Cumbrian dialect

Dalesman, 1979. Soft cover, 79 pp. First Edition. Some black and white illustrations. [From back cover] CUMBRIAN DIALECT has never quite received the attention it deserves, and so this book tries to remedy this deficiency. It parallels two other Dalesman publications, J. Waddington-Feather's Yorkshire Dialect and Peter Wright's Lancashire Dialect. It is also a more serious sequel to the author's Cumbrian Chat, one of a series of Dalesman minibooks which, in a not-too-serious vein, introduce county dialects. In this book, Dr. Wright looks at the origins of Cumbrian speech, and shows that the local tongue is still vigorously alive by examining dialect writings from the 18th century to the present day. There are sections on dialect humour, occupational dialect and a select glossary of living Cumbrian words. One of the most fascinating chapters is devoted to the speech of Carlisle, for which Dr. Wright has undertaken pioneer field work by means of interviews and tape recordings. He concludes that "for its novelty to the newcomer, its variety and its preservation of so much that is historical, Carlisle's dialect must surely rank as one of the most interesting city dialects in the British Isles." Dr. Wright is Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages at Salford University, and is also the editor of the Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society. He has been described as "a sort of Professor Higgins in reverse" whose "delight is to find people who speak in dialect and encourage them to stay exactly as they are". Cover illustration from a lino cut by William Wild.