User talk:86.175.122.130

You refer to the use of 'be', 'bist'. etc. However in East Devon the verb is 'am'. You will hear: I'm, you'm, he'm (but sometimes 'her is'), we'm, you'm, they'm. Go further west beyond Exeter and into Dartmoor and 'be' occurs again.

There appears to be little written acknowledgement of this variation, and certainly none in books dated before the 1900s. This leads me to suspect that the dialect has either changed or shifted in the intervening period.

An historian friend, born and bred in Exeter, confirms my understanding of this usage.

My understanding is based on 42 years living in the area and some research in the Devon & Exeter Institution library GedBen (talk) 19:05, 14 June 2018 (UTC)