Lancashire Dialect by Peter Wright

I have just finished reading Lancashire Dialect by Peter Wright. It was first published in 1976, and gives a wonderful insight into the Lancashire dialect(s) of that time. The style of writing is a little dated, but it was a very enjoyable read especially as it is contemporary with the dialect(s) in use around the time of my birth (1974). What struck me about the linguistic data contained in the book is how "broad" it sounds, and yet how familiar it is at the same time. Many of the words and sayings in the book I did not use growing up, and I cannot remember my parents using them, but I do remember them being in use.

One thing that struck me in particular, however, is the use of the Middle English (circa 1150- 1500) personal pronouns in use at the time. They are, indeed, still in use to a much lesser extent today, but I am sorry to say that I believe they have completely fallen out of use in the speech of the younger generation. I would love to be proved wrong!

For comparison, here are the personal pronouns in Modern English:

             Singular                                                Plural                 
Subject  Object    Possessive            Subject   Object    Possessive

I              me            mine                  we            us            our
you          you           your                  you           you          your
he/she/it   him/her/it   his/hers/its         they          them         their




and here are the personal pronouns in Middle English:




              Singular                                             Plural                     
Subject   Object     Possessive          Subject    Object    Possessive

ik/ich/I       me               my(n)             we          us              oure
thou           thee             thy(n)             ye           you            your
he/sche/hit  hit/him/hire   his/his/hire     he/they    hem/them   her/their


The personal pronouns I am referring to are the 2nd person singular subject and object forms: thou and thee.

I can distinctly remember hearing these used in ordinary everyday speech in sentences such as:

• 'Ow's thee doin'? (How are you doing?)
• Sit thee doon/down. (Sit down.)
• Ay, tha wer' reet. (tha=thou) (Yes, you were right.)

and the classic play on the Middle English 2nd person singular personal pronoun thee and the definite article the. As follows:

A person is looking for somewhere to throw a piece of rubbish, and they ask:

- Where's the bin? (lit. - Where is the bin?) (Dialect - Where has thee been?)

to which comes the reply:

- A's bin nowhere, where's you bin? (I haven't been anywhere, where have you been?)

Do you use these pronouns? Are they still common in Warringtonian speech? Or are they archaic and old fashioned?