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 | |  | Terence Brotherton
Born: 14 January 1939
Lives: Badsey, Worcestershire
Time lived in area: All my life
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Soccer fan Terence shares his memories of a local Badsey v Littleton derby - and remembers the kind of ripe language which came from the crowd.
Language of interview: English
Duration: 00:32 (mins/secs)
This clip contains language which some may find offensive.
The participants were asked to describe how they spoke in their own words.
How do you describe your accent: "Worcestershire, Badsey."
Have there been other influences on the way you speak: Not Given
Do you have skills in languages other than English?: No
Other languages: None
Say you was watching Badsey, I mean there used to be a thosand people watching Badsey Rangers in them days and I alos remember, I think I got is name right, Badsey was playing Littleton and ref Crane - y'remeber ref Crane? - he shouts out, he says, "Kick the bugger, Eli, while the wind's a blowing". And Muscles was in goal - can you remmber Muscles? - best goalie that was. And I shall stop her, I'll tell tha I can stop 'er, you fancy buggers, I shall stop 'er.
Jonnie Robinson, Curator, English accents and dialects, British Library Sound Archive, writes There are a number of features of Terence's accent that are typical of older speakers in this part of the south-west Midlands. Listen to his pronunciation of the vowel sound in the words thousand, round, shout and out. He inserts a sound at the start of the word here in the statement there used to be a thousand people watching Badseyround heres in them days, while also clearly pronouncing the sound - now perhaps considered a stereotypically West Country pronunciation. In imitating older speech forms, Terence also emphasises the rhoticity of his speech - that is he stresses the sound after a vowel in the words her and buggers. At one time this was a feature of speech throughout the UK, although nowadays it's increasingly restricted to the West Country and the far south-west of England, alongside Scotland and Ireland and a small part of Lancashire. Many dialects throughout the UK exhibit a number of non-standard grammatical features. The construction when you was watching Badsey is unmarked forperson and would be rendered when you were watching Badsey in Standard English. This is a common feature of a number of modern dialects, particularly in the south of England, where many speakers mark the past tense of to be by saying I was, you was, he, she and it was, we was and they was, while speakers of more mainstream dialects differentiate by using you were, we were and they were. The non-standard pattern is, in fact, more regular and indeed mirrors the model for every other verb in English - consider I played, you played, I went, you went and so on.
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