PHONETIC DESCRIPTION OF SCOTTISH LANGUAGE AND DIALECT § 70. f takes the place of v in the pl. of nouns, contrary to Eng. usage, as in laifs, lifes, leafs, wifes, knifes, thiefs, for loaves, lives, etc. § 70.1. f and v, when final, are often absorbed by the preceding vowel; when medial they often disappear — e.g. hae, doo, gie, gya, lea, loe, prie, shirra, Turra, deil, een, for have, dove, give, gave, leave, love, prove, sheriff, Turriff, devil, even. § 70.2. f for th in Thursday [′ø:rzd&scirtail;] seems once to have been common all over Scotland (see Vocabulary), although often supposed to be peculiar to the North. For instances off = wh see § 134. § 70.3. v is also lost after l — e.g. del, saw, sel, siller, twal, for delve, salve, self, silver, twelve. § 71. Final th, b.p-t.fric. [þ], is dropped in a number of words — e.g. fro', mou, quo, unco, wi', for froth, mouth, quoth, uncouth, with. § 71.1. th, v.p-t. fric. [ð], is lost in colloquial language in that (rel, and conj.) and, in some of the dialects, in the other pronominals when it is initial. See. § 158. § 72. h is used in Sc. as in St.Eng. except in a few fisher dialects on the east coast. The O.E. hit (neut. of “he”), Cai. and Ork. hid, has been retained in emphatic position, especially in the schoolboy phrase “A'm hit” — i.e. the one to pay the forfeit, the pursuer in a game. Hiz occurs also as an emphatic form of us. “That's hiz.” “Him and hiz (huz) is gran' friens.” § 73. [x], b.bk.fric., is commonly written ch as in broch (borough), brocht, forfochen (exhausted), lauch, nocht (nothing), sauch (willow). It is also used by many speakers before wh = [x&turnw;], as in whan, wha [x&turnw;an, x&turnw;a:, x&turnw;&oh.:]. § 74. [&crtail;], b.fr.fric., used with front vowels. After ee [i] and i [&sci;] it has the value of Ger. ch in ich. Heich (high), sich (sigh), sicht [hi&crtail;, s&sci;&crtail;, s&sci;&crtail;t]. After the other front vowels it is midway between Ger. ch in ich and Sc. ch in loch. It is heard also in many pronunciations initially as heuk (hook), heuch (cliff), hoe = [&crtail;juk, &crtail;jux, &crtail;j&turnv;u]. § 74.1. y = [j], v.fr. ic., is found in some words which had a diphthong in the older stage — e.g. yerl, yirn (of milk), yird, yowe, for earl, earn (coagulate), earth, ewe. The prefixing of y seems to be regarded by many writers as giving a very distinct archaic or dialectal flavour to a word. Hence we have, in Scott's Heart of Midlothian, Yerastian in the mouth of Davie Deans for Erastian, and yepic, yessay in Noctes Ambrosianæ in the mouth of the shepherd. § 75. wh [&turnw;], b.l-bk.fric. (O.E. hw), has remained in Sc. The Sc. for whelks [wIlks or w&turnv;lks], O.North wioluc, retains the original [w] sound. wh [&turnw;] seems to have been weakened in England at an early period, as may be inferred from the fact that its spelling alternates with w — e.g. in The Peterborough Chronicle (12th cent.). The O.Sc. spelling for this sound was quh, as in quhan, quha. In Cursor M.undi it is qu. Perhaps the Sc. spelling indicates a stronger aspiration which may still be heard in emphatic utterance, thus [x&turnw;a:t] = what, but cf. chua, chuat, for W.S. hwā, hwæt, in O.North texts. § 76. w. After s, in some words w is vocalised — e.g. soom, sook (deceive), soord, for swim, swick, sword. § 76.1. w changes a following e into a, as in well (w ater), w eb, wealth, west, wedge, twelv e, dwell (see § 27.1), i following w becomes [&turnv;], as wit, win, wind, wish = wut, wun, wund, wuss. § 76.2. Initial w is lost in a few words, but this pronunciation is now almost obsolete — e.g. umman (n.Sc.), ooman (Fife), ook and owk and ouk (week), oof, oo and oolm oo, for woman, week, wolf, wool, woo. § 76.3. It has been developed out of u in wir or wur, meaning our unemphatic: “Wir ain fowk” = our own people. § 76.4. In only two Scottish dialects — viz. Crm. and the Lth. speech of Newhaven and Cockenzie — does w regularly take the place of wh. § 76.5. w before r was still pronounced in words like wright, wrong, wrote, wrought, in most of the Sc. dialects, till well on to the end of last century. See Ellis' E.E.P., V., WordLists, pp. 684–820, and E.D.D., VI., Word Lists. It is now rarely heard. For its substitute v in n.Sc. see § 137. § 77. l is pronounced as in St.Eng., except that the back variety may sometimes be heard when it is adjacent to a back consonant, as in the phrase “muckle guid may it dae ye.” For the so..called liquid l see § 108. § 78. l coming after back vowels ă, &obreve;, ŭ was generally vocalised in Middle Sc. § 78.1. When the original vowel was a, [a:] is now the result. In em. and wm.Sc. this ā has become [&oh.:] very generally.

(1)	Mod.Sc.	Mod.Eng.
	a'	all
	ba' (Rom.)	ball
	ca'	call
	fa'	fall
	ga'	gall
	ha'	hall
	sma'	small
	sta'	stall
	wa'	wall