The West Country

The West Country dialects, or West Country accents, are generic terms applied to any of several English dialects or accents used by much of the indigenous population of the southwestern part of England, the area popularly known as the West Country. This is the region stretching from Cornwall, and Devon, into Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. The northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. The city of Bristol has its own local dialect which is also distinctly West Country in tone. Immigration to the towns from other regions means that the dialects are now only commonly encountered in rural areas. In the neighbouring counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The Isle of Wight is an English island, south of Southampton off the southern English coast. Although Stone Age settlements are known to have existed in the area, the first permanent settlement was established by the Romans. Known as Clausentum, it was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of Winchester and Salisbury. Placenames not surprisingly do not have -shire at the end of the county name.

The prosperity of Southampton was assured following the Norman Conquest in 1066, when it became the major port of transit between Winchester (then the capital of England) and Normandy. By the 13th Century, Southampton had become a leading port, and was particularly involved in the wool trade. The Wool House is Southampton's oldest surviving building, built in 1417, as a warehouse for the medieval wool trade with Flanders and Italy. The town was sacked in 1338 by the French, including the pirate Grimaldi, who used the plunder to help found the principality of Monaco- a city-state in Western Europe, located along the French Riviera, between the Mediterranean Sea and France, a few miles off the French border with Italy. Monaco was re-founded in 1228 as a colony of Genoa. The city walls include God's House Tower, built in 1417, the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England. Routes run eastwards to Portsmouth and Brighton, north-east to Winchester and London, north to Reading, Birmingham and beyond, north-west to Salisbury and Bristol and west to Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth.

Alum Bay

The River Medina flows north into the Solent, whilst the other main river, the River Yar flows roughly north-east, emerging at Bembridge Harbour on the eastern end of the Island. Confusingly, there is another entirely separate river at the western end also called the River Yar flowing the short distance from Freshwater Bay to a relatively large estuary at Yarmouth. Where distinguishing the two becomes necessary, each may be referred to as the eastern or western Yar. The south coast of the island adjoins the English Channel. The Needles is a row of distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, England, close to Alum Bay. Alum Bay is a sandy bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight.

Much of the land now making up the Isle of Wight was deposited during the late Cretaceous, at times part of a large river valley complex which consisted of much of the current southern coast of England. The swamps and ponds of the region at that time made the island excellent for the preservation of fossils, which means that it is now one of the richest locations for finding dinosaurs in Europe, with over 20 species. During this time the Isle of Wight, then located on a latitude at which North Africa resides today, had a subtropical environment, and was part of a large river valley complex, which ran along the south coast of England to Belgium. A world of ponds, rivers and swamps, and so had conditions favourable for the formation of fossils. The Gulf of Mexico too, but lacks chalk.

The distinctive Isle of Wight accent is a somewhat stronger version of the traditional Hampshire dialect, featuring the dropping of some consonants and an emphasis on longer vowels. This is similar to the West Country drawl heard in south-western England, but less removed in sound from the Estuary English of the South East. The spread of the latter in general, together with continuing immigration, means the broader accent is more prevalent in the older population.

Estuary English is a name given to the form of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the river Thames and its estuary. It is a hybrid of Received Pronunciation (RP) and South Eastern accents, particularly from the London, Kent and Essex area — i.e., the area around the Thames Estuary. Estuary English uses words from American English and Australian English, and respects the standard grammar used by RP speakers.