Scottish English is usually taken to mean the
standard form of the
English language used in
Scotland, often termed
Scottish Standard English. It is the language normally used in
formal, non-fiction written texts in Scotland. Although the terminology has often been used vaguely, modern usage distinguishes clearly between Scottish English and
Scots.
Background
Scottish English is the result of
language contact between Scots and
English after the 17th century (dialect contact may be more accurate in that the indigenous language Lowland Scots was a related variety).
The resulting shift to English by Scots-speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken for mergers by linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English (Macafee, 2004). Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms,
hypercorrections and
spelling pronunciations. (See
Phonology below.)
The standard spelling, grammar, and punctuation of Scottish English tend to follow the style of the
Oxford English Dictionary (OED). However, there are some unique characteristics, mainly in the phonological and phonetic systems, many of which originate in the country's two
autochthonous languages, the
Scottish Gaelic language and
Scots. The speech of the middle classes in Scotland often conforms 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's more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a
Gaelic substratum.
Lexis
Scottish English has a number of lexical items which are rare in other forms of standard English.
General items are
outwith, meaning outside of;
pinkie for little finger (also used in
American English); and
wee, the Scots word for small (which also occurs in
Hiberno-English).
Culturally specific items like
caber,
haggis, and
landward for rural.
In some areas there's a substantial non-standard lexis (shared with Scots) apparently acquired from the
Romany language and from Eastern European languages; examples include
gadge (lad, chap) and
peeve (alcoholic drink).
There is a wide range of (often anglicised) legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots, for example,
depute /ˈdɛpjut/ for
deputy,
proven /ˈproːvən/ for
proved,
interdict for
injunction and
sheriff substitute for
acting sheriff.
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?);
doubt for "think the worst" (
I doubt it'll rain meaning "I fear it'll rain").
Correct is often preferred to
right (meaning "morally right" or "just") when the speaker means "factually accurate".
Phonology
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 accent, meaning /r/ is pronounced in the syllable coda. As with Standard English (RP), /r/ may be an alveolar approximant ([ɹ], although it's also common that a speaker will use an alveolar tap [ɾ]. Less common is use of the alveolar trill [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.
- /or/ and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as are pour and poor.
- There is a distinction between /w/ and /ʍ/ (also analyzed as /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's 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. (Wells 1982, 408).
- /l/ is usually velarized (see dark l). In areas where Scottish Gaelic was spoken until recently (such as Dumfries and Galloway), velarization may be absent.
- Vowel length 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 /ae/ are generally long but are shortened before nasals and voiced plosives. However, this doesn't 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 more front, being pronounced as [ʉ] or even [y]. Thus pull and pool are homophones.
- Cot and caught are not differentiated as in some other dialects.
- /θs/ is often used in plural nouns where southern English has /ðz/ (baths, youths, etc). with is pronounced with θ. (See Pronunciation of English th.)
- In colloquial speech (especially among young males), 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 debuccalize /θ/ to [h] in certain contexts.
Grammar and syntax
Syntactical differences are few though 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).
Prepositions are often used differently. The compound preposition
off of is often used parallel to English
into (
Take that off of the table).
Idiom
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, for example
English English and
North American English:
Can I come too? or Can I come as well?' for "May I come too?"
Have you got any? for "Do you've any?"
I've got one of those already. for "I have one of those already."
It's your shot. for "It's your turn."
My hair is needing washed. or My hair needs washed for "My hair needs washing."
Amn't I invited? for "Am I not invited?"
How no? for "Why not?"
What age are you? for "How old are you?"
The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is distinctive of Scottish, Northern English and Northern Irish 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 English, which has "Aren't I?" but no contracted declarative form. (All varieties have "I'm not invited".)
Scots and Scottish English
As many Scots use both Scots and Scottish English depending on the situation, there's a strong influence of Scots, and sometimes it's difficult to say whether a Scots form also belongs to Scottish English or whether its occasional appearance in Scottish English is simply code-switching. Borderline examples might be aye for "yes", ken for "know", or no for "not" (Am I no invited?). The touchstone is whether the speaker would feel comfortable using these in a very formal situation.
External results
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