This book set out to record the work carried out during our pit talk project and its results. The project work involved interviewing and sending questionnaires to a wide range of former coal miners around the East Midlands. This included different stages of data collection from just over ninety former miners. It also examined how mining language differed in the East Midlands from other coal mining regions and to what extent language moved around with miners. As well as individual words and descriptions, the interviews and questionnaires collected additional information about a way of living and working which is now past. This collection took place in order to catalogue, record and preserve a language which is in danger of disappearing in the near future.

This discussion and conclusion makes general and specific comments about our findings. We discuss these findings to determine the variation found among the project participants. We question whether specific links can be made to variation found within these groups and with other coal mining varieties. We also consider the role of language as heritage and how this study can be used as a testing ground for future work with other industrial languages. It emphasises the importance of working with local communities in order to carry out the most effective linguistics studies. The conclusion finishes by suggesting possible avenues for further research and how the findings of this project can be applied elsewhere.

Coal miners and their language – general comments on findings

To start with some general findings, we have found clear examples of a distinct coal mining lexicon used by miners. There are words and phrases which are distinctive to this particular field of work. Due to the nature of this work, specialised words were needed to describe the processes of work, the tools and equipment used, and the structures found above and below ground. We found attitudes surrounding pit talk, which included swearing and taboo words, but also opinions that these should not be used outside the mine and not when women and children were around. There was much discussion around teasing and nicknames and these were an integral part of a miner's daily life and identity