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The Living Dialect of Orrell, Lancashire

Archive File: LAVC/SRP/2/238

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: The Living Dialect of Orrell, Lancashire

Level: File

Classmark: LAVC/SRP/2/238

Creator(s): Wilson, Elaine

Site Location(s): Subject - Orrell, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom( 53.5301, -2.709 )

Date(s): 1960

Size and medium: xv, 176 bound ms. leaves; 8 b/w photographs.

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/410274

Collection group(s): Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture

Description

A study of the dialect spoken in Orrell, near Wigan in Lancashire, based on interviews with two local residents.


An introduction to the village and the two informants is followed by five chapters which present an account of the sounds of the dialect recorded in 19[59], describe the development of Middle English sounds in the living dialect (vowels of stressed and unstressed syllables), describe changes in consonantal sounds from the Old and Middle English periods down to 19[59], and present a tabular summary of the Old English, Middle English, Old French and Old Norse equivalents of stressed vowels in the living dialect of Orrell.


The first of three appendices presents a history of the Orrell nail and bolt industry, illustrated with photographs of a smithy owned by the collector's male informant, a nail maker of seventy-two years. These show the interior of the smithy and associated nail making tools and equipment. Two further appendices concern parasitic syllabic nasals, and the survival of Middle English plural endings -en in Orrell. A fourth appendix refers to a gramophone disc of unscripted speech, recorded in Orrell in the summer of 1959, submitted with the study. No such disc has been traced within the LAVC. A Word List is included.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

The theses and dissertations in this subfonds are available for consultation in the searchroom of Special Collections, University of Leeds, by all bona fide researchers. Conditions relating to access and use have, in a number of cases, been applied to particular items by individual depositors. These are noted within the relevant individual records.

Material in this collection is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study within the terms of copyright legislation. 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.

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