Pitmatic – originally 'pitmatical' – is a group of traditional Northern English dialects spoken in rural areas of the Great Northern Coalfield in England. The feature distinguishing Pitmatic from other Northumbrian dialects, such as Geordie and Mackem, is its basis in the mining jargon used in local collieries. For example, in Tyneside and Northumberland, Cuddy is a nickname for St. Cuthbert, while in Alnwick Pitmatic, a cuddy is a pit pony. According to the British Library's lead curator of spoken English, writing in 2019, "Locals insist there are significant differences between Geordie and several other local dialects, such as Pitmatic and Mackem. Pitmatic is the dialect of the former mining areas in County Durham and around Ashington to the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, while Mackem is used locally to refer to the dialect of the city of Sunderland and the surrounding urban area of Wearside". Traditionally, the dialect used the Northumbrian burr wherein /r/ is realised as. This is now less frequently heard; since the closure of the area's deep mines, younger people speak in local ways that do not usually include this characteristic. The guttural r sound can, however, still sometimes be detected amongst elderly populations in rural areas.

Dialectology

While Pitmatic was spoken by miners throughout the Great Northern Coalfield from Ashington in Northumberland to Fishburn in County Durham sources describe its particular use in the Durham collieries. However, Pitmatic is not a homogenous dialect, and varies between and within the two counties. The Durham coalfield is grouped linguistically with Wearside under the 'Central Urban North-Eastern English' dialect region, while the Northumberland coalfield is grouped with Tyneside as part of the 'Northern Urban North-Eastern English' area.

Dictionaries and compilations

Although he did not use the term "Pitmatic", Alexander J. Ellis's seminal survey of English dialects in the late nineteenth century included the language of "Pitmen", focusing on the region "between rivers Tyne and Wansbeck" and drawing on informants from Humshaugh, Earsdon, and Backworth. Dialect words in Northumberland and Tyneside, including many specific to the coal-mining industry, were collected by Oliver Heslop and published in two volumes in 1892 and 1894 respectively. A dictionary of East Durham Pitmatic spoken in Hetton-le-Hole, compiled by Rev. Francis M. T. Palgrave, was published in 1896 and reprinted in 1997. The heritage society of nearby Houghton-le-Spring produced a list of words and phrases in 2017 collected over the preceding five years. Harold Orton compiled a corpus (dataset) of dialect forms for 35 locations in Northumberland and northern Durham, known as the Orton Corpus. Pit Talk in County Durham, an illustrated, 90-page pamphlet by Dave Douglass, a local miner, was published in 1973. In 2007, Bill Griffiths produced a dictionary of Pitmatic where each entry includes information on a word's etymology; it was well reviewed. In an earlier work, Griffiths cited a newspaper of 1873 for the first recorded mention of the term "pitmatical".

Vocabulary

Pitmatic words and expressions include: • al reet* – alright, how are you? • bait† – meal eaten underground • byut* – boot • chods* – lumps • clarts* – mud • dunch* – crash, bang together • fyass* – face • gan canny owwer the greaser† – mind how you go • ganning* – going • gansey* – have a go • had yer hand* – hold on a minute • hoggers* – trousers • hose† – pipe conveying compressed air • impittent* – impudent • jesting* – joking • jigger† – vibrating trough for cleaning coal • jowling† – tapping the wall or ceiling of a mine to check its condition • keep had young'un* – take care • knar* – know • lektrishun† – electrician • lugs* – ears • maingate† – principal roadway in a mine • marra* – mate, friend, work-mate • netty* – toilet • oot-by† – direction towards the mineshaft • owwer* – over • plodge* – to walk through mud or water • rammel† – worthess stone mixed with coal • rapping† – transmitting signals • rive* – to tear or rip off • shul* – shovel • skeets† – guides for cages going up or down a mineshaft • tadger† – electric drill • tak had† – take hold, steady yourself (in the cage) • thee* – your • windy pick† – pneumatic pick • winnet* – won't • you're gettin yerself ahead of the buzzer† – getting above your station, being forward • yummer* – bad mood

• from Houghton-le-Spring Heritage Society (2017) † from Griffiths (2007)

Culture

Nowadays, the term "Pitmatic" is an falling out of popular usage.. In recent times, the dialect has underwent levelling and acquired features from more Standard English varieties. English as spoken in County Durham has been described as "half-Geordie, half-Teesside", and is quite accurately described in the article about Mackem. In 2000, Melvyn Bragg presented a programme about Pitmatic on BBC Radio 4 as part of a series on English regional dialects. Pitmatic is heard in parts of the second episode of Ken Loach's 1975 series Days of Hope, which was filmed around Esh Winning in Durham; the cast included local actor Alun Armstrong. The poet, singer-songwriter and entertainer Tommy Armstrong worked mainly in Pitmatic and Geordie. British comedian Bobby Thompson, popular across North East England, was famous for his Pitmatic accent.

Related forms of English

Other Northern English dialects include: