Thursday, February 13, 2014

Run, run, run

Hello everyone.

It's been a while since my last post, but thankfully there is an ongoing and interesting conversation amongst the regulars (thank you Gaynor, Bryan, Bert, and Yorick)

This latest post came to me while I was working upstairs in my house building bedrooms for the kids. I was talking to my wife about some detail or other when I caught myself saying, "I run up the stairs".

What I actually meant was, "I ran up the stairs", which would have been the correct verb form for the imperfect tense of run - ran. There is nothing particularly unusual in this, many people in various dialects will use the present tense form of verbs to express actions in the past. What did strike me as interesting was that there may be another, much more subtle, element to this construction.

When I said, "I run upstairs", there was no doubt in my mind that I was referring to something that had happened in the past, even though the verb form was actually in the present tense. The interesting thing was the pronunciation, not of the verb form run rather the pronoun I.

I pronounced the I as /æ/ like the "a" in bat. It seems that this pronunciation changed the meaning of the sentence and therefore the tense of the verb to imperfect, that is, past tense. To compare I pronounced the sentence with the standard pronunciation of "I" /aj/. Pronounced like this, the verb form run maintains its temporal meaning of present tense, that is, "I run" (something that happens in the present, or more usually in English, something I do habitually) "I run to work on Tuesdays", for example.

Try it yourself and see what you think.
Is there a difference when you say  /æ rʊʊpstɛrz/ (pronounced like the "a" in bat)
as compared to /aj rʊʊpstɛrz(pronounced like the "y" in my)
It is my feeling that there is a difference between the two when said in natural, normal-pace speech. Whether this is peculiar to the Warrington dialect is another question.


7 comments:

  1. Yes, it's strange that is'nt it? I say "a" for "I" all the time. When it is said as "I run up the stairs" it's as though you are actually running up the stairs and telling someone you are doing so at the same time. "A run up the stairs" like you say Robert sounds as though you have done it. What a lovely thing dialect is:-).

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  2. The imperfect tense is 'I was running'. It's 'imperfect' because the action has not been completed. It's also called the past continuous tense. I ran is the simple past tense, and I have run is the present perfect tense. I had run is the past perfect tense. I don't know about your problem with running up the stairs, but I remember when I was 11 or 12, I wanted to write something like "I've been to London", but in my head "been" was pronounced "bin" [Av bin t' London] I knew writing "bin" would be wrong, but for a moment or two I couldn't remember the word I needed to write.
    On an unrelated topic, have you noticed how many people on TV don't know how irregular verbs go? I hear "I swum the river" and "I rung the bell" and suchlike far too often. And nobody knows the difference between lay and lie any more.

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  3. When I write casual speech on the blog or how we speak in Warrington I very often have to change words for it to be correct in standard English.For example "A run all way t shops mam",when I write it it has to become " I ran....
    I have'nt noticed "I rung the bell" Maybe they should have rung the bell or used the knocker:-)
    Lay always seems to be used in song lyrics "Come and lay down by my side" "lay lady lay" Might be an American influence.
    I find that strange Bert,"dont know how irregular verbs go".

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    1. Hello intellectual bloggers.
      This word run has some very interesting uses.
      He's run off with it.
      A'll run the bath foh yer.
      They've run off t'gether.
      Thez water runnin everywhere (very topical)
      A'll run upstairs.
      Run ome yer mum wants yer.
      Iz noze iz runnin
      Jus run t,shop fo me
      We'r avin a run out t,towyn on a sharra.
      Av you ever bin on a sharra Bert?
      In the sixties there was a song called "Keep on runnin"
      Interestingly the Bible uses four words, Run, Runnest,Runneth and Running.
      Robert, how many bible words have found their way into our language and dialect?

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  4. Hiya all,

    I first went on a sharra Bryan when I was 10.It was a run out for the day with the school to Ingleton in Yorkshire.We stood behind the waterfall and watched the water run down the rocks.That was an amazing thing for us townies.

    These are a few more everyone might like;

    Run up a hill,
    Run up a bill,
    Run out of money,,
    Have runny honey,
    Run for mayor,
    Run after a hare,
    Run your fingers through your hair,
    Have a run of weather thats fair.

    I hear people say on occasions "My cup runneth over". I've said it myself.

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  5. We had a song at Sunday School: "Running over, running over, my cup's full and running over. Since the Lord saved me, I'm as happy as can be. My cup's full and running over."
    Oh yes, me and my Dad used to go on the sharra to places like Blackpool and even Morecambe. Somebody always used to take a collection for the driver. I didn't understand that - he was getting paid, wasn't he?
    There is a song by Snow Patrol called "Chasing Cars". The chorus: "If I lay here, If I just lay here, Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
    What's that all about? Wrong twice and right once. Perhaps two wrongs do make a right!

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    1. Hello Gaynor & Bert

      My cup runneth over is verse 5 of Psalm 23.
      Children learnt portions of scripture at school as part of the curriculum when I went to Oakwood infant school many moons ago, as well as at Sunday school where we won Bibles for good attendance and walked in the walking day with our new shoes on (OW!) with packamacs in our pockets.
      We were allowed fish and chips for lunch and taken on the King and Queen green for one packet of crisps (with a wee salt bag in) and one bottle of Stotherts pop Later we walked to the Sunday school hut for tea (jelly and cake) After walking home we were allowed to go to Silcocks fair and spend our Walking day pennies.
      We walked everywhere, man we must have walked some miles! rain or shine.
      Did you notice that I used a phrase "Many moons ago" Where does it come from? I sort of fancy its about Apache's and general Custer stuff. White man speaks with forked tongue. We have picked up all sorts from all the westerns we watched at the Flix.
      It may not be PC (I'm not PC) but after watching cowies at the Odeon on Saturday morning we would rush home and don our colt 45,s and holsters, go to the shop for a roll of caps and have our own gunfight at the OK coral in the street, some well off kids had Winchesters that fired caps, wow!, I even had a cowboy hat. You don't see children in the street with six guns anymore shouting "Draw"
      Did you ever get your Mums brush and pretend it was a horse. I don't think these things did us any harm.

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