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15 July 2009
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Voices

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The Voices Recordings


About this interview
Former dockers Former dockers who now run a bar in Hope Street, Liverpool, discuss the city's sense of community and the cameraderie of the docks.

Interviewees:
John Cowley, Anthony Nelson, Michael Tighe, John Deaves, Crichton Mark,

Click on names to find out more about the participants.

Relationship of interviewees: Friends and workmates

Where: Liverpool, Merseyside

Language of interview: English
About this interview
Voice clip 1
Wedding Cake, The Drunken Caterpillar and The Giggling Beetroot - the group talk about the nicknames they had for each other in the old days working on the docks.



Voice clip 2
Are you narked, or do you have a cob on? Talk about which words you use for being upset and which situations you may use them.



Voice clip 3
Talk about the cameraderie between ex-dockers who meet at the Casa prompts Mark and Tony to remember the good things about the job and regret its loss.



More clips from this interview

John Cowley, Educational planner
John remembers how mothers and aunties dominated children's lives when he was young as the men were at sea or working on the docks.
Interview's notes

Long description of interview: The group is made up of five former dockers. The discussion takes place at the Casa Bar on Hope Street which they set up after they lost their jobs in 1995, and which they frequent most days. Their ages range from 45 to 62. They are all very vocal and have a lot to say about the community closeness felt in Liverpool. Many have strong opinions and strong comments to make on topics such as family, local accents and particularly swearing.

Recorded by: Jodie Campbell, Radio Merseyside

Date of interview: 2004/11/09
Interview's notes

Jonnie Robinson, Curator, English accents and dialects, British Library Sound Archive, writes:


Scouse - the accent of the city of Liverpool is extremely distinctive and instantly recognisable. It's thought to have evolved during the course of the nineteenth century, when large numbers of Irish and Welsh immigrants settled in the area. Listen closely and you can certainly hear similarities with Irish English in Paul’s pronunciation of <th> in the phrases to be honest with you and the best thing that happened to me.

There are several other features we immediately associate with a Liverpool accent. Listen to the characteristic sound both speakers use in the words dockers, lucky, sick and back. Also typical of many speakers on Merseyside is the vowel used here in the words world, work, and who we were and the use of a weak vowel in the final syllable of going, building, losing, struggling and earning.

The use of an intrusive to link you with the following word in the phrases who you are and the laugh you had down there is an unusual feature of speech in a number of accents in the north of England.

Finally many people in the north-west and perhaps elsewhere, too, will recognise the phrase made up meaning pleased or delighted.


   

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