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Description: | Dick recalls his early years on the farm and describes his work as a blacksmith. He also talks about the changing nature of life on Exmoor. The Austin 7 refers to a car first manufactured by the Austin Motor Company in 1923. There were a number of versions built in Longbridge, Birmingham until the final model was produced in 1959. Parracombe (to the northwest of Exford), Challacombe (to the west) and North Molton (to the southwest) are villages just over the county border into Devon and Combe Martin is a town further to the northwest.
lexis
drag ~ harrow = heavy timber frame set with iron teeth or tines, which is dragged over ploughed land to break clods, pulverize and stir soil, root up weeds, or cover in the seed; iron bond = metal hoop girding cartwheel; grandfer = grandfather (term of endearment); about = around; a-four = four; court = to go out with, date
phonology
H-dropping; rhoticity; + V ® [d]; occasionally ® [v] (for [v@`], before [bIvO`:], fourteen [vO`:ti:n], far [vA`:] and afford [@vO`:d]) and ® [z] (see [zi:] and sowing [z@UIn])
MOUTH [9Y]; FACE [eI ~ e:]; GOAT [@U ~ o:]; GOOSE [Y:]; PALM [a:]; START [A`:]; NORTH [O`:]; NURSE [@`:]; LOT [A]; BATH [a:]; FOOT [Y]; lettER [@`]
note also little [lId=L/], wasn’t [wOd=n], few [fY:], there [DE@`], better [bEd@`], perhaps [pr/aps], Saturday [sad@`:di], it was [tw@z] and it is [tIz], it [@t], so much [s@ mVtS], harrOWs [ar/@z], half past [a: pa:st], such [sItS], Combe Martin [kVmA`:tIn] and year [j@`:]
grammar
zero plural marker on nouns (three mile to school and three mile back; he was eighty-two year old; two pound for the set of shoes)
there was + plural complement (there wasn’t no cars; well, there was cars; put them out in the field if they was all right)
multiple negation (there wasn’t no cars)
determiner, those ® they (back in they days)
relative pronoun ® what (that road wasn’t built there, what you’ve just come in now)
preterite come (I can’t remember when the clippers come in; the farm come up for sale and he couldn’t afford to buy hine; I come to Challacombe and learned my trade as a blacksmith; then motorbikes come in)
comparative particle, as ® so (back so far as I can remember)
neuter object pronoun ® hine (the farm come up for sale and he couldn’t afford to buy hine); masculine object pronoun ® hine (we called hine John Thorne; grandfer we used to call hine); masculine object pronoun ® he (I went on driving horses for he then)
third person plural am (I think they’m going to put it up for a million of money now)
(I went on driving horses for he then, a-ploughing, dragging, sowing, spreading lime)
zero auxiliary (they _ got the mobile things now – they _ got to)
to be + past participle (it is got faster altogether = it has got faster)
gender assigned to it (he (= motorbike) was very good)
note use and phonetic quality of utterance final discourse marker you see [j@ zi:]. Note the construction back so far as I can remember = back as far as I can remember | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | BBC | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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