Scottish English

For the Germanic language which diverged from standard Middle English, seeScots language.

Not to be confused withSign Supported English.

Scottish English
Native to	United Kingdom
Region	Scotland
Ethnicity	Scottish
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English British English Scottish English
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Old English Middle English Early Modern English
Writing system	Latin(English Alpha bet) English Braille,Unified English Braille)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
IETF	en-scotland

Scottish English(Scottish Gaelic:Beurla Albannach) is the set ofvarietiesof theEnglish languagespoken inScotland.The transregional,standardised varietyis calledScottish Standard EnglishorStandard Scottish English(SSE).Scottish Standard English may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools".IETF language tagfor "Scottish Standard English" is en-scotland.

In addition to distinct pronunciation, grammar and expressions, Scottish English has distinctive vocabulary, particularly pertaining to Scottish institutions such as theChurch of Scotland,local governmentand theeducationandlegalsystems.

Scottish Standard English is at one end of a bipolarlinguistic continuum,with focusedbroadScotsat the other. Scottish English may be influenced to varying degrees by Scots. Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as differentregistersdepending on social circumstances.Some speakerscode switchclearly from one to the other while othersstyle shiftin a less predictable and more fluctuating manner.Generally, there is a shift to Scottish English in formal situations or with individuals of a higher social status.

Background

Scottish English resulted fromlanguage contactbetween Scots and theStandard Englishof England after the 17th century. The resulting shifts to English usage by Scots-speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken formergersby linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English.Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms,hypercorrectionsandspelling pronunciations.(See the section onphonologybelow.)

History

ABook of Psalmsprinted in the reign ofJames VI and I

Convention traces the influence of the English of England upon Scots to the 16th-centuryReformationand to the introduction ofprinting.Printing arrived in London in 1476, but the first printing press was not introduced to Scotland for another 30 years.Texts such as theGeneva Bible,printed in English, were widely distributed in Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine.

King James VI of Scotlandbecame King James I of England in 1603. Since England was the larger and richer of the two Kingdoms, James moved his court toLondonin England. The poets of the court therefore moved south and "began adapting the language and style of their verse to the tastes of the English market".To this event McClure attributes "the sudden and total eclipse of Scots as a literary language".The continuing absence of a Scots translation of the Bible meant thatthe translation of King Jamesinto English was used in worship in both countries.

TheActs of Union 1707amalgamated the Scottish and English Parliaments. However the church, educational and legal structures remained separate. This leads to important professional distinctions in the definitions of some words and terms. There are therefore words with precise definitions in Scottish English which are either not used in English English or have a different definition.

Phonology

The speech of the middle classes in Scotland tends to conform to the grammatical norms of the written standard, particularly in situations that are regarded as formal.Highland Englishis slightly different from the variety spoken in theLowlandsin that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by aGaelicsubstratum.Similarly, the English spoken in the North-East of Scotland tends to follow the phonology and grammar ofDoric.

Although pronunciation features vary among speakers (depending on region and social status), there are a number of phonological aspects characteristic of Scottish English:

• Scottish English is mostlyrhotic,meaning/r/is typically pronounced in thesyllable coda,although some non-rhotic varieties are present in Edinburgh andGlasgow.The phoneme/r/may be apostalveolar approximant[ɹ],as in Received Pronunciation or General American, but speakers have also traditionally used for the same phoneme a somewhat more commonalveolar flap[ɾ]or, now very rare, thealveolar trill[r](hereafter,⟨r⟩will be used to denote any rhotic consonant).
  • Although other dialects have merged non-intervocalic/ɛ/,/ɪ/,/ʌ/before/r/(fern–fir–fur merger), Scottish English makes a distinction between the vowels infern,fir,andfur.
  • Many varieties contrast/o/and/ɔ/before/r/so thathoarseandhorseare pronounced differently.
  • /or/and/ur/are contrasted so thatshoreandsureare pronounced differently, as arepourandpoor.
  • /r/before/l/is strong. Anepentheticvowel may occur between/r/and/l/so thatgirlandworldare two-syllable words for some speakers. The same may occur between/r/and/m/,between/r/and/n/,and between/l/and/m/.
• There is a distinction between/w/and/hw/in word pairs such aswitchandwhich.
• The phoneme/x/is common in names and in SSE's many Gaelic and Scots borrowings, so much so that it is often taught to incomers, particularly for "ch" in loch. Some Scottish speakers use it in words of Greek origin as well, such as technical, patriarch, etc. (Wells 1982, 408).
• /l/is usuallyvelarised(seedark l) except in borrowings like "glen" (from Scottish Gaelic "gleann" ), which had an unvelarised l in their original form. In areas whereScottish Gaelicwas spoken until relatively recently (such asDumfries and Galloway) and in areas where it is still spoken (such as theWest Highlands), velarisation of/l/may be absent in many words in which it is present in other areas, but remains in borrowings that had velarised/l/in Gaelic, such as "loch" (Gaelic "loch" ) and "clan" (Gaelic "clann" ).
• /p/,/t/and/k/are notaspiratedin more traditional varieties,but are weakly aspirated currently.
• The past ending-edmay be realised with/t/where other accents use/d/,chiefly after unstressed vowels:ended[ɛndɪt],carried[karɪt]
• TheScottish Vowel Length Ruleis a distinctive part of many varieties of Scottish English (Scobbie et al. 1999), thoughvowel lengthis generally regarded as non-phonemic. According to the Rule, certain vowels (such as/i/,/u/,and/ai/) are generally short but are lengthened beforevoicedfricativesor before/r/.Lengthening also occurs before a morpheme boundary, so that shortneedcontrasts with longkneed,crudewithcrewed,andsidewithsighed.
• Scottish English has no/ʊ/,instead transferring Scots/u/.Phonetically, this vowel may be pronounced[ʉ]or even[ʏ].Thuspullandpoolare homophones.
• Cotandcaughtare not differentiated in most Central Scottish varieties, as they are in some other varieties.
• In most varieties, there is no/æ/-/ɑː/distinction; therefore,bath,trap,andpalmhave the same vowel.
• ThehappYvowel is most commonly/e/(as inface), but may also be/ɪ/(as inkit) or/i/(as infleece).
• /θs/is often used in plural nouns where southern English has/ðz/(baths, youths, etc.);withandboothare pronounced with/θ/.(SeePronunciation of English th.)
• In colloquial speech, theglottal stopmay be an allophone of/t/after a vowel, as in[ˈbʌʔər].These same speakers may "drop the g" in the suffix-inganddebuccalise/θ/to[h]in certain contexts.
• /ɪ/may be more open[ë̞]for certain speakers in some regions, so that it sounds more like[ɛ](although/ɪ/and/ɛ/do not merge). Other speakers may pronounce it as[ɪ],just as in many other accents, or with a schwa-like ([ə]) quality. Others may pronounce it almost as[ʌ]in certain environments, particularly after/w/and/hw/.

Monophthongsof Scottish English (fromScobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006:7))

Scottish English vowels(many individual words do not correspond)

Pure vowels
Lexical set	Scottish English	Examples
KIT	[ë̞~ɪ]	bid, pit
FLEECE	[i]	bead, peat
DRESS	[ɛ~ɛ̝]	bed, pet
FACE	[e(ː)]	bay,hey,fate
TRAP	[ä]	bad, pat
PALM		balm, father, pa
LOT	[ɔ]	bod, pot, cot
THOUGHT		bawd, paw,caught
GOAT	[o(ː)]	road, stone, toe
FOOT	[ʉ~ʏ]	good, foot, put
GOOSE		booed, food
STRUT	[ʌ~ɐ]	bud, putt
Diphthongs
PRICE	[ai]	buy,strive, writhe
	[ɐi~ɜi~əi]	bind, strife, write
MOUTH	[ɐʉ~ɜʉ~əʉ]	how,pout
CHOICE	[oi]	boy,hoy
Vowels followed by/r/
START	[ä(ːə)r]	bar,mar
NEAR	[i(ːə)r]	beer,mere
SQUARE	[e(ːə)r]	bear,mare,Mary
NORTH	[ɔ(ː)r]	born, for
FORCE	[o(ːə)r]	boar,four,more
CURE	[ʉr]	boor,moor
NURSE (3-waydistinction)	[ɪr]	bird, fir
	[ɛ̝r]	herd, fern
	[ʌr]	curse, fur
Reduced vowels
COMMA	[ə]	Rosa's, cuppa
LETTER	[ər]	runner,mercer

Scotticisms

Main article:Scotticism

Scotticismsare idioms or expressions that are characteristic ofScots,especially when used in English.They are more likely to occur in spoken than written language.

The use of Scottish English, as well as of Scots and of Gaelic in Scotland, were documented over the 20th century by theLinguistic Survey of Scotlandat theUniversity of Edinburgh.

Scotticisms are generally divided into two types:covert Scotticisms, which generally go unnoticed as being particularly Scottish by those using them, and overt Scotticisms, usually used for stylistic effect, with those using them aware of their Scottish nature.

Lexical

An example of "outwith" on a sign in Scotland

Scottish English has inherited a number of lexical items from Scots,which are less common in other forms of standard English.

General items arewee,the Scots word for small (also common inCanadian English,New Zealand EnglishandHiberno-Englishprobably under Scottish influence);weanorbairnfor child (the latter from Common Germanic,cf modernSwedish,Norwegian,Danish,Icelandic,Faroesebarn,West Frisianbernand also used inNorthern English dialects);bonniefor pretty, attractive, (or good looking, handsome, as in the case ofBonnie Prince Charlie);brawfor fine;mucklefor big;spail or skelffor splinter (cf.spall);snibfor bolt;pinkiefor little finger;janitorfor school caretaker (these last two are also standard inAmerican English);outwith,meaning 'outside of';cowpfor tip or spill;fanklefor a tangled mess;kirkfor 'church' (from the same root in Old English but with parallels in other Germanic languages, e.g. Old Norsekirkja,Dutchkerk). Examples of culturally specific items areHogmanay,caber,haggis,bothy,scone(also used elsewhere in the British Isles),oatcake(now widespread in the UK),tablet,rone(roof gutter),teuchter,ned,numpty(witless person; now more common in the rest of the UK) andlandward(rural);It's your shotfor "It's your turn"; and the once notorious but now obsoletetawse.

The diminutive ending "-ie" is added to nouns to indicate smallness, as inladdieandlassiefor a young boy and young girl. Other examples arepeirie(child's wooden spinning top) andsweetie(piece ofconfectionery). The ending can be added to many words instinctively, e.g.bairn(see above) can becomebairnie,a small shop can become awee shoppie.These diminutives are particularly common among the older generations and when talking to children.

The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is distinctive of Scottish,Northern EnglishandNorthern Irish English."Why not?" is often rendered as "How no?".

There is a range of (often anglicised) legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots,e.g.depute/ˈdɛpjut/fordeputy,proven/ˈproːvən/forproved(standard in American English),interdictfor ' "injunction",andsheriff-substitutefor "acting sheriff". In Scottish education ashort leetis a list of selected job applicants, and aremitis a detailed job description.Provostis used for "mayor" andprocurator fiscalfor "public prosecutor".

Often, lexical differences between Scottish English and Southern Standard English are simply differences in the distribution of shared lexis, such asstayfor "live" (as in:where do you stay?).

Grammatical

The progressive verb forms are used rather more frequently than in other varieties of standard English, for example with somestative verbs(I'm wanting a drink).The future progressive frequently implies an assumption (You'll be coming from Glasgow?).

In some areas perfect aspect of a verb is indicated using "be" as auxiliary with the preposition "after" and the present participle: for example "He is after going" instead of "He has gone" (this construction is borrowed fromScottish Gaelic).

The definite article tends to be used more frequently in phrases such asI've got the cold/the flu,he's at the school,I'm away to the kirk.

Speakers often use prepositions differently. The compound prepositionoff ofis often used (Take that off of the table). Scots commonly sayI was waiting on you(meaning "waiting for you" ), which means something quite different in Standard English.

In colloquial speechshallandoughtare scarce,mustis marginal for obligation andmayis rare. Here are other syntactical structures:

• My hair is needing washedorMy hair needs washedfor "My hair needs washing" or "My hair needs to be washed".
• Amn'tI invited?forAm I not invited?

In Scottish English, the first person declarativeI amn't invitedand interrogativeAmn't I invited?are both possible.

See also

• Bungi dialectof the CanadianMetis peopleof Scottish/British descent
• Dialect
• Glasgow dialect
• Hiberno-English
• Highland English
• Languages of the United Kingdom
• Regional accents of English
• Scottish Gaelic language
• Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech
• Ulster English

Bibliography

• Abercrombie, D. (1979). "The accents of Standard English in Scotland.". In A. J. Aitken; T. McArthur (eds.).Languages of Scotland.Edinburgh: Chambers. pp. 65–84.
• Aitken, A. J. (1979) "Scottish speech: a historical view with special reference to the Standard English of Scotland" in A. J. Aitken and Tom McArthur eds. Languages of Scotland, Edinburgh: Chambers, 85–118. Updated in next.
• Corbett, John; McClure, J. Derrick; Stuart-Smith, Jane, eds. (2003).Edinburgh Student Companion to Scots.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN0-7486-1596-2.
• Foulkes, Paul; Docherty, Gerard J., eds. (1999).Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles.London: Arnold.ISBN0-340-70608-2.
• Hughes, Arthur; Trudgill, Peter; Watt, Dominic, eds. (2005).English Accents and Dialects (4th Ed.).London: Arnold.ISBN0-340-88718-4.
• Macafee, C. (2004). "Scots and Scottish English". In Hikey R. (ed.).Legacies of Colonial English: Studies in Transported Dialects.Cambridge: CUP.
• Burchfield, Robert (1994). "English in Scotland". In McClure, J. Derrick (ed.).The Cambridge History of the English Language, volume V.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-26478-2.
• Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006). "Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an Overview".QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers.Edinburgh.
• Scobbie, James M.; Hewlett, Nigel; Turk, Alice (1999). "Standard English in Edinburgh and Glasgow: The Scottish Vowel Length Rule revealed". In Paul Foulkes; Gerard J. Docherty (eds.).Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles.London: Arnold. pp. 230–245.
• Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2007). "Scottish English Speech Acquisition". In Sharynne McLeod (ed.).The International Guide to Speech Acquisition.Clifton Park, New York: Thomson Delmar Learning. pp. 221–240.
• Wells, John C.(1982).Accents of English.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-22919-7.(vol. 1). (vol. 2)., (vol. 3).

Further reading

• Jilka, Matthias."Scottish Standard English and Scots"(PDF).Stuttgart: Institut für Linguistik/Anglistik, University of Stuttgart. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 April 2014.

External links

• Listen to BBC Radio Scotland Live (many presenters, such as Robbie Shepherd, have a noticeable Scottish accent)
• "Hover and hear" pronunciations in a Standard Scottish accent,and compare side by side with other English accents from Scotland and around the World.
• BBC Voices- Listen to a lot of the voice recordings from many parts of the UK
• Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech-MultimediacorpusofScotsand Scottish English
• Sounds Familiar?– Listen to examples of Scottish English and other regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• Recent pronunciation changes in Scottish English(audio, starting at 7:10)