An Investigation into the Phonetics of the Definite Article in Yorkshire

Description

A study which both analyses phonetically what is said by Yorkshire dialect speakers for the definite article; and shows, by the use of transcriptions of their speech, what types of definite article occur in the county, and the area in which each type is found. The study draws on data extracted from Volume V of Alexander J. Ellis' 'Early English Pronunciation, with Especial Reference to Shakespere and Chaucer' (1889), covering thirty-eight Yorkshire localities, and new material gathered in sixty Yorkshire localities by the collector during fieldwork undertaken in 1949 and 1950. The first of five chapters outlines the general problem of phonetic analysis, and describes the collector's method of investigation. The second chapter deals more specifically with the problem of exact phonetic analysis, and explains the technique employed by the collector. Chapter Three presents a summary of the material extracted from Ellis' Yorkshire survey, with reference also made to other writings on Yorkshire dialects. The fourth chapter presents phonetic and orthographic transcriptions of material gathered by the collector during his own fieldwork. The final chapter discusses the results of the investigation, with sections on the general problem of defining geographical areas, the problem of phonetic analysis and a tabular summary of results. The first of two appendices contains extracts of material collected in six villages not visited by the collector, and contained in the following unpublished and published studies: Frederick Moody's 'A Grammar of the Dialect of Addingham in the West Riding of Yorkshire' (Leeds, 1950, ref. LAVC/SRP/1/109); Annie Langrick's 'The Phonology of the Dialect of Bubwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire' (Leeds, 1948, ref. LAVC/SRP/2/196); George Cowling's 'The Dialect of Hackness (North-East Yorkshire)' (Cambridge : University Press, 1915); Mabel Lawson's 'An Account of the Dialect of Staithes in the North Riding of Yorkshire' (Leeds, 1949, ref. LAVC/SRP/1/106); Willi Klein's 'Der Dialekt von Stokesley in Yorkshire, North Riding'(Berlin : Mayer and Müller, 1914); and Joseph Wright's 'A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill in the West Riding of Yorkshire'(London : K. Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., 1892). Appendix B presents an account of the technique of direct laryngoscopy, taken from an article written in 1937 by Walter Howarth. Two maps plot the localities surveyed by Ellis and the collector. The thesis is accompanied by a file of photocopies of an ms. map (scale 1 inch = 12 miles) showing the results of research undertaken into the use of the definite article in Yorkshire, with a typed key of places numbered.

Metadata

Identifier dj4nxjds
IRN 410004
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/1/108
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/dj4nxjds
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Postgraduate Theses and Dissertations
Creator(s) Jones, William Eric
Date 1950
Size and Medium ix, 142 unbound ms. leaves; 1 file of photocopied maps.

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