Geordie is one of the most known dialects around England; however, its usage has descended due to the globalized world we live in. Even if young generation still speaks Geordie, is not in its ‘broadest form and they find difficult to understand the meaning of the expressions that were commonly used some 40 years ago’ (Erbanová, 2011, pág. 7).
As the term ‘dialect’ involves, the form of the language has to vary from the Standard one which requirements are fully fulfilled in Geordie. In addition, Geordie may not be intelligible in certain contexts to other English native speakers but some accommodations in hands of younger generations make rapprochement between the Standard and the dialect.
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning the impact the mass media has, both positively and negatively. As mentioned before, the globalization reinforces the dominant languages and dismisses the rest. This clearly happens mainly due to Internet and TV programs which leave dialects apart and make fun of them (see ‘Funny Geordie Accent’s video). However, it is not the case of Geordie at all because native Geordie famous people have always defended and try to reinforce the point of view towards this dialect. Some TV series such as ‘The Likely Lads’, films such as ‘Billy Eliot’ or singers such as ‘Cheryl Cole’ have helped to promote the region and the dialect positively. In fact, ‘Geordie proved to be ‘the most attractive accent in England’’ (Erbanová, 2011, pág. 8).
Cheryl Cole (from minute 4 to minute 6)
Cheryl & Mel (minute 1:47, munite 6:50)
However, Fehringer, C. (2015) evidences in her article that some constructions that are considered to be favored by less educated speakers are part of Geordie. In the case of ‘have’ and ‘have got’ usages, the latter is the most common one in Geordie and which is considered as less prestigious. The effect on the choice of variant suggest that ‘have’ is no more Standard than ‘have got’ in Tyneside (Fehringer, 2015).
References:
Carol Fehringer and Karen P. Corrigan (2015). “The Geordie accent has a bit of a bad reputation”: internal and external constraints on stative possession in the Tyneside English of the 21st century. English Today, 31, pp 38-50 doi:10.1017/S0266078415000097
Ervanová, P. (2011). The Intelligibility of the Geordie Dialect. Masaryk University. (Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis)
YouTube. (2012). Cheryl Cole Interview on The Jonathan Ross Show. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYuC8wdh-Ok&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 26 May 2016].
YouTube. (2014). Cheryl & Mel- Jonathan Ross Show- Interview Show. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYuC8wdh-Ok&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 26 May 2016].
YouTube. (2012). Funny Geordie Accent’s. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oef4lU-GON8&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 26 May 2016].
Geordie dialect 