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All through
2005, the BBC’s Voices project employed so-called "audio-gatherers"
to record the ways of speech of at least 1,000 interviewees from a mix of people
from all corners of the UK.
The project organisers also hoped that
some 10,000 people will ‘have had their say’ on the BBC Voices
on-line survey.
Much of this information will help university academics get
a much better understanding of the ways of speech of people all across the country.
See
more about Staffordshire's audio-gatherers at the bottom of this page.
Staffordshire?
So…….
what are the local ways of speaking in Staffordshire, do you think? If
you've ever lived in the county, you'll know that each town, village and district
has words, and dialects that are unique to them - and some of them were used for
the online survey here on the web.
Just log on to the Voices
website. And
there's more
Language is not just about words, or accent.
Do men
and women use different ways, or special words, to express themselves?
Do
people change accents depending on whom they are talking to - or where they are?
Do
kids have special ways of talking, or special words? Do you remember the words
you used when you were a child?
For example, do you know WHERE you
might... profit from a five-finger discount, or WHEN you might take tranklements
to work, or wear daps or sweat cobs?!! The
more information supplied, the more the School of English at the University of
Leeds (who get the info) will be able to update their "Survey of English
Dialects".
The first version, created in 1962, was the first scientific
attempt to map the accents we have in the UK and the special local peculiarities
in our language.
It will also provide content for an online interactive dialect
map of the British Isles.
Any
interviews taken by our audio-gatherers will also be deposited with the National
Sound Archive at the British Library and sound archives in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
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