Standard

Scottish English
Presented by Anna Holota 301-HO
What is Scottish English?

Scottish English is a variety of British English.

A strong Scottish accent is more frequent in rural areas.

The formal variety is called Standard Scottish English (SSE).

It has distinctive vocabulary, particularly pertaining to Scottish

institutions such as the Church of Scotland, local government

and the education and legal systems.

History

During Reformation (16th century) religious texts

printed in English were widely distributed in

Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine.

Scottish English results from language contact

between Scots and the Standard of England after

the 17th century.

History

1603 - King James VI of Scotland became

James I of England and moved his court to

London.

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”

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 is slightly
different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands in that it is
more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a
Gaelic substratum. Similarly, the English spoken in the North-East
of Scotland tends to follow the phonology and grammar of Doric.
Phonology
Scottish English is mostly rhotic, meaning /r/ is typically pronounced in the syllable

coda, although some non-rhotic varieties are present in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The

phoneme /r/ may be a postalveolar approximant [ɹ], as in Received Pronunciation or

General American, but speakers have also traditionally used for the same phoneme a

somewhat more common alveolar flap [ɾ] or, now very rare, the alveolar 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 in fern, fir, and

fur.
 Phonology
Many varieties contrast /o/ and /ɔ/ before /r/ so that hoarse and horse are

pronounced differently.

/or/ and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as

are pour and poor.

/r/ 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/.

There is a distinction between /w/ and /hw/ in word pairs such as witch and which.
 Phonology
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.

/l/ is usually velarised (see dark l) except in borrowings like "glen" (from Scottish Gaelic

"gleann"), which had an unvelarised l in their original form. In areas where Scottish Gaelic was

spoken until relatively recently (such as Dumfries and Galloway) and in areas where it is still

spoken (such as the West 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").

 Phonology
/p/, /t/ and /k/ are not aspirated in more traditional varieties, but are weakly aspirated

currently.

The past ending -ed may be realised with /t/ where other accents use /d/, chiefly after

unstressed vowels: ended [ɛndɪt], carried [karɪt]

The Scottish Vowel Length Rule is a distinctive part of many varieties of Scottish English,

though vowel length is generally regarded as non-phonemic. According to the Rule, certain

vowels (such as /i/, /u/, and /ai/) are generally short but are lengthened before voiced

fricatives or before /r/. Lengthening also occurs before a morpheme boundary, so that short

need contrasts with long kneed, crude with crewed, and side with sighed.
 Phonology
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).

 Phonology
/θs/ is often used in plural nouns where southern English has /ðz/ (baths, youths, etc.); with

and booth are pronounced with /θ/.

In colloquial speech, the glottal stop may be an allophone of /t/ after a vowel, as in [ˈbʌʔər].

These same speakers may "drop the g" in the suffix -ing and debuccalise /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/.

Pure vowels
Diphthongs & Reduced vowels
Vowels followed by /r/
Lexical
Scottish English has inherited a number of lexical items from Scots, which are less common in

other forms of standard English.

General items are wee, the Scots word for small (also common in Canadian English and New

Zealand English, probably under Scottish influence); wean or bairn for child (the latter from

Common Germanic, cf modern Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese barn, West

Frisian bern and also used in Northern English dialects); bonnie for pretty, attractive, (or good

looking, handsome, as in the case of Bonnie Prince Charlie); braw for fine; muckle for big; spail

or skelf for splinter (cf. spall); snib for bolt; pinkie for little finger; janitor for school caretaker

(these last two are also standard in American English); outwith, meaning 'outside of'; cowp for

tip or spill; fankle for a tangled mess; kirk for 'church'

Lexical

Examples of culturally specific items are Hogmanay, 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) and landward

(rural); It's your shot for "It's your turn"; and the once notorious but

now obsolete tawse.

Lexical
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). 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?".

Grammatical
The progressive verb forms are used rather more frequently than in other varieties of

standard English, for example with some stative 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 from Scottish Gaelic).

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).

Grammatical
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.

Thank
You!