I've been rereading Bill Bryson's "Made In America", his history of the development of the US version of English.
In chapter two he says of the English spoken on the Mayflower

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we would almost certainly be astonished at how frequently incomprehensible much of their language would be to us.

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He then goes on to list many differences between English then and now. Just as when I read it before I was struck by the fact that my native accent and dialect seem remarkably close to that which he is describing.

He says

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Father would have rhymed with the present day gather .

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In my local accent it is sometimes pronounced feyther and sometimes ferther .

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Was was not prounced woz but wass .

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Though not the usual pronunciation I do hear this from time to time among older locals.

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Home was commonly spelled [and pronounced] whome .

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Here we say "Ah'm gooin' wum" for "I'm going home."

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[There was] no distinction between flood, good and mood .

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While mood has the long sound the shorter double-o sound is almost always flattened around here into the neutral schwa as is "u" and often "o".

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Oi was sounded like a long "i" so that voice sounded like vice .

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That's common enough around here.

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Words that had a short e were often pronounced and sometimes spelled with a short "i" - bin for been . (He also meantions steady being stiddy )

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Yes, that's my usual pronunciation too.

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Words containing ea combinations - tea, meat deal and so on were prounced with a long a

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Yes, we say tay, mate and dale for those words.

It seems to me that I'd have had very little difficulty understanding the Pilgrim Fathers.

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life ?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off ?
Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

It is my impression that the greatest changes have taken place in southern English, presumably under the influence of the Court during the time when French was its language.

The long "a", for example, never reached Yorkshire or Lancashire,

Richard English

If that is true, Bob, then I would have trouble understanding you! All of those pronunciations are so odd to me. Tay, mate, dale?

I have only read parts of "Made in America." Do you enjoy it? In looking through it now I notice that my husband has a lot of notes written in it, so he clearly enjoyed it!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
If that is true, Bob, then I would have trouble understanding you! All of those pronunciations are so odd to me. Tay, mate, dale?

I have only read parts of "Made in America." Do you enjoy it? In looking through it now I notice that my husband has a lot of notes written in it, so he clearly enjoyed it!

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Ah, but you wouldn't. In fact you didn't (did you?)
My speech patterns have been affected (tainted?) by living outside my home town, by education, by mixing with people with a wide variety of accents and origins.
However put me in a pub in my home town with people around me speaking the local dialect and I soon revert to type.

I say "Cup u tay" for "cup of tea", "'Er ay gooin'." for "She isn't going", "Doe mek mi loff" for "Don't make me laugh." and so on.

However I can of course act the part of a more refined and eloquent speaker when the occasion demands it.

"On th'otha 'ond jus' coz ah con spake proppa doe mean uz ah alwiz do."

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life ?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off ?
Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.