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Geordie () is a
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
for a person from the
Tyneside
Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt.
The population of Tyneside as publishe ...
area of
North East England,
and the
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitutes a Geordie. The term is used and has been historically used to refer to the people of the North East.
A Geordie can also specifically be a native of Tyneside (especially
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
) and the surrounding areas.
[ Not everyone from the North East of England identifies as a Geordie.
Geordie is a continuation and development of the language spoken by Anglo-Saxon settlers, initially employed by the ancient ]Brythons
The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', la, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were people of Celtic language and culture who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age and into the Middle Ages, at which point the ...
to fight the Pict
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...
ish invaders after the end of Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
rule in Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
in the 5th century. The Angles
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ...
, Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
and Jutes
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic nation ...
who arrived became ascendant politically and culturally over the native British through subsequent migration from tribal homelands along the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
coast of mainland Europe. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that emerged in the Dark Ages spoke largely mutually intelligible varieties of what is now called Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, each varying somewhat in phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
, syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
, and lexicon. This linguistic conservatism means that poems by the Anglo-Saxon scholar the Venerable Bede
Bede ( ; ang, BÇ£da , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
translate more successfully into Geordie than into Standard English.
In Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
and the Scottish borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
, then dominated by the kingdom of Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
, there developed a distinct Northumbrian Old English
Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars.
The dialect w ...
dialect. Later Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
migrants possibly influenced Geordie phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
from the early 19th century onwards.
The British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
points out that the Norse, who primarily lived south of the River Tees, affected the language in Yorkshire but not in regions to the north. This source adds that "the border skirmishes that broke out sporadically during the Middle Ages meant the River Tweed established itself as a significant northern barrier against Scottish influence". Today, many who speak the Geordie dialect use words such as gan ('go' – modern German ) and bairn ('child' – modern Danish ) which "can still trace their roots right back to the Angles".
The word "Geordie" can refer to a supporter of Newcastle United. The Geordie Schooner
Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...
glass was traditionally used to serve Newcastle Brown Ale
Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale, originally brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter after three years of development, the 1960 merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer natio ...
.
The Geordie dialect and identity are primarily associated with those of a working-class background. A 2008 newspaper survey found the Geordie accent the "most attractive in England".
Geographical coverage
People
When referring to the people, as opposed to the dialect, dictionary definitions of a Geordie typically refer to a native or inhabitant of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, or its environs, an area that encompasses North Tyneside
North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend.
North Tyneside is bordered ...
, Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, South Tyneside
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England.
It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the no ...
and Gateshead. This area has a combined population of around 700,000, based on 2011 census-data.
The term itself, according to Brockett, originated from all the North East coal mines. The catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
for the term "Geordie" can include Northumberland and County Durham or be confined to an area as small as the city of Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
and the metropolitan boroughs of Tyneside.
Scott Dobson, the author of the book ''Larn Yersel Geordie'', once stated that his grandmother, who was brought up in Byker
Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series '' Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is borde ...
, thought the miners were the true Geordies. There is a theory the name comes from the Northumberland and Durham coal mines. Poems and songs written in this area in 1876 (according to the OED
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...
), speak of the "Geordie".
Dialect
Academics refer to the Geordie dialect as "Tyneside English".
According to the British Library, "Locals insist there are significant differences between Geordie and several other local dialects, such as Pitmatic
__NOTOC__
Pitmatic (originally: "Pitmatical", colloquially known as "Yakka") is a group of traditional Northern English dialects spoken in rural areas of the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield in England.
The separating dialectal development ...
and Mackem
Mackem, Makem or Mak'em a nickname for residents of and people from Sunderland, a city in North East England. It is also a name for the local dialect and accent (not to be confused with Geordie); and for a fan, of whatever origin, of Sunderland ...
. Pitmatic is the dialect of the former mining areas in County Durham and around Ashington to the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, while Mackem is used locally to refer to the dialect of the city of Sunderland and the surrounding urban area of Wearside".
Etymology
A number of rival theories explain how the term "Geordie" came about, though all accept that it derives from a familiar diminutive form of the name George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
, "a very common name among the pitmen" (coal miners) in North East England; indeed, it was once the most popular name for eldest sons in the region.
One account traces the name to the times of the Jacobite Rebellion
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
of 1715. The Jacobites declared that the natives of Newcastle were staunch supporters of the Hanoverian kings, whose first representative George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
reigned (1714–1727) at the time of the 1715 rebellion. Newcastle contrasted with rural Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land on ...
, which largely supported the Jacobite cause. In this case, the term "Geordie" may have derived from the popular anti-Hanoverian song "Cam Ye O'er Frae France
Cam ye o'er frae France? is a Scots folk song from the time of the Jacobite rebellions of the 18th century. It satirises the marital problems of the Hanoverian George I.
Background
After the death of Queen Anne the British crown passed on to G ...
?", which calls the first Hanoverian king "Geordie Whelps", a play on "George the Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
".
Another explanation for the name states that local miner
A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...
s in the northeast of England used Geordie safety lamps, designed by George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians
In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...
, known locally as "Geordie the engine-wright", in 1815 rather than the competing Davy lamps, designed about the same time by Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
and used in other mining communities. Using the chronological order of two John Trotter Brockett books, ''Geordie'' was given to North East pitmen; later he acknowledges that the pitmen also christened their Stephenson lamp ''Geordie''.
Linguist Katie Wales
Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own.
People Sports
*Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player
*Katie Clark (born 1994), Brit ...
also dates the term earlier than does the current ''Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''; she observes that ''Geordy'' (or ''Geordie'') was a common name given to coal-mine pitmen in ballads and songs of the region, noting that such usage turns up as early as 1793. It occurs in the titles of two songs by songwriter Joe Wilson: "Geordy, Haud the Bairn" and "Keep your Feet Still, Geordie". Citing such examples as the song "Geordy Black", written by Rowland Harrison of Gateshead, she contends that, as a consequence of popular culture, the miner and the keelman had become icons of the region in the 19th century, and "Geordie" was a label that "affectionately and proudly reflected this," replacing the earlier ballad emblem, the figure of Bob Crankie.
In the ''English Dialect Dictionary
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
'' of 1900, Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to:
*Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter
*Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist
*Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metro ...
gave as his fourth definition of "Geordie": ''A man from Tyneside; a miner; a north-country collier vessel'', quoting two sources from Northumberland, one from East Durham and one from Australia. The source from Durham stated: "In South Tyneside even, this name was applied to the Lower Tyneside men."
Newcastle publisher Frank Graham's ''Geordie Dictionary'' states:
In Graham's many years of research, the earliest record he found of the term's use dated to 1823 by local comedian Billy Purvis. Purvis had set up a booth at the Newcastle Races on the Town Moor. In an angry tirade against a rival showman, who had hired a young pitman
Pitman may refer to:
* A coal miner, particularly in Northern England
* Pitman (surname)
* Pitman, New Jersey, United States
* Pitman, Pennsylvania, United States
* Pitman, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Pitman Shorthand, a system of shorthand
* Pitman ar ...
called Tom Johnson to dress as a clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
, Billy cried out to the clown:
(Rough translation: "Oh man, who but a fool would have sold off his furniture and left his wife? Now, you're a fair downright fool, not an artificial fool like Billy Purvis! You're a real Geordie! Go on, man, and hide yourself! Go on and get your picks xesagain. You may do for the city, but never for the west end of our town!")
John Camden Hotten
John Camden Hotten (12 September 1832, Clerkenwell – 14 June 1873, Hampstead) was an English bibliophile and publisher. He is best known for his clandestine publishing of numerous erotic and pornographic titles.
Life
Hotten was born John Will ...
wrote in 1869: "Geordie, general term in Northumberland and Durham for a pitman, or coal-miner. Origin not known; the term has been in use more than a century." Using Hotten as a chronological reference, Geordie has been documented for at least years as a term related to Northumberland and County Durham.
The name ''Bad-weather Geordy'' applied to cockle sellers:
Travel writer Scott Dobson used the term "Geordieland" in a 1973 guidebook to refer collectively to Northumberland and Durham.
Linguistic surveys
The Survey of English Dialects
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before loc ...
included Earsdon
Earsdon is a village in the borough of North Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It sits on the border of Northumberland, which it is historically part of, and is approximately two miles from Whitley Bay. The village had a populati ...
and Heddon-on-the-Wall
Heddon-on-the-Wall is a village in Northumberland, England, located on Hadrian's Wall. Heddon-on-the-Wall is roughly west of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, and just outside Throckley. The place-name 'Heddon' means 'hill where heather grew'. ...
in its fieldwork, administering more than 1000 questions to local informants.
The Linguistic Survey of Scotland The Linguistic Survey of Scotland was a long-term project at the University of Edinburgh to cover the use of language in Scotland, including Scottish English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic.
The Survey began at a time when the modern subject of linguis ...
included Cumberland and Northumberland (using pre-1974 boundaries) in its scope, collecting words through postal questionnaires. Tyneside sites included Cullercoats
Cullercoats is a coastal settlement in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it has now been absorbed into the wider Tyneside conurbation, sitting between Tynemouth to the ...
, Earsdon, Forest Hall
Forest Hall is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in the United Kingdom. It is a north eastern suburb of Newcastle and lies six kilometres from the city centre. It borders Killingworth to the north, Holystone to the east and Benton to the ...
, Gosforth
Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...
, Newcastle upon Tyne, Wallsend-on-Tyne
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...
and Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...
.
Phonology
The phonemic notation used in this article is based on the set of symbols used by . Other scholars may use different transcriptions. Watt and Allen stated that there were approximately 800,000 people in the early 2000s who spoke this form of British English.
Tyneside English (TE) is spoken in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city of around 260,000 inhabitants in the far north of England, and in the conurbation stretching east and south of Newcastle along the valley of the River Tyne as far as the North Sea. The total population of this conurbation, which also subsumes Gateshead, Jarrow, North and South Shields, Whitley Bay, and Tynemouth, exceeds 800,000.
Consonants
Geordie consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
s generally follow those of Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geog ...
, with these unique characteristics as follows:
* appearing in an unstressed final syllable of a word (such as in ''reading'') is pronounced as (thus, ''reading'' is ).
* The Geordie accent does not use the glottal stop in a usual fashion. It is characterised by a unique type of glottal stops. can all be pronounced simultaneously with a glottal stop after them in Geordie, both at the end of a syllable and sometimes before a weak vowel.
** T-glottalisation
In English phonology, ''t''-glottalization or ''t''-glottalling is a sound change in certain English dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain position ...
, in which is realised by before a syllabic nasal (e.g., ''button'' as ), in absolute final position (''get'' as ), and whenever the is intervocalic so long as the latter vowel is not stressed (''pity'' as ).
** Glottaling in Geordie is known as 'pre-glottalisation', which is 'an occlusion at the appropriate place of articulation and 'glottalisation', usually manifested as a short period of laryngealised voice before and/or after and often also during the stop gap'. This type of glottal is unique to Tyneside English.
* Other voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies ...
stops, , are glottally reinforced in medial position, and preaspirated In phonetics, preaspiration (sometimes spelled pre-aspiration) is a period of Voice (phonetics), voicelessness or Aspiration (phonetics), aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the ...
in final position.
* The dialect is non-rhotic
Rhoticity in English is the pronunciation of the historical rhotic consonant by English speakers. The presence or absence of rhoticity is one of the most prominent distinctions by which varieties of English can be classified. In rhotic variet ...
, like most British dialects, most commonly as an alveolar approximant , although a labiodental realisation is also growing for younger females (this is also possible by older males, albeit rarer). Traditionally, intrusive R
Linking R and intrusive R are sandhi or ''linking'' phenomena involving the appearance of the rhotic consonant (which normally corresponds to the letter ) between two consecutive morphemes where it would not normally be pronounced. These phenomen ...
was not present, instead glottalising between boundaries, however is present in newer varieties.
* ''Yod''-coalescence in both stressed and unstressed syllables (so that ''dew'' becomes ).
* is traditionally clear in all contexts, meaning the velarised allophone is absent. However, modern accents may periodically use in syllable final positions, sometimes it may even be vocalised (as in ''bottle'' ).
Vowels
; Length
* For some speakers, vowel length alternates with vowel quality in a very similar way to the Scottish vowel length rule
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule (also known as Aitken's law after A. J. Aitken, the Scottish linguist who formulated it) describes how vowel length in Scots, Scottish English, and, to some extent, Ulster English and Geordie is conditioned by th ...
.
* Vowel length is phonemic for many speakers of Geordie, meaning that length is often the one and only phonetic difference between and ( and ) or between and ( and ). If older or traditional dialect forms are considered, () also has a phonemic long counterpart , which is mostly used in words spelled with , making minimal pairs such as ''tack'' vs. ''talk'' (less broad Geordie pronunciation: ). Another appears as an allophone of before final voiced consonants in words such as ''lad'' .
; Phonetic quality and phonemic incidence
* and , , are typically somewhat closer than in other varieties in morphologically closed syllables; is also less prone to fronting than in other varieties of BrE and its quality is rather close to the cardinal . However, younger women tend to use a central instead. In morphologically open syllables, and are realised as closing diphthongs . This creates minimal pairs such as ''freeze'' vs. ''frees'' and ''bruise'' (hereafter transcribed with for the sake of simplicity) vs. ''brews'' .
** The vowel is tense and is best analysed as belonging to the phoneme.
* As other Northern English varieties, Geordie lacks the - split, so that words like ''cut'', ''up'' and ''luck'' have the same phoneme as ''put'', ''sugar'' and ''butcher''. The typical phonetic realisation is unrounded , but it may be hypercorrected to among middle-class (especially female) speakers.
* The long close-mid vowels , in and , may be realised as monophthongs in open syllables or as opening diphthongs in closed syllables. Alternatively, can be a closing diphthong and can be centralised to . The opening diphthongs are recessive, as younger speakers reject them in favour of the monophthongal .
** Other, now archaic, realisations of include in ''snow'' and in ''soldiers'' .
** Many female speakers merge with , but the exact phonetic quality of the merged vowel is uncertain.
* , , may be phonetically or a higher, unrounded vowel . An RP-like vowel is also possible.
** In older broadest Geordie, merges with to under the influence of a uvular that once followed it (when Geordie was still a rhotic dialect). The fact that the original vowel is never hypercorrected to or suggests that either this merger was never categorical, or that speakers are unusually successful in sorting those vowels out again.
* The schwa is often rather open (). It also tends to be longer in duration than the preceding stressed vowel, even if that vowel is phonologically long. Therefore, words such as ''water'' and ''meter'' are pronounced and . This feature is shared with the very conservative (''Upper Crust'') variety of Received Pronunciation.
** Words such as ''voices'' and ''ended'' have in the second syllable (so ), rather than the of RP. That does not mean that Geordie has undergone the weak vowel
In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as ...
merger because can still be found in some unstressed syllables in place of the more usual . An example of that is the second syllable of ''seven'' , but it can also be pronounced with a simple schwa instead. Certain weak forms also have instead of ; these include ''at'' (homophonous with strong ''it''), ''of'' (nearly homophonous with ''if''), ''as'' (homophonous with strong ''is''), ''can'' and ''us'' (again, homophonous with strong ''is'').
* As in other Northern English dialects, the vowel is short in Geordie, thus there is no London-style trap-bath split. There are a small number of exceptions to this rule; for instance, ''half'', ''master'', ''plaster'' and sometimes also ''disaster'' are pronounced with the vowel .
* Some speakers unround , , to . Regardless of the rounding, the difference in backness between and is very pronounced, a feature which Geordie shares with RP and some northern and midland cities such as Stoke-on-Trent and Derby, but not with the accents of the middle north.
* Older traditional Geordie does not always adhere to the same distributional patters of vowels found in standard varieties of English. Examples of that include the words ''no'' and ''stone'', which may be pronounced and , so with vowels that are best analysed as belonging to the and phonemes.
; Diphthongs
* The second elements of and , , are commonly as open as the typical Geordie realisation of ().
* The first element of , , varies between , and . Traditionally, this whole vowel was a high monophthong (with ''town'' being pronounced close to RP ''toon'') and this pronunciation can still be heard, as can a narrower diphthong (with ''town'' being pronounced close to RP ''tone'').
* is , but Geordie speakers generally use a less common allophone for certain environments in accordance with the Scottish vowel length rule
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule (also known as Aitken's law after A. J. Aitken, the Scottish linguist who formulated it) describes how vowel length in Scots, Scottish English, and, to some extent, Ulster English and Geordie is conditioned by th ...
, , which has a longer, lower, and more back onset than the main allophone. Thus is used in words such as ''knife'' , whereas is used in ''knives'' . For simplicity, both of them are written with in this article.
Vocabulary
The Geordie dialect shares similarities with other Northern English dialects, as well as with the Scots language
Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...
(See Rowe 2007, 2009).
Dorfy, real name Dorothy Samuelson-Sandvid, was a noted Geordie dialect writer. In her column for the South Shields Gazette
The ''Shields Gazette'', established in 1849, is a daily newspaper. It was known as the oldest provincial evening newspaper in the United Kingdom.
It was originally established as a weekly paper - the ''North and South Shields Gazette and Nort ...
, Samuelson-Sandvid attests many samples of Geordie language usage, such as the nouns ''bairn'' ("child") and ''clarts'' ("mud");[ the adjectives ''canny'' ("pleasant")] and ''clag'' ("sticky"); and the imperative verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''q ...
''howay'' ("hurry up!"; "come on!")[
'' Howay'' is broadly comparable to the invocation "Come on!" or the French "Allez-y!" ("Go on!"). Examples of common use include ''Howay man!'', meaning "come on" or "hurry up", ''Howay the lads!'' as a term of encouragement for a sports team for example (the players' tunnel at ]St James' Park
St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England.
St James' Pa ...
has this phrase just above the entrance to the pitch), or ''Ho'way!?'' (with stress on the second syllable) expressing incredulity or disbelief.[ The literal opposite of this phrase is ''haddaway'' ("go away"); although not as common as ''howay'', it is perhaps most commonly used in the phrase "Haddaway an' shite" (Tom Hadaway, Figure 5.2 Haddaway an' shite; 'Cursing like sleet blackening the buds, raging at the monk of Jarrow scribbling his morality and judgement into a book.']).
Another word, ''divvie'' or ''divvy'' ("idiot"), seems to come from the Co-op dividend, or from the two Davy lamps (the more explosive Scotch Davy used in 1850, commission disapproved of its use in 1886 (inventor not known, nicknamed Scotch Davy probably given by miners after the Davy lamp was made perhaps by north east miners who used the Stephenson Lamp), and the later better designed Davy designed by Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
also called the Divvy.) As in a north east miner saying 'Marra, ye keep way from me if ye usin a divvy.' It seems the word divvie then translated to daft lad/lass. Perhaps coming from the fact one would be seen as foolish going down a mine with a Scotch Divvy when there are safer lamps available, like the Geordie, or the Davy.
The Geordie word ''netty
Netty may refer to:
* Netty (software), a Java project
* North East England ( Geordie) dialect for toilet or public convenience
*Netty (name)
See also
* Westoe Netty
*Nethy (disambiguation)
* Natty (disambiguation)
*Netta (disambiguation)
*Nett ...
'', meaning a toilet and place of need and necessity for relief or bathroom,[ has an uncertain origin,] though some have theorised that it may come from slang used by Roman soldiers
This is a list of Roman army units and bureaucrats.
*'' Accensus'' – Light infantry men in the armies of the early Roman Republic, made up of the poorest men of the army.
*'' Actuarius'' – A military who served food.
*''Adiutor'' – A camp o ...
on Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...
,[ which may have later become '' gabinetti'' in the ]Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
[ (such as in the ]Westoe Netty
The Westoe Netty is a painting by Robert Olley. It depicts a historical scene inside a public toilet (Netty is a Geordie dialect word for toilet). Painted in 1972, it has become a cultural symbol of North East England working class history.
Ol ...
, the subject of a famous painting from Bob Olley). However, ''gabbinetto'' is the Modern Italian diminutive of ''gabbia'', which actually derives from the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''cavea
The ''cavea'' ( Latin for "enclosure") are the seating sections of Greek and Roman theatres and amphitheatres
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performanc ...
'' ("hollow", "cavity", "enclosure"), the root of the loanwords that became the Modern English ''cave'', ''cage'', and ''gaol''. Thus, another explanation would be that it comes from a Modern Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
form of the word '' gabinetti'',[ though only a relatively small number of Italians have migrated to the North of England, mostly during the 19th century.]
Some etymologists connect the word ''netty
Netty may refer to:
* Netty (software), a Java project
* North East England ( Geordie) dialect for toilet or public convenience
*Netty (name)
See also
* Westoe Netty
*Nethy (disambiguation)
* Natty (disambiguation)
*Netta (disambiguation)
*Nett ...
'' to the Modern English word ''needy''. John Trotter Brockett, writing in 1829 in his ''A glossary of north country words...'', claims that the etymon
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...
of ''netty'' (and its related form ''neddy'') is the Modern English ''needy'' and ''need''.
Bill Griffiths, in ''A Dictionary of North East Dialect'', points to the earlier form, the Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''nÃd''; he writes: "MS locates a possible early ex. "Robert Hovyngham sall make... at the other end of his house a knyttyng" York 1419, in which case the root could be OE nÃd 'necessary'".[ Another related word, ''nessy'' is thought (by Griffiths) to derive from the Modern English "necessary".][
A poem called "Yam" narrated by author Douglas Kew, demonstrates the usage of a number of Geordie words.]
References
Sources
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External links
Newcastle English (Geordie)
Sounds Familiar?
€“ Listen to examples of Geordie and other regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
and compare side by side with other accents from the UK and around the World.
The Geordie Directory
– Find out about & learn the Geordie accent
Geordie dialect words
on Wikibooks
{{English dialects by continent
Culture in Tyne and Wear
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People from Tyne and Wear
North East England
City colloquials