The Demise of Local English Dialects

In the past few hundred years we have seen changes that have results in Massive losses of Local English Dialects.

As early as the 1500’s there were a dozen locally spoken English Dialects in England.

This relatively small island had Many dialects as well as other completely different languages.

Languages that had roots different than English.

Old English is rooted in the Western Germanic languages brought by Northern European invaders.

Invaders like the Norse or as they are commonly called today the Vikings.

Yet even with all this there were dialects rooted in the Romance languages as well.

The Romance Languages all spring from Latin.

Languages like French, Spanish, and Italian.

These Roots have resulted in structurally very different languages.

Yet despite this we still find many English Dialects in a small area.

Or rather we used to find this.

Today there has been an unprecedented loss of Local English Dialects.

Why English Dialects exist so close together

The reason so many dialects existed so closely is that our preceptions have been changed.

In today’s world we can get to anywhere on the planet in less than 24 hours.

1000 years ago the method of travel was limited to horse, donkey, or human hoofs.

Since only the ruling class had the resources to ride the dialects were actually coming from the commoners.

Commoners who could not ride.

They could only walk.

Average daily distances that could be travelled was around 20 miles.

Also if they wanted to travel far they had to carry all the resources with them.

These limitations resulted in virtual bubbles forming around villages and towns.

These Bubbles really isolated the towns folks and their method of speaking over times became a unique Dialect.

With Cars and planes the distances we travel exploded.

Now everyone talks to everyone else.

Dialects naturally die off in this enviroment.

It is like each houshold a thousand of years ago in a village.

They speak a common dialect within the village, now each house.

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