SCOTTISH ACCENT
EE Varieties 2021/2022
Ema Bícová

SSE (STANDARD SCOTTISH ENGLISH)
•Distinctive vocabulary
•Result of the contact of Scots with Standard English
•Code-switching and style shifting is equally common in speakers

HISTORY
 King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603
ÞCourt moves to London
ÞCourt poets adapt language and style to the English market
ÞScots is eclipsed as a literary language (only English translation of the Bible was available)

 In 1707, Scottish and English parliaments amalgamated, but church and educational and legal
structures remained separate
ÞTerminology remains distinct and separate
Þ

PHONOLOGY
• Mostly rhotic
•/r/ may be postalveolar approximant [ɹ], alveolar tap [ɾ], or alveoral trill [r]
•/o/ and /ɔ/ before /r/ are contrasted (different pron. of horse and hoarse)
•/or/ and /ur/ are contrasted (shore x sure, pour x poor)
•/r/ before /l/ is strong: occurrence of epenthetic vowel (girl, world = 2 syllables)
• /ʍ/ is present (which)
• /x/ is frequent in Scots and Gaelic borrowings (loch)
• /l/ is velarized to [ɫ]
• /p/, /t/ and /k/ may not be aspirated
• ending –ed may be realized as /t/ (ended)
• ending –g is dropped (endin‘)
• glottal stop may be an allophone of /t/ after vowels

VOWELS
•no /ʊ/, instead transferring Scots /u/ = [ʉ] or [ʏ] (pull & pool = homophones)
•no /æ/-/ɑː/ distinction (bath, trap, laugh & palm = same vowel)

AITKEN‘S LAW
 Scottish Vowel Length Law = Aitken‘s Law (A.J. Aitken)
•Vowel length is conditioned by the target vowel‘s phonetic environment
•Vowels and diphthongs are short, except in these environments, where they are long:
•Before /r/.
•Before a voiced fricative (/v, z, ð, ʒ/).
•Before a morpheme boundary.
•In a word-final open syllable, save for the HAPPY vowel /e/ (or, in Geordie, /i/).

HOW TO DO A SCOTTISH ACCENT IN UNDER 2 MINUTES
Matt Pocock


SCOTTICISMS
 What a dreich weather! – What a lousy weather!
 You'd better just caw canny. – Don‘t overdo it.
 Just play the daft laddie. – Play stupid.
 Cheers. – Thanks.
 Ach, away ye go! – I don‘t believe you.
 I'll come round (at) the back of eight. – I‘ll come round just after 8.
 Oan yer bike pal. – Go away.
 Hello. – Awright ya?
 Aye. – Yes.
 Ah cannae dae tha. – I can‘t do that.

 https://www.wikihow.com/Talk-With-a-Scottish-Accent



FAMOUS VOICES – BILLY BOYD



ENGLISH VZ SCOTTISH TRANSLATIONS
WeeScottishLass


ENGLISH TO SCOTTISH TRANSLATORS
 Scottie Translator
 Welcome tae the Scottie Translator from Scotland. Write yer wee bit English phrase in the kistie
on the left an we'll chynge it intae Scottie juist lik that! Nae havers nou!
 http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/scottish-translator.asp
 (The website includes translators to other notable British accents as well.)

 ScoTranslate
 http://www.scotranslate.com/

 LingoJam
 https://lingojam.com/EnglishtoScots

CHEERS FUR YER ATTENTION.