Linguistic practices of coal mining communities in the post-industrial era: variation, documentation, representation, regeneration.

This international project investigates coal mining language through a comparative exploration of coal mining areas and communities in the UK and Germany. The research also examines the role and representation of mining language for local identity and heritage, including intergenerational practices. 

The language of miners is rarely valued as a form of cultural heritage in the same way as material assets, such as tools and machinery. With the decline of the coal industry throughout large areas of Europe, miners and their communities are facing considerable societal transformations and their unique linguistic heritage is at severe risk of disappearing. This international project examines coal mining language through a comparative exploration of the Ruhr Area (Germany) and the East Midlands (UK), both historically important mining regions. As with other post-industrial regions of Europe, they have developed varied strategies to find new senses of identity, community and belonging. While regeneration through local mining heritage has been beneficial, less tangible forms of cultural heritage, notably language, have been chronically overlooked. We aim to advance knowledge of the diverse factors determining the usage, maintenance and emblematic value of mining languages, whilst developing and sharing effective approaches for preserving and conveying this endangered valuable heritage through local communities and museums.

We pursue these objectives by initiating a multi-method design, with a particular focus on linguistic data from communicative interactions, lexical usage and visual representation of language. These methods are rooted in sociolinguistics, combining variationist linguistics, attitudinal and linguistic-landscape analyses to ensure the conservation of these cultural assets. Age is a significant factor for the project which expands the scope of the research to include families with mining heritage as participants, in order to evaluate the contemporary vitality, value and meaning of mining language amongst subsequent generations.

Contact details: John Bellamy (UK project co-lead) j.bellamy@mmu.ac.uk