Northumbrian dialect

Northumbrian dialect or Northumbrian English is any one of several traditional English dialects spoken in the historic counties of Northumberland and County Durham. The term Northumbrian can refer to the region of Northumbria but can also refer specifically to the county of Northumberland. This article focuses on the former definition and thus includes varieties from throughout the wider region.

The traditional Northumbrian dialect is a moribund older form of the dialect spoken in the area. It is closely related to Scots and Cumbrian and shares with them a common origin in Old Northumbrian.

The traditional dialect has spawned multiple modern varieties, and Northumbrian dialect can also be used to broadly include all of them:

• Geordie, the most famous dialect spoken in the region, largely spoken in Tyneside, centred in Newcastle and Gateshead
• Mackem, a dialect spoken in Wearside, centred on Sunderland
• Smoggie, a dialect spoken in Teesside; an area at the southern tip of region which straddles the border of Yorkshire and County Durham
• Pitmatic or 'Yakka', a group of dialects spoken in mining towns of Northumberland and Durham Coalfield
• Berwick dialect, spoken in Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England
• The only rhotic or variably rhotic dialect left in the region (Northumberland and northwest Durham), nearly extinct, which uses the Northumbrian burr, mostly spoken today only by the oldest rural, male speakers.