yigh
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /jaɪ/
- Rhymes: -aɪ
Interjection
yigh
- (UK, dialect, Lancashire) Yes, used when contradicting.
- 1999, Graham Shorrocks, A Grammar of the Dialect of the Bolton Area (University of Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics; 42), part II (Morphology and Syntax), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 206:
- But, of course, both yigh and nay operate typically across sentence or utterance boundaries between two speakers, as: Person A. /a kɔɵnt dʏː ɪt/ ‘I can’t do it.’ Person B. /jaɪ ðɛ kɔn/ ‘Yigh (oh yes), thou can!’
Usage notes
Graham Shorrocks compares the Lancastrian word yigh to the German doch or the French si.[1]
Joseph Wright classified yigh as a variant of yea. In addition to Lancashire, Wright lists yigh for west Yorkshire, Hampshire and the North Country.[2]
References
- ^ Graham Shorrocks (1999) A Grammar of the Dialect of the Bolton Area (University of Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics; 42)[1], part II (Morphology and Syntax), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, →ISBN.
- ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “YEA, adv. and sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 573, column 1.