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Bunscombe‘s family (especially his wife) with a social non-standard variety as a
means of drawing attention to the Bunscombe family‘s lowly origins.
5. Variety #1: Landlord of local pub
5a. Sample of dialect
―Ever wos such a man! Lord bless ye, yes; acoors there was. Ay, an‘ didn‘t ‗ee swear
at ‗is boy Tim in style—him as be a big wig now—wen t‘ kid coomed to fetch un o‘
nights. His cusses was summat hawful, sir. Never heerd th‘ like, ‗cep once wen a
detective cove nabbed a confidence trick ‗federate in this ‗ere bar; ‗ee wos sittin
a‘most wer ye be, sir. Gad, ‗ee did let his tongue go that un. Well, owd Serjeant Bunny
did th‘ same, but th‘ barn never let on as ‗ee heerd un, and ony wen blows seemed a
comin‘ did Tim wake up. (p. 11)
5b.1 Orthography
Elision an‟; „ee; t‟; o‟; th‟; „cep; a‟most; comin‟ (all marked with apostrophe) sittin (no
apostrophe)
Respelling acoors; coomed; owd; ony
Eye dialect wos; wen; wer; Serjeant
h-dropping and addition „is; hawful
5b.2 Grammar
Non standard copula him as be
Non standard pronoun ye
5b.3 Vocabulary
Lexis Ay; un; summat
Idiom never let on as
5c. Dialect area represented
Unspecified
5d. Density of dialect representation
Heavily marked
5e. Location of dialect
Dialect in dialogue
5f. Characteristics of dialect speakers
Male, incidental, unskilled
5g. Consistency of representation
Consistent
5. Variety #2: Bob Cutler, uncle of Bunscombe‘s wife, Penelope
5a. Sample of dialect
―Was you, tho? I‘m blest if I can see it. You wants to nobble me so as to make sure of
my cash, that‘s wot you does. But I ain‘t a fool, though I‘m an owd un an‘ yer ain‘t
comin over me, I say. Clear out, d‘ye hear?‖ (p. 75)
5b.1 Orthography
Respelling owd; yer
Elision „ain‟t; tho; an‟; d‟ye (apostrophised) comin (note no apostrophe)
Eye dialect wot; blest
5b.2 Grammar
http://librarysupport.shef.ac.uk /bullough.pdf
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