Scottish English
Encyclopedia
Scottish English refers to the varieties
of English
spoken in Scotland
. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language
. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language.
The main, formal variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English, often abbreviated to SSE. SSE may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools."
In addition to distinct pronunciation, grammar and expressions, Scottish English has distinctive vocabulary, particularly pertaining to Scottish institutions such as the Church of Scotland
, local government and the education
and legal
systems.
Scottish Standard English is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with focused broad Scots
at the other.
Scottish English may be influenced to varying degrees by Scots.
Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as different registers
depending on social circumstances. Some speakers code switch
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.
between Scots and the Standard English
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
by linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English. Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms, hypercorrection
s and spelling pronunciation
s. (See the section on phonology below.)
and the introduction of printing
. Texts such as the Geneva Bible
, printed in English, were widely distributed in Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine.
King James VI of Scotland
became James I of England in 1603. Since England was the larger and richer of the two Kingdoms, James moved his court to London
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". To this event McClure attributes "[t]he 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.
is slightly different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands
in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic
substratum
.
While pronunciation features vary among speakers (depending on region and social status), there are a number of phonological aspects characteristic of Scottish English:
} and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as are pour and poor.
} before /l/ is strong. An epenthetic
vowel may occur between /r/ and /l/ so that girl and world are two-syllable words for some speakers. The same may occur between /r/ and /m/, between /r/ and /n/, and between /l/ and /m/.
|+ Correspondence between the IPA help key and Scottish English vowels (many individual words do not correspond)
! colspan="3"| Pure vowels
|-
! Help key !! Scottish !! Examples
|-
| /ɪ/ || /ɪ/ ||bid, pit
|-
| /iː/ || /i/ || bead, peat
|-
| /ɛ/ || /ɛ/ || bed, pet
|-
| /eɪ/ || /e/ || bay, hey, fate
|-
| /æ/ || rowspan=2 | /a/ || bad, pat
|-
| /ɑː/ || balm, father, pa
|-
| /ɒ/ || rowspan=2 | /ɔ/ || bod, pot, cot
|-
| /ɔː/ || bawd, paw, caught
|-
| /oʊ/ || /o/ || beau, hoe, poke
|-
| /ʊ/ || rowspan=2 | /ʉ/ || good, foot, put
|-
| /uː/ || booed, food
|-
| /ʌ/ || /ʌ/ || bud, putt
|-
! colspan="3" | Diphthong
s
|-
| /aɪ/ || /ae/ ~ /əi/ || buy, ride, write
|-
| /aʊ/ || /ʌu/ || how, pout
|-
| /ɔɪ/ || /oi/ || boy, hoy
|-
| /juː/ || /jʉ/ || hue, pew, new
|-
! colspan="3" | R-colored vowel
s (these do not exist in Scots)
|-
| /ɪr/ || /ɪr/ || mirror (also in fir)
|-
| /ɪər/ || /ir/ || beer, mere
|-
| /ɛr/ || /ɛr/ || berry, merry (also in her)
|-
| /ɛər/ || /er/ || bear, mare, Mary
|-
| /ær/ || rowspan=2 | /ar/ || barrow, marry
|-
| /ɑr/ || bar, mar
|-
| /ɒr/ || rowspan=2 | /ɔr/ || moral, forage
|-
| /ɔr/ || born, for
|-
| /ɔər/ || /or/ || boar, four, more
|-
| /ʊər/ || /ur/ || boor, moor
|-
| /ʌr/ || /ʌr/ || hurry, Murray (also in fur)
|-
| /ɜr/ (ɝ) || /ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʌr/ || bird, herd, furry
|-
! colspan="3" | Reduced vowels
|-
| /ɨ/ || || roses, business
|-
| /ə/ || /ə/ || Rosa’s, cuppa
|-
| /ər/ (ɚ) || /ər/ || runner, mercer
|}
s are idioms or expressions that are characteristic of Scots. They are more likely to occur in spoken than written language.
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.
Scottish English has inherited a number of lexical items from Scots, which are comparatively rare in other forms of standard English.
General items are outwith, meaning "outside of"; wee, the Scots word for small (also common in New Zealand English
); pinkie for little finger and janitor for caretaker (pinkie and janitor are also standard in American English
). Examples of culturally specific items are caber
, haggis
, teuchter
, ned
and landward for rural; It's your shot for "It's your turn".
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 /ˈdɛpjut/ for deputy, proven
/ˈproːvən/ for proved (standard in American English), interdict for injunction and sheriff substitute for acting sheriff. In Scottish education a short leet is a list of selected job applicants, and a remit is a detailed job description.
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?).
s (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 from Scottish Gaelic).
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 wanting, must is marginal for obligation and may is rare. Many syntactical features of SSE are found in other forms of English, e.g. English language in England
and North American English
:
Note that in Scottish English, the first person declarative I amn't invited and interrogative Amn't I invited? are both possible. Contrast English language in England
, which has Aren't I? but no contracted declarative form. (All varieties have I'm not invited.)
Variety (linguistics)
In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language.
The main, formal variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English, often abbreviated to SSE. SSE may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools."
In addition to distinct pronunciation, grammar and expressions, Scottish English has distinctive vocabulary, particularly pertaining to Scottish institutions such as the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, local government and the education
Education in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from the other countries of the United Kingdom...
and legal
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
systems.
Scottish Standard English is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with focused broad Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
at the other.
Scottish English may be influenced to varying degrees by Scots.
Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as different registers
Register (sociolinguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
depending on social circumstances. Some speakers code switch
Code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other...
clearly from one to the other while others style shift
Style-shifting
Style-shifting is a term in sociolinguistics referring to alternation between styles of speech included in a linguistic repertoire of an individual speaker. As noted by Eckert and Rickford, in sociolinguistic literature terms style and register sometimes have been used interchangeably...
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 results from language contactLanguage contact
Language contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics.Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual...
between Scots and the Standard English
Standard English
Standard English refers to whatever form of the English language is accepted as a national norm in an Anglophone country...
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
Phonological change
In historical linguistics, phonological change is any sound change which alters the number or distribution of phonemes in a language.In a typological scheme first systematized by Henry M...
by linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English. Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms, hypercorrection
Hypercorrection
In linguistics or usage, hypercorrection is a non-standard usage that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of grammar or a usage prescription...
s and spelling pronunciation
Spelling pronunciation
A spelling pronunciation is a pronunciation that, instead of reflecting the way the word was pronounced by previous generations of speakers, is a rendering in sound of the word's spelling.-Examples of English words with common spelling pronunciations:...
s. (See the section on phonology below.)
History
The influence of the English of England upon Scots is conventionally traced to the ReformationScottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
and the introduction of printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
. Texts such as the Geneva Bible
Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John...
, printed in English, were widely distributed in Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine.
King James VI of Scotland
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
became James I of England in 1603. Since England was the larger and richer of the two Kingdoms, James moved his court to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
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". To this event McClure attributes "[t]he 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.
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 EnglishHighland English
Highland English is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands. It is more strongly influenced by Gaelic than other forms of Scottish English. Island English is the variety spoken as a second language by native Gaelic speakers in the Outer Hebrides...
is slightly different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands
Scottish Lowlands
The Scottish Lowlands is a name given to the Southern half of Scotland.The area is called a' Ghalldachd in Scottish Gaelic, and the Lawlands ....
in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
substratum
Substratum
In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...
.
While 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 a rhotic accentRhotic and non-rhotic accentsEnglish pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: a rhotic speaker pronounces a rhotic consonant in words like hard; a non-rhotic speaker does not...
, meaning /r/ is pronounced in the syllable codaSyllable codaIn phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
. As with Received PronunciationReceived PronunciationReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
, /r/ may be an alveolar approximant [ɹ], although it is also common that a speaker will use an alveolar tapAlveolar tapThe alveolar flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar flaps is .-Definition:...
[ɾ]. Less common is use of the alveolar trillAlveolar trillThe 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. It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R...
[r] (hereafter,will be used to denote any rhotic consonant). - While other dialects have merged /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ʌ/ before /r/, Scottish English makes a distinction between the vowels in herd, bird, and curd.
- Many varieties contrast /o/ and /ɔ/ before /r/ so that hoarse and horse are pronounced differently.
} and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as are pour and poor.
} before /l/ is strong. An epenthetic
Epenthesis
In phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word. Epenthesis may be divided into two types: excrescence, for the addition of a consonant, and anaptyxis for the addition of a vowel....
vowel may occur between /r/ and /l/ so that girl and world are 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 as witch and which.
- 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. The pronunciation of these words in the original Greek would support this. (Wells 1982, 408). is usually velarizedVelarizationVelarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:...
(see dark lVelarized alveolar lateral approximant-See also:* Lateral consonant* Velarization* l-vocalization* Ł...
) except in borrowings like "glen" (from Scottish Gaelic "gleann") which had unvelarized l in their original form. In areas where Scottish Gaelic was spoken until relatively recently (such as DumfriesDumfriesDumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
and GallowayGallowayGalloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
) and in areas where it is still spoken (such as the West Highlands), velarization of /l/ may be absent in many words in which it is present in other areas, but remains in borrowings that had velarized /l/ in Gaelic, such as "loch" (Gaelic "loch") and "clan" (Gaelic "clann"). - Vowel lengthVowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
is generally regarded as non-phonemic, although a distinctive part of Scottish English is the Scots vowel length rule (Scobbie et al. 1999). Certain vowels (such as /i/, /u/, and /æ/) are generally long but are shortened before nasalsNasal consonantA nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
and voiced plosives. However, this does not occur across morpheme boundaries so that crude contrasts with crewed, need with kneed and side with sighed. - Scottish English has no /ʊ/, instead transferring Scots /u/. Phonetically, this vowel may be pronounced [ʉ] or even [ʏ]. Thus pull and pool are homophones.
- Cot and caught are 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, and palm have the same vowel.
- The happY vowel is most commonly /e/ (as in face), but may also be /ɪ/ (as in kit) or /i/ (as in fleece). is often used in plural nouns where southern English has /ðz/ (baths, youths, etc.); with and booth are pronounced with /θ/. (See Pronunciation of English thPronunciation of English thIn English, the digraph ⟨th⟩ represents in most cases one of two different phonemes: the voiced dental fricative and the voiceless dental fricative...
.) - In colloquial speech, the glottal stopGlottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
may be an allophone of /t/ after a vowel, as in [ˈbʌʔər]. These same speakers may "drop the g" in the suffix -ing and debuccalize /θ/ to [h] in certain contexts. may be more open 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 like 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/.
-
-
- {| class="IPA wikitable" style="margin: 1em 2em"
-
|+ Correspondence between the IPA help key and Scottish English vowels (many individual words do not correspond)
! colspan="3"| Pure vowels
|-
! Help key !! Scottish !! Examples
|-
| /ɪ/ || /ɪ/ ||bid, pit
|-
| /iː/ || /i/ || bead, peat
|-
| /ɛ/ || /ɛ/ || bed, pet
|-
| /eɪ/ || /e/ || bay, hey, fate
|-
| /æ/ || rowspan=2 | /a/ || bad, pat
|-
| /ɑː/ || balm, father, pa
|-
| /ɒ/ || rowspan=2 | /ɔ/ || bod, pot, cot
|-
| /ɔː/ || bawd, paw, caught
|-
| /oʊ/ || /o/ || beau, hoe, poke
|-
| /ʊ/ || rowspan=2 | /ʉ/ || good, foot, put
|-
| /uː/ || booed, food
|-
| /ʌ/ || /ʌ/ || bud, putt
|-
! colspan="3" | Diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s
|-
| /aɪ/ || /ae/ ~ /əi/ || buy, ride, write
|-
| /aʊ/ || /ʌu/ || how, pout
|-
| /ɔɪ/ || /oi/ || boy, hoy
|-
| /juː/ || /jʉ/ || hue, pew, new
|-
! colspan="3" | R-colored vowel
R-colored vowel
In phonetics, an R-colored or rhotic vowel is a vowel that is modified in a way that results in a lowering in frequency of the third formant...
s (these do not exist in Scots)
|-
| /ɪr/ || /ɪr/ || mirror (also in fir)
|-
| /ɪər/ || /ir/ || beer, mere
|-
| /ɛr/ || /ɛr/ || berry, merry (also in her)
|-
| /ɛər/ || /er/ || bear, mare, Mary
|-
| /ær/ || rowspan=2 | /ar/ || barrow, marry
|-
| /ɑr/ || bar, mar
|-
| /ɒr/ || rowspan=2 | /ɔr/ || moral, forage
|-
| /ɔr/ || born, for
|-
| /ɔər/ || /or/ || boar, four, more
|-
| /ʊər/ || /ur/ || boor, moor
|-
| /ʌr/ || /ʌr/ || hurry, Murray (also in fur)
|-
| /ɜr/ (ɝ) || /ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʌr/ || bird, herd, furry
|-
! colspan="3" | Reduced vowels
|-
| /ɨ/ || || roses, business
|-
| /ə/ || /ə/ || Rosa’s, cuppa
|-
| /ər/ (ɚ) || /ər/ || runner, mercer
|}
Scotticisms
ScotticismScotticism
A Scotticism is a phrase or word which is characteristic of dialects of Scots. An archetypal example is "Och aye the noo", which translates as, "Oh yes, just now". This phrase is often used in parody by non-Scots and although the phrases "Och aye" and "the noo" are in common use by Scots...
s are idioms or expressions that are characteristic of Scots. They are more likely to occur in spoken than written language.
- I'll see you up the road meaning "I'll come with you some of the way" or "I'll see you back at home"
- I'm going for the messages meaning "I'm going to shop for groceries."
- Are you thinking of flitting? meaning "Are you thinking of moving house?"
- Aye, right! meaning "definitely not!" (The phrase "Yeah, rightYeah, rightYeah, right may refer to:*"Yeah, right", a common sarcastic remark*"Yeah, Right", a song by The Reverend Horton Heat from their 1994 album Liquor in the Front...
!" is used similarly in American englishAmerican EnglishAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
)
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
General items are outwith, meaning "outside of"; wee, the Scots word for small (also common in New Zealand English
New Zealand English
New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language used in New Zealand.The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and...
); pinkie for little finger and janitor for caretaker (pinkie and janitor are also standard in American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
). Examples of culturally specific items are caber
Caber toss
The caber toss is a traditional Irish athletic event practised at the Irish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a caber. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms to cross them. In Irishtown the caber is usually made from a Larch tree...
, haggis
Haggis
Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' , minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.Haggis is a kind...
, teuchter
Teuchter
Teuchter is a Lowland Scots word originally used to describe a Scottish Highlander, , although in modern parlance it is used by urban Scots to describe any rural dweller. Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, but is often seen as amusing by the speaker...
, ned
Ned (Scottish)
Ned is a derogatory term applied in Scotland to hooligans, louts or petty criminals, latterly with the stereotypical implication that they wear casual sports clothes. Such usage in Glasgow dates back to the 1960s or earlier.-Early use of term:...
and landward for rural; It's your shot for "It's your turn".
The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is distinctive of Scottish, Northern English
Northern English
Northern English is a group of dialects of the English language. It includes the North East England dialects, which are similar in some respects to Scots....
and Northern Irish English
Mid Ulster English
Mid Ulster English is the dialect of Hiberno-English spoken by most people in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The dialect has been greatly influenced by Ulster Irish, but also by the Scots language, which was brought over by Scottish settlers during the plantations.Mid Ulster English is the main...
. "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/ for deputy, proven
Not proven
Not proven is a verdict available to a court in Scotland.Under Scots law, a criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts: one of conviction and two of acquittal ....
/ˈproːvən/ for proved (standard in American English), interdict for injunction and sheriff substitute for acting sheriff. In Scottish education a short leet is a list of selected job applicants, and a remit is a detailed job description.
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 verbStative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
s (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 from Scottish Gaelic).
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 wanting, must is marginal for obligation and may is rare. Many syntactical features of SSE are found in other forms of English, e.g. English language in England
English language in England
The English language in England refers to the English language as spoken in England. These forms of English are a subsection of British English, as spoken throughout Great Britain. Other terms used to refer to the English language as spoken in England include:...
and North American English
North American English
North American English is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages...
:
- 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".
- 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. Contrast English language in England
English language in England
The English language in England refers to the English language as spoken in England. These forms of English are a subsection of British English, as spoken throughout Great Britain. Other terms used to refer to the English language as spoken in England include:...
, which has Aren't I? but no contracted declarative form. (All varieties have I'm not invited.)
See also
- DialectDialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
- DiasystemDiasystemIn the field of structural dialectology, a diasystem or polylectal grammar is an analysis set up to encode or represent a range of related varieties...
- Languages of the United Kingdom
- Scots languageScots languageScots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
- Regional accents of English speakersRegional accents of English speakersThe regional accents of English speakers show great variation across the areas where English is spoken as a first language. This article provides an overview of the many identifiable variations in pronunciation, usually deriving from the phoneme inventory of the local dialect, of the local variety...
- Scottish Corpus of Texts and SpeechScottish Corpus of Texts and SpeechThe Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech is an ongoing project to build a corpus of modern-day written and spoken texts in Scottish English and varieties of Scots. SCOTS has been available online since November 2004, and can be freely searched and browsed...
- Mid Ulster EnglishMid Ulster EnglishMid Ulster English is the dialect of Hiberno-English spoken by most people in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The dialect has been greatly influenced by Ulster Irish, but also by the Scots language, which was brought over by Scottish settlers during the plantations.Mid Ulster English is the main...
- Hiberno-EnglishHiberno-EnglishHiberno-English is the dialect of English written and spoken in Ireland .English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken throughout the rest of the country...
- Bungi creole of the Canadian Metis people of Scottish/British descent
External links
- Listen to BBC Radio Scotland Live (many presenters, such as Robbie Shepherd, have a noticeable Scottish accent)
- 'Hover & 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 - MultimediaMultimediaMultimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
corpusText corpusIn linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
of ScotsScots languageScots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
and Scottish English - The Speech Science Research Centre at Queen Margaret University in EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. - 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