Lancashire dialect

{{Main|Lancashire}}

Lancashire emerged during the Industrial Revolution as a major commercial and industrial region. The county encompassed several hundred mill towns and collieries and by the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire.{{cite book|title=Greater Manchester: a panorama of people and places in Manchester and its surrounding towns|page=13|last=Gibb|first=Robert|publisher=Myriad|year=2005|isbn=1-904736-86-6}} It was during this period that most writing in and about the dialect took place, when Lancashire covered a much larger area than it does today (at least from an administrative point of view—the historic county boundary remains unchanged). The administrative county was subject to significant boundary changes in 1974,George, D. (1991) Lancashire which removed Liverpool and Manchester with most of their surrounding conurbations to form part of the metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.Local Government Act 1972. 1972, c. 70 At this time, the detached Furness Peninsula and Cartmel (Lancashire over the Sands) were made part of Cumbria, and the Warrington and Widnes areas became part of Cheshire.

The linguist Gerard Knowles noted that Lancashire dialect was still spoken in the city of Liverpool in 1830, before the period of mass immigration from Ireland that led the dialect of the city to change radically.{{cite book|page=17|last=Knowles|first=Gerard|title=Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool|year=1973}} Modern Liverpool speech is usually treated as a separate dialect, named Scouse. In the post-war era, migration to other towns in Merseyside, and also to the new towns created at Runcorn, Skelmersdale and Warrington, has led to an expansion in the area in which Scouse is spoken, as the next generation acquired Scouse speech habits that often displaced the traditional Lancashire or Cheshire dialects of the area.{{cite book|pages=xviii-xix|last=Crosby|first=Alan|title=The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore|year=2000}}

The area transferred in 1974 to modern Cumbria, known as "Lancashire over the sands", is sometimes also covered as in scope of Cumbrian dialect: for example, The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore was written by the Barrovian William Robinson and included this area.{{cite book|title=The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore|last=Robinson|first=William|date=1997|isbn=1858250668|publisher=Smith Settle|page=xiii}} As there was mass migration in the 19th century to Barrow-in-Furness from Ireland, Staffordshire, the Black Country, Scotland and nearby rural areas, it has (like Liverpool) developed a dialect different from the surrounding rural area.

In recent years, some have also classified the speech of Manchester as a separate Mancunian dialect, but this is a much less established distinction. Many of the dialect writers and poets in the 19th and early 20th century were from Manchester and surrounding towns.{{cite book|page=xiv|last=Crosby|first=Alan|title=The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore|year=2000}}

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The Lancashire dialect traditionally used rhotic pronunciation, but the accents of much of the area have become non-rhotic since the middle of the 20th century.Set out below in the Modern Research section

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Alexander John Ellis, one of the first to apply phonetics to English speech, divided the county of Lancashire into four areas. Three of these four were considered North Midland in his categorisation of dialects, whereas the fourth (mostly the section that is in modern Cumbria, known as "Lancashire over the sands") was considered Northern. Dialect isoglosses in England seldom correspond to county boundaries, and an area of Lancashire could have a dialect more similar to an area of a neighbouring county than to a distant area of Lancashire.

Ellis expressly excluded the Scouse dialect of Liverpool from the areas below, although his Area 22 included some sites in modern Merseyside (e.g. Newton-le-Willows, Prescot).{{cite book|page=18|last=Knowles|first=Gerard|title=Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool|year=1973}}

Ellis often spoke of "the Lancashire U" in his work.{{cite book|title=On Early English Pronunciation Volume V|last=Ellis|first=Alexander John|page=10|year=1889}} This was similar to the {{IPA|ʊ}} in other Northern and North Midland dialects but was actually a more centralised {{IPA|ʊ̈}}. In addition, the dialects he studied were all rhotic at the time of writing.

A number of dialect glossaries were published in the 18th and 19th Centuries, often by philologists who were interested in the old words retained in certain dialects.

• Glossary of provincial words used in the neighbourhood of Ashton-under-Lyne, Mr. Barnes, 1846.
• Glossary of provincial words used in the neighbourhood of Ormskirk, W Hawkstead Talbot, 1846.
• The Dialect of South Lancashire, or Tom Bobbin's Tummus and Meary; with his rhymes and an enlarged glossary of words and phrases, chiefly used by the rural population of the manufacturing districts of South Lancashire, Samuel Bamford, 1854.
• A Glossary of the Dialect of the Hundred of Lonsdale, North and South of the Sands, in the County of Lancaster; together with an essay on some leading characteristics of the dialects spoken in the six northern counties of England (ancient Northumbria), JC Atkinson, 1869.
• A Glossary of the Words and Phrases of Furness (North Lancashire), RB Peacock, London Phil. Soc. Trans., 1869.
• A Glossary of Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words and Phrases, H Cunliffe, 1886.
• A Blegburn Dickshonary, J Baron, 1891.
• A Grammar Of The Dialect Of Adlington (Lancashire), Karl Andrew Hargreaves, 1904.
• A Grammar Of The Dialect Of Oldham (Lancashire), Karl Georg Schilling, 1906.

Of these, only the works on Oldham and Adlington contain any phonetic notation, and this was in a slightly different code to the modern IPA.

Led by Harold Orton at the University of Leeds, the Survey of English Dialects surveyed 313 sites across England, the Isle of Man and some bordering areas of Wales in the 1950s and early 1960s. The Survey recorded the dialect used in fourteen sites in Lancashire. These sites were mostly rural. A second phase, researching more urban areas, had been planned from the outset but financial problems meant that this second phase never occurred and the Survey's coverage was mostly confined to rural parts of England.{{cite journal |last1=Frees |first1=Craig |date=1991 |title=The Historiography of Dialectology |url=http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/lorelang/LoreandLanguageVol10No021991.pdf#page=3 |journal=Lore and Language |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=71–72 |access-date=11 February 2018 }}

The fieldworkers for the sites were Stanley Ellis and Peter Wright.{{cite book|title=Survey of English Dialects: Introduction|first=Harold|last=Orton|year=1962|publisher=EJ Arnold & Son|location=Leeds|page=33}} The latter was a native of Fleetwood and wrote his PhD on the dialect, using his father as the principal informant.{{cite book|title=Survey of English Dialects: Volume 1 Basic Material, Six Northern Counties and Man: Part 1|first1=Harold|last1=Orton|first2=Wilfrid J|last2=Halliday|year=1962|publisher=EJ Arnold & Son|location=Leeds|pages=21–22}} In 1981, Wright published a book The Lanky Twang: How it is spoke that explained the dialects of Lancashire through a series of illustrations, often humorous.{{citation |first=Peter |last=Wright |title=The Lanky Twang: How it is spoke |publisher=Dalesman |location=Lancaster |year=1981}}

The table below shows the sites as reported in Book 1 of the Survey's outputs for the northern counties.{{cite book|title=Survey of English Dialects: Volume 1 Basic Material, Six Northern Counties and Man: Part 1|first1=Harold|last1=Orton|first2=Wilfrid J|last2=Halliday|year=1962|publisher=EJ Arnold & Son|location=Leeds|pages=20–25}}

There were several other monographs written by dialectologists by Harold Orton's department at the University of Leeds, including some urban areas such as Bury, Middleton, St. Helens and Southport. These are now contained in the Archive of Vernacular Culture at the Brotherton Library in Leeds.{{cite web|url=https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/409895/student_research_papers|title=Student Research Papers|publisher=University of Leeds|access-date=19 January 2020}}

The site of Harwood (La12) was later included in the UNESCO-funded Atlas Linguarum Europae.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/atlas-linguarum-europae-list-of-sites/page/299/mode/2up?view=theater|page=300 |title=Ausgewählte Verwandtschaftsbezeichnungen in den Sprachen Europas |first=Birgit | last=Eder |year=2003 |isbn=9783631528730 |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Hamburg, Germany}} The results of this survey have attracted little attention.{{cite journal |first=Edward | last=Aveyard |date=2023 |title=The Atlas Linguarum Europae in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland |journal=Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society |pages=3-11}}

Graham Shorrocks, a linguist from Farnworth, conducted a series of research projects on the dialect of the Bolton area. These were consolidated into two linked books named A Grammar of the Dialect of the Bolton Area, published in 1998 and 1999.

In addition, the Harwood area of Bolton, which had been a site in the Survey of English Dialects, was made into a site for the Europe-wide linguistic project Atlas Linguarum Europae.{{cite book|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14787/1/310885_Vol1.pdf|page=35|last=Shorrocks|first=Graham|title=A Grammar of the Dialect of Farnworth and District|year=1980}}

John C. Wells, who grew up in Up Holland,{{Cite web |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/philsoc-bio.htm |title=J C Wells - personal history |access-date=14 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205051419/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/philsoc-bio.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web|url=http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2012/03/english-places.html|title=John Wells's phonetic blog: English places|first=John|last=Wells|date=16 March 2012}} made some passing comments on Lancastrian speech (mostly on the southern parts of the county) in his 1982 series of books, Accents of English.

• In central Lancashire, words such as coal and hole are pronounced with the {{IPA|[ɔɪ]}} vowel, giving {{IPA|[kɔɪl]}} and {{IPA|[ɔɪl]}}.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=358}}
• In southern parts of Lancashire such as the Bolton and Oldham areas, the MOUTH vowel is {{IPA|[ɘʏ]}} or {{IPA|[ʌʏ]}}. This can be heard clearly in the pronunciation of the word 'roundabout' in these areas.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge, New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=359 }}
• In much of the area around Manchester, the GOOSE vowel is fronted {{IPA|[ʏ:]}}.
• The lexical sets for NURSE and SQUARE are both realised with the same vowel {{IPA|[ɜ:]}}.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=361 }} This is known as the square–nurse merger, although (as in most of the North of England) many NURSE words are pronounced with a short schwa {{IPA|ə}} so that curse is pronounced {{IPA|kəs}} in non-rhotic areas.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=356 }}
• The final vowel in words such as happy and city is a short {{IPA|[ɪ]}} rather than the {{IPA|[i:]}} of most other English dialects.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=362 }}
• The word one is usually pronounced {{IPA|[wɔn]}} rather than the {{IPA|[wʌn]}} of Received Pronunciation or the {{IPA|[wʊn]}} in other parts of Northern England.
• In the southern half of Lancashire, there is no NG-coalescence, so words such as finger and singer rhyme.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge, New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |pages=365–66}}
• Rhoticity persists residually in some areas of Lancashire, though non-rhoticity certainly characterises the more urban areas around Liverpool, Manchester or Wigan.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=368 }} Rhoticity in Lancashire has been increasingly giving way to non-rhoticity since the second half of the 20th century. Beal, Joan (2004). "English dialects in the North of England: phonology". A Handbook of Varieties of English (pp. 113-133). Berlin, Boston: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 127.
• The consonants {{IPA|p, t, k}} are usually not post-aspirated (as they are in most other dialects) in the Pennine valleys, for example around Burnley.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-29719-2 |page=370}}

The linguist Peter Trudgill specified a "Central Lancashire" dialect region, defined particularly by its rhoticity, around Blackburn, Preston and the northern parts of Greater Manchester. He classified the county of Merseyside, excluding the St Helens borough and Southport, as another dialect region. Trudgill grouped most of Greater Manchester in the "Northwest Midlands" region, and grouped the non-rhotic northern parts of Lancashire in with Cumbria and most of Yorkshire in the "Central North" region.{{cite book|last=Trudgill|first=Peter|year=2000|title=The Dialects of England|publisher=Wiley|isbn=0631218157}}

In 2005 and 2006,{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/news/|title=BBC news archive - Voices|access-date=25 January 2020|publisher=BBC}} the BBC, working with the University of Leeds, undertook a survey of the speech of the country.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/voices2005/|title=Where I live - Lancashire - Voices|publisher=BBC|access-date=25 January 2020|date=28 October 2014}} The recordings are now available on the British Library's website.{{cite web|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/BBC-Voices|publisher=British Library|access-date=25 January 2020|title=BBC Voices}} An accompanying book, Talking for Britain: a journey through the voices of a nation, was published in 2005; the author noted that the speech of Lancashire in 2005 differed markedly from "the impenetrable tracts of rural Lancastrian that the Survey of English Dialects found in the 1950s".{{cite book|last=Elmes |first=Simon |year=2005 |title=Talking for Britain: A journey through the voices of our nation |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-051562-3|page=177}}

Academic analysis of the corpus of Lancashire dialect writing and poetry has continued into the 21st century. Areas of research include identifying the syntax of the dialect,{{cite book|chapter=Ditransitive clauses in English with special reference to Lancashire dialect|pages=83–102|last1=Siewierska|first1=Anna|last2=Hollmann|first2=Willem|year=2007|editor-last1=Hannay|editor-first1=Mike|editor-last2=Steen|editor-first2=Gerard J|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DX06AAAAQBAJ&q=%22Lancashire+Dialect%22&pg=PA83|title=Structural-Functional Studies in English Grammar: In honour of Lachlan Mackenzie|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9789027292599}}{{cite journal|journal=English Language & Linguistics|title=A construction grammar account of possessive constructions in Lancashire dialect: some advantages and challenges|last1=Siewierska|first1=Anna|last2=Hollmann|first2=Willem|year=2007|pages=407–424|volume=11|issue=2|doi=10.1017/S1360674307002304|s2cid=122076268 }}{{cite journal|title=Corpora and (the Need for) Other Methods in a Study of Lancashire Dialect|pages=203–216|last1=Siewierska|first1=Anna|last2=Hollmann|first2=Willem|journal=Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik|volume=54|issue=2|year=2006|doi=10.1515/zaa-2006-0210 |s2cid=8615237 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/zaa.2006.54.issue-2/zaa-2006-0210/zaa-2006-0210.xml}} methods of oral performance,{{cite journal|year=2010|title=A Great Man in Clogs: Performing Authenticity in Victorian Lancashire |last=Hakala|first=Taryn|journal=Victorian Studies|volume=52|issue=3|pages=387–412|jstor=10.2979/VIC.2010.52.3.387 |doi=10.2979/VIC.2010.52.3.387 |s2cid=144071795 }}{{cite journal|title=From Voice to Print: Lancashire Dialect Verse, 1800-70|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/4ccedcadf3d36890684971f5ed97c1b2/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41062|last=Hollingworth|first=Brian|journal=Philological Quarterly|volume=92|issue=2|pages=289–313|year=2013}} the lexicography of dialect words,{{cite journal|last=Ruano-García|first=Javier|journal=English Today|volume=28|issue=4|year=2012|title=Late Modern Lancashire English in lexicographical context: representations of Lancashire speech and the English Dialect Dictionary: An investigation of how nineteenth-century Lancashire dialect literature contributed to Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary|doi=10.1017/S0266078412000405|s2cid=144690041 }} and the relationship between dialect and social class in the United Kingdom.{{cite journal|last=Hakala|first=Taryn|journal=Philological Quarterly|year=2012|volume=92|issue=2|title=M. R. Lahee and the Lancashire Lads: Gender and Class in Victorian Lancashire Dialect Writing|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/4ccedcadf3d36890db49ace1f7c0444d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41062|pages=271–288}}{{cite journal|title="Eawr Folk": Language, Class, and English Identity in Victorian Dialect Poetry |journal=Victorian Poetry|pages=287–300|volume=39|issue=2|year=2001|last=McCauley|first=Larry|doi=10.1353/vp.2001.0014|s2cid=161328242}}

Graham Shorrocks wrote that Lancashire has been the county with the strongest tradition of dialect poetry since the mid-19th century.{{cite book |last=Shorrocks|first=Graham |editor-last1=Hoenselaars|editor-first1=Ton|editor-last2=Buning|editor-first2=Marius|title=English Literature and the Other Languages|publisher=Rodopi|date=1999|page=90|chapter=Working-Class Literature in Working-Class Language: the North of England|isbn=9042007842}} Many of these gave commentaries on the poverty of the working class at the time and occasional political sentiments: for example, the ballad Jone o Grinfilt portrayed an unemployed handloom worker who would rather die as a soldier in a foreign war than starve at home.{{cite book |last=Shorrocks|first=Graham |editor-last1=Hoenselaars|editor-first1=Ton|editor-last2=Buning|editor-first2=Marius|title=English Literature and the Other Languages|publisher=Rodopi|date=1999|page=89|chapter=Working-Class Literature in Working-Class Language: the North of England|isbn=9042007842}} Vicinus argued that, after 1870, dialect writing declined in quality owing to "clichés and sentimentality".{{cite book |last=Shorrocks|first=Graham |editor-last1=Hoenselaars|editor-first1=Ton|editor-last2=Buning|editor-first2=Marius|title=English Literature and the Other Languages|publisher=Rodopi|date=1999|page=95|chapter=Working-Class Literature in Working-Class Language: the North of England|isbn=9042007842}} Writing in 1999, Shorrocks argues that "Many dialect writers nowadays cannot speak dialect, or cannot speak it in any convincing fashion, and much of what is written seems exhausted, poor, and, crucially, detached from living speech.{{cite book |last=Shorrocks|first=Graham |editor-last1=Hoenselaars|editor-first1=Ton|editor-last2=Buning|editor-first2=Marius|title=English Literature and the Other Languages|publisher=Rodopi|date=1999|page=93|chapter=Working-Class Literature in Working-Class Language: the North of England|isbn=9042007842}} Lancashire dialect writing, at least in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, often drew on Lancashire folklore.

The Lancashire Authors Association was founded in 1909 and still exists for writers in the dialect, producing an annual paper called The Record.

Some dialect poets include:

• Benjamin Brierley (often known as Ben Brierley) (1825–1896) was a writer in Lancashire dialect; he wrote poems and a considerable number of stories of Lancashire life. He began to contribute articles to local papers in the 1850s and in 1863 he definitely took to journalism and literature, publishing in the same year his Chronicles of Waverlow.
• John Collier, writing under the name Tim Bobbin, published more than 100 editions of "A View of the Lancashire Dialect".
• Sam Fitton of Rochdale (1868–1923)
• Nicholas Freeston (1907–1978) was an English poet who spent most of his working life as a weaver in cotton mills near his home in Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire. He published five books of poetry, occasionally writing in Lancashire dialect, and won 15 awards including a gold medal presented by the president of the United Poets' Laureate International.Leaver, Eric. "Looms were mill poet's muse". Lancashire Evening Telegraph (Blackburn). 8 February 1978. Front page.
• Samuel Laycock (1826–1893) was a dialect poet who recorded in verse the vernacular of the Lancashire cotton workers.
• Joseph Ramsbottom (1831–1901)
• Margaret Rebecca Lahee (10 May 1831 – 14 June 1895), was an Irish Lancashire dialect writer from the 19th century who wrote in prose rather than verse.{{cite book | last=Hodson | first=J. | title=Dialect and Literature in the Long Nineteenth Century | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-317-15148-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tColDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 | access-date=2019-11-12 | page=110}}
• Thomas Thompson was a Lancashire dialect author and BBC broadcaster. Born in Bury in 1880, he lived there all his life until his death in 1951. He published 16 books on Lancashire people and their communities, published by George Allen and Unwin. In 1950, he was awarded an honorary master's degree by Manchester University for his scholarly contribution to dialect literature.
• Edwin Waugh whose most famous poem was "Come whoam to thi childer an' me", written in 1856.{{cite web|url=http://gerald-massey.org.uk/waugh/index.htm|title=Edwin Waugh|last=Anon|publisher=Gerald Massey|access-date=21 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412055618/http://gerald-massey.org.uk/waugh/index.htm|archive-date=12 April 2008|url-status=dead}}
• Michael Wilson of Manchester (1763–1840) and his sons Thomas and Alexander.Hollingworth, Brian, ed. (1977) Songs of the People. Manchester: Manchester University Press {{ISBN|0-7190-0612-0}}; pp. 151–56

Dialect poets have occasionally appeared on the BBC since its establishment. Sam Smith featured on the radio in the 1920s.{{cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5807376b509d4a188625a31ea07c7ec5|title=SAM SMITH (Lancashire Dialect Entertainer)|publisher=2ZY Manchester|date=16 November 1926|access-date=25 January 2020}} In the 2010s, BBC radio programmes analysed the Manchester Ballads (which featured dialect){{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b39sh1|title=Music Matters: Lancashire dialect in song|publisher=BBC Radio 3|date=21 May 2018|access-date=25 January 2020}} and reported on contemporary poets that kept the tradition of dialect poetry alive.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k12lb|publisher=BBC One|title=Flog it! Blackburn|date=9 August 2014|access-date=25 January 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2hprv|title=Tongue and Talk: the Dialect Poets|publisher=BBC Radio 4|access-date=25 January 2020|date=19 May 2018}}

In April 2011, Pendle Borough Council printed phrases from local dialect poems on stone-cube artworks in the area.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-13083346|title=Old Pendle dialect phrases to be put on cube artworks|date=15 April 2011|access-date=25 January 2020|publisher=BBC News}}

In November 2016, Simon Rennie from Exeter University announced his collection of Lancashire dialect poetry from the time of the Lancashire Cotton Famine of 1861–65.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-37836654|publisher=BBC News|title='Forgotten' Lancashire dialects revealed in poetry research|date=2 November 2016|access-date=19 January 2020}} He said, "It's fascinating how people turned to and used poetry, in their local languages, to express the impact events so far away were having on them."

The Lancashire Dialect Society was founded in 1951; The Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society has included articles on the Survey of English Dialects and on the dialects of Germany, Switzerland and the United States.Brook, G. L. (1963) English Dialects. London: Andre Deutsch; pp. 156–57 The society collected a library of publications relating to dialect studies which was kept at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester from 1974 onwards."Dear Professor Brook, Ah'm fain t'tell thee as wi'n dun fer thee all yon books fer t'Lankysheer Dialect Society tha fotched ter t'University Library a while sin ..."--The Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society, no. 23, pp. 3–4 This collection was afterwards taken away and deposited at the Lancashire County Library in Preston.

[http://www.lancashireauthorsassociation.co.uk/ The Lancashire Authors' Association] is devoted to the study of Lancashire literature, history, traditions and dialect.{{cite web |title=The Lancashire Authors' Association |url=http://www.lancashireauthorsassociation.co.uk/ |website=The Lancashire Authors' Association |access-date=4 January 2022}} The [https://libguides.bolton.ac.uk/spc/laa-collection Association’s library collection] was founded in Horwich in 1921 and contains dialect works by authors including Edwin Waugh, Samuel Laycock and Teddy Ashton. The collection has been housed at public libraries across Lancashire, and was moved to the University of Bolton Library in 2021.{{cite web |title=Lancashire Authors' Association Collection at the University of Bolton Library |url=https://libguides.bolton.ac.uk/spc/laa-collection |access-date=4 January 2022}}

Various newspapers in Lancashire and the magazine Lancashire Life have included content relating to the Lancashire dialect. R. G. Shepherd contributed many articles interesting both for their philosophy and their excursions into local dialect to The West Lancashire Gazette and The Fleetwood Chronicle. Dialect has also featured in The Bolton Journal, The Leigh Reporter and The Lancashire Evening Post as well as in "Mr. Manchester's diary" in The Manchester Evening News.Wright, Peter (1976) Lancashire Dialect. Clapham, N. Yorks.: Dalesman; pp. 18–19

Between 1979 and 2015, the North West Sound Archive contained a range of records in Lancashire dialect (as well as Cumberland and Westmorland dialect). The Archive closed owing to financial reasons in 2015, and its materials were relocated to the Manchester Central Library, Liverpool Central Library, and the Lancashire Archives.{{cite news | url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11682572.North_West_Sound_Archive_set_to_close_due_to__financial_circumstances_/ | title=North West Sound Archive set to close due to 'financial circumstances' | publisher=Lancashire Telegraph | date=22 December 2014 | access-date=26 September 2015}}

Films from the early part of the 20th century, particularly those produced by Mancunian Films, often contain Lancashire dialect: the films of George Formby, Gracie Fields and Frank Randle are some examples.Lancashire English, Fred Holcroft, introduction, 1997

The 2018 film Peterloo used reconstructed Lancashire dialect from the early 19th century, based on the works of Samuel Bamford, who was portrayed in the film.{{cite news|url=https://observer.com/2019/04/mike-leigh-on-why-his-new-film-about-an-1819-massacre-feels-eerily-relevant-today/|title=Mike Leigh on Why His New Film About an 1819 Massacre Feels Eerily Relevant Today|first=Daniel|last=Schindel|date=4 July 2019|access-date=19 January 2020}}

Similarly, in music, the Lancashire dialect is often used in regional folk songs. The folk song "Poverty Knock"{{cite web| url=http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Poverty_Knock.htm| title=Poverty Knock| last=Anon| work=Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music|access-date=21 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201152111/http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Poverty_Knock.htm|archive-date=1 December 2008|url-status=live}} is one of the best-known songs of such nature, describing life in a Lancashire cotton mill.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/feb/06/britishidentity.musicnews| title=Hear where you're coming from| last=Barton |first=Laura|date=6 February 2008 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited |access-date=21 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223010452/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/feb/06/britishidentity.musicnews |archive-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=live}} The Houghton Weavers is a band formed in 1975 that continues to sing in Lancashire dialect.{{cite news|url=http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/270966172-keep-folk-smiling-houghton-weavers-‘nu-folk’-music-critics-and-their-long-career|title=Houghton Weavers on 'Nu Folk', music critics and their long career|last=Barnes|first=Liam|access-date=25 January 2020|date=27 September 2011}} In 1979, the Houghton Weavers presented a series on local folk music on BBC North West entitled Sit thi deawn.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76c8b96f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816081842/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76c8b96f|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 August 2017|title=Sit Thi Deawn (1979)|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=25 January 2020}}

The band the Lancashire Hotpots, from St Helens, have also used the Lancashire dialect in their work, particularly for humor.[http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/world_music/s/1012976_folks_tinternet_sensations Folk's t'internet sensations – World music – Music – Entertainment – Manchester Evening News] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025021813/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/world_music/s/1012976_folks_tinternet_sensations|date=25 October 2007}}

{{reflist|group=notes}}

{{reflist|25em}}

• Boardman, Harry & Lesley, eds. (1973) Folk Songs & Ballads of Lancashire. London: Oak Publications {{ISBN|0-86001-027-9}}
• Kershaw, Harvey (1958) Lancashire Sings Again: a collection of original verses. Rochdale: Harvey Kershaw
• Pomfret, Joan, ed. (1969) Lancashire Evergreens: a hundred favourite old poems. Brierfield, Nelson: Gerrard {{ISBN|0-900397-02-0}}
• Pomfret, Joan, ed. (1969) Nowt So Queer: new Lancashire verse and prose. Nelson: Gerrard
• Just Sithabod: dialect verse from "Lancashire Life". Manchester: Whitethorn Press, 1975 (dedicated to "Lancastrians learning English as a second language")
• The Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society (no. 15, January 1966, contains an index to no. 1–14)The society was founded in 1951 at Manchester by George Leslie Brook, professor of English language and medieval English literature (The Journal, no. 10).
• {{cite book|last=Holcroft|first=Fred|publisher=Abson Books|title=Lancashire English|location=London|date=November 1997|isbn=0-902920-97-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Elmes|first=Simon|title=Talking for Britain|publisher=Penguin|date=September 2006|isbn=978-0-14-102277-2|url=http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141022772,00.html}}

• Aspey, Vera (1976) The Blackbird. Topic Records 12TS356
• Boardman, Harry (1973) A Lancashire Mon: ballads, songs & recitations. Topic Records, London 12TS236
• Boardman, Harry (1978) Golden Stream: Lancashire songs and rhymes. AK Records, Manchester AK 7813
• Kershaw, Mary & Harvey (1976) Lancashire Sings Again! songs & poems in the Lancashire dialect. Topic Records 12TS302
• Survey of English Dialects: [http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects recordings from Lancashire (circa 1950s)]
• [http://sounds.bl.uk/SearchResults.aspx?query=Lancashire&collection=Millenium-memory-bank&publicdomainonly=False&page=1&results=10&sort=name&dir=asc 20th Century Lancastrian speech]
• [https://www.soundcomparisons.com/#/en/Englishes/language/Gmc_W_Eng_EW_Nth_Ros_Typ Sound Comparisons: Rossendale]

• {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130421013459/http://www.nyt.co.uk/lancashire.htm Completely Lanky – Lancashire dialect website]}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130802172014/http://www.troubleatmill.com/speak.htm Trouble at mill – Lancashire dialect website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080412055618/http://gerald-massey.org.uk/waugh/index.htm Website dedicated to the poems and songs of Edwin Waugh]
• [http://www.edwinwaughdialectsociety.com/ Edwin Waugh Dialect Society] ("the Objects of the Society are the Maintaining and Increasing of Interest in Lancashire Dialect")
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070321061447/http://www.wigandialect.co.uk/ Website of Wigan dialect poems and phrases]

{{English dialects by continent}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancashire Dialect And Accent}}

Category:English language in England

Category:Culture in Lancashire

Category:Culture in Greater Manchester

Category:Culture in Merseyside