Questionnaire Response Books

Description

This subseries contains the original response books in which the Survey of English Dialects (SED) fieldworkers recorded informants' responses to the Dieth-Orton Questionnaire. A response book exists for each of the 313 villages and towns included in the SED National Network of Localities.


The field recordings were made in ms. using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Responses were recorded on specially-prepared loose sheets. Each sheet is divided at the centre with the left side intended for informants responses (with relevant remarks and explanations by the fieldworker), and the right for 'incidental material' (i.e. any other significant terms and expressions of relevance to the Survey). The survey is based around a questionnaire with 9 themed chapters: The Farm; Farming; Animals; Nature; The House and Housekeeping; The Human Body; Numbers, Time and Weather; Social Activities; States, Actions, Relations. Many of the response books also include additional notes, sketches and diagrams made by the fieldworker in order to clarify objects and utensils referred to.

Biography or history

Eleven fieldworkers were involved in collecting responses for the SED, namely Michael Barry, Howard N. Berntsen, Stanley Ellis, W. Nelson Francis, Peter Gibson, Marie Haslam, David Parry, Averil Playford, Donald Sykes, John Wright and Peter Wright. All the fieldworkers were trained in dialectology: Barry, Ellis, Sykes, John Wright and Peter Wright all graduated from the Department of English Language and Medieval Literature at the University of Leeds, having been trained as dialectologists; Gibson and Playford both received postgraduate training in dialectology; Francis was a Senior Research Fellow in the Department and had experience in survey work in American linguistic geography; Berntsen was a Fulbright scholar; Haslam's contribution (Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire) was part of her work for an Honours degree in English Language and Literature at Leeds; and Parry's contributions (Cross Keys and Llanfrechfa, Monmouthshire) were made during postgraduate research in dialectal English in
South-East Wales.


The field recordings are largely composite, in that for the most part it was necessary to interview two or three informants in order to cover all the parts of the Questionnaire. This was partially due to the time factor, as it took an estimated two or more hours to answer each book of the Questionnaire. The fieldworkers were also encouraged to spend time in the locality area and make the purpose of their visit known in order to establish good relations with their informants. Harold Orton, in his introduction to the Survey, notes the preferred technique of establishing a master/pupil relationship between informant and fieldworker, with the informant as Master of his dialect ( 'Survey of English Dialects. Section A: Introduction', p. 17).

Once complete, the response books were sent to Harold Orton for checking, returned to the fieldworker to make any additions or corrections (always in red ink), and then bound locality by locality into the recording books contained within this subseries. From 1952-1962, Orton was voluntarily aided in this fieldwork editing by Wilfrid J. Halliday, a former member of the University of Leeds Extra-Mural Department.

Provenance

Response books may have unreliable page numbering systems and some pages and chapters may be in the wrong order. Some books are very fragile so tears, cellotape and loose pages may appear in the digitised images.


There are a few cases where additional notes and documents can be found loose at the back of the response book. These may not be detailed in the descriptions of the Notes chapter, but will always be recorded in the digitised images of the Notes chapter.


On some occasions certain chapters won't have been completed, or there may not be an additional notes section. However, the format of the catalogue means that there will still be a record in place for these missing chapters.


As part of an AHRC catalogue project (2002-05) an introductory overview and guides to the 'incidental materials' per county were produced. These are available as pdf downloads via the 'county' catalogue record (file level).

System of arrangement

The response books are housed in magazine files in SED county and locality order. The archival identification numbers assigned to files and individual response books reflects the numbering assigned to SED counties and localities.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

This item is fragile and may be unavailable on conservation grounds. Access is at the discretion of the Conservation Officer. A digital surrogate is linked to the catalogue record.

Many of the response books are damaged and fragile, with loose bindings, covers and pages. The duplicate response books (held at LAVC/SED/2/3) should be consulted in the first instance. Original response books will only be made available for consultation if markings in the duplicates are not legible. Records for the duplicate response books have not been created below subseries level as they literally duplicate the data found in the original response books. The duplicate response books share the same final reference numbers as the originals, e.g. Northumberland original response books are held at LAVC/SED/2/2/1; duplicates are held at LAVC/SED/2/3/1.

This material is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can be supplied by the Library for research or private study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available on tracing copyright status and ownership.

Related material

As part of the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture Project (2002-2005) a series of documents were produced which provide an analysis of the incidental material contained within the SED fieldworkers' response books. These are available as pdf downloads via the 'county' catalogue record (file level). The documents are arranged by county. References to documents for individual counties are included in the series level records for the response books.


Marie Haslam's study (Leeds, 1954), 'The Living Dialect of the Village of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire', is held at LAVC/SRP/2/209.


David Parry's thesis (Leeds, 1964), 'Studies in the Linguistic Geography of Radnorshire, Breconshire, Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire', is held at LAVC/SRP/1/121.



Audio recordings of SED informants on gramophone disc and audio tape are held in series LAVC/SRE/D/2 and LAVC/SRE/A. These include original recordings on gramophone disc and copies on audio tape; and compilations of SED sound recordings made by the BBC. Individual references to these recordings are given at file level.

Related records in our catalogue

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