2. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Scots Gaelic Scottish English
N°2 N°3
N°1
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
3. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Scots Gaelic Scottish English
N°2 N°3
N°1
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
4. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Scots
N°1
Traditional language in Scotland.
It originated from Anglo-Saxon Old English.
Used in the main cities, Lowlands and Northern Isles.
It has Norman-French and Scandinavian elements.
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
5. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Gaelic
N°2
Scots
N°1
Scottish English
N°3
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
6. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Gaelic
N°2
The language is from Celtic descent.
Gaelic has remained in the Highlands and the
Western Isles.
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
7. There are three speech forms in Scotland:
Scots Gaelic Scottish English
N°2 N°3
N°1
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
8. S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
There are three speech forms in Scotland:
N°3
Scottish English
“Standard English with a Scottish accent.”
Phonetic, grammar and lexical elements gained from
Scots and Gaelic.
Used all around the country.
9. “Scottish English arose from linguistic contact between Scots and Standard English in
England from the 17th century onwards” (Scottish English, s. f.)
The Scots language downgraded to a “domestic language”. (Wells, J.C., p.$$)
In the 15th century the official language was Scots, but with the union of the
British Parliament in the 16th century, meant that the oficial written language of
Scotland would be English.
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
10. The standardized variety of Scottish English is Standard Scottish English (SSE).
Scottish English is an “umbrella term” for the different varieties of
Scottish English that exist throughout the country. (Scottish English, s. f.-b)
There are regions in the country where Scottish English has more Scots
influence than other regions.
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
11. B A C K G R O U N D
I thought I saw him at the loch
Ah thocht Ah seen him at the loch
(England Standard English)
(Scots)
I thought I seen him at the loch (Scottish Standard English)
12. Characteristics of Scottish English dialect
Code switching:
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
Dialect continua:
Social aspects:
13. Characteristics of Scottish English dialect
Due to most of the population being able to speak
Scots and Scottish English, people from Scotland
can code switch between these two languages
depending on social context or place.
Code switching:
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
Dialect continua:
Social aspects:
14. Characteristics of Scottish English dialect
Throughout the territory of country, (with Scots on
one end of the spectrum and SSE on the other end),
with different varieties of Scottish English that are
mutually inteligible between them.
There will be different types of Scottish English
depending on the geographical area.
Code switching:
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
Dialect continua:
Social aspects:
15. Dialect continua
diagram
I know the girl who went to Linlithgow two years ago.
I know the girl that went to Linlithgow two years ago.
I know the girl that went tae Linlithgow two years ago.
I know the girl that went tae Linlithgow two year ago.
I ken the girl that went tae Linlithgow two year ago.
I ken the lassie that went tae Linlithgow two year ago.
Ah ken the lassie that went tae Linlithgow two year ago.
Ah ken the lassie that went tae Linlithgow twa year ago.
Ah ken the lassie that gaed tae Linlithgow twa year ago.
Ah ken the lassie that gaed tae Lithgae twa year ago.
Ah ken the lassie that gaed tae Lithgae twa year syne.
(Reach, 2021)
B A C K G R O U N D
16. Characteristics of Scottish English dialect
Code switching:
S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
Dialect continua:
Social aspects:
The variation between Scots and SSE is generally
conditioned by social stratification:
Scots: generally spoken by working class.
SSE: generally spoken by “educated
middle class”.
(Jauriberry, 2021)
17. S C O T T I S H E N G L I S H B A C K G R O U N D
18. Standard Scottish English has linguist elements from Scots and Gaelic such as:
- Phonological: pronunciation, accent, rhythms.
- Grammar.
- Vocabulary and phrases (scoticisms).
Some of the typical linguistic elements that were influenced by the Scots
are stigmatized in Scotland.
Linguist characteristics of Standard Scottish English
C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S
20. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Rhoticity - “The Scottish accent is predominantly rhotic, meaning the /r/ sound
in the middle or at the end of a word is always pronounced”. (Scottish English, s. f.-b)
The two most common realisations of /r/ are:
• Alveolar tap [ɾ]
• Postalveolar or retroflex approximant [ɹ]
(Jauriberry, 2021)
21. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Rhoticity:
“Sociolinguistic factors, including gender,
social class, and the age of the speaker,
are involved in the realisation of /r/ in
Scottish English”
/r/ serves as a sociolinguistic marker.
Nowadays, alveolar taps are slowly being
replaced by approximants.
Realization of /r/:
Approximant
variant
Alveolar tap
Gender Women Men
Social Class
Middle &
Upper Class
Working
Class
Age
Young
women,
younger
speakers
Older
speakers
(Jauriberry, 2021)
(Jauriberry, 2021)
22. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Scottish vowel system
ɛ
ɪ
ʌ
i
e
ae
a
ɔ
u
o
ʌu
Vowels present in the Scottish accent.
(Wells, 1982)
23. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Scottish vowel system
Monophthongs
Diphthongs
Length rule
1 .
2 .
3 .
24. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Scottish vowel system
Monophthongs
Diphthongs
Length rule
1 .
2 .
3 .
25. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Scottish English lacks the phoneme /ʊ/, therefore
the vowels in the words FOOT and GOOSE are both
pronounced with /u/.
Use of /u/ phoneme:
Because of this, FOOT and GOOSE sound the
same.
Due to this many homophones are generated.
Homophones
pull - pool
full - fool
look - Luke
good - mood
foot - boot
woman - human
(Wells, 1982)
26. Use of /I/ , /ɛ/ and /i/ phonemes:
S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Scottish English uses /I/ for the vowels in the words
KIT.
Scottish English uses /ɛ/ for the vowels in the words
DRESS.
Scottish English uses /i/ for the vowels in the words
FLEECE.
(Scottish Vowel Length, s. f.)
27. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Use of /ɔ/ phoneme:
cot & caught → [kɔt]
don & dawn → [dɔn]
Homophones
Many Scottish people only use the phoneme /ɔ/ for
the words LOT/CLOTH/THOUGHT.
(Scottish Vowel Length, s. f.)
28. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Use of /e/ and /o/ phonemes:
/e/ phonemes for FACE words:
For vowels in FACE words Scottish Standard English has a
monophthong /e/.
• stane /sten/
/o/ phoneme for GOAT words:
“Scottish Standard English has a monophthong /o/ in place of
the RP /əʊ/” (Scottish Vowel Length, s. f.)
29. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Use of /a/ phonemes:
Most Scottish people only use /a/ for vowels in words PALM and TRAP
While others use two phonemes:
• /a/ in TRAP
• /ɑ/ in PALM
The quality of both phonemes varies socially:
[ae - a] → associated with higher status
[ɑ] → associated with white-collar occupations
30. Unstressed vowels
The final vowels in “HAPPY” words are
pronounced with /e/:
Opening-vowels in words “comma” are
pronounced → /ʌ/:
Manna → [‘manʌ]
When words in Standard English have
vowels /ə/, SSE uses /I/ instead:
Pilot → [paelIt]
S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
lady → [‘lede]
studied → [‘stʌded]
(“u” is an open-vowel, therefore → /ʌ/)
31. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Scottish vowel system
Monophthongs
Diphthongs
Length rule
1 .
2 .
3 .
32. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule
Aitken’s Law
“A vowel is phonetically short unless it is followed by #, a voiced fricative, or /r/, in
which case it is long.” ()
The basic rule is that stressed vowels are lengthened before:
A morpheme boundary.
A voiced fricative (/v/, /ð/, /z/ and the marginal phoneme /ʒ/).
A rhotic consonant.
(Scottish Vowel Length, s. f.)
(Wells, 1982)
33. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule
Examples of short vowels
book → [buk] Shortened
bead → [bid] Shortened
mood → [mud] Shortened
good → [gud] Shortened
lace → [les] Shortened
34. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
When vowels are in a morpheme-final position or are followed by /r, v, z, ð, ʒ/, then they
are considered long vowels.
Cases of long vowels:
Examples:
Key → vowel in morpheme-final position → [kiː]
Stay → vowel in morpheme-final position → [steː]
Know → vowel in morpheme-final position → [noː]
Two → vowel in morpheme-final position → [tuː]
Sleeve → vowel followed by “v” → [sliːv]
pour → vowel followed by “r” → [puːr]
Morphemes: words
that are “the smallest
lexical items” meaning
that they cannot be
broken into smaller
words, because these
don’t have a meaning
on their own.
35. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Vowels that also end with /d/ but have an
internal word boundary “#” (meaning you
can separate the word into two words (the
last word can be bound-morpheme)) are
considered long vowels.
When vowels are at the end of the word
and followed by /d/ they are considered
short vowels.
Therefore, these next words will have phonetic differences, in terms of length:
Short vowels Why? Long vowels Why?=
Need [nid]
Vowel is at the end and
ends with “d”
V/S kneed knee # d → [niːd]
Brood [brud]
Vowel is at the end and
ends with “d”
V/S Brewed brew # ed → [bruːd]
/ɪ/ and /ʌ/ are always short vowels.
(Wells, 1982)
36. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
This subject was studied through a research carried out in Edinburg and
Glasgow :
The use of [ʕ] or [t] for /t/ has been found to correlate with social class and
with sex:
• [ʕ]: correlation with lower-social-class.
• [t] : correlation with higher-social-class, and with women.
T-Glottaling:
Its the use of glottal stop [ʕ] instead of phoneme /t/.
Geography: characteristic of central lowlands of Scotland.
Therefore, T-Glottaling is a potential social marker.
(Wells, 1982)
37. S S E P H O N O L O G Y
Scottish vowel system
Monophthongs
Diphthongs
Length rule
1 .
2 .
3 .
38. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
There are two diphthongs in PRICE words:
N°1 [aˑe]
Used when the word has a long vowel
(Atkins law) before a voice fricative or /r/.
• Vowel is before a tautosyllabic consonant.
• Vowel is before a tautosyllabic /v/ in plural
nouns.
• Used when said word in singular has an /f/
instead of the /v/.
wives → [wʌivz] and wife → [wʌif]
N°2 [ʌi]
Example: buy, high, alive, fire, price
Diphthongs in PRICE words
39. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
This case is called phoneme split, because one phoneme (the one found in PRICE
words) diverged into two different phonemes.
Theres also length variations present:
five knives → /faev knʌivz/
tied → [taˑed] and tide → [tʌid]
Both of them are pronounced with different phonetic diphthongs, and [taˑed] is longer
than [tʌid].
Diphthongs: vowels in PRICE words
40. S C O T T I S H V O W E L S Y S T E M
Diphthongs: vowels in MOUTH/HOUSE words
Areas of Scots and English dialect continua:
• /u/ correlation to Scots → Scoticism.
• Example: ‘hoose’ instead of house.
• /ʌu/ correlation to English.
There are socio-linguist variants present:
• High status form: [au] or [ʌu]
• Popular form: [u+]
There is no phoneme-split.
41. I N T O N A T I O N
Intonation in SSE vowels:
“Scottish accents are more bouncy in general and usually don’t end on a falling note
[…] they’re usually fronted. This means that those two vowels are pronounced further
in the front of the mouth…” (Danimorsekopp, 2018)
42. O T H E R P H O N O L O G I C A L A S P E C T S
Other phonological aspects:
• Yod dropping after /l/ and after /s/:
[luːr] → lure
[sut] → suit
• The velar fricative /x/ is present in some Scottish words.
• Aspirated wh-words - The wh- sound at the beginning of words like
what and which is typically pronounced with an exhale of air.
(Scottish English, s. f.-b)
• The fricative "ch" sound - In Scottish English, when a "ch" appears at
the end of a word, e.g., loch, a fricative sound is created in the throat.
In Standard British English, the sound is pronounced as a hard /k/.
(Scottish English, s. f.-b)
44. L E X I S
Scottish words:
(English Jade · Learn English with engVid, 2020)
Common words Standard English
Lassie Lady/woman
Laddie Man
Bairn [beːrn] Child
Mon Man
Wee’n Little one
Maw [mɔː] Mother
Da Dad
Nana Grandma
Common words Standard English
Aye [ai] Yes
Naw [nɔːr] No
Oot [uːt] Out
Auld [ɔːld] Old
Noo [nuː] Now
Hen [hiːn] Dear
Son Younger friend
Dreich [driːk] Bad weather
45. L E X I S
Scoticisms:
Mony a mickle maks a muckle! – Saving a small amount soon builds up to
a large amount.
Dinnae marry fur money! – Don’t marry for money – you can borrow it
cheaper.
It’s a dreich day!— Said in reference to the weather, when it’s cold, damp
and miserable.
Foos yer doos? - How are you?
Ock aye, peckin - I’m okay.
(John & John, 2022)
(English Jade · Learn English with engVid, 2020)
47. G R A M M A R
Negative contractions end with the suffix -nae :
• Would + not = Wouldnae
• Could + not = Couldnae
• did + not = didnae
Use of the word no instead of not:
• "He's surely no gonna be there."
Turning irregular verbs into regular in their past tense forms:
• Using telt instead of told and selt instead of sold.
Erasure of ‘f’ in reflexive pronouns:
• Using yersel/hersel instead of yourself/herself.
(Scottish English, s. f.-b)
(Reach, 2021b)
1 .
2 .
3 .
4 .
48. H T T P S : / / S C O T S S Y N T A X A T L A S . A C . U K / A T L A S / ? J = Y # 6 . 5 / 6 0 . 7 1 6 / - 3 . 7 9 5
H T T P S : / / W W W . P R E S S A N D J O U R N A L . C O . U K / F P / P J - I N V E S T I G A T I O N S / 2 6 5 4 8 4 8 / S P I K K I N - S C O T S - D O R I C /
53. R E F E R E N C E S
Scottish English: Encyclopedia, Science News &
Research Reviews. (s. f.). Academic Accelerator.
Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2023, de https://academic-
accelerator.com/encyclopedia/scottish-english
Scottish Vowel Length. (s. f.). [Essay].
Danimorsekopp. (2018, 28 octubre). Scottish Vowel
Length Rule – Dani Morse-Kopp. Dani Morse-Kopp.
https://danimorsekopp.com/tag/scottish-vowel-length-
rule/
Reach, L. (2021, 15 diciembre). Scotland’s Linguistic
Landscape - Scottish Standard English & Scots | LR UK.
https://www.languagereach.com/scotlands-linguistic-
landscape-scottish-standard-english-and-scots/
Scottish English. (s. f.). StudySmarter UK. https://
www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/english/the-
history-of-english-language/scottish-english/
Reach, L. (2021b, diciembre 15). Scotland’s Linguistic
Landscape - Scottish Standard English & Scots | LR UK.
https://www.languagereach.com/scotlands-linguistic-
landscape-scottish-standard-english-and-scots/
John, & John. (2022). Old Scottish sayings and Scottish
slang words. Scotland Welcomes You | Discover All
There Is To See And Do! https://
scotlandwelcomesyou.com/scottish-sayings/
English Jade · Learn English with engVid. (2020, 3
marzo). Learn about the SCOTTISH accent, dialect, and
slang! [Vídeo]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=w6oH1e_Z1PA
Jauriberry, T. (2021). Variation and change of middle-
class /R/ in standard Scottish English. Lingua, 256,
103059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2021.103059
Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA63458801