England Twenty-two - Text
The subject is a 22 year-old student and part-time sales assistant. She was born in Stoke-on-Trent and raised in Washington (Tyne and Wear). She currently lives in Sunderland (Tyne and Wear). She talk about the accents in her area, including her own, known as "Mutton".
Interviewed by Katerina Moraitis. Edited by Paul Meier. Recorded August 22, 2000. Running time: 01:45. Text file written by Heather Jewel.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
Right, I’m originally from Washington which is slap-bang in the middle of Newcastle and Sunderland. And Newcastle, the Geordies, call Washingtonians confused Maccams, ‘cos they hate the Maccams. And the Maccams call the Washingtonians confused Geordies ‘cos they hate the Geordies.
And then about- two- well, a year and a half two years ago I moved to Sunderland, to Castletown which is the heart of Maccams. And…I started to realise the difference in the Washington accent, the Sunderland accent, and I progressed now to being a fully fledged Maccam, but I do- Maccams miss the (h)aitches of the beginning of words, so that instead of saying ‘house’, I go ‘’ouse.’
So and I’m realising that I’m picking up this really bad…Maccam accent, and I’ve- I wanna go back to Washington for a week, so I can pick up the Washington accent. Erm, what else about us, and me boyfriend’s a Maccam and I hate that accent. And- oh- the worst thing about people that live from Sunderland: All the kids begin with the letter C, so it’s ‘Chelsea!’, ‘Chloe!’ and ‘Chantelle’…and they all begin with a C, so my bairn*, is gonna begin with a D, ‘cos it’s the next one in the alphabet, and that’s where I come from, Kat…
bairn: (Scots) baby
Transcribed by Marina Tyndall 3rd January 2008