The Dialect of Miners in Ashington, Northumberland

Description

A study of the dialect spoken in Ashington, Northumberland, based on interviews with five miners, all of whom had worked (or still were working) at Ashington Colliery. The Introduction includes biographical details of the informants, a description of the evolution of the British coal mining industry (with sections on the early history of coal mining, the Industrial Revolution and mining development since nationalisation), and descriptions of the Northumberland coalfield and the Ashington area. Chapter One presents a description of the sounds of the dialect recorded. Chapter Two contains orthographic and phonetic transcriptions of tape-recorded interviews conducted by the collector with two retired Ashington miners. Both relate their experiences of working in the mine. An Appendix contains drawings of mining hand tools, and a selection of photographs which show general views of the colliery, the pit head, drift entrance, supply yard, colliery brick works, underground drifts and coal cutting and conveying equipment. The provenance of these is unclear, although one is evidently a copy taken from a negative held by the National Coal Board. Some of the photographs are dated (1958, 1959, 1960, 1963). A general index and vocabulary list is also included. A number of the photographs, originally affixed to pages of the thesis with sellotape, are now held loose within the study. Care should be taken when handling this item. The tape-recorded interviews with two ex-miners were not submitted with the study.

Metadata

Identifier ts8z9fmr
IRN 410298
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/2/262
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/ts8z9fmr
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Undergraduate Dissertations
Creator(s) Thompson, Brenda J
Date 1968
Size and Medium iv, 96 bound ms. leaves; 16 b/w photographs.

Related Records