Lexical and discourse features

Geet/git

This feature is used in speech (and informal writing) in a variety of interesting ways. It can be an intensifier (functioning much like 'really' or 'very'), as in 'I'm geet lazy'; it is also used as a discourse marker, as in 'She was geet my geet manager in teleclaims'; and it sometimes performs a quotative function, as in 'Stacey was git 'Where's me burger then?'' When people write the word down, it is spelled either <geet> or <git>, and this reflects a perceived difference in pronunciation.

The role of geet/git as an intensifier is also considered in the section on adverbs in my grammar of North East English, while its use as a discourse marker is outlined in more detail here.

Over 140 people across North East England completed a survey on geet/git. I asked people to choose the spelling which best reflected the speech of people in their hometowns. The map shows the geographical distribution of the two variants. Blue markers show locations where the majority of respondents identified /giːɁ/ (spelled <geet>) as the common variant, while /gɪɁ/ (spelled <git>) is indicated by red markers. As you can see, the long vowel is associated with Tyneside and the north, while the short vowel is associated with County Durham and the south.