Sceptics from Norfolk may blar at the idea, while Devon folk may dismiss it as zamzoden, but linguists have begun an investigation into whether regional dialect words are dead or, as they used to say in Lancashire, merely wambly.

Seven local dialect societies have each provided dictionary compilers at Collins with a list of three words that they believe to be endangered or out of use except by language enthusiasts. None has appeared in the database of written and broadcast media that compilers use to monitor the English language, but linguists are prepared to consider a word for publication in future dictionaries if there is evidence that it is in common use.

Readers who recognise words such as drangway, Devonian for a narrow lane, or agglesteans, an East Yorkshire word for hailstones, can Twitter compilers when they last heard the word. (The internet is blamed by some linguists for the loss of esoteric regional words, as users avoid terms they believe others would not understand.) David Britain, senior lecturer at the department of language and linguistics at the University of Essex, said that regional dialects were also shrinking because once insular communities were being influenced by middle-class people moving into their areas.

“Everywhere is being affected,” he said. “Islands or more remote places are more resistant to change, but even dialects in places like Shetland are changing. Many traditional dialect words may soon be gone for ever.”

Studies of accents suggested that language was not becoming uniform nationwide, but it was no longer possible to tell exactly where a person came from by their accent. “People from Newcastle, for example, sometimes adopt sounds that are common across the North rather than distinctively from Newcastle.”

Dialect experts blame television programmes such as Kingdom, the Norfolk-based drama starring Stephen Fry as a solicitor, for confusing the public by getting accents wrong.

Keith Skipper, of Friends of Norfolk Dialect, said that dialect coaches for actors are often “all of a muckwash”. He cited characters from All the King’s Men, a BBC First World War film starring David Jason, and Kavanagh QC, an ITV legal drama, as examples of actors confusing Norfolk and West Country accents, but he is most irritated with Kingdom.

“You would have thought Fry being from Norfolk he would have some idea about how people sound,” he said. “We’re given this ‘momerset’ [mock Somerset] accent. It’s a dreadful insult, not only to us, but also to the people of the West Country. It’s exasperating at times, because you think you’re getting through to people, and then along comes a tub-thumping drama, usually on ITV, that goes and gets it wrong. The best Norfolk accent I’ve heard on television was in Lark Rise to Candleford, and that’s meant to be set in Oxfordshire, I think. It’s certainly not in Norfolk.”

He believes that Norfolk-dwellers of senior years may still use endangered words such as puckaterry (muddle), blar (cry) and brawk (burp), but they have not caught on with the younger generation.

Elaine Higgleton, editorial director of Collins English Dictionaries, said that she did not wish to resurrect extinct words, but if there was “proof of life” words would be monitored for possible inclusion in future editions Readers who believe that they have heard any of the words in the list in everyday use can alert Collins, which is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, by signing up to Twitter and posting a message about it with the prefix @localwords.

The message should include any detail about when and in what context the word was heard. Otherwise the compilers will conclude that the person behind it is a complete wassuck.

Recognise these?

Zamzoden soft, half-baked

Kickshaw an amusement

Shawm to warm oneself

Muckwash hot and bothered

Hippetyclinch limp

Galasses braces

Ommuck sandwich

Wambly faint, sick

Fratching to quarrel

Squaddy muddy

Roily upset (of stomach)

Wassuck fool

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