Insular Scots comprises varieties of
Lowland Scots generally subdivided into:
*
Shetland dialect
Shetland dialect (also variously known as Shetlandic; broad or auld Shetland or Shaetlan; and referred to as Modern Shetlandic Scots (MSS) by some linguists) is a dialect of Insular Scots spoken in Shetland, an archipelago to the north of mai ...
*
Orcadian dialect
Both dialects share much
Norn
Norn may refer to:
*Norn language, an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in Northern Isles of Scotland
*Norns, beings from Norse mythology
*Norn Iron, the local pronunciation of Northern Ireland
* Norn iron works, an old industrial c ...
vocabulary, Shetland dialect more so, than does any other Scots dialect, perhaps because they both were under strong Norwegian influence in their recent past. In ancient times, Pictish was spoken in the islands. Then the Vikings invaded and settled, establishing the Norn language there. Although the islands thereafter owed allegiance to Norway, they became involved politically with Scotland. Scotland annexed the islands in 1472; by then, Scots was spoken.
It should not be confused with the vernacular of the
Islands of the Clyde.
References
{{Authority control
Shetland
Orkney
Scots dialects