In the following passage from Book 6, Chapter 4, Thomas Hardy uses the dialect of West Country English to bring Timothy Fairway’s rural speech to life:
‘So ’tis, so ’tis,’ said Fairway. ‘Now gie the bed a shake down. We’ve put in seventy pound of best feathers, and I think that’s as many as the tick will fairly hold. A bit and a drap wouldn’t be amiss now, I reckon. Christian, maul down the victuals from corner-cupboard if canst reach, man; and I’ll draw a drap o’ sommat to wet it with.’
As Fairway and his companions prepare the marital bed for Thomasin and Diggory’s wedding, he speaks to them in a way characteristic of all Hardy’s working-class Wessex characters. Through phonetic spellings of words like "So 'tis" and regional expressions like "a drap o'sommat," Hardy reproduces South-Western English speech. The dialogue in scenes like this also contains many colloquialisms and instances of local vernacular. Phrases like "canst reach" and "gie the bed a shake down" represent Fairway’s speech realistically. This shows the reader what people from that time and place would have actually sounded like, bringing them closer to the characters' experiences.
The use of dialect does not only reflect the place Hardy's characters lived in. It also provides insights into their social and cultural backgrounds. The use of expressions such as "a bit and a drap" (“a bite of food and a drop of drink”) and "maul down the victuals" (“bring down the food”) contribute to a vivid portrayal of rural daily life. By employing dialect in this way, Hardy allows his reader to better understand the characters' identities and the regional setting. The use of dialect enriches the novel's sense of realism, infusing events like this with local color.
