Introducing the Introduction: Dictionary of Newfoundland English

The following excerpt is from the Introduction to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

The earliest fishermen to live year-round, establish families and plant varieties of English permanently in Newfoundland settled along the east coast in the vicinity of St John's, the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula as far as Trepassey, and in the coves and harbours of Conception Bay. English thus began its development here in the very early seventeenth century at about the time of the planting of the language in Virginia and New England in the American colonies. These early settlers were brought out by chartered companies administered from Bristol and London, and the evidence points to most of them coming, like the great numbers of transient fishermen, from the coastal ports and inland villages and hamlets of the English West Country: Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.6 While the official plantations collapsed around the middle of the century, some of the settlers remained, and their variety of speech was reinforced annually by the thousands of West Country migratory fishermen whose seasonal voyages to the Island had long preceded the era of permanent settlement and continued down to the early nineteenth century. The English speech planted here, therefore, was the town and rural speech of the western counties of England, and varieties of cultivated speech current in England in the seventeenth century.

The second important linguistic strain in Newfoundland speech began in the late seventeenth century with the male English- and Irish-speaking helpers or 'servants' annually carried from southeastern Ireland, mainly through the port of Waterford, at the same time as the English adventurers obtained staple foods there for the fishing season in Newfoundland. Merchants from Ireland also sent trading ships to Newfoundland.7 The numbers of Irish servants and later of immigrants increased enormously in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries so that in some years the proportions of English to Irish in Newfoundland were about even. The mixed population at the end of the eighteenth century is well depicted by Aaron Thomas:8

As this Island has been inhabit'd for such a number of years and was peopled by British and Irish, you frequently meet with Familys whose Grandfathers were born in Newfoundland. These are what I call the Natives. They speak English but they have a manner perculiar to themselves
---the common people Lisp... for [in] every Out-harbour I viseted on conversing with the people, they would on answering my enquirys say---Yes, dat is the way' or 'O No, we tant do it so; but den we do it the other way, tafter we bring it home because it is taffer.'

There are occasional documentary references to monolingual and bilingual Irishspeaking fishermen working and settling in the island in the early years, but Irish seems never to have been established in Newfoundland and has had little influence on Newfoundland English independent of the development of Anglo-Irish in parts of Ireland itself.9


To read the rest of the Introduction to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English click here.

The Dictionary of Newfoundland English can be purchased online directly from the publisher (University of Toronto Press).

Dictionary of Newfoundland English: Second Edition with supplement Edited by G.M. Story, W.J. Kirwin, and J.D.A. Widdowson
University of Toronto Press © 1998
847pp /1 map, 3 figures

Dictionary of Newfoundland English Note: Lectureship in humanities established to honor George Story (MUN Gazette, 1996)

Dr. George M. Story was one of the editors of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We will explore something of the history of the Dictionary and it's editors and contributors through occasional notes on internet resources relating to them. Here is one to an article announcing the creation of a Lecture in honour of Dr. Story back in 1996 at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

March 7, 1996, MUN Gazette:

Lectureship in humanities established to honor George Story

By Pam Frampton

There's not much chance that the late Dr. George Story, a scholar of international repute and one of the editors of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English, will ever be forgotten at Memorial. But the chances of that happening are now even slimmer, thanks to a recent resolution by the Board of Regents which approved the establishment of an endowed lectureship in the humanities in Dr. Story's name.

The George M. Story Lecture in Humanities will be co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President (Research) and the Office of the Dean of Arts -- each will contribute $20,000. Approximately 75 per cent of the interest earned on the endowment will be used to pay for a small honorarium and expenses for visiting lecturers; the remaining interest earned on the fund will be re-invested. The fiscal management of the fund will be the responsibility of the university comptroller. An annual call for nominations will be made to members of the university community, with a deadline of March 1. Dr. Kevin Keough, vice-president (research) and Dr. Terry Murphy, dean of arts, will select the lecturer each year after appropriate consultation.

"It was something we undertook because George was one of the most -- if not the most -- influential scholars I've come into contact with since I've been at the university," Dr. Keough told the Gazette. "George was enormously generous in his fostering of scholarship, especially among his junior colleagues. The lectureship is intended to highlight scholarship in the humanities, to honor George, and to give members of the community the opportunity to hear distinguished, international scholars who will embody the high quality of scholarship demonstrated by George himself."

Dr. Murphy said that deciding to endow a lectureship was part of a broader exercise to honor Dr. Story's memory. A medal of excellence, the George M. Story Convocation Medal in Arts, was awarded for the first time at spring convocation 1995, to Janet Lynn Hutchings of Cow Head -- though the medal wasn't quite finished at the time. It will be awarded at the discretion of the Senate Committee on Scholarships at the dean of arts' recommendation. It is meant to reward a student graduating with a bachelor of arts who has demonstrated both academic excellence and a strong commitment to serving the university and the community -- qualities which Dr. Story displayed during his 40 years at Memorial.