Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/14

 INTRODUCTION. § 1. Decay of the Dialect in West Cornwall, } 2. Pronunciation and Grammar. { 3. Proverbial Sayings. { 4. Comiah Names. i 5. The Present Glossary. § 1. With the introduction of railways and the increased means of communication, that has brought and brings every year more strangers to West Cornwall, the peculiar dialect is fast dying out, giving place to a vile Cockney pronunciation with a redundancy of ^'s. The younger generation are ashamed of and laugh at the old expressive words their parents use. One seldom now hears such Shaksperian terms as giglet, a giddy girl ; fudge, to suit ; peizCf to weigh; nor the old form of the plural — houaeny houses; peasen, peas ; nor derivative adjectives vnth the preftx en, such as feasten and stonen. But in the outlying fishing villages and inland parishes the dialect still lingers. § 2. A stranger meeting one of our country labourers or miners on the " Downses " (downs), and asking him a question, would pro- bably have some difficulty in understanding the answer. Should the words in which it was given be common all over England, the sing- song drawling tones of the high-pitched voice, and the different sounds given to the vowels and diphthongs, would greatly puzzle him. The pronunciation differs considerably in places not more than ten or twelve miles apart, and persons who live in Penzance and make the dialect their study, can easily distinguish a St. Just from a Kewlyn or Mousehole man, and both from a native of Camborne or St. Ives. The most marked difference in speech, however, is found