Mr. Carr on the Nortlimnbrlan Dialect, &c. 363 



dialect among the sister dialects of the parent Anglian, I 

 come to the subjects at the head of this paper. 



In trying to write the dialect of our county experimentally, 

 in a more correct manner than is commonly done, in order to 

 exhibit its character, I have been struck by the fact that the 

 present participle of its verbs is noAvise represented by our 

 modern English syllable ing. In the Northumbrian participle 

 there is not the slightest trace of nasal sound, neither is the 

 vowel-sound that of short i. It is an obscure vowel, inter- 

 mediate between short a and short w, so that to express 

 making, {faciens,) we must write makan' or makand. That 

 the sign of elision ought to be inserted, if we do not boldly 

 and more correctly restore the original d, and write makand, 

 is certain. And that we should in truth restore the d, the 

 following reasoning will show. In our dialect as in other 

 cognate ones, not only final and unaccented syllables like this, 

 are apt to drop the sound of d after n, but the same omission 

 holds good in many radical words where the combination nd 

 occurs ; yet both letters are still very properly retained in 

 writing, for etymological reasons, and to preserve the gram- 

 matical forms. Thus the following words are often pro- 

 nounced in Northumberland as if there were no d : and, 

 hand, grand, land, wand, stand, command : garland also 

 where the last syllable is not under the stress, would always 

 be pronounced garlan' ; and so again fend, lend, mend, pre- 

 tend, as '\ifenn, lenn, menn, pretenn. 



Now, seeing that our dialect can lay claim to this present 

 participle in its old form, just as truly as it could in olden 

 times when the termination was accurately written, we de- 

 prive the Northumbrian of one of its best features if we do 

 not represent with the pen, or in type, that which we certainly 

 convey by our pronunciation. I mean, of course, we ought so 

 to write when we wish to give an example of the local dialect. 

 For instance, in such a work as a Glossary, these participles 

 ought to be pretty fully represented. 



In the south of England people say " I am comin', goin', 

 lovin', thinkin'." This distinct utterance of the sound of 

 short i or close e, indicates a wide dialectic variation, though 

 the nasal sound has departed equally as with us, whether the 

 word be a participle or a verbal noun, and the narrow vowel- 

 sound of i is the same in both. These southern participles 

 might be written with e, as lovend. 



It was only in the 16th and 17th centuries, or even later, 

 that the practice of writing makand, lovajidy singand, comand, 



