A Diachronic Analysis of the Lancashire Dialect in Beckside Lights (1897) by John Ackworth (1854-1917)

Nadia Hamade Almeida

(University Complutense of Madrid, Spain)

Abstract: This paper deals with the dialect in the novel Beckside Lights (1897) by John Ackworth. It is a literary dialect which attempts to suggest the speech of the Bolton (Lancashire) area. As a complete research of this dialect is beyond the scope, I aim to analyze some deviant spellings which affect words containing some RP long vowels /i:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/ and /ɑ:/. A historical insight is provided to indicate the possible origins of the pronunciations suggested by the author. The findings of this study reveal important data. According to the EDD, most of the pronunciations here suggested are present in Lancashire. Many of them are also present in other northern counties, but barely in Scotland and the southern part of England. On the other hand, Graham Shorrocks in his study of the Bolton area does not provide similar pronunciations in all cases. As for the words here presented, Joseph Wright attests most of them in the EDD. Nevertheless, the EDD and the web search are fruitless in other words.

Key words: literary dialect, dialect literature, Lancashire dialect, John Ackworth, Beckside Lights