Phonology of Scottish English

Phonology of Scottish English

In Scots, vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule. Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scottish English are generally spelled as in English. [14,47]Other words may be spelt the same but differ in pronunciation, for example: aunt, swap, want and wash with /a/, bull, full v. and pull with /ʌ/, bind, find and wind v., etc. with /ɪ/.

7.1The vowel system of Modern Scots

Table 1-The vowel system of Modern Scots

1. The unstressed vowel /ə/ may be represented by any vowel letter.

2. a (vowel 17): usually /ɑ/, often /ɑː/ in south west and Ulster dialects but /aː/ in Northern dialects. Note final a (vowel 12) in awa (away), twa (two) and wha (who) may also be /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /aː/ or /eː/ depending on dialect.

3. au, aw (vowel 12) /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ in Southern, Central and Ulster dialects but /aː/ in Northern dialects, with au usually occurring in medial positions and aw in final positions. Sometimes a or a' representing L-vocalisation. The digraph aa also occurs, especially in written representations of the (/aː/) realisation im Northern and Insular dialects. The cluster 'auld' may also be /ʌul/ in Ulster, e.g. aw (all), cauld (cold), braw (handsome), faw (fall), snaw (snow), etc.

4. ai (vowel 8) in initial and medial positions and a(consonant)e (vowel 4). The graphemes ae^[ (vowel 4) and ay (vowel 8) generally occur in final positions. All generally /e(ː)/. Often /ɛ/ before /r/. The merger of vowel 8 with 4 has resulted in the digraph ai occurring in some words with vowel 4 and a(consonant)e occurring in some words with vowel 8, e.g. saip (soap), hale (whole), ane (one), ance (once), bane (bone), etc. and word final brae (slope) and day etc. The digraph ae also occurs for vowel 7 in dae (do), tae (too) and shae (shoe). In Northern dialects the vowel in the cluster 'ane' is often /i/ and after /w/ and dark /l/ the realisation /əi/ may occur. In Southern Scots and many Central and Ulster varieties ae, ane and ance may be realised /jeː/, /jɪn/ and /jɪns/ often written yae, yin and yince in dialect writing.

5. ea, ei (vowel 3), has generally merged with /i(ː)/ (vowel 2) or /e(ː)/ (vowel 4 or 8) depending on dialect. /ɛ/ may occur before /r/. In Northern varieties the realisation may be /əi/ after /w/ and /ʍ/ and in the far north /əi/ may occur in all environments.  deid (dead), heid (head), meat (food), clear etc.

6. ee (vowels 2 and 11), e(Consonant)e (vowel 2). Occasionally ei and i.e. with ei generally before ch (/x/), but also in a few other words, and ie generally occurring beforel and v. The realisation is generally /i(ː)/ but in Northern varieties may be /əi/ after /w/ and /ʍ/. Final vowel 11 (/iː/) may be /əi/ in Southern dialects. e.g. ee (eye), een(eyes), speir (enquire), steek (shut), here, etc. The digraph ea also occurs in a few words such as sea and tea.

7. e (vowel 16): /ɛ/. bed, het (heated), yett (gate), etc.

8. eu (vowel 7 before /k/ and /x/ see ui): /(j)u/ or /(j)ʌ/ depending on dialect. Sometimes u(consonant)e. Sometimes u phonetically and oo after Standard English also occur, e.g. beuk (book), eneuch (enough), ceuk (cook), leuk (look), teuk (took) etc.

9. ew (vowel 14): /ju/. In Northern dialects a root final 'ew' may be /jʌu/. few, new, etc.

10. i (Vowel 15): /ɪ/, but often varies between /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ especially after 'w' and 'wh'. /ɪ̞/ (/æ̈/) occurs in much of Ulster except Donegal which usually has /ɛ̈/. E.g. big, fit(foot), wid (wood), etc.

11. i(consonant)e, y(consonant)e, ey (vowels 1, 8a and 10): /əi/ or /aɪ/. 'ay' is usually /e/ but /əi/ in ay (yes) and aye (always). In Dundee it is noticeably /ɛ/.

12. o (vowel 18): /ɔ/ but often merging with vowel 5 (/o/) often spelled phonetically oa in dialect spellings such as boax (box), coarn (corn), Goad (God)joab (job) and oan (on) etc.

13. oa (vowel 5): /o/.

14. oi, oy (vowel 9)

15. ow, owe (root final), seldom ou (vowel 13): /ʌu/. Before 'k' vocalisation to /o/ may occur especially in western and Ulster dialects. bowk (retch), bowe (bow), howe (hollow),knowe (knoll), cowp (overturn), yowe (ewe), etc.

16. ou the general literary spelling of vowel 6. Also u(consonant)e in some words: /u/ the former often represented by oo, a 19th-century borrowing from Standard English. Root final /ʌu/ may occur in Southern dialects. cou (cow), broun (brown), hoose (house), moose (mouse) etc.

17. u (vowel 19): /ʌ/. but, cut, etc.

18. ui, the usual literary spelling of vowel 7 (except before /k/ and /x/ see eu), the spelling u(consonant)e also occurred, especially before nasals, and oo from the spelling of Standard English cognates: /ø/ in conservative dialects. In parts of Fife, Dundee and north Antrim /e/. In Northern dialects usually /i/ but /wi/ after /ɡ/ and /k/ often spelled eein dialect writing, and also /u/ before /r/ in some areas e.g. fuird (ford). Mid Down and Donegal dialects have /i/. In central and north Down dialects merger with vowel 15 (/ɪ/) occurs when short and vowel 8 (/eː/) when long, often written ai in dialect writing, e.g. buird (board), buit (boot), cuit (ankle), fluir (floor), guid (good), schuil (school), etc. In central dialects uise v. and uiss n. (use) are [jeːz] and [jɪs].

Since Sc. Eng. is rhotic, i.e. it preserves post-vocalic [r], vowels such as RP [ıә], [з:], [εә], [uә] do not occur:

RP Sc. Eng.

beer [bıә] [bır]

bird [bз:d] [bırd]

hurt [hз:t] [hлrt]

bard [ba:d] [ba:rd]

moor [muә] [mur]

Length is not a distinctive feature of Scottish vowels. So pairs like pool — pull, cot —caught are not distinguished. It should be noted, however, that vowels are longer in final stressed open syllables than elsewhere.[13,76]

Monophthongs are pure, there is no trace of diphthongization with the exceptions of [aı — εı], [au — εu] and [oı].

The RP [æ — a:(a)] distinction doesn't exist: hat [hat], dance [dans.,

In non-standard Sc. Eng. accent [u:] often occurs when RP has [au]: house [haus — hu:s].

It is interesting to mention that [o] and [зu] may be not contrasted:

socks [soks] not [not]

soaks [soks] note [not]

In very many regional accents do, to are pronounced as [dә], [tә].

In some accents words such as arm, after, grass may have [ε] rather than [a]: after ['εftә].(see appendix C)

7.2 Consonant

Most consonants are usually pronounced much as in English but:

1. c: /k/ or /s/, much as in English.

2. ch: /x/, also gh. Medial 'cht' may be /ð/ in Northern dialects. loch (fjord or lake), nicht (night), dochter (daughter), dreich (dreary), etc. Similar to the German "Nacht", "Tochter".

3. ch: word initial or where it follows 'r' /tʃ/. airch (arch), mairch (march), etc.

4. gn: /n/. In Northern dialects /ɡn/ may occur.

5. kn: /n/. In Northern dialects /kn/ or /tn/ may occur. knap (talk), knee, knowe (knoll), etc.

6. ng: is always /ŋ/.

7. nch: usually /nʃ/. brainch (branch), dunch (push), etc.

8. r: /r/ or /ɹ/ is pronounced in all positions, i.e. rhotically.

9. s or se: /s/ or /z/.

10. t: may be a glottal stop between vowels or word final. In Ulster dentalised pronunciations may also occur, also for 'd'.

11. th: /ð/ or /θ/ much as is English. In Mid Northern varieties an intervocallic /ð/ may be realised /d/. Initial 'th' in thing, think and thank, etc. may be /h/.wh: usually /ʍ/, older /xʍ/. Northern dialects also have /f/.

12. wr: /wr/ more often /r/ but may be /vr/ in Northern dialects. wrack (wreck), wrang (wrong), write, wrocht (worked), etc.

13. z: /jɪ/ or /ŋ/, may occur in some words as a substitute for the older (yogh). For example: brulzie (broil), gaberlunzie (a beggar) and the names Menzies, Finzean, Culzean,Mackenzie etc. (As a result of the lack of education in Scots, Mackenzie is now generally pronounced with a /z/ following the perceived realisation of the written form, as more controversially is sometimes Menzies.)

14. w /w/ and wh /ʍ/, older /xʍ/, do not merge. Northern dialects also have /f/ for /ʍ/. The cluster wr may be realised /wr/, more often /r/, but may be /vr/ in Northern dialects e.g. wrack (wreck), wrang (wrong), write, wrocht (worked), etc.

Silent letters

1. The word final 'd' in nd and ld but often pronounced in derived forms. Sometimes simply 'n' and 'l' or 'n and 'l e.g. auld (old) and haund (hand) etc.

2. 't' in medial cht ('ch' = /x/) and st and before final en e.g. fochten (fought), thristle (thistle) and also the 't' in aften (often) etc.

3. 't' in word final ct and pt but often pronounced in derived forms e.g. respect and accept etc.

Sc. Eng. consistently preserves a distinction between [м] and [w]: which [мıt∫] — witch [мıt∫]. Initial [p, t, k] are usually non-aspirated. [r] is most usually a flap.

Non-initial [t] is often realized as glottal stop [?]. [ł] is dark in all positions.

The velar fricative [x] occurs in a number of words: loch [lox]. -ing is [ın].

[h] is present. A specific Scottish feature is the pronunciation of [θr] as [∫]: through [∫ru:].[11,25] (see appendix D)

Some words have pronunciation distinctively different from RP