Community, Family, "Morel": A Dialect Approach to Sons and Lovers

Hilary Hillier. D.H. Lawrence Review. Austin: 2013. Vol. 38, Iss. 1; pg. 22, 23 pgs

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Copyright D.H. Lawrence Review 2013
Introduction: Lawrence and the Dialect of Eastwood
What I am offering in this paper may be a slightly unusual-because specifically sociolinguisticperspective on Sons and Lovers. I would argue that, on the evidence of this novel (and a number of
his other works, especially the colliery plays), Lawrence is clearly writing from inside the working
class experience.2 This can be seen in the way he represents and uses the language of the specific
social community within which he grew up-the mining community of Eastwood and the
surrounding area. I would go further and suggest that understanding the significance of the dialect,
specifically its grammar and pronunciation, is key to grasping subtleties within a number of
Lawrence's works, including this novel.3
The Dialect of Eastwood and the Erewash Valley
The Erewash is a narrow river forming the boundary between the counties of Nottinghamshire and
Derbyshire for much of its length. Eastwood lies on the southern, Nottinghamshire, bank of the
river and its dialect includes features found in both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.4 Many of the
forms represented by Lawrence can still, in fact, be found today, and I speak both personally, as one
with local and working class origins,5 and as a linguist carrying out ongoing research in the area.6
As suggested above, the overarching term "dialect" can be used to include several elements.
Linguists, however, make important theoretical distinctions between different strands of a given
dialect for purposes of investigation: its word choices (its vocabulary), its patterns of pronunciation
(its accent) and its patterns of organisation (its grammar).7 My own particular research interest is
the dialect, since many of the most illuminating social and interactive elements in speech are
conveyed via patterns of choices made at the grammatical level,8 though pronunciation patterns will
clearly interact with these. Talking Lawrence, a framework for describing the grammatical and
pronunciation patterns of the dialect of the Erewash Valley area, was published in 2008,9 and a
selective version of the framework is presented as an Appendix to this paper.10 The combination of
framework and illustrative text extracts from Sons and Lovers ("Talking Lawrence"-Sons and
Lovers) constitutes the linguistic evidence for the claims being made in this paper.11
Lawrence and Representation of the Dialect
Since we are concerned here, in the main, with quoted dialogue (that is, with written-down speech),
the question is how that dialogue may be satisfactorily represented.12 There is no consistent
matching of letters to sounds in the English spelling system, and there are no agreed conventions
available to writers who wish to use standard orthography to convey the authentic sounds of speech.
The problem is particularly acute for writers using dialect, especially if they also wish to indicate
relative stress patterns. They must to some degree construct thenown approximations of the sounds
they wish to convey, reaching a compromise between authenticity on the one hand and the need for
reader comprehension (and tolerance) on the other.13 Lawrence, therefore, has to reproduce as
honestly and accurately as possible the structural and sound patterns of an authentic working class

dialect and present them for the eyes of a predominantly middle-class and standard-speaking
audience, all the while trying to retain his readers' interest and avoid alienating them.14
I would claim that Lawrence succeeds admirably in this difficult balancing act. In works such as
Sons and Lovers:
* He gives us convincing and, in the main, accurate dialect speech, using standard orthography to
represent this.
* He carefully allocates dialect features to particular characters and/or groups of characters to
delineate a very specific "community."
* He uses these characters and, crucially, their speech patterns for subtle creative purposes.
Sons and Lovers and the Dialect
I would now like to turn specifically to Sons and Lovers and my claim that the dialect should be
regarded as key to the novel. I begin from one fundamental premise: that the dialect of Eastwood
and the Erewash Valley is the "linguistic norm"15 for the social community represented as
Bestwood in the novel. The "core" Bestwood community is therefore defined in linguistic terms as
being those people who are shown to use the range of grammatical and pronunciation features
specified in the Appendix.16 We must acknowledge, respect, and understand both this and the
dialect itself if we are to fully grasp the relationship between the different elements of the novel, its
individual characters, and the place of those characters within the community.
Figures 1A and IB (on the previous page) present my claims in diagrammatic form. The Bestwood
community are the miners, their families and neighbors. Both diagrams place the Morel family
within that community and show the different linguistic relationships of individual Morels to other
members of the family and to this community. (It should be remembered that all family members
are named "Morel"-hence the title and style of this paper.)
The Morels' Marriage-The Early Years
Figure 1A sets the scene for what proves to be the tragedy of the marriage of Walter Morel and
Gertrude Coppard. Walter Morel is a miner, and he is presented to us as being in every way a part
of his community-I would claim, in fact, that Morel's is its authentic voice. He is by far the main
contributor to dialect speech in the novel but, as the Appendix will confirm, the same kinds of
features are found across the community. The most notable of these features is probably the use of
the second person singular pronoun thou-pronounced and written "tha"-in its various forms. Tha is
an alternative option to the "plural," now standard, form you. It therefore compares with the tu/vous
distinction in French and is a significant and socially sensitive form of address which standard
English has, sadly, lost. To put it broadly, tha tends to be used between equals, as a marker of
intimacy between friends or lovers. It can also be used in a "downward" direction, especially from
parent to child; by extension, then, it can be used as a somewhat patronising address by a "superior"
to an "inferior," oras inappropriate, because presumptuous, in the opposite direction.17
Of the following examples of use of tha, three are between close workmates, the fourth from parent
to child (relevant features are shown in bold italics):
Tha might as well leave it, Walter. ... It'll do tomorrow, without thee hackin' thy guts out. (SL
41:34-5, Barker to Morel)

Oh well, if tha wunna, someb'dy else'll ha'e to. (SL 41:37, Israel to Morel)
"Bill, I says, tha non wants them three nuts does ter?" (SL 15:12-13, Morel to Bill Hodgkissonactually quoting himself)
Are ter asleep, my darlin'? (SL 91:23, Morel to Paul)
I have suggested this linguistic commonality in Figure 1A by showing a mere dotted line as
"boundary" between Morel and "the community."
Gertrude Coppard is presented to us as Walter's opposite in virtually all respects: class, intellect,
education (including literacy), and attitude toward money, but most obviously and explicitly she is
his (and his community's) opposite in linguistic terms. Gertrude is a "standard English" speaker,
linguistically "different"; Figure 1A shows this by the heavily delineated boundary placed around
her name. At their first meeting, this very difference is presented as part of the strong attraction
between them, and for both parties. Thus, we have:
She was to the miner that thing of mystery and fascination, a lady. When she spoke to him, it was
with a southern pronunciation and a purity of English which thrilled him to hear. (SL 17:34-37)
and:
He seemed to her noble. He risked his life daily, and with gaiety. She looked at him, with a touch of
appeal in her pure humility. "Shouldn't ter like it?" he asked tenderly. "'Appen not, it 'ud dirty thee2
She had never been "thee'd" and "thou'd" before. (SL 19:20-25)
After their marriage Mrs Morel's difference appears to cause no particular problems with her
neighbors (unlike "his people" apparently). We are told:
Being of a friendly disposition, she soon got to know her neighbours, and often stood talking with
them, only afraid lest, because of the difference in speech, they should consider, as did his people,
that she put on airs. They always gave her the first say, but they liked her. (SL 21:29-33)
Lawrence does in fact show Mrs Morel using a few dialect features, for example with Mrs Kirknext-door:
And I found the fire-place thick with silt, and all th ' dirt under the hearthrug. (SL 39:31-2).
[reduced definite article]
This could in fact be interpreted as Lawrence showing awareness of what linguists call
"convergence," a conscious or unconscious "moving towards" the speech of the other person.18
Indeed, the rest of this particular conversation over the fence is a good example of convergence,
with its supportive repetitions of each other's contributions:
Mrs Kirk laughed, her thin face showing her teeth.
"It's allers alike," she said. "They smarm a brush an' a duster across, an' bless you, it'll do for them."
"They don't care how they pig it," said Mrs Morel.

"They don't. Our Tom's just the same."

"All alike," said Mrs Morel.
Other dialect uses by Mrs Morel do occur, too, for example when she complains to Paul:
That William promised me, when he went to London, as he'd give me a pound a month. (SL
124:25-6) [conjunction as]
though not, perhaps significantly, in her interactions with Morel. She also never adopts the intimate
thou!tha, even when addressing her beloved children.
Marital Discord
After a time linguistic differences between Mrs Morel and her husband become increasingly
associated with discord. This is especially so when the children are bom and eventually come
between them. Figure IB shows this diagrammatically by placing three of the children literally
between them. (For the reasons already given, I have shown a slightly less formidable linguistic
boundary between Mrs Morel and the surrounding community, though this possible convergence
does not extend to her husband.) Serious trouble begins when the "maleness" (the vitality and
virility) that Lawrence (and Mrs Morel) associates with Morel's strong dialect, as in their joyous
meeting, is shown to overreach itself fatally when he cuts off baby William's golden curls. Thus, we
have Morel's "uneasy" tha form: "What dos/ think on 'im?" soon followed by his "frightened" you: "
Yer non want to make a wench on 'im" (SL 24:3, 8, 9). The episode culminates in the chilling
narrative statement: "This act of masculine clumsiness was the spear through the side of her love for
Morel" (SL 24:36-7).
Inevitably, the more Mrs Morel begins to criticize and, increasingly, to despise her husband, the
more he retreats into exaggerating the differences between them, especially the linguistic
differences. This is particularly notable in his boorish behavior when he comes home to find his
wife happily entertaining the parson to tea. He deliberates deploys dialect to embarrass her with his
inappropriate and intentionally offensive use of the tha pronoun to address the "scared" and
"confused" parson:
Morel entered. He was feeling rather savage. He nodded a "How d'yer do" to the clergyman, who
rose to shake hands with him.
"Nay," said Morel, showing his hand, "look thee at it! Tha niver wants ter shake hands wi' a hand
like that, does ter? There's too much pick-haft and shovel dirt on it." (SL 46:25-6)
We can contrast this with his discrimination and (exaggerated) politeness when William first brings
home his new young lady. To William he says: "Hello my son-tha 's let on me!" (SL 143:22), but in
responding to Miss Western's greeting he bows "obsequiously" and switches to you: "I'm19 very
well, and I hope so are you.-You must make yourself very welcome" (SL 143:26-8).
Linguistic difference in fact becomes the explicit focus of discord between husband and wife when
it acts as a prelude to the shocking battle involving the table drawer. Morel mocks the very speech
that had previously thrilled and enchanted him:

"Is there nothing to eat in the house?" he asked, insolently, as if to a servant. In certain stages of his
intoxication he affected the clipped, mincing speech of the towns. Mrs Morel hated him most in this
condition. (SL 52:30-53:1-2)
The Children
Figure IB also suggests the linguistic relationships between William, Paul and Arthur Morel, their
parents, and the Bestwood community. Arthur is, on the face of it, the least significant Morel son in
both plot terms and extent of quoted speech. He is, however, presented as being the most like Morel
in looks and temperament and in his explicitly masculine animal grace and sensuality:
Arthur Morel... was a quick, careless, impulsive boy, a good deal like his father ... he remained the
flower of the family, being well made, graceful, and full of life. (SL 141:1-2, 4-5)
Arthur ... was a creature of the moment. ... He was in perfect health, and very handsome ... he had
the full, red mouth of a man under his brown moustache, and his jaw was strong. It was his father's
mouth. (SL 286: 30-2, 33-40, 36-8)
He seemed to flaunt his body: she [Beatrice Wyld] was aware of him so, the strong chest, the sides,
the thighs in their close-fitting trousers. (SL 287:25-7)
Significantly, we are told that "he liked to lapse into the dialect" when he talked to Beatrice (SL
287:28), and, even more significantly, the most extended speech Lawrence gives him occurs in the
highly sexually-charged scene between them:
"Nay," he said to her one evening, when she reached for his cigarette: "Nay tha doesna. I'll gi'e thee
a smoke kiss if ter's a mind ... an' tha s'/ha'e a whiff... along wi' C kiss2 (SL 287:31-5)
Here he displays many "community" dialect features, including present tense verb forms, negative
particle na and reduced definite article, but particularly the intimate and strongly masculine tha.
Beatrice is shown to respond in kind, with her spirited: "I wantadraw at thy fag" (SZ, 287:36) and "
Tha 'rt a knivey nuisance, Arty Morel" (SL 288:1). Arthur leaves the community when he joins the
army, but he soon returns. Essentially he "stays" and, I would suggest, linguistically belongs there;
hence my minimal shading of his part of the diagram.
William and Paul, being in turn cast by their mother in the role of substitute lover/husband, are very
significant of course, both in plot terms and in the extent of their quoted speech. Both are shown to
have some dialect features, and these tend to appear most often in their speech as children. This is
particularly so in the case of William. (All of the following examples are addressed to Mrs Morel):
You never said you was coming-isn't the' a lot of things? (SL 12:8) [past tense of be; reduced
existential there]
I got these from that stall where y'ave ter get them marbles in them holes-an' I got these two in two
goes-'ae-penny a go-they've got moss-roses on, look here. I wanted these. (SL 12:12-14)
[demonstrative adjective them (before marbles, holes); note: this applies only to standard those, not
these]
Well, I'd got a cobbler as 'ad licked seventeen-an'Alfy Ant'ny 'e says (SL 66:35) [relative pronoun
as; omitted /h/]

Both William and Paul are shown to move towards standard English as they grow up, that is,
linguistically away from the community (and their father) and towards Mrs Morel and her language.
The graduated shading in Figure IB attempts to show this. Their movements are not the same,
however. William moves linguistically, socially, and then geographically (to London) as he aspires
to fulfil his mother's and his own ambitions: he wants to become "a gentleman." His aspirations
prove to be insecurely based, however, and in the end he is destroyed.
Paul could be regarded as some kind of linguistic "bridge." He retains his connection with the
community and its speech forms, while making a limited geographical move-commuting to
Nottingham rather than moving to London. And while working at Jordan's he can begin to fulfil his
mother's ambitions for him-including the exercising of his wider linguistic skills (via French
translation). His progress, however, is inconsistently manifested, and this may be a deliberate
narrative strategy intended to indicate his general confusion. Paul appears to both reject and accept
the community, as the following mix of evidence would seem to show.
We have his explicit criticisms, expressed to Mrs Morel, of the "common" speech forms of mainly
white-collared males such as Mr Braithwaite, Mr Winterbottom and Mr Jordan:
They're hateful, and common, and hateful, they are, and I'm not going any more. Mr Braithwaite
drops his "h's", an' Mr Winterbottom says "you was." (SL 97:12-14)
But wasn't Mr Jordan common, mother? (SL 121:32)20
However, he uses (or has used) several comparable forms himself:
Let him be killed at [] pit. (SL 85:22) [omitted definite article]
I do n't want nothing. (SL 91:28, to Morel) [multiple negation]
there wasn't any [blackberries], so we went over [ ] Misk Hills (SL 93:9-10, to Mrs Morel) [past
tense of be with plural postponed subject after existential there; omitted definite article]
Fanny (at Jordan's) is also shown to use some of these apparently despised forms:
We thoughtyo wasn't coming today. We thought you was going to stop down there, because we
wasn't good enough for you. (SL 138:15-17, to Paul) [past tense of be]
You don't say it's my fault, but you'd like to make out as it was.' (SL 133:30, to Mr Pappleworth)
[conjunction as]21
Nevertheless Fanny is the one with whom Paul is shown to strike up the warmest friendship during
his time at Jordan's.
Most interesting of all, perhaps, are Paul's uses of tha. One instance is when he is talking to Jimmy
the pit-horse, a version of parent-to-child mode: "Well Jimmy my lad, how are ter?" (SL 208:7).
This little speech is more extended, and even more notable, in the MS:
Well Jimmy my lad, how are ter? Nobbut sick an' sadly, dost say ? Why then, it's a shame, for tha 's
got a nice neck, brown as a beech-nut, my owd lad! (MS folio 246)

Another instance is a kind of "performing" use of tha, when, in Miriam's presence, he flirts with
Beatrice Wyld: "T s'il kiss thee back, Beat,' he said. 'Tha wunna! ' she giggled" (SL 244:19-20).
This use of the strongly masculine pronoun form (tha is an almost entirely male prerogative in Sons
and. Lovers)22 is, of course, merely playful display compared with Arthur's seriously sexy
encounter with the same girl (see above).
Paul's most intriguing, indeed revealing, uses of tha, however, occur during his encounter with
Clara down in the mud and dirt of the river bank at Wilford Grove (SL 355:26-356:34).23 The
different stages of this scene are marked explicitly by his pronoun shifts. Immediately after their
intense sexual union, Paul at first avoids looking at Clara (he is "looking on the ground all the
time") and instead sees the fallen red carnation petals ("like splashed drops of blood"). He addresses
her as you-" Your flowers are smashed" -but then, tuning in to her mood of sadness and alone-ness,
he "suddenly" puts his finger-tips on her cheek and switches to dialect, especially to the intimate
and tender tha: "Why dost look so heavy?" There then follows a sequence of tha forms as he
"pleadingly" and "imploringly" caresses and kisses her face: "Never thee bother ... tha should
worrit... Yea tha does! Dun thee worrit," which are reminiscent of his father in his most tender
moments with Mrs Morel. This continues for a time when they have climbed back to the top of the
slope and he begins to clean Clara's shoes, clogged with dirt from the river bank. Once again, we
hear echoes of Morel's voice:24 "And now I'll clean thy boots and make thee fit for respectable
folk."
The shift back to you comes as he laughingly distinguishes between lovemaking and shoe-cleaning"I'm your boot-boy for the time being, and nothing else"- and is consolidated when he, consciously
or unconsciously, evokes Mrs Morel: "'T-t-t-t!' he went with his tongue, like his mother. T tell you,
nothing gets done when there's a woman about.'" Finally we have: "There you are you see! ... Aren't
I a great hand at restoring you to respectability? Stand up! There, you look as irreproachable as
Britannia herself!"
The move back from his father's to his mother's voice appears to be complete.
Conclusion
Finally, to come to the novel's narrative voice, we find that the narrator comments (unfavorably) on
the speech of other characters, while at the same time occasionally using actual dialect forms. These
sometimes appear to be via Paul's consciousness, but not always obviously so:
Indeed, the little manufacturer [Mr Jordan], although he spoke bad English, was quite gentleman
enough to leave his men alone (SL 132:27-9)
The children came home from school and had their teas. (SL 85:24-5) [added plural marker to what
is usually a non-count noun]
And the children coming home from school, would wonder to see their father eating with his dinner
the two thick slices of rather dry and dirty bread and butter, that had been to fj pit and back. (SL
103:8-10) [omitted definite article]
This uncertainty of attribution encourages me to end with a final thought- and a question. Is it just
too fanciful to make some explicit language-related connections and parallels between Paul Morel
and Lawrence himself? Like Paul, Lawrence eventually goes out into the world, ostensibly leaving
behind both community and (dead) mother. However, it is clear to us (to this reader at any rate) that
Lawrence actually took both the community and the dialect with him-at least deep in his

consciousness and literary sensibility if not in his actual speech. He then gave them to the world
and, in effect, back to the community in re-created form. And, most significantly in the case of the
dialect, in a permanent, because written, form. May I personally claim this as Lawrence's most
precious gift to Eastwood and its community?
(b) Personal pronouns
(i) availability of an extra pronoun, the old second person singular pronoun thou, no longer found in
standard English; this has subject form thou (usually represented as tha) (for standard you) (with
reduced form ter), and object form thee (also for standard you):
Here, an' I browt thee a bit o' brandysnap, an' a coconut for th' children. .... Nay, tha niver said
thankyer for nowt i' thy life, did ter? (15:5-6, 7-8, Morel to Mrs Morel)
But tha mun let me ta'e thee down sometime, an' tha can see for thysen. (19:16-17, Morel to
Gertrude Coppard)
Tha might as well leave it, Walter... It'll do tomorrow, without thee hackin' thy guts out. (41:34-5,
Barker)
(ii) use of 'er as female subject pronoun (for standard she):
'Er's a bright spark, from th' look on 'er-an' one as wunna do him owermuch good neither. (126:234, Morel)
(c) Possessive personal pronouns, including forms of second person singular pronoun thou
(i) when preceding a noun (acting as determiner/possessive adjective) (for standard your or our):
Nay, tha niver said thankyer for nowt i' thy life, did ter? (15:7-8, Morel to Mrs Morel)
We're expectin' us third just now, you see-(237:17, Barker, quoted by narrator via Mrs Morel's
consciousness)
(ii) when standing alone (possessive pronoun) (for standard his,yours etc.):
Why, what children's better looked after than hisn, I sh'd like to know. (32:17-18, Morel)
Then get out on it [the house]-it's mine ... It's my house not thine. (33:9, Morel to Mrs Morel)
(d) Reflexive personal pronouns, including forms of second person singular pronoun thou (for
standard my self, y our self, himself, themselves etc.):
But tha mun let me ta'e thee down sometime, an' tha can see for thysen. (19:16-17, Morel)
Eh, but isn't men great gawps! (39:30, Mrs Kirk)
What shollt ha'e, Walter? (57:11, Jim, in the "Palmerston")
Oh, Jim, my lad, wheriver has thee sprung fro'? (57:13, Morel)

tha s'lt ha'e a whiff (287:35, Arthur to Beatrice)

(c) forms of past tense of be, which follow different (frequently opposite) agreement patterns from
those of standard English with singular and plural subjects (e.g. I was, you were etc.):
You never said you was coming .... (12:8, William)
It wor good enough for me, but it's non good enough for 'im. (70:10, Morel)
I seed him ....'e wor ... (108:25, 26, pit lad)
Tha's niver knowed me but what I looked as if I wor goin' off in a rapid decline. (236:8-9, Morel)
(d) forms of past tense of irregular verbs, many of which have distinct forms in standard English
(e.g. I give, I gave,I have given; I blow, I blew, I have blown; I see, I saw, I have seen etc.):
I've been 'elpin' Anthony, an' what's think he's gen me? (14:40-15:1, Morel)
'e says "Tha'd better ma'e sure it's a good un, Walt"-an' so, yer see, I knowed it was. (15:16-17,
Morel)
Tha niver seed such a way they get in. (19:15-16, Morel)
Why, he run that dancing class in the Miners' Arms Club-room for over five year. (22:1-2, neighbor
[Mrs Kirk?])
Th' gaffer come down to our stall this morning (25:24, Morel)
Vve gave him his dinner (43:22, Mrs Bower, midwife)
I shonna ha *e my ribs blowed out o' my sides wi' that draught, for nob'dy 1 (52:2-3, Morel)
Yer'd better spit in it, like yer do when y 'ave something give yer. (99:8-9, potman)
Vn just seed Jont Hutchly. (102:36, Mrs Dakin)
IfheW^/ime some on't, it 'udha' looked better on 'im. (142:30-1, Morel)
[Footnote]
Notes
1. This paper is a revised and updated version of one originally presented to the 11th International
D. H. Lawrence Conference, Eastwood, "Return to Eastwood," 16-21 August 2007.
2. In this paper italics are used for linguistic items quoted within the text, with specific dialect
features in examples highlighted in bold. Names of dialect features within examples are shown in
square brackets as follows: [conjunction as\.
3. As long ago as 1990, linguist Montes Granado published a detailed study (in Spanish) of her
attempt to establish dialect patterns as found in Lawrence's work. She adopted the respectful
perspective of a non-native speaker, analysing the dialect as a systematic form of a foreign
language, and not as some kind of uneducated deviance from so-called "correct" English.
4. The narrowness of the Erewash may indeed be a significant factor in accounting for similarities
in the speech of those who live close to the river-on whichever side. See Anderson on non-

navigable and navigable rivers (4): the former create "good" boundaries and therefore maintain
difference, but the latter (the Erewash type) tend to encourage the spread of similar features.
5. I was bom and brought up in Eastwood. My father was a miner there and my mother's father was
a miner at Annesley pit, further up the Erewash Valley; my mother taught for a time at Devonshire
Drive Infants School in Eastwood.
6. See, for example, "The Eastwood Dialect-Then and Now," unpublished paper presented to the D.
H. Lawrence Society, Eastwood, September 1994; "Choice Within the Verbal Group of a Nonstandard Grammar: The Case of the Disappearing Auxiliary ... ," unpublished paper presented to the
Seventh International Systemic Functional Workshop, University ofValencia, Spain, July 1995;
"Interpersonal Meaning Potential Within a Non-Standard Grammar- Towards a Systemic
Description," unpublished paper presented to the Tenth Euro-International Systemic Functional
Workshop, University of Liverpool, July 1998; Analysing Real Texts, which includes a chapter:
"Fictional Narrative in a Regional Dialect"; "Matches and Mismatches: Patterns of THOU and
YOU in The Merry-go-Round"; "Talking Lawrence: The Colliery Plays," unpublished paper
presented to the D. H. Lawrence Society, Eastwood, April 2006; "'The Language of my Heart':
Dialect in Lawrence's Work," unpublished paper presented to the D. H. Lawrence Festival,
Eastwood, September 2008; Talking Lawrence, which includes a chapter citing "real," i.e.
naturally-occurring, examples of grammatical features of the dialect; supporting materials to the
website "Odour of Chrysanthemums: A Text in Process"; "Family, Language, Community in the
Colliery Plays," unpublished paper presented to the D. H. Lawrence Festival, Eastwood, September
2009; "Language and Community," unpublished paper presented at Lawrence and Language
Workshop, University of Nottingham, June 2012; "Talking Lawrence: 'The Miner at Home,' 'Her
Turn' and 'Strike-Pay,'" unpublished seminar paper, University of the Third Age, Nottingham, May
2013.
7. For more detailed descriptions of elements of regional and social variation in English see, for
example, Edwards, Trudgill and Weltens; Hughes, Trudgill and Watt; Milroy and Milroy; and
Trudgill.
8. I am in accord with the view expressed by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik on the study of
grammar in general: "We have merely hinted at the communicative value of these [constructions],
and at the stylistic considerations which may lead users of English to select them. But they enable
us to stress once again that the study of grammatical process, in all its variety and apparent
arbitrariness, compels us to place grammar in its broader context of uses and users of language"
(89).
9. See Hillier.
10. I have not attempted any kind of systematic study of vocabulary patterns. Lawrence's dialect
vocabulary choices are, in any case, already well addressed in many excellent published glossaries,
for example SL 491-5, Plays 697-712.
11. I have also carried out some crosschecks against the facsimile MS edited by Mark Schorer,
generously loaned to me by John Worthen.
12. Hillier, Analysing Real Texts, presents an overall framework for identifying different modes of
speech and writing, including "writing which is intended to be read as if heard (to be read as 'real'
speech)" (3), which is the kind of writing we are concerned with here.
13. Hillier discusses some of the issues involved and the ways in which one particular writer, a
retired miner who had worked at Annesley pit, deals with them (154-5, 165-71).
14. It may be for reasons of reader tolerance that Lawrence chooses, for example, to include more
"h's" and fewer apostrophes than are entirely authentic.
15. See Clarke (52).
16.1 am reminded by an exhibition "Lawrence Among the Women," mounted by Keith Cushman
and Sean Matthews at the Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, in 2007 that Lawrence would later
encounter a different, intellectual, "community" in Eastwood. The significant community for the
novel, however-and for Lawrence's other dialect-centred works-is unquestionably that of the miners

and their families and those in their immediate environment.

17. See Hillier, "Matches and Mismatches" and the references given there, for a fuller account of
the second person pronoun and its varying forms and uses.
18. A useful summary of "convergence" and the principles of "speech accommodation theory"can
be found in Coupland (108-13).
19. I have no doubt that the l'ne given in the published text is an error-and probably a double error.
The form in MS folio 169 looks like I've, certainly not either Ene ox I'm. I've very well is
impossible in both standard English and Erewash Valley dialect, as, therefore, would be the use of a
contracted han (see Appendix VIII(a)), to give I'n very well. The form l'ne is meaningless on every
level. It seems most likely, therefore, that this was an error on Lawrence's part-probably a mere slip
of the pen.
20. Compare Miriam's agonies about the curate: "[she] quivered in anguish from ...the commonsounding voice of the curate" (SL 173:37-9)
21. As we have seen, this form is also used by Mrs Morel to Paul, which may or may not be
significant.
22. This is not necessarily so elsewhere-see, in particular, the formidable Mrs Gascoyne (Plays 303
and passim).
23. Iam grateful to Ron Granofsky and, especially, Keith Cushman for their contributions to a
discussion of this scene at the 2007 Conference.
24. Interestingly too, in narrative terms, Paul becomes "Morel" as he becomes "a man"-and as
Walter Morel shrinks as a character. There is a genuine, if temporary, uncertainty-for this reader at
any rate-at some specific late points in the novel as to which "Morel" is actually being referred to,
for example across Chapters XIII and XIV (SL 422-2).
[Reference]
Works Cited
Anderson, Peter M. A Structural Atlas of the English Dialects. Beckenham: CroomHelm, 1987.
Clarke, Ian. "Dialogue and Dialect in Lawrence's Colliery Plays." The Journal of the D. H.
Lawrence Society (2001): 39-61.
Coupland, Nikolas. Dialect in Use: Sociolinguistic Variation in Cardiff English. Cardiff: U of
Wales P, 1988.
Edwards, V K., P. Trudgill and B. Weltens. The Grammar of English Dialect: A Survey of
Research. London: Economic and Social Science Research Council, 1984.
Hillier, Hilary. Analysing Real Texts: Research Studies in Modern English Language. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
_____. "Matches and Mismatches: Patterns ofTHOU andYOU in The Merry-go-Round." The
Journal of the D. H Lawrence Society (2004-2005): 83-102.
_____. Talking Lawrence: Patterns of Eastwood Dialect in the Work of D. H. Lawrence.
Nottingham: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press in association with the D. H. Lawrence
Research Centre, U of Nottingham, 2008.
Hughes, Arthur, Peter Trudgill and Dominic Watt. English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to
Social and Regional Varieties of English. 5th ed. London: Hodder, 2012.
Milroy, James and Lesley Milroy, eds. Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the
British Isles. Harlow: Longman, 1993.
Montes Granado, Consuelo. D. H. Lawrence: El Dialecto en sus Novelas. Acta Salmanticensia,
Estudios Filolgicos 234, University of Salamanca, 1990.
"Odour of Chrysanthemums A Text in Process. The University of Nottingham, 2008.
<http://odour.nottingham.ac .uk/index.asp>.
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, A Comprehensive
Grammar of the English Language. 1985. Revised ed. London: Longman, 1991.
Trudgill, Peter. The Dialects of England. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999.

[Author Affiliation]
Hilary Hillier, a native of Eastwood, taught sociolinguistics at University of Nottingham. Her
Talking Lawrence (2008) describes the local dialect and Lawrence's use of it.
[Appendix]
Appendix
"Talking Lawrence"-Sons and Lovers
Some patterns of grammar and pronunciation in the dialect speech of Eastwood and the Erewash
Valley. Individual features are grouped and presented in alphabetical order for reference purposes.
(No order of priority or importance is implied.) Illustrative examples are taken from Sons and
Lovers (CUP 1992) and page and line numbers refer to that edition. Specific features within
examples are shown in bold italics, and omissions via [].
Grammatical Patterns
(compared with standard British English grammar)
I. Adverb that as intensifier (equivalent of so)
A man gets that caked up wi' th' dust, you know, that clogged up, down a coal mine, he needs a
drink when he comes home. (47:8-9 Morel)
Then he [Taffy] slives up an' shoves 'is 'ead on yer, that cadin'. (89:23-4 Morel)
But there's that much draught i' yon scullery, as it blows through your ribs like through a five-barred
gate. (235:20-22 Morel)
Note: needs in the first example is in italics in the original text.
II. Conjunction as (for standard that)
Fancy! An' how funny as you should ha' married your Mester. (21:38, neighbor [Mrs Kirk?])
But there's that much draught i' yon scullery, as it blows through your ribs like through a five-barred
gate. (235:20-2, Morel)
I dunno as I have [made my heels crack] (237:12, Barker)
III. Definite Article the
(a) reduction of definite article, usually shown as th ', though sometimes as t'\
You live like th * mice, an' you pop out at night to see what's going on. (19:9-10, Morel)
What d'st mean about th'props! (25:26-7. Morel)
They ought ter keep me theer, like one o' th ' 'osses. (52:10-11, Morel)
I seed him at th' bottom (108:32-5, pit lad)
I'n come be-out th ' market bag. (237:28, Barker)
along wi't' kiss (187:354, Arthur)
(b) omission of definite article
Momin' missis!-[] mester in? (28:36, Jerry)
You're niver satisfied till I'm down []pit, none on yer. (52:9-10, Morel
If I drop a bit of bread at [ ] pit, in all the dust an' dirt, I pick it up an' eat it. (103:15-16, Morel)
IV. Negatives
(a) negative particle na attached to auxiliary verb
I'm like a pig's tail, I curl because I canna help it. (18:37, Morel)
Oh well, if tha wun, someb'dy else'll ha'e to (41:37, Israel)
"Shomifl I?" shouted Morel. "Shon I?" (68:24)
I'll lay my fist about thy y'ead, I'm tellin' thee, if tha does stop that clatter (87:16-17, Morel)
(b) non as negative marker instead of not
Yer non want to make a wench on 'im (24:8, Morel)
It wor good enough for me, but it's non good enough for 'im. (70:10, Morel)
I'n non got it [the comb] (288:16, Arthur)
(c) never as negative marker instead of not
I've niver danced for twenty year (73:26, Morel)

You never said you was coming (12:8, William)

(d) more than one negative marker (double negative or multiple negation)
You're niver satisfied till I'm down pit, none on yer (52:9-10, Morel)
I do 't want nothing (91:28, Paul)
'Er's a bright spark, from th' look on 'er-an' one as wuna do him owermuch good neither. (126:234, Morel)
V. Plurals
(unmarked plural of nouns of measurement after a numeral)
You'll find all the papers, I think, if you look-beside ten pound as he owed me, an' six pound as the
wedding cost down here. (20:3 8-9, Morel's mother)
Why, he run that dancing class in the Miners' Arms Club-room for over five year. (22:1-2, neighbor
[Mrs Kirk?])
I've niver danced for twenty year (73:26, Morel)
VI. Preposition on (for standard of), usually before pronouns ta'e which on 'em ter's a mind. (15:14,
Morel, quoting Bill Hodgkisson)
Then get out on it [the house]-it's mine. Get out on it Then ger out o't-gerouto't! (33:8, 10, Morel)
You're niver satisfied till I'm down pit, none on yer. (52:9-10, Morel)
'Er's a bright spark, from th' look on 'er-an' one as wunna do him owermuch good neither. (126:234, Morel)
VII. Pronouns
(a) Demonstrative pronoun them (for standard those) both when preceding a noun (acting as
determiner/demonstrative adjective) and when standing alone (demonstrative pronoun):
I got these from that stall where y'ave ter get them marbles in them holes- an' I got these two in two
goes-'ae-penny a go-they've got moss-roses on, look here. I wanted these. (12:12-14, William)
"Bill," I says, "tha non wants them three nuts does ter?" (15:12-13, Morel)
Elastic stockings!-what's them? (155:36, Geoffrey or Maurice Leivers)
[Appendix]
Sluther off an' let me wesh my-sen (27:34-5, Morel)
I canna see what they want drownin' theirs elves for. (212:32, Morel)
A fool as runs away for a soldier - let 'im look after 'issen -1 s'il do no more for 'im. (220:38-9,
Morel)
Note: I in the third example is in italics in the original text.
(e) Relative pronoun as (for standard who, which, that):
Nay, I don't want to dance that-it's not one as I care about. (18:30, Morel)
Yi, an' there's some chaps as does go round like moudiwarps. (19:12-13, Morel)
It's not books as Paul's waiting for, I think (192:6, Mr Smedley, in library)
VIII. Verb Forms
(a) present tense han (for standard have) usually when acting as auxiliary verb (contracted form 'n):
Now I Vi cleaned up for thee; tha's* no 'casions ter stir a peg all day, but sit and read thy books.
(39:7-8, Morel)
Han yer got a drink? (43:14, Morel)
"What, han ' yer knocked off ?" cried Mrs Dakin. "We han, Missis." (102:27-8, Mrs Dakin and a
collier)
Vn come be-out th' market bag. (237:28, Barker)
I Vi non got it [the comb] (288:16, Arthur)
* that's is clearly a misprint (as MS folio 43 confirms).
(b) forms of present tense with singular and plural subjects (including with thou/ter etc.) which
follow different agreement patterns from those of standard English:
I've been 'elpin' Anthony, an' what's think he's gen me? (14:40-15:1, Morel)
Tha'rt not long in taking the curl out of me. (18:33-4, Morel to Gertrude Coppard)

I've niver fun out how much tha knows, Alfred (25:34, Morel)
[Appendix]
(e) omission of 're (i.e. contracted form of are) when acting either as auxiliary or as main verb (as in
standard they're taking, we 're glad)
you [] looking well, aren't yer (57:23, Mrs Kirk)
they [] ta'ein' 'im ter th 'ospital (108:27-8, pit lad)
we [] glad t'ave yer [home] (422:27, Minnie, the maid)
Notes on Grammatical Patterns
* Sometimes both non-standard and standard forms may be used in the same extracted example
(e.g. Morel's []pit and the dust an ' dirt under III [b]). Only non-standard forms are highlighted.
* More than one kind of non-standard form may be used in an individual example, i.e. in addition to
the particular form highlighted. The additional form/s may, therefore, be shown, and highlighted,
under a different heading (e.g. Barker's th ' market bag under III [a] and I 'n come under VIII [a]).
Pronunciation Patterns
Some indications of local pronunciation are given explicitly in the spelling, but it should be
remembered that many-indeed some of the most characteristic- pronunciation patterns are not
suggested in the spelling. (This may particularly apply to vowels.) The following, therefore,
presents some of the most significant pronunciation patterns found in the Erewash Valley dialect,
compared with those of so-called "Received Pronunciation" (RP). Examples of relevant words are
given, showing some of the ways (if any) in which Lawrence attempts to represent those sounds.
I. Consonants
(a) The sound /h/ is not a natural part of the dialect. The basic presumption, therefore, is that it will
not be pronounced. There is variation, however, in the way potential /h/ words (i.e. in RP) are dealt
with in the text.
(i) sometimes an apostrophe is used:
'-penny a go (12:13, William); 'aven't, 'ad, 'e, 'im, 'ussy (15:4, 14, 15, 21, Morel); 'ead (57:25, Mrs
Kirk); 'old, 'Appen 'e, 'is (66:12, 15, 21, Mrs Anthony); 'ave (94:38, Mr Winterbottom)
(ii) sometimes the letter "h" is used:
ha'e, haven't had, ha'e, (20:6, 19,25, Morel); help, he, here (20:36, 39, Morel's mother); heartbveakmg (41:30, Barker); Hey-up theer (41:39, "the men")
(iii) sometimes a speaker introduces an "unnecessary" /h/ sound (possibly "hypercorrects"), usually
when applied to a stressed item:
I ham, Walter, my lad. (15:13-14, Bill Hodgkisson, quoted by Morel)
Tired-I ham that. (46:32, Morel)
What dost want ter ma'e a stooX-harsed Jack on 'im for? (70:1, Morel)
"And a deer or two," added Paul. "And a hass or two," added Leonard. (204:12-13)
nowt b'r a h'ice-'ouse! (235:14, Morel) [here the text shows both an"h"an an apostrophe. MS folio
280 confirms]
Note: Both Ands in the fourth example are in italics in the original text.
(b) suffix '-ing' is pronounced as / n/, where RP would have / N/ (as in the single sound after /s/ in
"sing")
(i) this is usually represented as -in ':
goin', beginnin' (11:17, 20, William); waitin', 'elpin' (14:40, Morel); knowin' (20:34, Morel's
mother); carry in' s-on, accordin' (22:6, Mrs Morel's neighbor [Mrs Kirk?]); talkin' (22:14,
washerwoman); rainin' (42:12, old Giles); wantin ' (237:30, Barker); middlin ' (238:17, Wesson)
(ii) though sometimes as -ing:
pining, taking (18:21, 33, Morel); going (19:10, Morel); dancing (21:39, 22:1, Mrs Morel's neighbor
[Mrs Kirk?])
(c) A reduced (or apparently omitted) definite article is usually signaled via use of a glottal stop [?]
(a momentary "stop" in the vocal tract), not by /t/). Alternatively, a reduced definite article may be

indicated by use of an unvoiced "th" ([ ]) (as in "thing") before a vowel sound. In either case actual
written representation is usually via th' or occasionally by t', but the article may be omitted all
together (see III [a] and [b] under "Grammatical Patterns" above).
II. Vowels
(a) lid (a short "a," as in "bad") is used where RP would have / :/ (a long "ah," as in "bard" or the
first syllable of "father"), in words represented as:
dance (18:21), draught (52:2), nasty (84:2)
(b) / / (a short "oo," as in "put") is pronounced where RP would have / / (as in "putt") in words
represented as:
mucky, 'ussy (15:21), money (21:11), run (22:20), sluther (27:34), mother (67:11), nothing (91:28)
and also in "done," represented as dun (e.g. 19:15, Morel)
(Note too Morel's "insolent" use of nathing (52:40))
(c) [a:] (rather like a "lengthened" short "a," as in something like "baat") is pronounced where RP
would have /a / (as in "bout") in words represented as:
pound (20:34), houses (21:5), down (47:25)
and also in "thou," represented as tha (e.g. 15:8, Morel)
(d) [ ] (as in "pot") is pronounced where RP would have / :/ (as in "purr") in some words, such as
"cursed," "dursn't," "hurled," which are then represented as:
cossed (25:29, Morel), dossn't (83:26, Morel), holled (103:12, Morel)
(e) [ ] (as in the final syllable of "mother") is pronounced for unstressed vowels in words like "you,"
"to" and the reduced form of "thou," represented as:
thankyer (15:8, Morel), I didn't like ter shake it (15:15, Morel), did ter (15:8, Morel)

References

References (13)