Phonology

In Geordie accent most consonant sounds production are similar to those found in Received Pronounciation. However, there are some notable exceptions. But what makes the Geordie dialect sound so different and peculiar is its vowel sounds.

Not every feature can be detected in all Tyneside English speakers. In this way, throughout this post just the main characteristics found in the video have been provided.

Geordie accent challenge

Consonants

• /p, t, k/ glottalisation either in a syllable-final position or occasionally, syllable-initially before a weak vowel:
  • Water (1:10)
  • Theatre (1:02)
  • Cracker jack (the boy does glottal stop, the girl doesn’t – 1:53)
• No th- fronting:
  • Theatre (1:02)
• Alveolar /l/:
  • Caramel (1:08)
  • Alabama (1:31)
• Voiced plosives /b, d, g/ are rarely fully voiced in Geordie, but they might be voiced where they are produced between voiced sounds (Watt and Allen, 2003:268):
  • Again (1:27)
  • Probably (1:29)
  • Alabama (1:31)
• Uvular <r> is produced at the back of the throat, very similar to the <r> sound of German and French. Nowadays it is rare, athough it might be found among older speakers. In this way, although it is a very well known characteristic of Geordie accent, the speakers in the video are young, so we cannot hear this particular sound in words as:
  • Roof (1:00)
  • Caramel (1:08)
  • Naturally (1:44)

Vowels

• The lexical set THOUGHT, pronounced with [a:] rather than with [ɔ:]
  • w[a:]ter (1:10)
  • However, in «caught» (1:37), despite belonging to this lexical set, it is pronounced as in Received Pronounciation [ɔ:].
• TRAP and BATH sets of words are pronounced [a:] in the case the vowel is followed by a voiced consonant or the word ends in a voiced consonant. If the consonant that is followed at the end is voiceless, these words are pronounced with short [a].
  •  s[a:]lmon (1:05)
  • c[a:]ramel (1:08)
  • [a:]lab[a:]ma (1:31)
  • cr[a]ckerj[a]ck  (1:53)
• GOAT [o:], rather than [əʊ]
  • b[o:]th (1:20)
• PRICE [ɛi] or [ai], in the video both of them pronounce the words as in RP [ai]
  • [ai]ron (1:04)
  • f[ai]re (1:09)
• In word final unstressed vowel set LettER [ɛ], rather than [ər]
  • theat[ɛ] (1:02)

References

Bl.uk. (2016). Geordie accent. [online] Available at: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/geordie/consonants/ [Accessed 25 May 2016].

YouTube. (2016). Accent challenge (Newcastle/Geordie | alomous. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBfcvrT0ng [Accessed 23 May 2016].

Keuchler, K. (n.d.). Geordie Accent and Tyneside English: «On the Language and the Dialect Spoken in and around Newxastle-upon-Tyne». Seminar paper.