On lexical differences in UK due to dialects

This morning, Chris Evans asked what his listeners call ‘bread rolls’. He was shocked at the multitude of texts that came in and the range of names he found. Here are some of the comments on Radio 2’s Facebook post regarding this question:

‘East Midlands Cobs are crusty, rolls are soft, baps are already filled!’

‘It’s a Barm Cake of course ! Tsk !’

‘It is indeed a cob here in Derby. It was a barm cake when I lived in Northwich and a bread cake when I lived in Lancs with some Yorkshire folk calling it a teacake. Some Stoke people call it a bannock...’

What I didn’t find out until looking at news websites was this this question comes from a study conducted to identify regional names for what people call their afternoon meal, the schoolyard game (what I call) ‘tag’ and bread ‘rolls’.

The variations are due to lexical differences in UK because of regional dialects. Some define dialect as any version of a language which is ** by its distinctive linguistic features, such as lexicon. The different dialects are largely due to region of inhabitancy however, it is also closely related to social groups. Many people confuse the term dialect with accent; however, the difference is that accent only describes the range of sounds used (or the phonology of a language).

Let us look at where these different words are spoken:

Evening meal

There terms for evening meals is quite standardizes as there are not many versions. However, the northern region near the Scottish border and the south east call it ‘dinner’, the majority of the country uses ‘tea’ and a small section in the midlands say ‘supper’.

Bread

In comparison, however, the name for a bread roll is much more subjective. Names include: bap, barm, roll, bun, teacake, muffin and cob.

Schoolyard game

This is also very varied between regions, however the names are generally more related. Whilst the most widespread words are ‘tig’ and ‘tag’ but more obscure terms include: ‘dobby’, ‘tap’ and ‘Had he hit’.

These results show that, despite efforts to eradicate dialects (see post on Radio 4’s Accent Week – 26/11/2013), British people still feel a sense of regional identity from their dialect and different versions of English still continue to thrive.