of either the Danelaw, or the Danish-controlled Kingdom of Northumbria (with the exception of much of present-day Cumbria, which was part of the Kingdom of Strathclyde). Consequently, Yorkshire dialects, in particular, are considered to have been influenced heavily by Old West Norse and Old East Norse (the ancestor language of modern Norwegian, Swedish and Danish). However, Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon and Old West Norse (from which modern Norwegian is descended) have arguably had a greater impact, over a longer period, on most northern dialects than Old East Norse. While authoritative quantification is not available, some estimates have suggested as many as 7% of West Cumbrian dialect words are Norse in origin or derived from it. During the mid and late 19th century, there was large-scale migration from Ireland, which affected the speech of parts of Northern England. This is most apparent in the dialects along the west coast, such as Liverpool, Birkenhead, Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven. The east-coast town of Middlesbrough also has a significant Irish influence on its dialect, as it grew during the period of mass migration. There was also some influence on speech in Manchester, but relatively little on Yorkshire beyond Middlesbrough. Varieties Northern English contains: Cheshire dialect Cumbrian dialect Geordie (spoken in the Newcastle/Tyneside area which includes southern parts of Northumberland) Lancashire dialect and accent Mackem (spoken in Sunderland/Wearside) Mancunian (spoken in Manchester, Salford, various other areas of Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire and eastern Cheshire). Northumbrian dialect Pitmatic (two variations; one spoken in the former mining communities of County Durham and the other in Northumberland) Scouse (spoken in the Liverpool/Merseyside area with variations in west Cheshire and southern Lancashire.) Teesside (spoken in Middlesbrough/Stockton-on-Tees, and their surrounding areas.) Yorkshire dialect In some areas, it can be noticed that dialects and phrases can vary greatly within regions too. For example, the Lancashire dialect has many sub-dialects and varies noticeably from West to East and even from town to town. Within as little as 5 miles there can be an identifiable change in accent. Phonological characteristics There are several speech features that unite most of the accents of Northern England and distinguish them from Southern England and Scottish accents: The accents of Northern England generally do not have the trap–bath split observed in Southern England English, so that the vowel in bath, ask and cast is the short vowel : , rather than found in the south. There are a few