Northumbrian dialect

Northumberland and Durham dialect, Northumbrian dialect, or in England North East dialect is any one of several traditional English dialects spoken in the historic counties of Northumberland and County Durham. The term Northumbrian can refer to the region of Northumbria but can also refer specifically to the county of Northumberland. This article focuses on the former definition and thus includes varieties from throughout the wider region, including County Durham.
The traditional Northumbrian dialect is a moribund older form of the dialect spoken in the area. It is closely related to Scots and Cumbrian and shares with them a common origin in Old Northumbrian.
The traditional dialect has spawned multiple modern varieties, and Northumbrian dialect can also be used to broadly include all of them:

Geordie, the most famous dialect spoken in the region, largely spoken in Tyneside, centred in Newcastle and Gateshead
Mackem, a dialect spoken in Wearside, centred on Sunderland
Smoggie, a dialect spoken in Teesside; an area at the southern tip of region which straddles the border of Yorkshire and County Durham
Pitmatic or 'Yakka', a group of dialects spoken in mining towns of Northumberland and Durham Coalfield
Berwick dialect, spoken in Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England
The only rhotic or variably rhotic dialect left in the region, nearly extinct, which uses the Northumbrian burr, mostly spoken today only by the oldest rural, male speakers.
Dialect divisions

19th century

, a 19th century linguist and philologist, divided Northumberland and Durham into three main dialect groups based on their linguistic features. Ellis considered the bulk of Northumberland and northern County Durham as belonging to the 'North Northern' dialect group. This group was deemed to be a transitional variety between other Northern dialects and Scots, but overall still considered a form of Northern English. However, a small portion of northwestern Northumberland around the Cheviot hills was deemed to be Scots-speaking and therefore categorised as a variety of the Scots language. The southern part of County Durham was considered part of the 'West Northern' dialect group, which was deemed to be more closely related to Richmondshire and Cumbrian dialects, especially that of the Vale of Eden. Like Cumbrian, the dialect of south Durham was subject to greater Scandinavian influence than the rest of Durham and Northumberland. Scandinavian influence is evident in the naming of streams in south Durham, which are typically named ‘becks’. In contrast, 'burns' are found in north Durham and Northumberland.

21st century

Urban North East English dialects are a group of English dialects spoken in urban areas of the North East of England, including major cities such as Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough. These dialects have emerged as a result of the region's rapid urbanization during the 19th and 20th centuries, which brought about significant social and demographic changes. In comparison to traditional dialects, urban North East English dialects have undergone a greater degree of dialect levelling. A tripartite division is recognised among modern urban dialects in the North East of England, which distinguishes between the northern, central, and southern urban dialects:

Northern Urban North-Eastern English: Tyneside and urban Northumberland
Central Urban North-Eastern English: Sunderland and much of Durham unitary authority
Southern Urban North-Eastern English: Teesside, Hartlepool and Darlington

Central and northern urban dialects retain a decidedly Northumbrian base, but have been shaped by a standard English superstrate, resulting in hybrid dialects that incorporate elements of both traditional dialects and more standardised forms of English. On the other hand, the southern urban dialects have been subject to more significant dialect restructuring, resulting in a dialect which, while still North Eastern in character, lacks more marked Northumbrian forms such as 'gan' and 'divvent' or 'dinnet' that survive in Tyneside, Wearside and Durham.

Phonology

Consonants

Northumbrian burr: the uvular pronunciation of /r/ as was prevalent in traditional dialects throughout much of Northumberland as well as northwestern County Durham.
*Exceptions in Northumberland included Tynemouth; the Scots-speaking Cheviots; and the south-west of the Country, where it was pronounced.
* The Northumbrian burr was typically absent from the further south in Durham. However, it was intermittently present in varieties of Durham Pitmatic spoken in the northeastern section of the Durham coalfield, which formed a transitional region extending as far south as Kelloe. The development of coal mining in the region and the ensuing in-migration from Northumberland to meet the increased demand for labour likely contributed to the presence of the burr in these Pitmatic varieties. Nowadays, the feature is mostly restricted to elderly rural residents of Northumberland.
is traditionally realised as in Northumberland and upper Weardale; on Tyneside and throughout the rest of Durham, it is typically /w/ as in Standard English.
In contrast to most varieties of Northern English, traditional dialects north of the Tees are largely H-retaining. Northumberland and north Durham dialects are fully H-retaining while south Durham dialects occupy a transitional zone and exhibit variable H-retention.
As with most Northern English dialects, final sound is reduced to e.g. gannin for “ganging”.
In common with most dialects of England, Northumbrian has lost. Scots typically corresponds to in Northumbrian cognates, compare Scots italic=no and italic=no with Northumbrian italic=no and italic=no.
Unlike most Northern English dialects /l/ is clear in all cases and never velarised.
The most conservative forms of the dialect undergo L-vocalization as in Scots, thus wall is waa and needful is needfu.
Allophonic develops before reflexes of Old English and in certain dialects, for example, Coxhoe dialect table, hook, home ; Newbiggin dialect haven and home.

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Stop	p b		t d	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ		k ɡ		ʔ
Fricative	f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			ʁ	h
Approximant					j	ʍ w	ʁ
Lateral			l

Vowels

Nurse–north merger: in words such as bord ''forst throughout Northumberland and north Durham. This is a result of the Northumbrian burr modifying adjacent vowels.
in words such as "blinnd" and "finnd".
Occurring throughout much of north & west Northumberland, the GOAT vowel in words like "phone" and "tone" moves closer to , so "phone" would be pronounced the same as the word "fern". Amongst those with stronger accents, a similar vowel can be found in the LOT vowel, so "cod" would be pronounced with a short œ sound.
Phonemic long /aː/. This creates some minimal pairs based upon phonemic vowel length, for example gan "go" vs. gawn "going".
Preservation of Old English /uː/, therefore down and town are "doon" and "toon" in Northumbrian. It also retains the old English pronunciation of when followed by , so "pound" and "found" are "pund" and "fund".
eu or ui in words like eneugh, muin and buit, partially corresponds to Scots Vowel 7. The pronunciation of this vowel varies depending on the dialect.
The FACE vowel is typically or .
Lack of foot–strut split, as in other Northern English varieties.
Diphthongisation of Northern Middle English to i+e in south Northumberland and north Durham, producing italic=yes, italic=yes and italic=yes for "both", "stone" and "home"; and to italic=yes, italic=yes and italic=yes in south Durham. Older forms such as baith, stane and hame, which are shared with Scots, survive in some Northumbrian dialects.
in words such as heed and deed'' meaning “head” & “dead”
Diphthongs

Berwick-upon-Tweed

is unique within Northumberland. The local speech has characteristics of the North Northumbrian dialect and due to its geographical location, has characteristics of the East Central Scots dialect as well.
A sociological study of the Anglo-Scottish border region conducted in the year 2000 found that locals of Alnwick, 30 miles south of Berwick, associated the Berwick accent with Scottish influence. Conversely, those from Eyemouth, Scotland, 9 miles north of Berwick, firmly classed Berwick speech as English, identifying it as Northumbrian.

Classification in relation to English and Scots

The Northumbrian Language Society, founded in 1983 to research, preserve and promote the Northumbrian language variety, considers it divergent enough to be not a dialect of Modern Standard English but, rather, a related but separate Anglic language of its own, since it is largely not comprehensible by standard English speakers. Northumbrian has perhaps an even closer relationship with Modern Scots, and both the NLS regard as distinct languages derived from Old English but close relatives; however, mainstream scholarly sources regard them as essentially the same language, albeit with minor differences. The similarities are not commonly or formally recognised possibly due to sensitivities on both sides of the border. The status of Scots and Northumbrian as either languages or dialects therefore remains open to debate.