In terms of accent, Dales dialect shares many features that are typical within Northern England, such as the pronunciation of words like face, goat and price as long monophthongs (with a single vowel sound rather than two combined). The vowel at the end of a word like happy is closer in many parts of the North of England to the ‘i’ sound of pin than to the ‘ee’ sound of pea. Words like foot and strut are pronounced with the same vowel sound, meaning that word pairs such as could/cud, look/luck and book/buck are homophones (words that have different meanings but sound the same). This is a result of changes to Middle English that occurred in the South of England but not the North.
Often commented on is the Yorkshire treatment of the definite article, the, commonly shortened to the ‘t’ sound only, as made famous by the Ilkley Moor Bar t’At song. This is known by linguists as ‘definite article reduction’ or D.A.R for short. Perhaps less noticeable, but just as widespread, is the strongly stressed vowel found in the first syllables of words like absorb, employment, continue, and computer. In terms of grammar, nouns describing units of height, weight, value or volume often do not have the plural marker s in Yorkshire: e.g. twenty gram, five pound, or two pint. This is common in many dialects. Plurality is instead implied through context. An unusual grammatical feature often found in the Dales is the use of sen in reflexive pronouns, e.g. her sen meaning herself.
