Me, meself, nowt.
I'm reading an English book and I have some questions about what I've read. The story takes place in Liverpool. I noticed that instead of using "my" the author used "me". For example, if he wanted to say "my house", he would say "me house". Happens the same with "myself", which would be "meself". Furthermore, instead of writing "nothing", in the book appears "nowt". However, that only happens when the character doesn't speak posh English. Does it happen in real life? Is it because of the pronunciation?
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Answers · 7
1
The pronunciation you mention is prevalent in many parts of the UK, particularly in the north of England. Nowt' is a dialect word used in northern England. Where my father comes from in Yorkshire, they use it all the time. Although I am not from the north of England, as I mentioned my father is, and consequently 'nowt' and the corresponding word 'owt' (which is used in place of 'anything') are part of my active vocabulary when I speak to my family.
Yes, it's to provide a more phonetic representation of how the words the people say actually sound when spoken. In regular standard English they would never be written that way.
1
See Paul's answer. It's better than what I originally wrote!
0
This is typical of the North of England where I am from! It's just the dialect that people use in informal conversations, but it's not used in professional contexts.
My mum = Me mam
Myself = Meself or Me sen
I haven't = I ain't
I've got nothing = I've got nowt
0
No, it's a dialect word used in place of 'nothing.' Any similarity in pronunciation is coincidental.
0
I assume that "nowt" is the phonetic representation of the word "naught?"
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