Mackem Dictionary author Paul Swinney on the 'uniqueness' of the Sunderland accent
Regional dialects are something to be celebrated, says the man behind the Mackem Dictionary.
Sunderland’s Paul Swinney was speaking as new research suggests northern accents are generally becoming more similar.
Linguistics experts at the University of Manchester suggested the existence of a ‘General Northern English’ accent among educated people in the region.
Dr Patrycja Strycharczuk explained that the research revealed a ‘new variety’ of educated, urban and northern accents emerging as more local dialects died out.
The study analysed speech patterns of people from major cities in the north.
Paul Swinney said the decision to write the Mackem Dictionary had been about both celebrating and recording the Sunderland accent.
He explained: "It was partly to celebrate the uniqueness of the accent and what makes it interesting, but also having something that tried to capture some of it.”
The loss of distinctive dialects was not a recent development, he added.
“It has been said in the past that it is because of the American influence and people being exposed to more and more of that, as well as the Received Pronunciation that was required by the BBC,” Paul continued.
“If you go back 200 years, the people from the next valley would not have been able to understand you, but there has been this flattening out.
"What is interesting is there is a big difference between the Sunderland accent and the South Shields accent – you can pick out a Shields accent, even though it only seven miles up the road.
“You are even able to pick out very, very subtle differences between the north side of the Wear and south of the ‘watta’,” said Paul.
"People use ‘summink’ for ‘something’ north of the water, and ‘summat’ more to the south, but I think it would have been more pronounced about 100 years ago.”
Paul said moving away from his home city had made him more aware of his accent and when he used it more.
He added: “When you hear the Sunderland dialect every day, it is run-of-the-mill but when you you move away you realise its uniqueness.
"The people at work can always tell when I am speaking to someone from Sunderland.”