Ee by Gum: Yorkshire dialect lessons launched to teach local folk how to 'talk Tyke'

One of the main aims of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, launched 125 years ago, has always been to keep the region's local language alive.

Now the society looks to share the heritage and use of the dialect that many people hold in their memories, as well as in their family histories.

After all, say organisers, dialect can form such a large part of people's identity - and it would be a terrible tragedy if these old sayings and phrases were to be lost.

Rod Dimbleby, society chairman, said: "What is special about Yorkshire includes many aspects – the landscape, the history, the people and also the language.

“Too often children were taught in school that Yorkshire dialect words and phrases were just ‘slang’ or slovenly use of language, when in fact they may go back in linguistic terms over a thousand years to our Anglo-Norse ancestors.

"These words are a rich part of our heritage and we need to treasure and use them.”

A pilot course is to be launched in which people will be encouraged to speak, read and write Yorkshire dialect.

The aim, said Mr Dimbleby, is to enrich their own vocabulary with powerful and poetic words and expressions which might have been used by their own parents and grandparents.

Yorkshire dialect is a "wonderful language" he said, with many words and phrases which might have originated in the Yorkshire Wolds, or in farming, mining and mill communities.

As an example, he highlighted one mining phrase; to 'put t'wood in t'oil' - which means to shut the door, and another which sadly declares 't'owd lad's popped his cloggs'.

Ultimately, he said, using another expression that derives from the mills, things must be kept running smoothly: "Sumbdy's got ter keep t'band in t'nick."

Mr Dimbleby, a retired teacher of modern languages and a skilled dialect speaker and storyteller, will lead the six-week course from September 8.

Lessons will be held at Keighley Library, where the late poet, local historian and librarian Ian Dewhirst centred much of his work - making the district a focal point for local dialect studies.

The hope is to give people the knowledge and confidence to use this "vital" part of their own heritage, said Mr Dimbleby, by speaking, reading and writing in Yorkshire dialect.

Students will also be taught about the history of dialect, and introduced to texts and recordings that help to define what it means to 'be Yorkshire'.

"Part of the aim of the society is to try and keep alive this part of our heritage," said Mr Dimbleby. "There's lots of phrases, from the mills and the mines, that hardly anybody uses now. It's all still there.

"Yorkshire dialect is such a wonderful language. I think it's well worth preserving."

To find out more about joining, visit yorkshiredialectsociety.org.uk.