BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Female Voices & Heritage

On Friday 7th August, Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 chose to feature the subject of women's history in relation to regional accents and dialects. Christina Longden from Past Truisms was invited on the show to discuss why women have felt the need to 'stifle' or to 'tone down' both their accents and their use of dialect - in comparison to men, who have received less censoring and correcting over time - and who have found it easier to take the initiative in recording, transcribing and gathering evidence of the use of dialects in the UK.

Christina discussed some of the differences between the Lancashire and Yorkshire dialects and read a well-known poem by Samuel Laycock ('The Lancashire Poet'). Other guests discussing this issue were Diana Rackham, Chair of Friends of Norfolk Dialect who read her own poem composed in dialect - and Professor Rob Drummond of Manchester Metropolitan University whose research addresses accents, dialects and a sense of identity.

[We were hoping to involve the prolific writer/speaker Josie Smith of the Yorkshire Dialect Society in this programme, but sadly this was not possible on this occasion. Josie has been writing in Yorkshire dialect since 1943 and her performances can be found on you tube. They can also be purchased via the Yorkshire Dialect Society. ]

You can listen to Woman's Hour (15 minutes in) here.