If you are feeling a bit peckish do you enjoy a bit of scran or docky? Perhaps if you have a sweet tooth then a bag of cooshies or jumbles might hit the spot.

Since the 1950s, the University of Leeds has been home to an extensive library of English dialects – and now the historic archive is accessible to the public. You can learn how your ancestors sounded when they spoke.

During the 1950s and 60s, fieldworkers from the University travelled across the country to record the language and lifestyles of speakers across England, known as the Survey of English Dialects. It remains the most famous and complete survey of dialects in England and the findings have been preserved in the University’s Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture, a unique and nationally important multi-media archive.

Now, the recordings can be heard by the public with the launch of the University’s Dialect and Heritage ‘In Your Words’ Project, led by the School of English and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

You can read more at the University of Leeds web site at: https://www.leeds.ac.uk/main-index/news/article/5072/historic-dialect-recordings-archive-digitised-for-the-public.