Newfoundland English

Newfoundland English is a term referring to any of several accents and dialects of Atlantic Canadian English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in Canada and North America. Many Newfoundland dialects are influenced by the dialects of England's West Country, in particular the city of Bristol and the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, while in terms of general cultural heritage, one estimate claims 80 to 85 percent of Newfoundland's English heritage came from England's southwest. Other Newfoundland dialects are influenced by the dialects of Ireland's southeastern counties, particularly Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Cork. Still others blend elements of both and there is also a discernible influence of Scottish English. This reflects the fact that while the Scottish came in smaller numbers than the English and Irish, they had a large influence on Newfoundland society. 
The dialects that comprise Newfoundland English developed because of Newfoundland's history as well as its geography. As to history, Newfoundland was one of the first areas settled by England in North America, beginning in small numbers in the early 17th century before peaking in the early 19th century. Newfoundland was a British colony until 1907 when it became an independent Dominion within the British Empire. It became a part of Canada in 1949 as the last province to join confederation. As to geography, Newfoundland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, separated by the Strait of Belle Isle from Labrador, the sparsely populated mainland part of the province. Most of the population remained rather isolated on the island, allowing the dialects time to develop independently of those on the North American continent. Today, some words from Newfoundland English have been adopted through popular culture in other places in Canada (especially in Ontario and eastward).
Historically, Newfoundland English was first recognized as a separate dialect in the late 18th century when George Cartwright published a glossary of Newfoundland words.
Other names for Newfoundland English.
Newfoundland English is often called "Newfinese". The term "Newfie" is also sometimes used, though this word is sometimes seen as pejorative.
Phonological and grammatical features.
Consonants.
Th-stopping
The [d] is used to represent the voiced “th” sound /ð/, and a [t] to represent the voiceless one /θ/. For example, “that thing over there” becomes “dat ting over dere”. This is derived from Hiberno-English.
Slit fricative t
The phoneme when appearing at the end of word or between vowel sounds, is pronounced as in Hiberno-English; the most common pronunciation is as a "slit fricative", it is somewhat drawn out, instead of a distinct tap of the tongue on the top of the mouth.
H-dropping and pronunciation of the letter H
Both h-dropping and h-insertion occur in many varieties of Newfoundland English – for example, Holyrood becomes “‘Olyrood” and Avondale becomes “H’Avondale”. When pronounced on its own, the letter h is typically pronounced like /heɪtʃ/ rather than the standard North American /eɪtʃ/. The associated spelling "haitch" is often considered to be h-adding and is considered nonstandard in England, where it is most common.
Rhoticity
Newfoundland is a rhotic accent like most of North America, as well as Ireland and the English West Country.
L-darkness
Some speakers of Newfoundland English have a weaker light ([l]) versus dark ([ɫ]) /l/ distinction compared to the standard North American patterns, which may be due to Irish-settled varieties of English exhibiting light variants in both coda and onset positions.
Vowels.
In much of Newfoundland, the words "fear" and "fair" are homophones. A similar phenomenon is found in the Norfolk dialect of East Anglia and in New Zealand English.
The merger of diphthongs and to (an example of the line–loin merger) is extensive throughout Newfoundland and is a significant feature of Newfoundland English.
Newfoundland English traditionally lacked Canadian raising; however in the generations since Newfoundland's 1949 merger with Canada this has changed to some extent.
Grammar.
"After" past.
In a move almost certainly taken from Hiberno-English and influenced by the Irish language, speakers avoid using the verb "to have" in past participles, preferring formulations including "after", such as "I'm after telling him to stop" instead of "I have told him to stop". This is because in the Irish language there is no verb "to have", and more particularly because Irish Gaelic uses a construction using the words "Tar éis" (meaning "after") to convey the sense of "having just" done something – "Táim tar éis é a dhéanamh" meaning "I am just after doing it" or " I have just done it". Possession is indicated by "Ta ... agam" literally "... is at me".
Northern Subject Rule.
Newfoundland English often follows the Northern Subject Rule, a legacy of settlement from South East Ireland which in turn was influenced by Anglo-Irish settlement from Northern England into Ireland. For example, the verb "to fly" is conjugated for third person plural as "the birds flies".
Archaic pronouns "[See Ye (pronoun)]".
"Ye" is the plural form of "you" (singular) instead of "you" (plural), similar to how "you guys" is often used to replace "you" (plural) in Standard Canadian English. For example, when addressing two or more people, or when addressing one person but referring to everyone that person is with, a speaker of Newfoundland English would ask "What do ye think?" instead of "What do you guys think?". "What do you think?" would still be used when referring to a single person alone, and only refers to the single person alone, avoiding the confusion present in other English dialects in which a group of people would not know whether the speaker is inquiring about the opinion of the person they are directly speaking to or the various opinions of the entire group. In most areas of the province that use the pronoun such as the Avalon Peninsula outside of St. John's, "ye" mirrors the same variant in Hiberno-English, in which "you" (singular), "you" (plural), and "they" correspond to "you", "ye", and "dey" (the latter simply arising from a change in pronunciation, so the term is spoken "dey" but written "they", whereas the rest are written and spoken in the same way). Variants of "ye" are also used for alternative cases, such as "yeer" (your), "yeers" (yours), and "yeerselves" (yourselves). In some communities on the island's northeast coast, "you" (singular), "you" (plural), and "they" correspond to "ye", "dee", and "dey", respectively.
Habitual aspect using "be".
The word "bes" is sometimes used in place of the normally conjugated forms of "to be" to describe continual actions or states of being, as in "that rock usually bes under water" instead of "that rock is usually under water", but normal conjugation of "to be" is used in all other cases.
"Does be" is Irish grammar calqued into English – there is no habitual aspect in English, so Irish speakers learning English, would say "does be" as a literal translation of "bíonn mé" "I (habitually) am" 
Me instead of my, mine.
The use of ownership in Newfoundland English is characterized by pronouncing "my" as "me", a characteristic common to Irish, Scottish, Northern English, Western English and some overseas dialects, as in Australia. Before the Great Vowel Shift, "my" was pronounced /mi:/, "mine" as /mi:n/, while "me" was pronounced /me:/. As with all sound shifts, not all possible words change. This older usage of /mi:/ has carried over into present-day Newfoundland English as it has in the other dialects noted. An example would be, "Where's me hat?" as opposed to "Where is my hat?" 
The use of "to" to denote location is common in Newfoundland English. Where's that to? ("Where's that?"). This is a carryover from West Country dialects and is still common in southwest England, particularly Bristol.
Other languages and dialects that have influenced Newfoundland English.
There is also a dialect of French centred mainly on the Port au Port Peninsula on the west coast of the island which has affected the syntax of English in the area. One example of these constructs found in Newfoundland is "Throw grandpa down the stairs his hat", a dative construction in which the hat makes the trip, not the grandfather. Another is the use of French subject pronoun reinforcement constructions in sentences such as the reply to a question like "Where are you going?", reply: "Me I'm goin' downtown" (this form of subject pronoun grammar also exists in Irish English and Jerriais).
Newfoundland French was deliberately discouraged by the Newfoundland government through the public schools during the mid-20th-century, and only a small handful of mainly elderly people are still fluent in the French-Newfoundland dialect. In the last couple of decades, many parents in the region have demanded and obtained French education for their children, but this would be Standard French education and does not represent a continuation of the old dialect per se. Some people living in the Codroy Valley on the south-west tip of the island are also ancestrally Francophone, but represent Acadian settlers from the Maritime Provinces of Canada who arrived during the 19th century. This population has also lost the French language.
The greatest distinction between Newfoundland English and General Canadian English is its vocabulary. It includes some Inuit and First Nations words (for example "tabanask", a kind of sled), preserved archaic English words no longer found in other English dialects (for example "pook", a mound of hay; "dipper", a saucepan; "damper", a stove burner; etc.), Irish language survivals like "sleveen" and "angishore", compound words created from English words to describe things unique to Newfoundland (for example "stun breeze", a wind of at least , English words which have undergone a semantic shift (for example "rind", the bark of a tree), and unique words whose origins are unknown (for example "diddies", a nightmare).
Newfoundland English expressions.
In recent years, the most commonly noted Newfoundland English expression might be "Whadd'ya at?" ("What are you at?"), loosely translated to "How's it going?" or "What are you doing?" Coming in a close second might be "You're stunned as me arse, b'y," implying incredible stupidity or foolishness in the person being spoken to.
Other local expressions include:
Also of note is the widespread use of the term "b'y" as a common form of address. It is shorthand for "boy", (and is a turn of phrase particularly pronounced with the Waterford dialect of Hiberno-Irish) but is used variably to address members of either sex. Another term of endearment, often spoken by older generations, is "me ducky", used when addressing a female in an informal manner, and usually placed at the end of a sentence which is often a question (Example: "How's she goin', me ducky?") – a phrase also found in East Midlands British English. Also pervasive as a sentence ending is "right" used in the same manner as the Canadian "eh" or the American "huh" or "y'know". Even if the sentence would otherwise be a non-question, the pronunciation of "right" can sometimes make it seem like affirmation is being requested.
Certain words have also gained prominence amongst the speakers of Newfoundland English. For instance, a large body of water that may be referred to as a "lake" elsewhere, can often (but not uniformly) be referred to as a pond. In addition, a large landmass that rises high out of the ground, regardless of elevation, is referred to unwaveringly as a "hill". Yet there is a difference between a hill and a big hill.
Another major characteristic of some variants of Newfoundland English is adding the letter 'h' to words that begin with vowel sounds, or removing 'h' from words that begin with it. In some districts, the term house commonly is referred to as the "ouse," for example, while "even" might be said "h'even." The idiom "'E drops 'is h in 'Olyrood and picks en up in H'Avondale." is often used to describe this using the neighbouring eastern towns Holyrood and Avondale as examples. There are many different variations of the Newfoundland dialect depending on geographical location within the province. It is also important to note that Labrador has a very distinct culture and dialect within its region.
Other.
Although it is referred to as "Newfoundland English" or "Newfinese", the island of Newfoundland is not the only place which uses this dialect. Labrador and an area near the Labrador border, the mostly English-speaking Basse-Côte-Nord of Quebec, also use this form of speaking. Younger generations of this area have adapted the way of speaking, and created some of their own expressions. Some older generations speak Newfoundland English, but it is more commonly used by the younger generations. "B'y" is one of the most common terms used in this area.
It is also common to hear Newfoundland English in Yellowknife, Southern Alberta and Fort McMurray, Alberta, places to which many Newfoundlanders have moved or commute regularly for employment. Newfoundland English is also used frequently in the city of Cambridge, Ontario. This is due to the high population of Newfoundlanders there, most of whom are from Bell Island.
References.
Works cited