Discover Dialect Words
Why do dialects have all the best words?
Take giddy-kipper or plonker or bang-a-bonk, they are sayings that bring a smile to everyone’s faces.
In a few simple and clever ways they make language fun, memorable and full of personality.
Also on a deeper note, people hold these words close to their hearts because they foster warmth, integrity, identity and bring deeper, more meaningful connections between humans.
It is in this spirit that Talk Dialect brings people, language, communication, connection and technology together to harness the deeper emotional and cultural resonance of these words.
AI threatens to render our dialects obsolete, yet it is the very tool we shall use to revitalise our oral history that spans millennia.
From individual contributions to dialect groups and communities to AI-driven conservation and open-source tools, we invite everybody to contribute dialect words from all of England.
By recording and revitalising dialect language from each of the 39 historic counties of England from Cornwall to Cumberland, Talk Dialect gives old people their voice back and younger people a sense of pride in the place where they live.
This national project has grown out of the evergreen No.1 Google-ranking blog An Alphabetical Compilation of Lancashire Dialect by Nikki Wordsmith.
Even more importantly, the Talk Dialect Team gratefully acknowledges the work of all the linguists and language enthusiasts who have gone before and are still working tirelessly and meticulously today.
This includes seminal works, such as International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA), Manchester Voices (2022), BBC Voices (2005), The English Dialect App (University of Cambridge, 2016), Our Dialects (2013), Peter Trudgill (1970s), The Linguistic Atlas of England (1978), The Survey of English Dialects (1950-1960s), The English Dialect Dictionary by Joseph Wright (1898-1905) and The English Dialect Society (1873-1896).
The Talk Dialect Team would especially like to thank the Lancashire Dialect Reading Group based at Euxton Library, who very generously gave us their full Lancashire Dialect Glossary many many moons ago.
We promise to verify, attribute, credit, share, support and help people who talk dialect as best we can for future generations to come.
We warmly invite you and your family and friends to explore the rest of this site, The Talk Dialect Team 🗣️💚
