Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
spoken in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. The transregional,
standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class
n Scotland
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
and the accepted norm in schools".
IETF language tag
An IETF BCP 47 language tag is a standardized code or tag that is used to identify human languages in the Internet. The tag structure has been standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in ''Best Current Practice (BCP) 47''; the su ...
for "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 the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
,
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
and the
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
and
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
systems.
Scottish Standard English is at one end of a bipolar
linguistic continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated variet ...
, with focused
broad
Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to:
People
* A slang term for a woman.
* Broad (surname), a surname
Places
* Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth
* The Broads, a network of mostly na ...
Scots at the other.
Scottish English may be influenced to varying degrees by Scots.
[Stuart-Smith J. ''Scottish English: Phonology'' in Varieties of English: The British Isles, Kortman & Upton (Eds), Mouton de Gruyter, New York 2008. p.48]
Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as different
registers depending on social circumstances.
[Aitken A.J. ''Scottish Speech'' in Languages of Scotland, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, Occasional Paper 4, Edinburgh:Chambers 1979. p.85] Some speakers
code switch
''Code Switch'' is a race and culture outlet and a weekly podcast from American public radio network NPR. It began in 2013 with a blog as well as contributing stories to NPR radio programs. The Code Switch podcast launched in 2016. In the wake ...
clearly from one to the other while others
style shift in 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 from
language contact
Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...
between Scots and the
Standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
of England after the 17th century. The resulting shifts to English usage by Scots-speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken for
mergers
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
by linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English. Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms,
hypercorrection
In sociolinguistics, hypercorrection is non-standard use of language that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of language-usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes through a mi ...
s and
spelling pronunciation
A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronounc ...
s. (See the section on
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
below.)
History
![King David Book of Psalms from the reign of James VI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/King_David_Book_of_Psalms_from_the_reign_of_James_VI.jpg)
Convention traces the influence of the English of England upon Scots to the 16th-century
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
and to the introduction of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
. Printing arrived in London in 1476, but the first printing press was not introduced to Scotland for another 30 years. Texts such as the
Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespear ...
, printed in English, were widely distributed in Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine.
King James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
became King James I of England in 1603. Since England was the larger and richer of the two Kingdoms, James moved his court to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 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".
[McClure (1994), p. 36] 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 that
the translation of King James into English was used in worship in both countries.
The
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...
amalgamated 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 English
Highland English ( sco, Hieland Inglis) is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides. It is more strongly influenced by Gaelic than are other forms of Scottish English.
Phonology
*The '' svarabhak ...
is slightly different from the variety spoken in the
Lowlands
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of p ...
in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
substratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
. Similarly, the English spoken in the North-East of Scotland tends to follow the phonology and grammar of
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
.
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 mostly
rhotic, meaning is typically pronounced in the
syllable coda
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered t ...
, although some non-rhotic varieties are present in Edinburgh and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
The phoneme may be a
postalveolar approximant
The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is , a lowercase letter ''r'' rotated 18 ...
, as in Received Pronunciation or General American, but speakers have also traditionally used for the same phoneme a somewhat more common
alveolar flap
The voiced alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar tap or flap is .
The terms ''tap'' and ''flap' ...
or, now very rare, the
alveolar trill
The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. ...
(hereafter, will be used to denote any rhotic consonant).
**Although other dialects have merged non-intervocalic , , before (
fern–fir–fur merger
In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions and so fewer vowe ...
), Scottish English makes a distinction between the vowels in ''fern'', ''fir'', and ''fur''.
**Many varieties contrast and before so that ''hoarse'' and ''horse'' are pronounced differently.
** and are contrasted so that ''shore'' and ''sure'' are pronounced differently, as are ''pour'' and ''poor''.
** before is strong. An
epenthetic
In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek language, Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable (''prothesis (linguistics), prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syll ...
vowel may occur between and so that ''girl'' and ''world'' are two-syllable words for some speakers. The same may occur between and , between and , and between and .
*There is a distinction between and in word pairs such as ''witch'' and ''which''.
*The phoneme 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).
* is usually
velarised (see
dark l
The voiced alveolar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is , and the equ ...
) except in borrowings like "glen" (from Scottish Gaelic "gleann"), which had an unvelarised l in their original form. In areas where
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
was spoken until relatively recently (such as
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...
) and in areas where it is still spoken (such as the
West Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland ...
), velarisation of may be absent in many words in which it is present in other areas, but remains in borrowings that had velarised in Gaelic, such as "loch" (Gaelic "loch") and "clan" (Gaelic "clann").
*, and are not
aspirated in more traditional varieties, but are weakly aspirated currently.
*The past ending ''-ed'' may be realised with where other accents use , chiefly after unstressed vowels: ''ended'' , ''carried''
*The
Scottish Vowel Length Rule
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule (also known as Aitken's law after A. J. Aitken, the Scottish linguist who formulated it) describes how vowel length in Scots, Scottish English, and, to some extent, Ulster English and Geordie is conditioned by th ...
is a distinctive part of many varieties of Scottish English (Scobbie et al. 1999), though
vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, f ...
is generally regarded as non-phonemic. According to the Rule, certain vowels (such as , , and ) are generally short but are lengthened before
voiced
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced.
The term, however, is used to refer ...
fricatives
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
or before . Lengthening also occurs before a morpheme boundary, so that short ''need'' contrasts with long ''kneed'', ''crude'' with ''crewed'', and ''side'' with ''sighed''.
*Scottish English has no , instead transferring Scots . Phonetically, this vowel may be pronounced or even . Thus ''pull'' and ''pool'' are homophones.
*
''Cot'' and ''caught'' are not differentiated in most Central Scottish varieties, as they are in some other varieties.
[Wells, pp. 399 ff.]
*In most varieties, there is no - distinction; therefore, ''bath'', ''trap'', and ''palm'' have the same vowel.
*The ''happY'' vowel is most commonly (as in ''face''), but may also be (as in ''kit'') or (as in ''fleece'').
* is often used in plural nouns where southern English has (baths, youths, etc.); ''with'' and ''booth'' are pronounced with . (See
Pronunciation of English th
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
.)
*In colloquial speech, the
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
may be an allophone of after a vowel, as in . These same speakers may "drop the g" in the suffix ''-ing'' and
debuccalise to in certain contexts.
* may be more open for certain speakers in some regions, so that it sounds more like (although and do not merge). Other speakers may pronounce it as , just as in many other accents, or with a schwa-like () quality. Others may pronounce it almost as in certain environments, particularly after and .
Scotticisms
Scotticisms are idioms or expressions that are characteristic of
Scots, 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 the
Linguistic Survey of Scotland The Linguistic Survey of Scotland was a long-term project at the University of Edinburgh to cover the use of language in Scotland, including Scottish English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic.
The Survey began at a time when the modern subject of linguis ...
at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
Examples include:
* meaning "What a dull, miserable, overcast day" (of weather)
* is the equivalent of the English
crying
Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretom ...
().
* ''I'm feeling quite drouthy'' meaning "I'm feeling quite thirsty"
* ''That's a right (''or ''real) scunner!'' meaning "That's extremely off-putting"
* ''The picture still looks squint'' meaning "The picture still looks askew/awry"
* ''You'd better just caw canny'' meaning "You'd better just go easy/Don't overdo it"
* ''His face is tripping him'' meaning "He's looking fed up"
* ''Just play the daft laddie'' meaning "Act ingenuously/feign ignorance"
* ''You're looking a bit peely-wally'' meaning "You're looking a bit off-colour"
* ''That's outwith my remit'' meaning "It's not part of my job to do that"
* ''It depends on what the high heid yins think'' meaning "It depends on what the heads of the organisation/management think"
* ''I'll come round (at) the back of eight'' meaning "I'll come round just after eight o'clock"
* ''We're all
Jock Tamson's bairns
"Jock Tamson's bairns" is a Lowland Scots (and Northumbrian English) dialect version of "Jack (John) Thomson's children" but both ''Jock'' and ''Tamson'' in this context take on the connotation of Everyman. The Dictionary of the Scots Language ...
'', stock phrase meaning "None of us is better than anyone else" (i.e. socially superior)
* ''I kent his faither'', stock phrase meaning "he started off as humbly as the rest of us before achieving success"
* ''You're standing there like a stookie'' meaning "you stand there as if incapable of stirring yourself" (like a plaster statue, a stucco figure)
* ''He's a right sweetie-wife'' meaning "He likes a good gossip"
* ''I didn't mean to cause a stooshie'' meaning "I didn't mean to cause a major fuss/commotion"
* ''I'm swithering whether to go'' meaning "I'm in two minds/uncertain as to whether to go"
* ''Ach, away ye go!'' stock phrase meaning "Oh, I don't believe you"
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
![Outwith](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Outwith.JPG)
Scottish English has inherited a number of lexical items from Scots, which are less common in other forms of standard English.
General items are , the Scots word for small (also common in
Canadian English
Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...
and
New Zealand English
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, probably under Scottish influence); or for child (the latter from Common Germanic, cf modern
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
,
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
,
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
,
Icelandic,
Faroese ,
West Frisian ''bern'' and also used in
Northern English dialects); ''
bonnie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
'' for pretty, attractive, (or good looking, handsome, as in the case of
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
); ''braw'' for fine; ''muckle'' for big; ''spail or skelf'' for splinter (cf.
spall
Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...
); ''snib'' for bolt; ''pinkie'' for little finger; ''janitor'' for school caretaker (these last two are also standard in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
); ''outwith'', meaning 'outside of'; ''cowp'' for tip or spill; ''fankle'' for a tangled mess; ''kirk'' for 'church' (from the same root in Old English but with parallels in other Germanic languages, e.g. Old Norse , Dutch ). Examples of culturally specific items are ''
Hogmanay
Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...
'', ''
caber'', ''
haggis
Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an a ...
'', ''
bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...
'', ''
scone
A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of th ...
'' (also used elsewhere in the British Isles), ''
oatcake
An oatcake is a type of flatbread similar to a cracker or biscuit, or in some versions takes the form of a pancake. They are prepared with oatmeal as the primary ingredient, and sometimes include plain or wholemeal flour as well. Oatcakes a ...
'' (now widespread in the UK), ''
tablet'', ''rone'' (roof gutter), ''
teuchter
''Teuchter'' () is a Scots language, Lowland Scots word commonly used to describe a Gàidhealtachd, Scottish Highlander, in particular a Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic-speaking Highlander. Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, bu ...
'', ''
ned'', ''numpty'' (witless person; now more common in the rest of the UK) and ''landward'' (rural); ''It's your shot'' for "It's your turn"; and the once notorious but now obsolete ''
tawse
The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws (the plural of Scots taw, a thong of a whip) is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in a few English cities ...
''.
The diminutive ending "-ie" is added to nouns to indicate smallness, as in ''laddie'' and ''lassie'' for a young boy and young girl. Other examples are ''peirie'' (child's wooden spinning top) and ''sweetie'' (piece of
confectionery
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...
). The ending can be added to many words instinctively, e.g. ''bairn'' (see above) can become ''bairnie'', a small shop can become a ''wee 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 English and
Northern 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'' for ''deputy'', ''
proven
Proven is a rural village in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a "deelgemeente" of the municipality Poperinge. The village has about 1400 inhabitants.
The church and parish of Proven are named after Saint Victor. The Saint Victor Chur ...
'' for ''proved'' (standard in American English), ''interdict'' for '"injunction", and ''
sheriff-substitute
In the Courts of Scotland, a sheriff-substitute was the historical name for the judges who sit in the local sheriff courts under the direction of the sheriffs principal; from 1971 the sheriffs substitute were renamed simply as sheriff. When res ...
'' for "acting sheriff". In Scottish education a ''short leet'' is a list of selected job applicants, and a ''remit'' is a detailed job description. ''
Provost'' is used for "mayor" and ''
procurator fiscal'' for "public prosecutor".
Often, lexical differences between Scottish English and Southern Standard English are simply differences in the distribution of shared lexis, such as ''stay'' for "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 some
stative verb
According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
s (). The future progressive frequently implies an assumption ().
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 from
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
).
The definite article tends to be used more frequently in phrases such as ''I've got the cold/the flu'', ''he's at the school'', ''I'm away to the kirk''.
Speakers often use prepositions differently. The compound preposition ''off of'' is often used (''Take that off of the table''). Scots commonly say ''I was waiting on you'' (meaning "waiting for you"), which means something quite different in Standard English.
In colloquial speech ''shall'' and ''ought'' are scarce, ''must'' is marginal for obligation and ''may'' is rare. Here are other syntactical structures:
* ''What age are you?'' for "How old are you?"
* ''My hair is needing washed'' or ''My hair needs washed'' for "My hair needs washing" or "My hair needs to be washed".
* ''I'm just after telling you'' for "I've just told you".
* ''
Amn't I invited?'' for ''Am I not invited?''
Note that in Scottish English, the first person declarative ''I amn't invited'' and interrogative ''Amn't I invited?'' are both possible.
See also
*
Bungi dialect
Bungi (also called Bungee, Bungie, Bungay, Bangay, or the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English with substrate (linguistics), substratal influence from Scottish English, the Orcadian dialect of Scots language, Scots, Norn language, Norn, S ...
of the Canadian
Metis people
Metis or Métis may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...
of Scottish/British descent
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Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
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Glasgow dialect
The Glasgow dialect, popularly known as the Glasgow patter or Glaswegian, varies from Scottish English at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum to the local dialect of West Central Scots at the other. Therefore, the speech of many Glaswegian ...
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Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English (from Latin ''Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland a ...
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Highland English
Highland English ( sco, Hieland Inglis) is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides. It is more strongly influenced by Gaelic than are other forms of Scottish English.
Phonology
*The '' svarabhak ...
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Languages of the United Kingdom
English, in various dialects, is the most widely spoken language of the United Kingdom, but a number of regional languages are also spoken. These are Scots and Ulster Scots and the Celtic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and, as a ...
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Regional accents of English
Spoken English language, English shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. For example, the United Kingdom has the largest variation of accents of any country in the world, and therefore no single "British accen ...
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Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
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Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech
The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech (SCOTS) is an ongoing project to build a corpus of modern-day (post-1940) written and spoken texts in Scottish English and varieties of Scots. SCOTS has been available online since November 2004, and can b ...
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Ulster English
Ulster English ( sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr Inglish, ga, Béarla Ultach, also called Northern Hiberno-English or Northern Irish English) is the variety of English spoken in most of the Irish province of Ulster and throughout North ...
References
Bibliography
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* 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.
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*McClure, J. Derrick (1994) "English in Scotland", in
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Further reading
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External links
Listen to BBC Radio Scotland Live (many presenters, such as Robbie Shepherd, have a noticeable 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-
Multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
corpus
Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to:
Linguistics
* Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts
* Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files
* Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics
Music
* ...
of
Scots and Scottish English
Sounds Familiar?isten 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)
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Standard English
Dialects of English