What do people think of the sentence ‘look at them animals’?

Previous findings

A previous study has attested this form in all dialects of English in the British Isles, except the Orkney and Shetland islands in Scotland (Szmrecsanyi 2013: 43).

Our findings

This construction can clearly be found throughout most regions of the UK; it is rarest in Scotland, where it is heard or used by 33% of speakers. However, there are definite contrasts between certain dialects within England; the sentence is widely acceptable in the North, where 81% use it or have at least heard it used, but this applies to only 50% of speakers from the South.