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West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England. The West Country is often defined as encompassing the official region of South West England: Cornwall, and the counties of, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Bristol and Gloucestershire. However, the exact northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. In the adjacent counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, it is possible to encounter similar accents and, indeed, much the same distinct dialect, albeit with some similarities to others in neighbouring regions. Although natives of all these locations, especially in rural parts, often still have West Country influences in their speech, their increased mobility and urbanisation has meant that in the more populous of these counties the dialect itself, as opposed to the people's various local accents, is becoming increasingly rare. Academically the regional variations are considered to be dialectal forms. The Survey of English Dialects captured manners of speech across the South West region that were just as different from Standard English as any from the far North of England. There is some influence from the Welsh and Cornish languages depending on the specific location. In literature, film and television In literary contexts, most of the usage has been in either poetry or dialogue, to add "local colour". It has rarely been used for serious prose in recent times but was used much more extensively up until the 19th century. West Country dialects are commonly represented as "Mummerset", a kind of catchall southern rural accent invented for broadcasting. Early period The Late West Saxon dialect was the standard literary language of later Anglo-Saxon England, and consequently the majority of Anglo-Saxon literature, including the epic poem Beowulf and the poetic Biblical paraphrase Judith, is preserved in West Saxon dialect, though not all of it was originally written in West Saxon. In the medieval period Sumer is icumen in (13th century) is a notable example of a work in the dialect. The Cornish language (and Breton) descended from the ancient British language (Brythonic/Brittonic) that was spoken all over what is now the West Country until the West Saxons conquered and settled most of the area. The Cornish language throughout much of the High Middle Ages was not just the vernacular but the prestigious language in Cornwall among all classes, but was also spoken in large areas of Devon well after the Norman conquest. Cornish began to decline after the Late Middle Ages with English expanding westwards, and after the Prayer Book Rebellion, suffered terminal decline, dying out in the 18th century. (Its existence today is a revival). 17th century In King Lear, Edgar speaks in the West Country dialect, as one of his various personae. Both Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh were noted at the Court of Queen Elizabeth for their strong Devon accents. 18th century Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding, set in Somerset, again mainly dialogue. Considered one of the first true English novels. 19th century William Barnes' Dorset dialect poetry (1801–1886). Walter Hawken Tregellas (1831–1894), author of many stories written in the local dialect of the county of Cornwall and a number of other works. Anthony Trollope's (1815–1882) series of books Chronicles of Barsetshire (1855–1867) also use some dialect in dialogue. The novels of Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) often use the dialect in dialogue, notably Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891). Wiltshire Rhymes and Tales in the Wiltshire Dialect (1894) and other works by Edward Slow. The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Sorcerer is set in the fictional village of Ploverleigh in Somerset. Some dialogue and song lyrics, especially for the chorus, are a phonetic approximation of West Country speech. The Pirates of Penzance and Ruddigore are both set in Cornwall. John Davey a farmer from Zennor, records the native Cornish language Cranken Rhyme. R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone. According to Blackmore, he relied on a "phonogogic" style for his characters' speech, emphasizing their accents and word formation. He expended great effort, in all of his novels, on his characters' dialogues and dialects, striving to recount realistically not only the ways, but also the tones and accents, in which thoughts and utterances were formed by the various sorts of people who lived in the Exmoor district. 20th century 'Zummerzet speech' is discussed in The Somerset Coast (1909) by Charles George Harper. Songs of the Soil by Percy G Stone, verse in Isle of Wight dialect, rendered phonetically, showing similarities with 'core' West Country dialects. A Glastonbury Romance (1933) by John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) contains dialogue written in imitation of the local Somerset dialect. Albert John Coles, (1876–1965), writing as Jan Stewer, wrote 3,000 short stories in the Devonshire dialect for local Devon newspapers, and published collections of them, as well as performing them widely on stage, film, and broadcast. David Foot (1929–2021) wrote often about the West Country. Footsteps from East Coker was about his childhood village and beyond. Laurie Lee's (1914–1997) works such as Cider with Rosie (1959) portray a somewhat idealised Gloucestershire childhood in the Five Valleys area. John Fowles's Daniel Martin, which features the title character's girlfriend's dialect. Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills is a television play about children in the Forest of Dean during the Second World War. The dialogue is written in the style of the Forest dialect. The songs of Adge Cutler (from Nailsea, died 1974) were famous for their West Country dialect, sung in a strong Somerset accent. His legacy lives on in the present day Wurzels and other so-called "Scrumpy and Western" artists. The folk group The Yetties perform songs composed in the dialect of Dorset (they originate from Yetminster). Andy Partridge, lead singer with the group XTC, has a pronounced Wiltshire accent. Although more noticeable in his speech, his accent may also be heard in some of his singing. J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy novels feature Hagrid, a character who has a West Country accent. Berk, the central monster character from The Trap Door, voiced by actor and comedian Willie Rushton. Archaeologist Phil Harding from Channel 4's Time Team speaks with a strong Wiltshire accent. History and origins Until the 19th century, the West Country and its dialects were largely protected from outside influences, due to its relative geographical isolation. While standard English derives from the Old English Mercian dialects, the West Country dialects derive from the West Saxon dialect, which formed the earliest English language standard. Thomas Spencer Baynes claimed in 1856 that, due to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, .... Discover the Anonymous Mrs Gwatkin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Anonymous Mrs Gwatkin books.