Devon Accents pre 1900

[Keitht]

I'm not even sure the dialect is dying out. I can still make myself entirely incomprehensible to grockles if I have a mind to.

Funny isn't it, how no matter how long we're away, true Devonians always think of the place as home. I get a definite high as soon as I reach somewhere around Newton Abbott. I come from Paignton, all about where all of my mother's family owned hotels or guest houses for many years back in the fifties and sixties. All this is bringing back memories of swims round Paignton pier before going to school in a morning.

Keith

[Nettopsey]

I only just came across this thread, and thought you might appreciate these books about the Devon accent that were written before 1900.

They are:
The Peasant Speech of Devon, by Sarah Hewett published in 1892.  You can download/read it at http://www.archive.org/details/peasantspeechofd00hewe

Jim and Nell: A Dramatic Poem in the Dialect of North Devon, published 1867.  It can be download/read it at http://www.archive.org/details/jimnelldramaticp00lond

The last is A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect, published in 1837, but compiled sometime in the mid 1700's!  It can be read/downloaded at http://www.archive.org/details/dialogueindevons00palmrich

Enjoy!

[fallenleaves]

Thank you for puting these on.. AW i nearly shed a tear i thought i was listning to my grandad it took me back to those days when i spent my school holdays down in south devon happy days

[Keitht]

Absolutely wonderful. I spent an entire evenig reading them and could hear the accent and the idiom coming through.

I wonder how many more treasures like these are available if you know where to look for them.

Keith