Moses and The Children of Israel

by Scott Dobson

Noo aa've just cum ower the neet frum Kingdom Hall t'Gatesid t'tell ye aal aboot Moses an' the children ov Israel.

Noo ye aal knaa hoo Moses wuz fund in the bullrushes, be Pharehs dowter (leastways that wuz hor story). Weel, yors laytor Moses an'ees lads wor workin' in the clarts b'the Nile myekin' bricks f'Phareh.

Noo one ov the gards cums up an sez,"Noo theor, Moses, Phareh wants te see ye."

So up lowps Moses from the clarts an' gans wi' the gard. "E gets t'Phareh's tent an' knocks twice on the door - 'feared Phareh 'ad a bit o' goods like.

"Cum in," sez Phareh, so in gans Moses.
"Mornin' Phareh," sez Moses.
"Mornin' Moses," sez Phareh.
"Noo luk heor," sez Phareh, gettin' strite t' the point. "Youse lads is not myekin' enuff bricks f'me pyramids. They wiz gan t'be greet big cubes, but wi' ye lot on gannin' slaa, thuv aal had t' hev pointy tops noo. Soas ye'll aal hav to myek twice as monny bricks wi' nee straa."
"Nee straa!" sez Moses, "the lads'll nivvor agree t'thet!"

Commentary

The writer has aimed to show the pronunciation used by speakers from the North-East of England but has been limited by the conventions of the alphabet and the need for non-dialect speakers to understand what has been written.

He might have written "haal" instead of "hall" but seems to have preferred traditional authography in this instance. However he has written "aal" instead of the standard "all". Is this consistent or is it a compromise between convention and accuracy?

Grammatical features of the dialect are clearly shown eg "Youse" the Geordie plural second person pronoun, where standard English does not differentiate between singular and plural pronouns in the second person.

The humour relies upon the juxtaposition of famous religious figures using a working class regional dialect.

etc etc

Task
1. Rewrite a paragraph from the text in standard written English. What problems did you have? What has been gained and what has been lost in the translation.?

2. Read the text in an RP accent. Compare it with the original. Which is more effective and why?

3. What dialect words have been used in the text? Make sure you distinguish between accent (the sounds) and dialect (vocabulary and grammar).