Dialect and colloquial elements in English fiction

Anikina Tatiana Vyacheslavovna PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Russian Philology, Nizhny Tagil Socio-Pedagogical Institute, branch of the Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University  622031, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Nizhnii Tagil, ul. Krasnogvardeiskaya, 57 anikishna@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Dialect and colloquial units occupy a special place in the system of any language. The process of studying dialects and colloquial vocabulary provides rich and interesting historical material, allows you to study the origins of the language, delve into its historical past.

Let's consider the key concepts of this study. There is a section of linguistics dealing with the study of territorial, social and other varieties of language (dialects), as well as their interaction with each other, with the language standard and their mutual influence – dialectology. Despite the fact that dialects have existed since the time of the Old English language, there are very few thorough and detailed studies on this topic.

A great contribution to the development of dialectology, especially English, was made by the famous linguist M. M. Makovsky. In his works, he identifies the following types of dialects: territorial (tied to a certain area), social (inherent in a certain social group) and idiolects (the bearer of which are individual individuals). Social dialects, in turn, include a number of phenomena such as professional dialects that unite people of the same profession or occupation, jargons (argos), which are modified or combined linguistic elements and are used for the purpose of linguistic isolation, and slang, which includes a more complex concept ^[1].

M. M. Makovsky distinguishes slang a special place among the phenomena of social dialect. Having studied a variety of different concepts of slang by Russian and foreign scientists, M. M. Makovsky came to the conclusion that slang has historically developed on the basis of English territorial dialects into a certain linguistic norm, which, however, goes beyond the usual dialects and acquires the most ubiquitous character among native speakers ^[1].

Let's consider the main characteristics of dialect and dialect words. A dialect is often contrasted with a language standard, an exemplary and "correct" language, and is considered a deviation from the norm. In fact, according to some researchers, the dialect is only a kind of linguistic norm, although it often really contradicts the literary language. The main differences between dialects and the language standard, which are thus their indicative characteristics, can be divided into phonetic, grammatical and lexical ^{[2, 3]}.

The main phonetic differences of dialects from the literary standard consist in a different pronunciation of a number of sounds and, subsequently, words. The differences can be quantitative, i.e. the longitude of the sound in the dialect is replaced by brevity or brevity is replaced by longitude, or qualitative, after which the diphthongization of monophthongs or monphthongization of diphthongs occurs. Pronunciation of sounds in words in dialects that are absent in the language standard is considered a frequent phenomenon ^[2].

At the grammatical level, there are also many differences, for example, it is considered common to use several plural forms of a word at once, the formation of interrogative and negative sentences without the auxiliary verb do, the coincidence of nominative and object cases, and much more ^{[1, 2]}.

The vocabulary of modern English dialects is characterized by extreme conservatism. A huge number of words that completely fell out of use already at the end of the Old English and at the beginning of the Middle English period have been preserved in dialects ^[2].

So, the study of dialects allows you to penetrate into the depths of the historical development of the English language, to more accurately understand the language norm and its formation. It should be noted that most of the UK still speaks various dialects, which makes their study even more relevant for understanding the living language and socio-cultural realities ^[4].

Next, we will analyze the concept of "colloquial vocabulary" and consider its connection with dialect vocabulary.

I. R. Galperin, who studied the stylistics of the English language, distinguishes written and oral (spoken) types of speech. Colloquial vocabulary manifests itself in the colloquial type and style of speech, which mainly differ from written types in their spontaneity and spontaneity. This implies the main signs of the spoken type of speech: dialogic, emotionality, ill-conceived, spontaneous speech ^[5].

It is in colloquial speech that one can find the connection between dialect and colloquial vocabulary: the implementation of dialects is carried out precisely in the colloquial type of speech, since the norms of the language standard are very clearly fixed in the written type, and it is known to be opposed to dialect norms and often comes into conflict with them. Dialect is a phenomenon generated and realized in living speech.

However, it is worth noting that not all the features inherent in colloquial speech are necessarily indicators of dialect. For example, I. V. Arnold highlights such features of colloquial speech as compression (various abbreviations like it's, I'm, they're, etc.) and redundancy (pause placeholder words, parasite words, for example, well, you know, er, like, etc.), which, of course, are present and in dialect speech, but are also accepted in the literary standard ^[6]. Therefore, despite the abundance of such phenomena in literary texts in the written reflection of oral speech, the subject of our study was the colloquial "accompanying elements" of the dialect, which are not generally accepted in the language standard. For example, among the compression elements that are more likely to be characteristic of the dialect, one can distinguish the reduction of perfect forms by omitting the auxiliary verb have. D. S. Vinogradova, analyzing the colloquial grammar of the English language, identifies the following characteristic features: omission or ellipsis; incorrect word order in a sentence; pause placeholders and feedback markers; joint construction of a statement in a dialogue, and so on ^[7].

As for the vocabulary of the spoken type of speech itself, it can be of two types: general literary colloquial vocabulary and non-literary layer of words ^[5]. In our study, we consider the non-literary layer of words of the spoken type of speech, based on considerations of the mutually exclusive opposition of dialects to the literary, linguistic norm.

The non-literary layer of words includes the concept of lexical vernacular. This concept was worked out in detail in their work by T. M. Belyaeva and V. A. Khomyakov. Lexical vernacular, according to the authors, is a combination of such linguistic phenomena as jargonism, argot, Kent, slangism and some others ^{[8, 9]}. Most of these phenomena were attributed by M. M. Makovsky to the phenomena of social dialects.

Thus, dialect-conversational elements in this study are understood as certain speech (lexical, phonetic, grammatical) constructions that characterize a certain dialect and are accompanied by certain conversational elements that are also characteristic of this dialect and help in its textual expression. The display of dialect elements in the text is important because these elements deeply reflect the socio-cultural context, and conversational "accompanying elements" give the oral dialect speech implemented in the text maximum realism.

The research material was 3 texts of works of fiction by English authors written at different intervals of the 20th century. Such a choice of works of art allowed us to emphasize the dialect and colloquial diversity of the English language and the ubiquity of its use. The selected texts are the following works: “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911), “When Marnie Was There” by Joan G. Robinson (1967), “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J. K. Rowling (1999). All 3 works are literature intended not only for adults, but also for children.

In the first work written by Frances Burnett, the main character, the girl Mary, moves in with her uncle, who lives in Yorkshire. Many of the characters interacting with Mary after her arrival speak the Yorkshire dialect, and the author shows this mainly through the features of the phonetics and grammar of the Yorkshire dialect. Let's consider these features using examples of speech from the text.

At the manor, Mary meets the maid Martha, who speaks the Yorkshire dialect. Consider their first dialogue:

“What is that?” she said, pointing out of the window.

Martha, the young housemaid, who had just risen to her feet, looked and pointed also.

“That there?” she said.

“Yes.”

“That’s th’ moor,” with a good-natured grin. “Does tha’ like it?”

“No,” answered Mary. “I hate it.”

“That’s because tha’rt not used to it,” Martha said, going back to her hearth.

“Tha’ thinks it’s too big an’ bare now. But tha’ will like it.”

In this passage, we can observe how the author uses an apostrophe to indicate the reduction of some sounds in pronunciation, for example, th’ instead of the, an’ instead of and. The lexical difference notable in this passage is the use of the obsolete form of the pronoun you – tha’, and the combination tha'rt means you are. From a grammatical point of view, the difference between the Yorkshire dialect and normalized English is manifested in the use of the ending –s of the 3rd person unit number and the auxiliary verb do in the form of does relative to the 2nd person: “Does tha’ like it?”; “Tha’ thinks…”.

In the following example, there is another reduction of the sounds of the ending, as in canna’, as well as a special way of forming a reflexive pronoun with the suffix sen – thysen (=yourself):

“Who is going to dress me?” demanded Mary.

Martha sat up on her heels again and stared. She spoke in broad Yorkshire in her amazement.

“Canna’ tha’ dress thysen!” she said.

In many phrases of the characters, the utterance of the ending –ing as in’ is observed, which is also displayed on the text: “I don't know anything’about anything’”; “Do stop cryin’". Also note the use of do as an amplifying particle, but not in the meaning of an order, but in the meaning of a request, a plea.

In the following examples, it can be seen that the use of the ending –s of the 3rd person singular is characteristic in the Yorkshire dialect not only for the second person, but also sometimes for the plural and personal pronoun: “I want a bit of a chat”; “Th’ very blackberr ies an’ heather-bell s knows him”.

In the next work, "When Marine was There", the main character Anna moves from London to Norfolk to improve her health. In Norfolk, Anna lives with friends of her aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Pegg, who speak to her in the Norfolk dialect, which sometimes causes difficulties for Anna. The author conveys the Norfolk dialect through lexical and grammatical forms peculiar to the dialect, phonetic features are not reflected in the text. Let's look at examples from the text:

Mrs Pegg looked surprised. “Me see the sea? Oh no, I never do that! I ain’t been near-nor by the sea since I were a wench”.

In this fragment, we note the use of a colloquial compression variant of such combinations as it is, are not, am not, which are replaced by the same combination: ain't. Such an abbreviation occurs very often in the speech of the characters, which allows us to conclude that this is one of the characteristic features of the Norfolk dialect: “Now ain't that nice”; “It ain't grand but nice and clean”, etc. In the first fragment, we can also notice the use of the form were with the pronoun I instead of the form was. In the speech of the characters, both the was form and the were form occur.

As a lexical feature, it is possible to single out the colloquial and in some dictionaries marked as obsolete word wench, which is used here in the playful meaning of "girl, girly". The characters also give Anna affectionate nicknames uncharacteristic of the literary standard, often using outdated words or their outdated meanings: “Yes, yes, my maid”; “Ah, so there you are, my biddy”; “There you are, my duck”. When examining the text, you can also notice some dialect words that are not inherent in the language standard, such as: rub along together all right (=get along ; get along with each other), any road (=anyway; in any case), staithe (=wharf; pier, pier), after (=before; before, before), up at ours (=at our house; at our house).

Consider other episodes:

“Though I can’t say I ever heared the words afore!” he added with a chuckle.

“We knowed all about that,” said Sam, gruffly kind.

In these replicas, verbs that are considered incorrect in English are formed according to the rules of formation of regular verbs by adding the ending –ed. However, the forms accepted in the literary standard are as follows: heard (not heard) and knew (not known). In the Norfolk dialect, these verbs and some other irregular ones are used as correct.

“There’s a seat down there”, panted Mrs. Pegg. “Go you on down, my duck, and I’ll sit here by the driver.”

“Come you on down when you’re ready, my duck”

In the above excerpts, one more feature of the dialect can be distinguished: when forming an imperative, the pronoun you is often added.

Double negatives of the type “I don't know of none” were also found in the text.

“But you don’t like me calling her ‘ma’, eh? Is that it?” said Sam, his eyes crinkling up at the corners.

“No, of course she don’t!” said Mrs Pegg.

In the last example, a distinctive feature of the Norfolk dialect is observed: the absence of the ending –s with a 3 l. unit number accepted in the literary language.

In the latest work “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban", the main character, a boy named Harry Potter, tries to get to London, and for this he gets on a bus. The bus drivers, mostly one of them, Stan, are speakers of the Cockney London dialect of the working class. The author illustrates Cockney in the text by displaying its phonetic and some grammatical features ^[10]. Let's turn to the examples from the text.

“What were you doin’ down there?” said Stan, dropping his professional manner.

“Scary-lookin’ fing, inee?” said Stan, who had been watching Harry read.

In these replicas, some phonetic features of Cockney can be traced, such as pronouncing the ending –ing as in’, as well as in the Yorkshire dialect; replacing the deaf and sonorous sounds of th with the deaf and sonorous f, w, as in the word fing (=thing); slurred and compressed pronunciation of the phrase isn't it like inee.

“’Choo fall over for?” sniggered Stan.

“ ’Choo lookin’ at?” said Stan.

“Woss that on your ’ead?” said Stan abruptly.

“Woss your name?” Stan persisted.

In the above examples, we can notice a special reduced pronunciation of combinations with special questions, for example, what are you > what you're > ‘choo and what is > what's > woss. In the first case, the special word what is completely reduced, and in the second case, the sound t is reduced by doubling s. ‘ead means head and emphasizes another feature of Cockney – the omission of h at the beginning of words.

“How come the Muggles don’t hear the bus?” said Harry.

“Them!” said Stan contemptuously. “Don’ listen properly, do they? Don’ look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don’.”

This passage contains a double negation characteristic of Cockney speakers. The words don’ reflect the tendency of speakers of this dialect to omit t or pronounce a special sound – glottal t. The word nuffink once again highlights the replacement of th with the sound f, and the ending ink indicates a tendency to stun the final consonants.

“What, Voldemort?” said Harry, without thinking. …

“You outta your tree?” yelped Stan.

In the last passage we can observe a lexical element peculiar to Cockney: out of your tree (=out of your mind; crazy, crazy). This fragment is also indicative of the fact that a direct word order is used to construct a question in colloquial speech, sometimes the verb to be is omitted. Outta is another compressed, abbreviated pronunciation of the combination out of. Among other words, it was found, for example, collywobbles (= feeling of fear, panic, anxiety), which in some dictionaries is marked as slang or obsolete.

Thus, through the analysis of the material, we were able to identify the characteristic features and features of dialects at the phonetic, grammatical and lexical levels. The use of dialect-colloquial elements confirms the frequency of the spread of dialect speech among native speakers and the importance of studying it for a detailed understanding of the English language and its history.

In general, it can be argued that the inclusion of dialect-conversational elements in the speech of the characters gives them an exceptional flavor and individuality, affecting the reader's consciousness, allowing him to dive deeper into the plot of the work ^{[11, 12]}.

Thus, an intentional deviation from the literary norm is committed by the author for a specific purpose – to convey the speech, cultural and social characteristics of the characters.