The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire, James Jennings [e textbook reader .txt] 📗

light, from the Record and State PaperOffice, and historical societies, will throw much light on thesubject]; and an abundant harvest offers in examining them, bywhich to make an amusing book, illustrative of our provincialwords and ancient manners. I think we cannot avoid arriving at theconclusion, that the Anglo-Saxon dialect, of which I conceive theWestern dialect to be a striking portion, has been graduallygiving way to our polished idiom; and is considered a barbarism,and yet many of the sounds of that dialect are found inHolland and Germany, as a part of the living language of thesecountries. I am contented with having thus far elucidated thelanguage of my native county. I have omitted several words, whichI supposed provincial, and which are frequent to the west, as theyare found in the modern dictionaries, still I have allowed a few,which are in Richardson's Johnson.

Thee is used for the nominative _thou_; which latterword is seldom used, diphthong sounds used in thi