_Har'th a dood
it_, she has done it; _Hare zad har'd do't._ She said she
would do it. This dialect pervades, not only the western portion
of Somersetshire, but the whole of Devonshire. As my observations
in these papers apply chiefly to the dialect east of the Parret,
it is not necessary to proceed further in our present course; yet
as _er_ is also occasionally used instead of _he_ in
that dialect it becomes useful to point out its different
application in the two portions of the county. In the eastern part
it is used very rarely if ever in the beginning of sentences; but
frequently thus: _A did, did er?_ He did, did he? _Wordn er
gwain?_ Was he not going? _Ool er goo?_ will he go?
We may here advert to the common corruption, I suppose I must call
it, of _a_ for _he_ used so generally in the west. As
_a zed a'd do it_ for, lie said he would do it. Shakespeare
has given this form of the pronoun in the speeches of many of his
low characters which, of course, strikingly demonstrates its then
very general use among the vulgar; but it is in his works usually
printed with a comma thus 'a, to show, probably that it is a
corrupt enunciation of he.
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