We had a very interesting question from David Ball that I would like to explore here.
In a comment on the "Your dialect words" section of the blog, David stated:
"The western parts of Warrington have Liverpool-influenced
words. The eastern parts have a more Manchester/Lancashire influence. That's
because of their relative positions, vis-a-vis our metropolitan
neighbours.
What about the North-South divide? [ ] I would further guess that Cheshire influences the way
people talk south of the canal. One thing I could imagine being the case is more
words related to a farming lifestyle, as opposed to industrial related words to
the north"
David is absolutely correct about the East/West differences, but what about North/South?
The town north of the river is undoubtedly historically more industrial. The River Mersey was also the natural border for Lancashire and Cheshire for centuries up to 1974.
Has this history made a difference?
If so, is that difference still present in the modern speech of Warringtonians?
What do you think?
Do you live north of the River Mersey/Manchester Ship Canal, and do you think you speak differently from those "over the water"?
The same question to those living south of the River Mersey/Manchester Ship Canal.
Post your comments or send me an email!
Hiya wirelector. I do think north Warringtons industrial past has made a difference to the way we speak. South Warrington had more proffesional people living there when I was growing up who also spoke standard English.People who I know who live "over the bridge" have all moved there from somewhere else so their accents have varied.
ReplyDeleteYes I think it is still the case.People of north Warrington still have a stronger accent although there is a slight change between older and young people here.
When the reorganisation took place in 1974 the Lancashire Life,so I'm told,ran a competition to see if readers could come up with an appropriate word to describe what was happening to their county:the winner was "Lancastration".
Ha haa!
DeleteThis is great, Gaynor. I have posted a link to it the on the Lancashire Society Facebook page.
I'm sure they'll love it :-)
Hi Wirelector, I live in North Warrington and I haven't noticed a lot of difference in the general speech north and south of the canal. Maybe people have moved and mixed around the town more in recent decades. Going back to the 1970s I lived at Stretton and there was a difference then, especially listening to older locals. For example, in conversation one gent used to call you "mester" as in "I'll tell you something now, mester ", and a lot of the local people would pronounce Northwich with the accent on the "wich".
ReplyDeleteBelated Happy New Year to you.
I think just generally people on the South side are posher and have a more rural Cheshire influenced accent whereas people on the North are split into East/West (East: Manchester/Lancashire, West: Liverpool).
ReplyDelete