Mackem

There is much debate about the origin of the word "Mackem", although it has been argued that it may stem from the phrase "Mak 'em and tak 'em", with "Mak 'em" being the local pronunciation of "make them" and "tak 'em" deriving from "take them". According to the current entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest occurrence of the word Mackem or Mak’em in print was in 1988. However, as evidenced by the attached news articles, the word Mak’em (or Mackem) has been much in evidence for a great many years prior to 1988. Indeed, one of the articles attached dates to 1929. It has been argued that the expressions date back to the height of Sunderland's shipbuilding history, as the shipwrights would make the ships, then the maritime pilots and tugboat captains would take them down the River Wear to the sea – the shipyards and port authority being the most conspicuous employers in Sunderland. A variant explanation is that the builders at Sunderland would build the ships, which would then go to Tyneside to be outfitted, hence from the standpoint of someone from Sunderland, "we make 'em an' they take 'em" – however, this account is disputed (and, indeed, as an earlier form of the name was Mac n' Tac, it seems unlikely). Another explanation is that ships were both built and repaired (i.e. "taken in for repairs") on the Wear. the earliest occurrence of it in print was in 1988. The phrase "we still tak'em and mak'em" was found in a sporting context in 1973 in reference to Sunderland Cricket & Rugby Football Club. ==Characteristics==

There has been very little academic work done on the Sunderland dialect. It was a site in the early research by Alexander John Ellis, who also recorded a local song called Spottee. Ellis also noted the influence on Sunderland speech from migrants to the area from Ireland and Scotland. In the Survey of English Dialects, the nearby town of Washington was surveyed. The researcher of the site, Stanley Ellis, later worked with police on analysing the speech in a tape sent to the police during the Yorkshire Ripper investigation, which became known as the Wearside Jack tape because the police switched their investigation to Wearside after Ellis's analysis of the tape. To people outside the region, the differences between Mackem and Geordie dialects often seem marginal, but there are many notable differences. A perceptual dialect study by the University of Sunderland found that locals of the region consider Geordie and Mackem to be separate dialects and identify numerous lexical, grammatical, and phonetic differences between the two. In fact, Mackem is considered to be more closely related to Durham dialects than to those of Tyneside. There are even a small but noticeable differences in pronunciation and grammar between the dialects of North and South Sunderland (for example, the word something in North Sunderland is often summik whereas a South Sunderland speaker may often prefer summat and people from the surrounding areas prefer summit). ==Phonology==

• Make and take are pronounced mak and tak ( and ) in the most conservative forms of the dialect. This variation is the supposed reason why Tyneside shipyard workers might have coined "Mak'em" as an insult. However, the pronunciation of the word is not confined to Sunderland and can be found in other areas of Northern England and Scotland. • Many words ending in -own are pronounced (cf. Geordie: ). • School is split into two syllables, with a short in between, . This is also the case for words with a vowel preceding , which are monosyllabic in some other dialects, such as cruel, fuel and fool, in Mackem which are , and respectively. • This "extra syllable" occurs in other words spoken in Mackem dialect, i.e. film is . This feature has led to some words being very differently pronounced in Sunderland. The word face, due to the inclusion of an extra and the contraction thereof, is often pronounced . While and some other cases of this extra vowel have been observed in the Geordie dialect, • Book rhymes with spook as in Northumberland and on Tyneside, however, there is a difference in vowel quality between Tyneside and Mackem , or . • The vowel pronounced as in Received Pronunciation, unlike the rhotic Scots variant. Cf. Geordie . • Most words that have the vowel are pronounced with a short such as after, laughter, pasta. However, in the same way as the Geordie dialect, the words plaster and master are often pronounced with a long . This is not found in most northern accents apart from in the North East. • The Mackem accent is different from Geordie in some instances. For example, the pronunciation of curry is often more like cerry. As well as this the use of oo in words with the BROWN vowel isn't as frequent as it is in the Geordie accent (Sunderland=town v Newcastle=toon), however, this feature was traditionally found in all dialects north of the Humber–Lune Line. • In words such as green and cheese it has been said that the Sunderland accent has more of a diphthong instead of the standard vowel in most dialects of English. • H-dropping in words such as him, her, half is said to be a feature in Sunderland, Butterknowle, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, but not in other areas of the North East. • is traditionally clear in all contexts, meaning the velarised allophone is absent. ==Grammar==

Definite article Unlike some Northern English varieties the definite article is never reduced. As in Scots and other Northumbrian dialects the definite article is used in a wider range of contexts than in standard English, including kinship terms, names of institutions, temporal expressions, illnesses, and even numbers. Indefinite Article The indefinite article is used with one in certain contexts. Modal verbs Modals can and will as well as the verb de (do) have uncontracted negative forms. The use of dinnet contrasts with Geordie divvent. Pronouns ==Vocabulary==

• aight – eight • alang – along • alarn – alone • an arl – as well, also (compare Scots an aw) • an't – aren't (interrogative) • aye – yes • beut – boot • blar – blow • canny – good or a lot • card – cold • clarts – mud • clip – slap; in a poor state • clivver – clever • clout – hit • dinnar – dunno • diz – does • dizn't – doesn't • fower – four • fyace, pyat – face • gan – go • garn – going (gannin is favoured in surrounding colliery towns) • gie's – give me • git – very • grar – grow • knar – know • lang – long • leet – light • mair – more • mak – make • marra – friend, acquaintance • nak – hurt • ne – no (determiner) • neet – night • neen – none • nivver – never • nor – no • owld – old • pund – pound • reet – right • rund – round • snar – snow • spelk – splinter • spuggy – sparrow • tak – take • te – to • telt – told • the neet – tonight • the morra – tomorrow • tret – treated • wad – would • waddent – wouldn’t • watter – water • wesh – wash • wey – well (wey nar = well no) • whe – who • whese – whose • wrang – wrong • yem – home • yisterda – yesterday ==See also==