Talking For Britain: A Journey Throughthe Nation's Dialects

摘要

This book was written to accompany BBC Radio's (1995) Voices series, by a writer who has much experience in popularising language matters. After a brief preface and an introduction, in which a short history of British dialectology is given and the methodology of collection for Voices is described, the material is presented in 12 regionally based chapters, followed by an index of the regional words appearing in the book. Each chapter follows the same format, with these subsections: 1. 'Language in a Landscape', a discursive introduction to the history of the relation between dialect and place, often involving place names; 2. 'The Voices Survey', introducing a selection of informants consulted for the programme, often with direct quotes from their narratives; continuity is provided from chapter to chapter by the standardisation of the terms for which local equivalents are invited (e.g. 'plimsoll', 'unattractive', 'drunk', 'alley');