni] was in
service and my mum and my aunt Grace went into service um, you know, from the age of about fourteen;
1:48:27 it changes much more rapidly [ɹapɪdli] than it used to and I think that [ðaʔ] is the influence of uh
the media)
LOT~CLOTH [ɒ]
(0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common [kɒmən] we’d uh had cheap trendy
clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead common’ [dɛd kɒmən]; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh
men still went to church in their best Sunday smock [smɒk] and that on a Su… on a Sunday morning;
0:56:00 and you will find that mushrooms start to come with the new moon up to the full moon and directly
you’ve gone past [gɒm paːst] full moon the mushrooms will wane off [ɒf] until you get to the next cycle of
the new moon; 1:13:28 they got [gɒd] a collection up and raised the money to pay his fine off [ɒf] so ’cause
they didn’t want to [wɒn͡tʔə] lose him, you know, so he got [gɒʔ] he got off [gɒd ɒf] he didn’t get
transported)
STRUT [ʌ > ɐ]
(0:03:50 I come [kʌm] from a uh country [kʌntɹi] background my grandad was a um head gardener on a
big estate just [ʤʌst] outside Battle; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church in
their best Sunday [sʌndɪ] smock and that on a Su… on a Sunday [sʌndɪ] morning; 0:56:00 and you will find
that mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] start to come [kʌm] with the new moon up [ʌp] to the full moon and directly
you’ve gone past full moon the mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] will wane off until [ʌntɪɫ] you get to the next cycle
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probably the the rest of us [ʌs] here would be the difference would be so subtle [sʌtɫ]̟)
ONE (0:21:04 there are one or two [wɒn ə tuː] I simply cannot understand (nor can I) um I won’t
I’d better not say which they are; 0:22:10 and she said, “well I did have another boyfriend um
once” [wʌns]; 0:37:40 new plimsolls (yeah) was one [wʌn] of the best things in life when I was a
kid; 0:42:16 and certainly I can remember only once [wʌns] ever seeing one [wɒn] that I I actually
saw an old red one [wɒn] red smock; 1:30:01 I mean I suppose probably the most distinctive word
that that a lot of people recognise today is a ‘trug’ (yeah) (yeah) you know, and you think (yeah)
and um trugs were made for all sort of jobs never mind the sort of gardeners one, [wʌn] you know)
worry (1:48:51 I think they are speaking a sort of shorthand language of English now and and that
worries [wɒɹɪz] me)
FOOT [ʊ > ɵ]
(1:29:47 apart from crooks [kɹʊks] and things you’ve got sort of dipping irons and goodness kno…
[gɵdnəs nə] and and then drenching-horns and goodness knows [gɵdnəs nəʊz] what else; 1:14:42 the
umpire was the old blacksmith, you see, and he couldn’t [kʊdn̟t] have his fellow out first ball so he he
shook [ʃʊk] his head, you see; 1:31:12 and it was actually it was blooming full of woodworm [fʊl ə
wʊdwɚːm] it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I wouldn’t’ve [wʊdn̟əv] given you
twopence for it)
stook (1:25:41 and he’d get the real feel of it and and he helped with the stooking [stʊkɪŋ] of the
corn ‘stooking’ [stʊkɪŋ] of the corn […] (I called it ‘shocking’ corn actually we always used to call
it ‘shocking’ corn) ‘shocking’ corn that’s right (we seldom used you seldom used the word
‘stooking’ [stuːkɪn]))
BATH [ɑː > aː]
(0:12:28 I wouldn’t ever call a person ‘unattractive’ I don’t think but I might call um say a plant [plɑːnt]
‘unattractive’ (um, yes) or or if a room someone, you know, someone’s decoration was drab possibly, yes;
0:53:59 well you look down on the pavement there and there’s a great big brass [bɹɑːs] strip goes up ac…
up across there and it says the boundary of Sussex and Kent; 0:56:00 and you will find that mushrooms
start to come with the new moon up to the full moon and directly you’ve gone past [paːst] full moon the
mushrooms will wane off until you get to the next cycle of the new moon)
elastic, <trans-> (0:40:41 ’cause all the elastic [ɪlastɪk] used to sort of go very very very unelastic
[ʌnɪlastɪk] at the end of a summer in the sea; 1:13:28 they got a collection up and raised the money
to pay his fine off so ’cause they didn’t want to lose him, you know, so he got he got off he didn’t get
transported [tɹanspɔ˞ːdɪd])
NURSE [əː]
(0:12:28 I wouldn’t ever call a person [pəːsən] ‘unattractive’ I don’t think but I might call um say a plant
‘unattractive’ (um, yes) or or if a room someone, you know, someone’s decoration was drab possibly, yes;
0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church [ʧɚːʧ] in their best Sunday smock and
that on a Su… on a Sunday morning; 1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny
was in service [səːvɪs] and my mum and my aunt Grace went into service [səːvɪs] um, you know, from the
age of about fourteen)
weren’t (0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh talking about nothing in
particular and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a
cracker” [ʃi wʊn aːf ə kɹakɚ]; 0:23:21 (he used to tell these Sussex stories um the old boy) well the
old boy, oh yeah, I well because he was undertaker, weren’t he? [wɚːniː] (yeah, that’s right))
FLEECE [iː]
(0:09:24 he said that’s believed [bəliːvd] to be [biː] the origin of the expression ‘as different as chalk and
cheese’ [ʧiːz] suppose because cheese [ʧiːz] was Hampshire and chalk was Sussex; 0:34:36 and she said
but if she was really um cheap [ʧiːp] and common we’d uh had cheap [ʧiːp] trendy clothes she’d have said
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she was ‘dead common’; 1:55:54 the accent I think I really like are people [piːpɫ̩] from the North East
[nɔ˞ːθiːst] you would describe them as Geordies)
been, mean, measle, seen, sheep (0:00:56 and I had to go and uh go in the army and go and do
National Service and that and then I come out and uh I trained up and I became an e… agricultural
engineer and I’ve been [bɪn] doing that most of my life and that ever since then; 0:10:21 there
wasn’t a sign (oh I see) it was just known as Sheep Street [ʃɪp stɹiːt] or Sheep Street [ʃiːp stɹiːt]
depending on which villager you spoke to; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean [mɪn] uh uh men
still went to church in their best Sunday smock and that on a Su… on a Sunday morning; 0:47:25 I
don’t think there’s too many people’ve actually ever seen [sɪn] it; 0:48:09 from from moonlight and
it was sufficient to do that and it’s the only only time in my life I’ve ever seen [sɪn] that (oh, lovely)
(never seen [sɪn] that) (that’s once in a lifetime, isn’t it, something like that really); 1:03:37 again
one from my mum she’d she’d say, “oh, we feel measled” [mɪzʊd]; 1:06:04 we wouldn’t’ve been
[biːn] allowed mum made us go to school she made us walk to school in the Great Freeze23
)
FACE [ɛɪ]
(0:47:53 it was raining [ɹɛɪnɪn] and I saw a rainbow [ɹɛɪnbəʊ] in moonlight; 1:26:04 and then he uh he
would help with the w… with the hayricks [hɛɪɹɪks] and so on bu… making [mɛɪkɪŋ] the hayricks [hɛɪɹɪks]
and all that; 1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny was in service and my
mum and my aunt Grace [ɑːnk gɹɛɪs] went into service um, you know, from the age [ɛɪʤ] of about
fourteen)
ain’t, always, <-day> (0:06:47 he said, “well it’s like this here” he said, “old Lord Leconfield he
had them but he ain’t [ɪnʔ] got them now, has he?”; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh
men still went to church in their best Sunday [sʌndɪ] smock and that on a Su… on a Sunday [sʌndɪ]
morning; 0:41:24 quite often when a couple got engaged wi… the the or the the bride-to-be, you
know, the the wife-to-be would make her hu… her husband’s Sunday [sʌndi] smock; 1:35:56 these
houses weren’t big and there was lots of people and yet (yes) there was always [ɔːɫwɪz] this one
room (that you didn’t use) that was never used it could’ve been a children’s playroom (that’s right)
but it never was; 1:38:27 always [ɔʊwɪz] called it the ‘Chesterfield’ (oh right) ‘Chesterfield’, yeah,
yeah (with an antimacassar on the back) probably yes, yes, probably there was)
great (1:27:46 grandad used to talk about things like, “going down the great wood” [gəːʔ ʊd] and
that was going down to the the ‘big wood’, you know, the “great wood” [gəːt ʊd])
PALM [ɑː]
(0:02:12 they bought a house well built a house actually in Petworth and my father [fɑːðə] had his studio
there for the rest of his life actually; 1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny
was in service and my mum and my aunt Grace [ɑːnk gɹɛɪs] went into service um, you know, from the age
of about fourteen)
THOUGHT [ɔː]
(0:02:12 they bought [bɔːt] a house well built a house actually in Petworth and my father had his studio
there for the rest of his life actually; 0:09:24 he said that’s believed to be the origin of the expression ‘as
different as chalk [ʧɔːk] and cheese’ suppose because cheese was Hampshire and chalk [ʧɔːk] was Sussex;
0:53:27 oh you mean you’re you’re talking [tɔːkɪŋ] about those springs like they get up Tunbridge Wells
(yes up Tunbridge Wells right up Kent); 1:57:29 but they were all talking actually [bɹɔːd] Brum)
Australia, alter, Saltdean (0:00:32 just the last twenty years I’ve been living over near Brighton I
lived for ten years up in Patcham and now I live down in Saltdean [sɒɫtdiːn]; 0:28:49 I don’t see
how you can have a conversation like this if if it’s got to be politically correct because this is all a
load of nonsense, isn’t it, you know (yes) you can legislate as much as you like but you can’t alter
[ɔːɫtɚ] human nature, can you?; 1:52:10 but nowadays kids are picking up this Australian
[ɒstɹɛɪliən] thing from the telly, aren’t they?)
23
Winter of 1962-63, more commonly referred to as the ‘Big Freeze’.
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GOAT [əʊ]
(0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap trendy clothes
[kləʊz] she’d have said she was ‘dead common’; 0:46:42 and they got as far as Benbow Pond [bɛmbəʊ
pɒnd] (yeah) which was all frozen [fɹəʊzən] over [əʊvɚ] and there was a load [ləʊd] of swans on there
and they didn’t like the look of these blooming tipteers coming along the road [ɹəʊd]; 1:37:40 what on
earth happened to the sensible solution of a smoke-room [sməʊkɹuːm] or smoking room [sməʊkɪŋɹuːm]
that they used to have in pubs years ago [əgəʊ] and if you smoked [sməʊkt] in a pub you went into a
particular bar that was called a ‘smoke-room’ [sməʊkɹuːm])
<-ow> (0:01:20 uh I was born at Tillington in Sussex which is very near Petworth so I’m very much
a a Sussex fellow [fɛlə]; 0:17:10 these two old fellows [fɛlɚz] they they was watching her across the
square; 0:45:08 I tell you what you could put this uh dining table and chairs inside the tree ’cause
it’s hollow [hɒlɚ]; 1:36:40 practically every household in the land had a piano [pianəʊ] in the front
room (yeah) (yes) (yeah) and a piano stool [pianə stuːɫ]; 1:52:28 people se… seem to think that it
enhances the language all these new words coming in but it what it seems to me to do is to narrow
[naɹəʊ] it)
GOAL [ɔʊ > əʊ]
(0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this old [ɔʊɫd] gaffer a pint of beer
and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”; 0:23:21 (he used to tell these Sussex stories um the
old boy [əʊɫd bɔɪ]) well the old boy, [ɔʊɫd bɔɪ] oh yeah, I well because he was undertaker, weren’t he?
(yeah, that’s right); 1:10:44 there was a wonderful story I was told [təʊɫd] I’m not dropping names but I
mean I was told [təʊɫd] by the Duke of Richmond)
plimsoll (0:37:40 new plimsolls [plɪmpsəʊˑz] (yeah) was one of the best things in life when I was a
kid; 0:37:56 they were either white or blue, weren’t they […] white or blue plim… (white or blue)
white or blue plimsolls [plɪmsəɫz])
GOOSE [uː]
(0:02:12 they bought a house well built a house actually in Petworth and my father had his studio
[stjuːdiəʊ] there for the rest of his life actually; 0:37:56 they were either white or blue, [bluː] weren’t they
[…] white or blue [bluː] plim… (white or blue [bluː]) white or blue [bluː] plimsolls; 0:56:00 and you will
find that mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] start to come with the new moon [njuː muːn] up to the full moon [fʊɫ
muːn] and directly you’ve gone past full moon [fʊɫ muːn] the mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] will wane off until
you get to the next cycle of the new moon [njuː muːn])
blooming, room, twopence (0:12:28 I wouldn’t ever call a person ‘unattractive’ I don’t think but I
might call um say a plant ‘unattractive’ (um, yes) or or if a room [ɹʊm] someone, you know,
someone’s decoration was drab possibly, yes; 0:46:42 and they got as far as Benbow Pond (yeah)
which was all frozen over and there was a load of swans on there and they didn’t like the look of
these blooming [blʌmɪn] tipteers coming along the road; 1:31:12 and it was actually it was
blooming [blʌmɪn] full of woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and
I wouldn’t’ve given you twopence [tɐ ͡pʔn̟s] for it; 1:35:37 so I’d said about the bedroom [bɛdɹʊm]
with the fire in the bedroom [bɛdɹʊm] you knew you were ill if you’d got your fire in your bedroom
[bɛdɹʊm]; 1:35:56 these houses weren’t big and there was lots of people and yet (yes) there was
always this one room [ɹuːm] (that you didn’t use) that was never used it could’ve been a children’s
playroom [plɛɪɹuːm] (that’s right) but it never was)
PRICE [ɑɪ > ʌɪ]
(0:02:43 I’ve just finished work as a Further Education College librarian [lʌɪbɹɛːɹiən]; 0:40:51 it’s afore
my [mɑɪ] time [tɑɪm] but I mean uh uh men still went to church in their best Sunday smock and that on a
Su… on a Sunday morning; 0:48:09 from from moonlight [muːnlɑɪʔ] and it was sufficient to do that and it’s
the only only time [tɑɪm] in my life [lɑɪf] I’ve ever seen that (oh, lovely) (never seen that) (that’s once in a
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lifetime, [lʌɪftʌɪm] isn’t it, something like [lʌɪk] that really); 1:53:06 I think Vic’s idea’s right [vɪks ɑɪdiəz
ɹɑɪʔ] that you should give children the opportunity of listening to older people)
my (0:00:56 and I had to go and uh go in the army and go and do National Service and that and
then I come out and uh I trained up and I became an e… agricultural engineer and I’ve been doing
that most of my [mɪ] life and that ever since then)
umpire (1:14:42 the umpire [ʌmpʌɪə] was the old blacksmith, you see, and he couldn’t have his
fellow out first ball so he he shook his head, you see)
CHOICE [ɔɪ]
(0:39:05 my memory of grandad saying his ‘corduroys’ [kɔːdəɹɔɪz] and that was his garden trousers
“trousers”; 1:07:00 he was a chap employed [ɪmplɔɪd] by the council used to come round and check up if
people hadn’t gone to school; 1:27:11 mum’s got a fairly, you know, good old Sussex voice [vɔɪs] and mine
has got Sussex vowels)
MOUTH [aʊ > æʉ ~ æɪ]
(0:06:11 anyhow [ɛniæʊ] these detective chaps they come down [dæɪn] from London and they are going
round [ɹæɪnd] in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about [əbæɪt] these sheep that were missing
and um they went in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything; 0:53:59 well you
look down [dæʉn] on the pavement there and there’s a great big brass strip goes up ac… up across there
and it says the boundary [bæʉndɹi] of Sussex and Kent; 1:06:04 we wouldn’t’ve been allowed [əlaʊd] mum
made us go to school she made us walk to school in the Great Freeze23
; 1:35:56 these houses [haʊzɪz]
weren’t big and there was lots of people and yet (yes) there was always this one room (that you didn’t use)
that was never used it could’ve been a children’s playroom (that’s right) but it never was)
our, vowel (0:18:34 all of us consciously or unconsciously modify our [ɑ˞ː] speech according to the
company that you’re in; 0:20:47 part of um our [ɑː] love of traditional music is is to do with
preserving that; 1:27:11 mum’s got a fairly, you know, good old Sussex voice and mine has got
Sussex vowels [vaʊəɫz])
NEAR [ɪə > ɪː]
(0:00:32 just the last twenty years [jɪ˞ːz] I’ve been living over near [nɪɚ] Brighton I lived for ten years
[jɪ˞ːz] up in Patcham and now I live down in Saltdean; 0:01:13 uh I was born at Tillington in Sussex which
is very near [nɪə] Petworth so I’m very much a Sussex fellow; 0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he
goes up there and he buys this old gaffer a pint of beer [bɪɚ] and he says, “well you’d better tell me what
you know”; 0:48:38 I now use the word ‘twitten’ but it took me years [jɪəz] to feel confident to use it)
SQUARE [ɛː ~ ɛə]
(0:02:43 I’ve just finished work as a Further Education College librarian [lʌɪbɹɛːɹiən]; 0:07:17 and uh they
had a sort of old section, you know, like uh uh uh of, you know, uh rare [ɹɛɚ] books or valuable books;
0:31:08 and it’s so careless [kɛːləs] and it’s so easily done you you often do things without thinking;
0:45:08 I tell you what you could put this uh dining table and chairs [ʧɛɚz] inside the tree ’cause it’s
hollow)
START [ɑː > aː]
(0:28:28 the farmer’s wife, [fɑːməz wɑɪf] you know, that she’s sort of slightly in charge [ʧɑːʤ] as well
sometimes ‘the missus’, isn’t she, she’s got a position of importance; 0:45:43 there’s some mates of mine
and that well I’ve got a mate of mine farms [faːmz] up at Upperton; 0:56:00 and you will find that
mushrooms start [stɑ˞ːt] to come with the new moon up to the full moon and directly you’ve gone past full
moon the mushrooms will wane off until you get to the next cycle of the new moon; 1:43:24 my grandad
was in s… in was he was a gardener [gɑːdnə] and granny was in service and my mum and my aunt Grace
went into service um, you know, from the age of about fourteen)
NORTH [ɔː]
(0:39:05 my memory of grandad saying his ‘corduroys’ [kɔːdəɹɔɪz] and that was his garden trousers
“trousers”; 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church in their best Sunday smock
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and that on a Su… on a Sunday morning [mɔ˞ːnɪŋ]; 1:55:54 the accent I think I really like are people from
the North East [nɔ˞ːθiːst] you would describe them as Geordies [ʤɔ˞ːdiz])
or (0:21:04 there are one or two [wɒn ə tuː] I simply cannot understand (nor can I) um I won’t I’d
better not say which they are)
FORCE [ɔː > ɔə˞]
(0:40:51 it’s afore [əfɔɚ] my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church in their best Sunday smock and
that on a Su… on a Sunday morning; 1:30:54 jolly expensive now (they are they are) a poor a poor
working man wouldn’t be able to afford [əfɔːd] one of them now; 1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he
was a gardener and granny was in service and my mum and my aunt Grace went into service um, you
know, from the age of about fourteen [fɔːtiːn])
CURE [ɔː]
(0:30:52 yes, I’m sure [ʃɔː] you’re right, Vic; 1:30:54 jolly expensive now (they are they are) a poor [pɔː] a
poor [pɔː] working man wouldn’t be able to afford one of them now)
happY [i]
(0:33:30 a lot of agricultural terms and words that were in common usage [kɒmən juːzɪʤ] and that uh
well even fifty [fɪfti] fifty [fɪfti] sixty [sɪksti] years ago are gradually [gɹaʤəli] sort of (right) dropping out
of use now; 0:34:36 and she said but if she was really [ɹɪːli] um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap
trendy [tɹɛndi] clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead common’; 1:10:26 I suppose if I mean today like the
boys next door would play football they’d talk about going to play footy [fʊti])
lettER [ə]
(0:46:05 well they were in the old tipteers, you know, the, like, the mummers [mʌmɚz] and that (oh, yeah)
at at Tillington and Upperton [ʌpɚtən]; 1:07.12 yeah, that’s right I I heard that only quite recently when I
was talking to somebody whose father [fɑːðə] had been a teacher [tiːʧə] (yeah) uh in uh near Chichester
[ʧɪʧɪstə] actually; 1:43:24 my grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener [gɑːdnə] and granny was in
service and my mum and my aunt Grace went into service um, you know, from the age of about fourteen)
trousers (0:39:05 my memory of grandad saying his ‘corduroys’ and that was his garden trousers
[gɑːdn̟ tɹaʊzəz] “trousers” [tɹaʊzɪz])
commA [ə]
(0:27:57 it’s an uncomfortable area [ɛːɹiə] now I think it’s awkward for people, isn’t it?; 1:39:11 I now
have a nice sofa [səʊfə] and I think it call it a ‘sofa’ [səʊfə] mostly; 1:48:27 it changes much more rapidly
than it used to and I think that is the influence of uh the media [miːdiə])
horsES [ɪ]
(1:07:39 you know a lot of places [plɛɪsɪz] didn’t have electric in fact we didn’t have it until about 1961 or
62 (that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t have it either; 1:48:27 it
changes [ʧɛɪnʤɪz] much more rapidly than it used to and I think that is the influence of uh the media;
1:52:28 people se… seem to think that it enhances [ɪnhɑːnsɪz] the language all these new words coming in
but it what it seems to me to do is to narrow it)
startED [ɪ]
(0:01:35 I’m most interested [ɪntɹəstɪd] in this project; 1:08:00 and the thing that we all dreaded [dɹɛdɪd]
was having to pedal this bicycle thing that he had he literally had a like a monocycle)
mornING [ɪ > n]̟
(0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh talking about nothing in particular [nʌʔn̟ ɪm
pətɪklɚ] and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a cracker”;
1:14:12 they were having [havɪŋ] this match and um saw the village team, you know, they put their ve…
best batsman in first and so on and then Larwood24
was on bowling [bəʊlɪŋ] and he was he was a sort of I
24
Harold Larwood (1904-1995), Nottinghamshire and England professional cricketer.
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BBC Voices Recordings think he was called bodyline
25 bowler, wasn’t he?; 1:26:04 and then he uh he would help with the w… with
the hayricks and so on bu… making [mɛɪkɪŋ] the hayricks and all that)
VARIABLE RHOTICITY26
(0:01:13 uh I was born [bɔːn] at Tillington in Sussex which is very near [nɪə] Petworth so I’m very much a
Sussex fellow; 0:07:17 and uh they had a sort of old section, you know, like uh uh uh of, you know, uh rare
[ɹɛɚ] books or valuable books; 0:40:51 it’s afore [əfɔɚ] my time but I mean uh uh men still went to church
[ʧɚːʧ] in their [ðɛ˞ː] best Sunday smock and that on a Su… on a Sunday morning [mɔ˞ːnɪŋ]; 0:46:05 well
they were in the old tipteers, [tɪptɪɚz] you know, the, like, the mummers [mʌmɚz] and that (oh, yeah) at at
Tillington and Upperton [ʌpɚtən]; 0:56:00 and you will find that mushrooms start [stɑ˞ːt] to come with the
new moon up to the full moon and directly you’ve gone past full moon the mushrooms will wane off until
you get to the next cycle of the new moon; 1:29:47 apart from [əpɑ˞ːt fɹəm] crooks and things you’ve got
sort of [sɔdəv] dipping irons [dɪpɪŋɑɚnz] and goodness kno… and and then drenching-horns
[dɹɛnʧɪŋhɔ˞ːnz] and goodness knows what else; 1:30:54 jolly expensive now (they are they are) a poor
[pɔː] a poor [pɔː] working [wəːkɪn] man wouldn’t be able to afford [əfɔːd] one of them now; 1:43:24 my
grandad was in s… in was he was a gardener [gɑːdnə] and granny was in service [səːvɪs] and my mum
and my aunt Grace went into service [səːvɪs] um, you know, from the age of about fourteen [fɔːtiːn])
hyperrhoticity (0:17:10 these two old fellows [fɛlɚz] they they was watching her across the square;
0:45:08 I tell you what you could put this uh dining table and chairs inside the tree ’cause it’s hollow
[hɒlɚ]; 1:02:36 (what is ‘plumb tuckered’ American?) I’ve no idea [nəʊ ɑɪdɪɚ] it might’ve originated from
there I’ve no idea [nəʊ ɑɪdɪɚ]; 1:07:53 and this chap used to turn up in a car with all his paraphernalia
[paɹəfənɛɪliɚ] his tools and all the gear like that you know in the back)
PLOSIVES
T
frequent word final T-glottaling (e.g. 0:40:51 it’s afore my time but [bəʔ] I mean uh uh men still went to
church in their best Sunday smock and that [ən ðaʔ] on a Su… on a Sunday morning; 1:13:28 they got a
collection up and raised the money to pay his fine off so ’cause they didn’t [dɪdn̟ʔ] want to lose him, you
know, so he got [gɒʔ] he got off he didn’t [dɪnʔ] get [gɛʔ] transported; 1:27:11 mum’s got [gɒʔ] a fairly, you
know, good old Sussex voice and mine has got [gɒʔ] Sussex vowels; 1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they
wouldn’t [wɵdn̟ʔ] use it [ɪʔ] any more because it’s gone, you know, there was a time when ‘yuppy’ or or
‘dinky’ and all those little things came in)
word-medial & syllable initial T-glottaling (0:28:28 the farmer’s wife, you know, that she’s sort of
slightly in charge as well sometimes ‘the missus’, isn’t she, she’s got a position of importance [ɪmpɔːʔn̟s];
0:48:38 I now use the word ‘twitten’ [twɪʔn̟] but it took me years to feel confident to use it; 1:31:12 and it
was actually it was blooming full of woodworm it was rotten [ɹɒʔn]̟ (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound
on it and I wouldn’t’ve given you twopence for it; 1:01:24 I would say I was uh p… ‘pretty mad’ [pɹɪʔi
mæd] really; 1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t use it any more because it’s gone, you know,
there was a time when ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little [lɪʔɫ̩] things came in)
frequent T-voicing (e.g. 0:28:49 I don’t see how you can have a conversation like this if if it’s got to
[gɒdə] be politically correct because this is all a load of nonsense, isn’t it, you know (yes) you can legislate
as much as you like but you can’t alter human nature, can you?; 0:34:36 and she said but if [bəd ɪf] she
was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap trendy clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead
common’; 1:13:28 they got [gɒd] a collection up and raised the money to pay his fine off so ’cause they
25
Controversial method of bowling in cricket, also known as ‘fast leg theory’, implemented by England cricket captain Douglas
Jardine (1900-1958) during 1932-33 Ashes tour to Australia. 26
Bob generally uses postvocalic R, Vic does so very occasionally; the other speakers are consistently non-rhotic.
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BBC Voices Recordings
didn’t want to lose him, you know, so he got he got off [gɒd ɒf] he didn’t get transported [tɹanspɔ˞ːdɪd];
1:29:47 apart from crooks and things you’ve got sort of [sɔdəv] dipping irons and goodness kno… and and
then drenching-horns and goodness knows what else [wɒd ɛɫs]; 1:21:47 ‘kip’ or have a ‘nap’ depending,
you know, that was well it was a little [lɪdɫ̩] sleep, wasn’t, it a ‘nap’)
P, T, K
glottal reinforcement of P, T, K27
(0:08:31 that’s what I thought when you were starting on about
turkeys [təː ͡kʔiːz] I thought, “well, yeah, I know what you mean but I always thought it was sheep”,
like; 0:47:37 as you come over the top of the hill and yet people [piː ͡pʔʊ] can see Petworth
silhouetted [sɪluːɛ͡tʔɪd] against the s… the sort of skyline, you know; 1:31:12 and it was actually it
was blooming full of woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I
wouldn’t’ve given you twopence [tɐ͡pʔn̟s] for it; 1:13:28 they got a collection up and raised the
money to [ ͡tʔə] pay his fine off so ’cause they didn’t want to [wɒn͡tʔə] lose him, you know, so he got
he got off he didn’t get transported)
NASALS
NG
frequent NG-fronting (e.g. 0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down from London and they
are going [gəʊɪn] round in the pubs and that asking [ɑːskɪn] if anybody knew about these sheep that were
missing [mɪsɪn] and um they went in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything
[ɛnɪθɪŋ]; 0:16:30 ‘buxom girl’ is sort of acknowledging [əknɒlɪɪʤɪn] the sort of largeness but also
acknowledge that it’s it is attractive; 0:47:53 it was raining [ɹɛɪnɪn] and I saw a rainbow in moonlight;
1:22:46 in winter evenings [iːvnɪŋz] they’d be sitting [sɪtɪn] in the cottage and uh mum would be mother’d
be one side the fire uh knitting [nɪtɪn] or or doing [duːɪn] a little tatting [tatɪn] or summat)
<-thing> with NK (0:57.11 and if you want to be urgent about it you know what they’d used to say I
mean it’s something [sʌθɪŋk] that’s dropped out of fashion now but if you said ‘dreckly minute’
(now) that would mean you’d do it straightaway)
N
syllabic N with nasal release (0:12:28 I wouldn’t [wʊdn̟ʔ] ever call a person ‘unattractive’ I don’t think
but I might call um say a plant ‘unattractive’ (um, yes) or or if a room someone, you know, someone’s
decoration was drab possibly, yes; 0:31:32 but on the other hand it would also be used for people maybe
who’d got uh saddled with a load of debt or something like that to imply that they’d got a burden [bɚːdn̟];
0:39:05 my memory of grandad saying his ‘corduroys’ and that was his garden trousers [gɑːdn̟ tɹaʊzəz]
“trousers”; 1:07:39 you know a lot of places didn’t [dɪdn̟] have electric in fact we didn’t [dɪdn̟] have it
until about 1961 or 62 (that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t [dɪdn̟]
have it either; 1:10:21 but that implied something mischievous (it did) slightly as well, didn’t it? [dɪdn̟ɪt];
1:16:11 until all of a sudden [ɔːl əv ə sʌdn̟] they found out that um Slindon Cricket Club was a great deal
older than the MCC28
and they changed their tune and came down and played; 1:31:12 and it was actually
it was blooming full of woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I
wouldn’t’ve [wʊdn̟əv] given you twopence for it; 1:39:23 they had a wooden [wʊdn̟] settle up at up at uncle
Wally’s farmhouse; 1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t [wɵdn̟ʔ] use it any more because it’s
gone, you know, there was a time when ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little things came in)
27
All tokens supplied by Bob. 28
Marylebone Cricket Club, founded 1787 in London, formerly governing body of cricket in England still based at Lords
Cricket Ground.
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BBC Voices Recordings syllabic N with epenthetic schwa (0:45:43 there’s some mates of mine and that well I’ve got a mate of
mine farms up at Upperton [ɐpɚtən]; 1:25:38 you know very often [ɒftən] there was the back-drop of the
Downs and he’d got the real feel of it)
FRICATIVES
H
H-dropping (0:06:11 anyhow [ɛniæʊ] these detective chaps they come down from London and they are
going round in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about these sheep that were missing and um they
went in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything; 1:15:35 there’s always been a
thing going and that between Sussex and well, you know, Ha… [a] Sussex and and um and Hampshire
[ampʃɚ] about the sort of origins of cricket)
TH-stopping (0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh talking about nothing [nʌʔn̟] in
particular and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a
cracker”)
LIQUIDS
R
approximant R (0:12:28 I wouldn’t ever call a person ‘unattractive’ [ʌnətɹaktɪv] I don’t think but I might
call um say a plant ‘unattractive’ [ʌnətɹaktɪv] (um, yes) or or if a room [ɹʊm] someone, you know,
someone’s decoration [dɛkəɹɛɪʃən] was drab [dɹab] possibly, yes; 0:56:00 and you will find that
mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] start to come with the new moon up to the full moon and directly [dɹɛkli] you’ve
gone past full moon the mushrooms [mɐʃɹuːmz] will wane off until you get to the next cycle of the new
moon; 1:43:24 my grandad [gɹændæd] was in s… in was he was a gardener and granny [gɹæni] was in
service and my mum and my aunt Grace [ɑːnk gɹɛɪs] went into service um, you know, from the age of about
fourteen)
L
clear onset L (0:02:43 I’ve just finished work as a Further Education College [kɒlɪʤ] librarian
[lʌɪbɹɛːɹiən]; 0:37:56 they were either white or blue, [bluː] weren’t they […] white or blue [bluː] plim…
(white or blue [bluː]) white or blue [bluː] plimsolls [plɪmsəɫz]; 1:37:01 and what I especially loved [lʌvd]
about granny’s harmonium both me and my sister Dolly [dɒli] was that we used to have to pedal the foot
pedals um to uh, you know, when she played [plɛɪd] it)
dark coda L (0:02:12 they bought a house well [wɛɫ] built [bɪɫt] a house actually in Petworth and my
father had his studio there for the rest of his life actually; 0:56:00 and you will [juː wəɫ] find that
mushrooms start to come with the new moon up to the full moon [fʊɫ muːn] and directly you’ve gone past
full moon [fʊɫ muːn] the mushrooms will wane off until [ʌntɪɫ] you get to the next cycle [sɑɪkɫ̟] of the new
moon; 1:26:04 and then he uh he would help [hɛɫp] with the w… with the hayricks and so on bu… making
the hayricks and all that [ɔːɫ ðat])
frequent L-vocalisation (e.g. 0:47:37 as you come over the top of the hill [hɪʊ] and yet people [piː͡pʔʊ] can
see Petworth silhouetted against the s… the sort of skyline, you know; 1:28:12 (can you remember, Bob?)
well all the tools [tuːʊz] had special [spɛʃʊ] names I mean the all sorts [ɔːʊ sɔːts] of names and that for
particularly for agricultural [agɹɪkʌɫʧəɹəɫ] tools [tuːʊz]; 1:53:06 I think Vic’s idea’s right that you should
give children [ʧɪʊdɹən] the opportunity of listening to older [əʊːdə] people [piːpʊ])
syllabic L with lateral release (0:03:50 I come from a uh country background my grandad was a um head
gardener on a big estate just outside Battle [batɫ]̟; 0:31:32 but on the other hand it would also be used for
people maybe who’d got uh saddled [sædɫd̟] with a load of debt or something like that to imply that they’d
got a burden; 1:08:00 and the thing that we all dreaded was having to pedal [pɛdɫ̟] this bicycle thing that
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BBC Voices Recordings he had he literally had a like a monocycle; 1:37:01 and what I especially loved about granny’s harmonium
both me and my sister Dolly was that we used to have to pedal [pɛdɫ̟] the foot pedals [pɛdɫ̟z] um to uh, you
know, when she played it; 1:39:23 they had a wooden settle [sɛtɫ̟] up at up at uncle Wally’s farmhouse;
1:57:29 and they could actually differentiate between the two which to myself and probably the the rest of
us here would be the difference would be so subtle [sʌtɫ̟])
GLIDES
W
WH-W contrast29
(0:40:19 what colour was that would it be white, [ʍaɪt] would it? (it was white, [waɪt]
yes) it was white, [ʍaɪt] yes; 1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t use it any more because it’s
gone, you know, there was a time when [ʍɛn] ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little things came in)
J
yod with D, T (0:02:12 they bought a house well built a house actually in Petworth and my father had his
studio [stjuːdiəʊ] there for the rest of his life actually; 1:11:36 the Duke [djuːk] was really quite a good
batsman he always used to go in first, you see; 1:16:11 until all of a sudden they found out that um Slindon
Cricket Club was a great deal older than the MCC28
and they changed their tune [tjuːn] and came down
and played)
yod dropping with N (0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down from London and they are
going round in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew [nuː] about these sheep that were missing and um
they went in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything; 1:32:46 you know that
the old licensees the landlords of the pubs and that used to have to go every year and that to the
magistrates’ court and that to get their licence renewed [ɹɪnuːd]; 1:35:37 so I’d said about the bedroom
with the fire in the bedroom you knew [nuː] you were ill if you’d got your fire in your bedroom)
yod dropping – other (0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh talking about nothing
in particular [nʌʔn̟ ɪm pətɪklɚ] and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she
weren’t half a cracker”; 0:39:05 my memory of grandad saying his ‘corduroys’ [kɔːdəɹɔɪz] and that was
his garden trousers “trousers”)
yod coalescence (0:02:43 I’ve just finished work as a Further Education [fəːðə ɛʤəkɛɪʃən] College
librarian; 0:54:17 and did you [dɪʤu] know that the Greenwich meridian runs through Lewes?; 1:07:53
and this chap used to turn up in a car with all his paraphernalia his tools and all the gear like that you
[lɑɪk ðaʧu nəʊ] know in the back; 1:53:06 I think Vic’s idea’s right that you should give children the
opportunity [ɒpəʧuːnəti] of listening to older people)
ELISION
prepositions
frequent of reduction (e.g. 0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this old
gaffer a pint of [ə] beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”; 0:28:49 I don’t see how
you can have a conversation like this if if it’s got to be politically correct because this is all a load of [ə]
nonsense, isn’t it, you know (yes) you can legislate as much as you like but you can’t alter human nature,
can you?; 0:45:43 there’s some mates of [ə] mine and that well I’ve got a mate of mine farms up at
Upperton; ; 0:46:42 and they got as far as Benbow Pond (yeah) which was all frozen over and there was a
load of [ə] swans on there and they didn’t like the look of these blooming tipteers coming along the road;
1:07:39 you know a lot of [ə] places didn’t have electric in fact we didn’t have it until about 1961 or 62
(that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of [ə] the village schools didn’t have it either; 1:15:35 there’s
always been a thing going and that between Sussex and well, you know, Ha… Sussex and and um and
29
All tokens supplied by Vic.
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BBC Voices Recordings
Hampshire about the sort of origins of [ə] cricket; 1:31:12 and it was actually it was blooming full of [ə]
woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I wouldn’t’ve given you twopence
for it)
negation
secondary contraction (0:10:29 only trouble with that is, Tina, that if you put a sign up it’d be some
council chap would put it up there, wouldn’t he? [wʊniː]; 1:13:28 they got a collection up and raised the
money to pay his fine off so ’cause they didn’t [dɪdn̟ʔ] want to lose him, you know, so he got he got off he
didn’t [dɪnʔ] get transported)
simplification
word final consonant cluster reduction (0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down from
London and they are going round in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about these sheep that were
missing and um they went [wɛn] in this particular place and they asked [ɑːst] and nobody didn’t say
anything; 0:10:29 only trouble with that is, Tina, that if you put a sign up it’d be some council chap would
put it up there, wouldn’t he? [wʊniː]; 0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh talking
about nothing in particular and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she
weren’t half a cracker” [ʃi wʊn aːf ə kɹakɚ]; 0:23:21 (he used to tell these Sussex stories um the old boy)
well the old boy, oh yeah, I well because he was undertaker, weren’t he? [wɚːniː] (yeah, that’s right);
0:27:57 it’s an uncomfortable area now I think it’s awkward for people, isn’t it? [ɪzn̟ɪt]; 0:28:49 I don’t see
how you can have a conversation like this if if it’s got to be politically correct because this is all a load of
nonsense, isn’t it, [ɪzn̟ɪʔ] you know (yes) you can legislate as much as you like but you can’t alter human
nature, can you?; 0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap
trendy clothes [kləʊz] she’d have said she was ‘dead common’; 1:07:39 you know a lot of places didn’t
[dɪdn̟] have electric in fact we didn’t [dɪdn̟] have it until about 1961 or 62 (that’s right) before we had
electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t [dɪdn̟] have it either; 1:10:21 but that implied something
mischievous (it did) slightly as well, didn’t it? [dɪdn̟ɪt]; 1:31:12 and it was actually it was blooming full of
woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I wouldn’t’ve [wʊdn̟əv] given you
twopence for it; 1:35:26 it was always damp, wasn’t it? [wɒn̟nɪ̟ʔ] (’cause it wasn’t used))
word medial consonant cluster reduction (0:16:48 and these two old fellows they were sitting there uh
talking about nothing in particular [nʌʔn̟ ɪm pətɪklɚ] and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square,
you see, “cor, she weren’t half a cracker”; 0:57.11 and if you want to be urgent about it you know what
they’d used to say I mean it’s something [sʌθɪŋk] that’s dropped out of fashion now but if you said ‘dreckly
minute’ (now) that would mean you’d do it straightaway)
syllable deletion (0:56:00 and you will find that mushrooms start to come with the new moon up to the full
moon and directly [dɹɛkli] you’ve gone past full moon the mushrooms will wane off until you get to the next
cycle of the new moon; 0:57.11 and if you want to be urgent about it you know what they’d used to say I
mean it’s something that’s dropped out of fashion now but if you said ‘dreckly minute’ [dɹɛkli mɪnɪt] (now)
that would mean you’d do it straightaway; 1:10:26 I suppose [spəʊz] if I mean today like the boys next
door would play football they’d talk about going to play footy)
L-deletion (0:10:29 only [əʊni] trouble with that is, Tina, that if you put a sign up it’d be some council
chap would put it up there, wouldn’t he?; 0:48:09 from from moonlight and it was sufficient to do that and
it’s the only [əʊni] only [əʊni] time in my life I’ve ever seen that (oh, lovely) (never seen that) (that’s once
in a lifetime, isn’t it, something like that really))
TH-deletion with them (0:38:48 they was ei… there was two words they used for them [əm] one was to call
them [əm] ‘yorks' or ‘boot-legs’)
V-deletion with have (0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had
cheap trendy clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead common’ [ʃiːdə sɛd ʃi wəz dɛd kɒmən]; 1:06:04 we
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wouldn’t’ve been allowed [wʊdn̟ʔə biːn əlaʊd] mum made us go to school she made us walk to school in
the Great Freeze23
; 1:35:56 these houses weren’t big and there was lots of people and yet (yes) there was
always this one room (that you didn’t use) that was never used it could’ve been a children’s playroom [ɪt
kɵdə biːn ə ʧɪɫdɹənz plɛɪɹuːm] (that’s right) but it never was)
W-deletion (1:27:46 grandad used to talk about things like, “going down the great wood” [gəːʔ ʊd] and
that was going down to the the ‘big wood’, you know, the “great wood” [gəːt ʊd])
LIAISON
linking R (0:40:41 ’cause all the elastic used to sort of go very very very unelastic at the end of a summer
in the sea [sʌməɹ ɪn ðə siː]; 1:14:42 the umpire was the old blacksmith, you see, and he couldn’t have his
fellow out first ball [kʊdn̟t hav iz fɛləɹ aʊt fəːst bɔːɫ] so he he shook his head, you see; 1:35:37 so I’d said
about the bedroom with the fire in the bedroom [fɑɪɹ ɪn ðə bɛdɹʊm] you knew you were ill if you’d got your
fire in your bedroom [fɑɪɹ ɪn jə bɛdɹʊm])
zero linking R (0:02:43 I’ve just finished work as a Further Education [fəːðə ɛʤəkɛɪʃən] College
librarian; 1:35:37 so I’d said about the bedroom with the fire in the bedroom you knew you were ill [ju wəː
ɪɫ] if you’d got your fire in your bedroom)
zero intrusive R (0:42:16 and certainly I can remember only once ever seeing one that I I actually saw an
old red one [sɔː ən ɔʊɫd ɹɛd wɒn] red smock; 0:47:53 it was raining and I saw a rainbow [sɔː ə ɹɛɪnbəʊ] in
moonlight; 1:14:32 you know the poor old batsman who was very very good it was such a fast ball he never
saw [sɔː ɪʔ] it and he just nicked it, you know, went straight in the slips you see and “howzat”)
SUBSTITUTION
metathesis (1:27:46 grandad used to talk about things like, “going down the great wood” [gəːʔ ʊd]
and that was going down to the the ‘big wood’, you know, the “great wood” [gəːt ʊd])
+/- VOICE
usage (0:33:30 a lot of agricultural terms and words that were in common usage [kɒmən juːzɪʤ] and that
uh well even fifty fifty sixty years ago are gradually sort of (right) dropping out of use now)
WEAK-STRONG CONTRAST
vowel reduction (0:01:35 I’m most interested [ɪntɹəstɪd] in this project)
vowel strengthening
word final vowel strengthening (0:01:20 uh I was born at Tillington in Sussex [sʌsɪks] which is very near
Petworth so I’m very much a a Sussex [sʌsɪks] fellow; 0:16:30 ‘buxom girl’ is sort of acknowledging the
sort of largeness [lɑːʤnɪs] but also acknowledge that it’s it is attractive; 1:15:35 there’s always been a
thing going and that between Sussex [sɐsɪks] and well, you know, Ha… Sussex [sɐsɪks] and and um and
Hampshire about the sort of origins of cricket; 1:27:11 mum’s got a fairly, you know, good old Sussex
[sʌsɪks] voice and mine has got Sussex [sʌsɪks] vowels)
vowel strengthening – other (1:07.12 yeah, that’s right I I heard that only quite recently when I was
talking to somebody whose father had been a teacher (yeah) uh in uh near Chichester [ʧɪʧɪstə] actually;
1:27:11 mum’s got a fairly, you know, good old Sussex voice and mine has got [ɪz gɒʔ] Sussex vowels)
LEXICALLY SPECIFIC VARIATION
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BBC Voices Recordings again(st) (0:47:37 as you come over the top of the hill and yet people can see Petworth silhouetted against
[əgɛnst] the s… the sort of skyline, you know; 1:03:37 again [əgɛɪn] one from my mum she’d she’d say,
“oh, we feel measled”)
because (0:28:49 I don’t see how you can have a conversation like this if if it’s got to be politically correct
because [bɪkʊs] this is all a load of nonsense, isn’t it, you know (yes) you can legislate as much as you like
but you can’t alter human nature, can you?; 1:48:11 ‘yuppy’ […] you know, they wouldn’t use it any more
because [bɪkɒz] it’s gone, you know, there was a time when ‘yuppy’ or or ‘dinky’ and all those little things
came in)
(n)either (1:07:39 you know a lot of places didn’t have electric in fact we didn’t have it until about 1961 or
62 (that’s right) before we had electric but a lot of the village schools didn’t have it either [ɑɪðɚ]; 1:53:41
you know, there’s so much so much of this um uh emphasis on well regional accents or regional dialect
and one thing and another (that’s right Estuary English) you’ve got you’ve got, you know, it’s either
[ɑɪðɚ] (yeah, Estuary English) yeah; 1:58:18 well she was very ash… ashamed of it that, you know, she
could neither [nɑɪðə] read nor write)
often (0:31:08 and it’s so careless and it’s so easily done you you often [ɒfən] do things without thinking;
0:41:24 quite often [ɒfən] when a couple got engaged wi… the the or the the bride-to-be, you know, the the
wife-to-be would make her hu… her husband’s Sunday smock; 1:25:38 you know very often [ɒftən] there
was the back-drop of the Downs and he’d got the real feel of it)
pristine (1:36:12 or the vicar came round (yeah) or something, you know, you they took in went in the front
room but it was always just so and kept looking pristine [pɹɪsˈtiːn] but it was never used and we had a
room like that (“oh bugger, it the vicar”))
says (0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this old gaffer a pint of beer
and he says, [sɛz] “well you’d better tell me what you know”; 0:53:59 well you look down on the pavement
there and there’s a great big brass strip goes up ac… up across there and it says [səz] the boundary of
Sussex and Kent; 1:24:04 then old grandfather he’d suddenly wake up in the corner there and he’d say he
says, [sɛz] “there’s so much argufying going on around here I reckon we’d better have a song”)
GRAMMAR
DETERMINERS
zero indefinite article (0:23:21 (he used to tell these Sussex stories um the old boy) well the old boy, oh
yeah, I well because he was _ undertaker, weren’t he? (yeah, that’s right))
demonstrative them (0:24.22 oh he’s talking to old Len and that as well and uh, yeah, there was things
about what was it, you know, “them black candles, Alfie, and that what we had of course we had to have
black candles during the blackout so they couldn’t see the light”; 0:43.50 but I’ve frequently heard people
say, “oh, they’re strange them people over in West Sussex”)
NOUNS
zero plural (1:31:12 and it was actually it was blooming full of woodworm it was rotten (yeah) and
they’d got thirty-five pound on it and I wouldn’t’ve given you twopence for it)
PRONOUNS
me in co-ordinate subjects (1:37:01 and what I especially loved about granny’s harmonium both me and
my sister Dolly was that we used to have to pedal the foot pedals um to uh, you know, when she played it)
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BBC Voices Recordings possessive me (0:00:56 and I had to go and uh go in the army and go and do National Service and that and
then I come out and uh I trained up and I became an e… agricultural engineer and I’ve been doing that
most of me life and that ever since then)
unbound reflexive (1:57:29 and they could actually differentiate between the two which to myself and
probably the the rest of us here would be the difference would be so subtle)
zero relative (0:10:29 only trouble with that is, Tina, that if you put a sign up it’d be some council chap _
would put it up there, wouldn’t he?; 0:45:43 there’s some mates of mine and that well I’ve got a mate of
mine _ farms up at Upperton; 0:47:25 I don’t think there’s too many people _’ve actually ever seen it;
0:53:59 well you look down on the pavement there and there’s a great big brass strip _ goes up ac… up
across there and it says the boundary of Sussex and Kent; 1:07:00 he was a chap employed by the council _
used to come round and check up if people hadn’t gone to school)
VERBS
past zero past (0:00:56 and I had to go and uh go in the army and go and do National Service and that and
then I come out and uh I trained up and I became an e… agricultural engineer and I’ve been doing that
most of my life and that ever since then; 1:42:13 I think there’s always been um from from uh uh as long as
I can think um a distinction between between people who might’ve been w… w… what you would describe
as old money or gentry (yeah) and people who suddenly come into a lot of money and flashed it about)
be – was generalisation (0:17:10 these two old fellas they they was watching her across the square;
0:38:48 they was ei… there was two words they used for them one was to call them ‘yorks' or ‘boot-legs’)
was-weren’t split (0:16:48 and these two old fellas they were sitting there uh talking about nothing in
particular and uh they sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a
cracker”; 0:23:21 (he used to tell these Sussex stories um the old boy) well the old boy, oh yeah, I well
because he was undertaker, weren’t he? (yeah, that’s right))
alternative past (1:21:15 we just ‘went to bed’ or you ‘went to sleep’ or you ‘laid down’)
compounds
simple past with progressive meaning (0:06:25 there’s an old gaffer sat underneath the fire, you know,
up up by the chimney and that and he says he says, “I knows who had them”)
double past with used to (0:57.11 and if you want to be urgent about it you know what they’d used to say I
mean it’s something that’s dropped out of fashion now but if you said ‘dreckly minute’ (now) that would
mean you’d do it straightaway)
invariant there is/there was (0:24.22 oh he’s talking to old Len and that as well and uh, yeah, there was
things about what was it, you know, “them black candles, Alfie, and that what we had of course we had to
have black candles during the blackout so they couldn’t see the light”; 0:38:48 they was ei… there was two
words they used for them one was to call them ‘yorks' or ‘boot-legs’; 0:46:42 and they got as far as
Benbow Pond (yeah) which was all frozen over and there was a load of swans on there and they didn’t like
the look of these blooming tipteers coming along the road; 0:47:25 I don’t think there’s too many people’ve
actually ever seen it; 1:35:56 these houses weren’t big and there was lots of people and yet (yes) there was
always this one room (that you didn’t use) that was never used it could’ve been a children’s playroom
(that’s right) but it never was; 1:50:44 there is parts of the Junior National Curriculum where for example
they are now talking about memories of the Second World War)
historic present (0:06:25 there’s an old gaffer sat underneath the fire, you know, up up by the chimney and
that and he says he says, “I knows who had them”; 0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up
there and he buys this old gaffer a pint of beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”;
0:16:48 and these two old fellas they were sitting there uh talking about nothing in particular and uh they
sees this lovely girl go across the square, you see, “cor, she weren’t half a cracker”; 0:24:04 then old
http://sounds.bl.uk Page 21 of 22
BBC Voices Recordings grandfather he’d suddenly wake up in the corner there and he’d say he says, “there’s so much argufying
going on around here I reckon we’d better have a song”)
NEGATION
multiple negation (0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down from London and they are going
round in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about these sheep that were missing and um they went
in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything)
ain’t for negative have (0:06:47 he said, “well it’s like this here” he said, “old Lord Leconfield he
had them but he ain’t got them now, has he?”)
cannot (0:21:04 there are one or two I simply cannot understand (nor can I) um I won’t I’d better not say
which they are)
PREPOSITIONS
deletion
zero of (1:22:46 in winter evenings they’d be sitting in the cottage and uh mum would be mother’d be one
side _ the fire uh knitting or or doing a little tatting or summat)
preposition deletion – other (0:53:27 oh you mean you’re you’re talking about those springs like they get
up _ Tunbridge Wells (yes up _ Tunbridge Wells right up _ Kent); 1:47:27 if you went down_ the pub you
and would say to some, “oh, she’s up the club”)
ADVERBS
unmarked manner adverb (0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this
old gaffer a pint of beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”)
DISCOURSE
utterance final and that (0:00:56 and I had to go and uh go in the army and go and do National Service
and that and then I come out and uh I trained up and I became an e… agricultural engineer and I’ve been
doing that most of my life and that ever since then; 0:06:11 anyhow these detective chaps they come down
from London and they are going round in the pubs and that asking if anybody knew about these sheep that
were missing and um they went in this particular place and they asked and nobody didn’t say anything;
0:06:25 there’s an old gaffer sat underneath the fire, you know, up up by the chimney and that and he says
he says, “I knows who had them”; 0:07:12 I had a chum of mine and that who he was librarian and that in
Chichester Library; 0:24.22 oh he’s talking to old Len and that as well and uh, yeah, there was things
about what was it, you know, “them black candles, Alfie, and that what we had of course we had to have
black candles during the blackout so they couldn’t see the light”; 0:45:43 there’s some mates of mine and
that well I’ve got a mate of mine farms up at Upperton)
utterance final like (0:06:41 so some reluctant, like, you know he goes up there and he buys this old gaffer
a pint of beer and he says, “well you’d better tell me what you know”; 0:08:31 that’s what I thought when
you were starting on about turkeys I thought, “well, yeah, I know what you mean but I always thought it
was sheep”, like)
utterance internal like (0:46:05 well they were in the old tipteers, you know, the, like, the mummers and
that (oh, yeah) at at Tillington and Upperton)
intensifier dead (0:34:36 and she said but if she was really um cheap and common we’d uh had cheap
trendy clothes she’d have said she was ‘dead common’)
intensifier jolly (1:30:54 jolly expensive now (they are they are) a poor a poor working man wouldn’t be
able to afford one of them now)
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BBC Voices Recordings © Robinson, Herring, Gilbert
Voices of the UK, 2009-2012
A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust