Non-standard British use of possessive "me"?

Question

Native North American speaker here. It's fairly common in certain British dialects to substitute "me" for "my" (Shiver me timbers) in informal speech. My impression is that some speakers mix the two. What are the descriptive rules for selecting between the two variants? Specifically, I'm asking about usage of > A non-standard variant of my (particularly in British dialects) is me. (This may have its origins in the fact that in Middle English my before a consonant was pronounced [mi:], like modern English me, (while me was [me:], similar to modern may) and this was shortened to [mi] or [mɪ], as the pronouns he and we are nowadays; [hi wɒz] he was; versus [ɪt wɒz hi:] it was he. As this vowel was short, it was not subject to the Great Vowel Shift, and so emerged in modern English unchanged.)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_personal_pronouns#Archaic_and_non-standard_forms) As an example, here is an excerpt from the character Daisy in Downton Abbey: >DAISYSomeone walked over me grave. (http://scriptline.livejournal.com/43860.html) Someone please supply a video clip of this speech pattern. I'm sure it can be found, but I can't.

Answer 1

Hiya,

I'm not surprised you hear mixed usage. Dialects that use me as a possessive pronoun (technically adjective) generally DO have their own usage and grammar rules, as in Yorkshire English, used by both Daisy on Downton Abbey, and the Yorkshire actress who plays her.

In our modern times, however, greater travel and exposure to the world beyond one's dialect region, would dilute and transform any dialect since language is a living entity, and since my is used by larger populations outside the regions that use me. Sadly, you may be noticing the dying use of me as a possessive adjective. I hope not.

While I have exposure to the use of me as possessive adjective in more rural areas of the UK and Ireland, I am not a native speaker of any dialect that uses it, and I invite anyone who is to weigh in!

Thanks for the opportunity to use me brain, experience, and language knowledge!