1 : Bit By Bit
The opposite of concatenation : splitting into syllables.
When speaking, we handle parts of words with
semi-automatic ease. This includes "rules" of dialect,
which can be expected to apply at the lowest level
of construction - ("unless otherwise stated").
The type of hard-O which, by rule, is doubled,
was earlier stated to apply to "start/end" words,
like over and go.
That was a deliberate oover-simplification, designed
to lull the new Reader . . . well, you know the rest !
Now at the "gloves-off" stage, we should look
closely at the vowel occurring at the start/end of
every self-respecting syllable. E. g. :
chosen has the double-o, whereas choke does not;
despite being words of almost equal, overall, length.
Several words in the latter (mid-u) category have
been identified, but they must form a minority;
because multi-syllable words are so prevalent.
Hence the likelihood of hearing the double-o more
often; and its fame as the Norfolk Identifier.
This still leaves a coom(b) in a bathroom atoom
[at home].
It should be easier to account for the vowel-sound
when the word is obviously a composite,
e.g. - nowhere, no-one, nobody.
Note : If the stress is laid on body, as it may be,
the case falls, and "mid-u" may return.
There is also the [rural] alternative of noobra
which reverses things !
2 : The Ing Thing
The -ing suffix is a standard form of compositing.
The word going is one we have been compelled to
use, and to note its own standard form : a-gorn.
Common as this is, you will be hard pressed
to find any strictly comparable word - e.g.
doing is a complete exception.
The similar words usually end in -owing
(including owing itself !).
This being so, and the w intervening, the rule does
not apply in all these cases; any more than it does
with the first syllable e.g. row does not become roo.
An approximation to the sound of rowing is rarn,
rather than rorn; similarly marn (the grass), narn
(being cognisant of), tarn (a trailer/boat).
The words starting with 's' are very different
and highly instructive :-
(a) Sowing (as seeds) is sarn - as above;
(b) Sewing (as needlework) is heard
as for (a) in levelled-down Norwich,
but as soo-in elsewhere.
The last case underlines how Norfolk people
see (i.e. hear) 'talking-proper' or posh-speech.
After all, their "betters" (the Gentry) would seem
to think that everybody should pronounce their O's
as if every O was, in fact, an EW.
(Gew-on, try it . . .)They are wrong, inasmuch as the "Suffolk-O" is an
EW, yet is not pronounced like standard English;
mainly because the mouth is not properly rounded.
And owing itself? : Arn. Too bad that this sounds
very like On,when it is a-gorn o-o-on.
3 : Minimalism
When is a composite still a composite? -
when it is only a tense.
OO yis indeed : just adding a -d (if necessary an -ed)
makes an extra syllable. (For our purposes, anyway !)
Examples, please:-
close : Thass as cluss as you'll gi(t)
["mid-u" sound, of course]
closed : ( 1 more letter, ? still 1 syllable)
The Nag's Ead, thass cloosed. [ no, not is closed ].
Try saying 'clo-sed', as in 'devo-ted'. You will, if you
are devoo(t)ed to your studies, see the point; without
assuming that the natives go around saying 'clo-sed'
(they don't !). That is to say :
there is stress, or implied stress, on each o.
We moo the grass but, as we just noted, do the marn.
The mere addition of -er has the same dramatic effect :
Less bara yer mar, then Oi cen gi(t) gorn
on moi grarss. See Story R
Norfolk adds -er to the word hind, giving a better result
than the clumsy "hind-quarters", namely hinderpar(t);
which also can be used freely - in connection with any object.
Hinder, on its own, means either rear (of course)
or, on the contrary, hither.
So hither and thither become hinder and yon. The Nag's Head pub [or just some blook] bucks any
minimalist trend. Hereabouts the person or institution
is given a notch more respect : either - Fred, (h)e say
or Tha(t) blook, (h)e say; but not 'Fred say . . .'
4 : Adverbs AWOL
By imagining closed as 'clo-sed', we can make some
sense of the fact that closely retains the "mid-u"
sound of the adjective.
Applying the rule-of-thumb -
"does the vowel fall at the end of the [first] syllable?"
confirms the matter : doubtless IF you add -ly
you add a syllable.
We know that whoolly is much used in Norfolk,
and that the word derives from 'whole-ly'.
So the "mid-u" sound is exactly what we should
expect, and ties-in (closely) with closely and other
such examples.
Confession is not only good for the soul,
but necessary for academic integrity.
The confession, at this point, is that words like
closely probably don't exist locally - regardless of
how they would be pronounced if they did!.
Norfolk is happy to use well (wal), as the
specially-created reverse of badly (what's wrong
with goodly?), but prefers "a trea(t)".
Generally, however, we choose to leave our adjectives
unadorned by any -ly, yet use them adverbially -
without fear or shame.
5 : Tensed-Up
Still in "sackcloth and ashes" mode, we must admit
that the word chosen was badly chosen - as an
example of a "double-o" word.
Yes, it would be pronounced thus,
if it were ever employed in speech.
But, as we admitted at the very start, a word like
spoken is unknown in Norfolk. The -en ending is
shunned (para. 7) like the -ly ending, only more so . . . The have participle, being obligatory, is often
pared-down to near-extinction.
Two tenses that look remarkably alike :-
(a) Oi spook ter (h)im; (b) Our spook ter (h)im.
(Clue : pluperfect comes first). Presumably, the context (perfect-tense) can,
once again, take the strain.
Speak, at any rate, is a regular verb.
Irregulars are worse !.
It was claimed that 'he done great' is a blunder which
would not occur in Norfolk; yet our pluperfect did is
another Cinderella word (like went).
Repeating her mistake, the woman apologised :
Yis, Oi done tha(t) afore.
Consider these alternatives:-
(a) Did you goo? - Tha(t) Oi did;
Where'd (h)e goo? - E wen(t) tha(t) way.
(b) Heyya bin? - Tha(t) Oi hev;
Where'd (h)e goo? - E goo tha(t) way.
Now option (b) is very much the more likely; so
what is the likely Norfolk version of 'He done great'? - -
Here done wal.
[can you spot the two parts of the perfect tense?]
6 : Not Too Good
More recantation : it is unlikely that he will have
done well - in so many words. People in Norfolk
are not given to praise, even when it is well-merited.
So our final attempt to translate 'He done great' is :-
E hen(t) done too bad.
Please note :- - Not badly
- In Norwich : E in(t)
This grudging praise is only one example of the
renowned Norfolk mastery of under-statement.
Any relevant book will emphasise this philosophical
approach to life and language.
Continued . . .
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6. (contd.)
The finest instance must relate to the dominant topic
of all conversations (no, not sex or football). On a
typical ultra-cold day, with a spine-chilling
wind-frost, the greeting is :- Thass noon too swe(tt)y a-day.
Note : Too is perfectly in order, here, and retains the t.
It is not also (anorl) and is pronounced normally (tew).
Today, however, loses its T.
If it is extremely windy - Thass a bi(t) draughty inta?.
I can only speculate that the expression noted by
Skipper -
rafty ow'd wather! is a derivation.
A Norfolk person may be feeling decidedly groggy,
yet will admit only to being No(t) too fairce.
This is fierce, not face; but when did you last
see a fiercely healthy individual?
A vast football crowd, filling the Carrow Road
stadium to capacity, may be reported to one of
the few non-attenders as : Yis, sav'rul there . . .
7 : Plurals
Avoiding the -en endings, in the perfect tense,
clears the decks for the "Norfolk Plural" :
the alternative to s or es.
Important examples are housen and yourn (as yawn).
Of course the latter is the "possessive" ending,
not a plural !. Fascinating cases are :
meezen (mice), fi(tt)en (feet), neesen (nests).
The similar word hissen is also out-of-place, not being
plural; but a Scottish-type variant of hissalf (himself).
To complete the neglect of him/them,
Norfolk's plural : theirsalves. However, the plural
of child is childer not childrEN (!!).
Conversely, the use of -en for plurals has a potentially
dire effect upon many words ending in those two letters.
A famous example is that broken objects
are merely broke (pron. brook).
Past-participles, like taken - made pluperfect -
(i.e. took) have been covered in para. 5 above.
Norfolk is not alone in according people, in the
plural or in general, the wrong conjunction :
(e.g. Them as is, Them what . . .)
Some onnem wooss [what is] a-gorn there . . .
means "Some of them who are going there".
They is a word usually given the long-drawn-out
vowel (drant); but context rules, and - at the end of
a phrase - it is truncated to 'the' (even thuh) :
Tha-a-ay do, dorn(t) the?
As we have already seen, there are no plurals in
"weights and measures" : a t'ree kor(t)er coo(t)
is a garment of generous length; but matter, unbeknown
and various other words get a gratuitous final s.
8 : Pluralism
In the same way that the Norfolk tongue finds many
and varied uses for the word do, the word fare is
greatly exploited - especially in the rural environment.
Standard English is happy to disregard the word
as archaic, but still recognises a "farewell".
It should come as no surprise that, in Norfolk,
we routinely say : Fare yer wal, agatha -
which is precisely how a farewell was born!.
Even in Surrey, a businessman may ask another
if his firm is faring well, or faring badly.
In fact, we all know what it means . . .
If the answer is in the negative, a chap feeling
poorly may say : Oi dorn(t) fare noo ma(tt)ers.
Tha(t) fare ter mizzle (drizzle) is poised delicately
between actually raining and looking very like doing so. So Norfolk usage can also highlight the on-going
and forward-looking nature of the term.
See these stories (yarns) :-
N.2 : how a sick person fared to get up
= attempted to.
N.1 : how the medicine fares to gripe him
= tends to, or have the effect of.
An old fellow out-of-form on the bowling-green exclaimed :
Oi dorn' know woo(t) ha' gone wro-o-ong . . .
Tha(t) fare as if Oi carn'(t) do no-o-othin' roigh(t).
In this case fare equates to seems.
9 : It Takes All SortsPeople are as different as can be. They say,
in Yorkshire, that there's nowt so queer as folk.
Should two people, in fact, look very much alike
(as may well happen in families) i.e. they
resemble each other, one is said to blee the other
(in Norfolk, not Yorkshire !).
Should a woman happen to be of very "masculine"
appearance, she is termed a Will-Jill.
Slovenly, stupid or mischievous people crop-up
continually; so have been mentioned elsewhere.
Clever people, in the sense of well-educated, are
hoigh-larned;
but to be clever (clavver) in Norfolk
is to be either handsome of appearance or adroit
and dextrous in certain activities.
(Handsome is as handsome does??)
Jannock is not confined to E. Anglia
and means fair and/or honest.
A sneaky or crafty person is a draw-latch.
Given that a latch (noun) is the same all-over,
you can picture the scene (if you recall that
draw can mean 'drag').
Somebody nosing around is said to be peerkin'.
To draw along is to move slowly (drag, dawdle).
A disagreeable person is a puke : a word
since appropriated for other uses!.
A supercilious person is graphically described
as a sneerfroys; but to be nasty-particular
(narsty-patic'la)
isn't as bad as it sounds.
It merely means fastidious or very precise.
10 : The Long, The Sort And . . .
Many people are blessed (or cursed) with
shortness of stature and other physical attributes.
Ti(tt)y-to(tt)y means very small,
so is usually reserved for children.
A short, squat person is a dop-a-low[ly], taken from
dop - meaning a perfunctory curtsey (short and quick).
A similar word (also related to a famous Liverpool
comedian) is doddy, or hoddy-doddy; also meaning
- of short stature.
Somebody may be knap-kneed (knap being an
old form of knock); or may walk with the toes turned
outward i.e. slop-foo(t)ed (or kor(t)er ter t(h)ree).
To limp is to himp, if you are (h)impy-lairme.
Walking unencumbered, quickly and
with long strides, is to strome.
Taking long strides (i.e. to lope) is also called
lampin' along in Norfolk.
[lamp and limp wouldn't work together . . .]
An agile, sprightly person (usually quite old,
so you would particularly notice the fact . . .)
is said to be kedgy.
Lean and lanky is squinny.
Finally, a good example of the perversity noted
elsewhere : given that ears are lugs in Norfolk.
If a person is luggy, one might assume he/she
has big ears. But, in the contrary sense, it means
the ears (of whatever size) are not working well,
i.e. the person is hard of hearing.
11 : In Charge
Some people are born leaders and dominant
personalities (many are not tall!).
A nailer is domineering or very determined;
a stifler always seems busy; and usually takes the lead.
The farm foreman is probably accorded the title
Hid Stifler.
To be uprigh(t) is no great compliment :
it simply means not having to work for a living!
To have jurisdiction of something does not imply
legal training or State powers : it is simply being
in charge( having the governance) of that matter.
A wife, feeling unable to handle a business enquiry
in the absence of her Lord and Master, may say :- Noo, moi man (h)e (h)ev jurisdiction-a tha(t);
you'll ha(tt)er wair(t) till E gi(t) (h)oom.
It is, of course, up to the foreman or other Boss,
to see that things are kept in good order.
Other parts of the U.K. would describe a thriving
enterprise (e.g. a farm) as being in "good kilter".
In Norfolk it is kel(t)er.
Modern technology is viewed with suspicion,
at any time : even the humble draughtsman's
approach to paper-plans was derided as :
A loine an' a rule goide [guide] many a fule.
A defender of old practices, and established crafts,
may complain about "new-fangled" inventions and
gadgets as them modern pearks.
If something is untidily packed,
he will complain that it is wibbled.
On the other hand, something emerging in
perfect shape (from the production process) will be
praised as being free of fault/mistake :-
There 'en(t) a wry in 'em!
[the opposite of going awry].
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