The Geordie Dialect. On Language Identity and the Social Perception of Tyneside English

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, University of Potsdam, language: English, abstract: Being located at the fringes of England, at the course of the Scottish border, the North-East is often perceived as distinct from other English regions. Thus, this region has developed its unique local identity which is essentially borne by the distinctiveness of the spoken traditional dialect - Geordie. Despite its wide regional prevalence, the dialect¿s identifiability aspects are especially rooted in the urban area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here, influencing factors such as football, a strong communal spirit, and recent media presentations have shaped the local patriotism as well as the identification with the spoken Tyneside English. However, the intense local language identification as an authentic ¿Geordie from the toon¿ has also been accompanied by a proceeding dialect levelling in the same area. These ambiguous circumstances arouse a sociolinguistic interest in a closer examination of the development, identification and perception of the Geordie dialect. How does the dialect contribute to the local identity? And does the local dialect levelling correlate with a changed attitude towards Geordie?
In order to provide a suitable approach to the raised issue, the outline of this work is structured as follows: The theoretical part will discuss i.a. a brief classification of the terminology ¿Geordie¿ (2.1), its historical background (2.2) as well as the phonological features of Tyneside English (3.1). Subsequently, the third chapter will focus on dialect levelling and diffusion in the area of Newcastle. Dominic Watt¿s empirical study on FACE and GOAT vowels serves as an illustration for contact-induced levelling in the Tyneside vowel system (3.2). Hereby, further aspects such as gender and social class will extend the reflection of a ¿Geordie identity¿. Taking these points into account, the current status of Geordie, its reputation in the United Kingdom (4.) as well as an outlook on the future of the dialect are presented towards a final conclusion (5.).