Vowels and Diphthongs Consonants
Yorkshire is the largest Traditional county of England, covering some 6,000 square miles with a population of some five million. It is traditionally divided into West, North and East Ridings (from Old Norse “third part”, a legacy of the area’s ninth century Scandinavian). The county town, York, is not part of any riding, although usually associated with the North Riding when needed.
The differences between American Standard English and R.P. can be found principally in:
- pulled down lip corners
- very little lip movement
- jaw doesn’t move much
- rising inflect on phrases
Alan Benett, the playwright, who is from Yorkshire describes some of the difficulties facing actors:
“I think anyone brought up in the North finds it hard to get the dialect pronunciation exactly right. If I say ‘up at t’mill’ as it is written, it comes over like a parody. The ‘t’ shouldn’t be sounded at all: it’s a syncopation, not a sound.”
Example:
‘There’s trouble at t’mill. T’workers are upset. They say they’ve too far to come to t’mill.’
‘Too far to come? Nay, but they’ve only three field to cross.’
‘Ay, but they’re Huddersfield, Macclesfield, and Sheffield.’