Шотландский акцент

English in Scotland
The type of English spoken in Scotland is more difficult to define than elsewhere in the UK. From the
time of the Union of Parliaments in 1707, the official written language of Scotland became aligned with
that of England. As such, Standard English has been used as the language of religion, education and
government and so it became the socially prestigious form adopted by the aspiring middle classes.
Unlike in England, however, Standard English continued to be spoken with a variety of local accents.
The variety of speech we might recognise as educated Scottish English contains the occasional word —
outwith for ‘outside’ — or grammatical structure — I’ve not heard for ‘I haven’t heard’ — that is
distinctively Scottish.
Above all, though, Scottish English is recognisable by its pronunciation: speakers do not make the same
distinctions in vowel length made by speakers with other English accents and the vast majority of
speakers in Scotland are rhotic — that is, they pronounce the <r> sound after a vowel in words like farm,
first and better.
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). 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?
Wheesht! - Shut up, be quiet
Maw & Paw - Mum and Dad
Messages - Shopping (I'm awa fur ma messages)
Shoot the craw - Leave in a hurry, e.g. drivers who race to beat the red light (look at that numpty
shootin the craw)
Note that in Scottish English, the first person declarative I amn't invited and interrogative Amn't I
invited? are both possible
Scottish phonetics
Scottish speakers don't use a schwa sound like English speakers. The sound in 'the' is the same as the
sound in 'bit'. The other words in the list after 'the' have various different vowels in them, but never
schwa.
Also, for Scottish speakers, 'bird' and 'heard' are not homophones [the same sound], although they are
for speakers with an English accent. Scottish speakers lack the vowel that English speakers use here. The
vowel in 'heard' will always be the same as the vowel in 'bet', 'let' and 'set' and the vowel in 'bird' can be
the same as the vowel in 'but' or 'bit' depending on the accent and gender of the speaker.
Scots, like many speakers from the North of England, also do not differentiate between front and back
'a' sounds as in 'Sam' and 'Psalm'; both sounds are always fronted and short. Nor do we differentiate
between 'cot' and 'caught'; both these words are homophones for Scottish English speakers and they
both have a short vowel in them.
In the diphthongs section, two of the sounds [listed] as diphthongs, 'coat' and 'face', are actually
monophthongal vowels [single vowel sounds] in Scottish English /kot/ /fes/.
For words ending in /r/, you write the sequence of sounds as a triphthong, which is accurate for English
English, but in Scottish, of course, we didn't lose the /r/ at the end of words so 'fewer' is /fjur/ etc.
Vowels
The biggest difference between this type of English and others is that vowel length depends on the
phonetic context. When vowels, except for /ɪ, ʌ/, are in an open syllable or followed by /v, ð, z/ or by /r/
they tend to be longer. In other contexts they are short. This means, for example, that the FOOT and
GOOSE sets have the same vowel, a centralized /ʉ/.
One characteristic difference between Scottish English and other varieties of English is the
pronunciation of MOUTH. Words like house, about, round are pronounced /ʉ/ instead of /aʊ/.
Unlike in American English where "pull" has a slightly different pronunciation than "pool", in a Scottish
accent, both words sound like "pool".
Consonants
Scottish English is rhotic like Cornish and General American English. In other words, post-vocalic "r" is
present. The most noticeable consonant is the glottal fricative /x/, found in words like loch and in the
phrase och aye = of course. There is no "h-dropping", except in unstressed pronouns and auxiliaries.
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 New Zealand English, probably under
Scottish influence); bairn for child (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 for splinter, 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 has parallels in other Germanic languages (cf kirche which was also
found in archaic names of some ancient churches in e.g. London). Examples of culturally specific items
are Hogmanay; caber, haggis, bothy; scone; oatcake; 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";
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.
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. 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?).
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.
Examples include:
What a dreich day! meaning "What a dull, miserable, overcast day" (of weather)
I'm feeling quite drouthy meaning "I'm feeling quite thirsty"
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"
I'll come round (at) the back of eight meaning "I'll come round just after eight o'clock"
He's a right sweetie-wife meaning "He likes a good gossip"
Ach, away ye go! stock phrase meaning "Oh, I don't believe you"
Whaur dae ye bide? = "Where do you live?“
Caw canny = "Go easy”
Awrite!=“Hi!”
A'm tint=“I'm lost”
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.