Transactions – Introduction to the Index

An Index of the Contents of the Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, 1897-2009
Compiled by Joseph Biddulph

This comprehensive annotated Index to the Society’s Transactions facilitates access to the full range of material published in the journal from its inception in 1897 up to the first decade of the twenty first century. Contributions to the Transactions range widely over the fields of English language and dialect, especially the dialects of Yorkshire and the north of England. Entries for each decade in the Index are listed alphabetically, and include the titles of articles, names of authors, subjects, geographical distribution etc. Numerous cross-references draw attention to relevant complementary and associated entries. The compiler’s annotations are particularly useful in providing summaries of the essence of many articles, together with illustrative quotations and brief analytical commentary which prompt the further investigation of specific topics.

The Index enables users to identify individual contributions and explore a wealth of information on English dialects published in Transactions over more than a century. It also opens a window on the history of dialectology and dialect literature in England, as exemplified in the Society’s mission to promote and encourage interest and research in these aspects of our linguistics and cultural heritage. As Joseph Biddulph, the compiler, puts it in one of the introductions to each decade of the Index: “The indexing technique reflects the distance in time between [the earlier] Transactions and the present day.” Enquirers will be able “to follow the trail that leads to publications and personalities that may not be traceable elsewhere: we also need to grasp the nature and scope of the pieces written in dialect, some of which reflect lifetimes extending a long way back into the nineteenth century.”

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