PHONETIC DESCRIPTION OF SCOTTISH LANGUAGE AND DIALECTS
of E.E.P. appears a phonetic version of Tam o' Shanter,
all in Sc. dialect. This was based on an earlier attempt in 1848, which had
passed through several hands until finally revised for Dr Ellis in 1883 by Mr
R. Giffen, the well-known statistician, a native of Strathavon. In the text
the ui words are all represented phonetically as rounded vowels but
the notes give frequent unrounded alternatives. The version is really based
on a traditional pronunciation of ui words.
§ 93.2. The u vowel [&turnv;] takes the place of o or
a in some words, as body, porridge, bonnet,
Robert, mauna (mustn't), mony,
stomack, foreign.1
§ 93.3. Words which in O.E. have (1) æ (i-umlaut
of ā), (2) ēa, (3) e-, in open position (see § 29, note),
have in this division of m.Sc. the vowel ee [i] — e.g.
mare, bear, swear, tear, etc. See § 88 (3).
§ 93.4. In Glasgow and its neighbourhood the sound oo [u] is
pronounced with the highest part of the tongue well advanced, giving a sound
midway between Eng. oo [u] and Fr. u [y]. The same sound may be
heard also in Cai. See § 157(4).
§ 93.5. d is generally dropped after n and l
as in n.Sc. See §§ 64, 64. 1.
§ 93.6. p, t, k, medial and final, are very frequently replaced by
the glottal catch — a plosive sound in the larynx, as in
water, butter, cap, rack —
wa'er, bu'er, ca” ra'.2 This
sound is quite strong as far south as Kilmarnock, but decreases until it
disappears in s.Ayr and Gall. It can be heard also in em.Sc. but with
decreasing effect as we proceed eastwards. Fifty years ago it was unknown in
n. and s.Sc., but it can now be heard in many of the larger towns in these
districts, not by natural development but through association with people
from Glasgow and its neighbourhood.
§ 93.7. l is sometimes replaced by y [j] — e.g.
blue, plough, laik's (marbles in play) —
bew or
byoo, pyoo, yakes.3
§ 93.8. Owing to the influx of Irish and foreign immigrants in the
industrial area near Glasgow the dialect has become hopelessly corrupt.
§ 94. se.Slg. is an intermediate dialect between em. and wm.Sc. It
agrees generally with Lth., but is affected, owing to geographical position,
by wm.Sc. speech. It agrees with wm.Sc. in pronouncing hook,
nook, crook, as hyuk, nyuk and cruk, and not
with the oo sound as in Lth. Who, whose and two
are also pronounced hwaw, etc., as in wm.Sc., and not hwae,
etc., as in Lth. Porridge, bonnet, bannock are
pronounced purritch, bunnit, bunnick,4 as in
wm.Sc., instead of parritch, bawnit, bawnick as in Lth.
The termination ay [&ebreve;] so common in Lth. is less so in c.Slg.
— e.g. the Lth. awfay, Gleskay, bawray become
awfa, Gleska, barra, as in wm.Sc., and the Lth.
cannay, arnay, winnay, etc. — can't,
aren't, won't — become canna, arna,
winna5 In this district also the glottal catch as a substitute
for p, t, k, is heard. d after l and n is dropped
also as in wm.Sc. Words in O.E. with æ, ēa, e in
open position agree partly with em.Sc.(a) in having [e] and partly with
em.Sc.(b) and wm.Sc. in having [i]. See § 88. Yin (pron.) instead
of ane has pressed as far north as Stirling town, according to our
correspondent Slg.2, but ae (adj.) as in “ae man”
is still the more common form.
Dialect of Campbeltown.
§ 95. The wm.Scots dialect extends westward across the Firth of
Clyde to Bute and to the southern extremity of Kintyre. Our correspondent. Mr
McInnes, Campbeltown, reports as follows:
“The almost complete swamping of Gaelic by LoTwand Scots in
s.Kintyre is due primarily to the big Lowland immigration in the 17th cent.,
from 1640 onwards. There were at least four big waves during this
century, and the inflow has gone on at intervals ever since right down to the
40's and 60's of last century. These immigrants were for the most
part ‘bien’ people and settled, mainly as farmers, in the
agricultural portions of south Kintyre. They have had a marked effect both on
the character of the local speech and in hastening the decay of Gaelic. The
Lowland Church in Campbeltown was founded as early as 1654 and the Church
Records of Southend Parish show that there was a Grammar School in
Campbeltown in 1656; evidence that the Lowlanders did not after their
settlement here let the grass grow under their heels. With nearly three
hundred years of this dominating Lowland element at work in the district and
operating all the time with other causes that brought Gaelic into disrepute
and threatened its entire extinction, it is surprising that we still have
from five to eight per cent. of Gaelic speakers left.
“Trade and passenger intercourse with Glasgow and the other Clyde
ports have also influenced local speech away from Gaelic towards Glasgow
Scots, and in this connection one important fact must be remembered —
namely, that for some twenty-five or thirty years in the latter half of last
century the Glasgow militia, several hundreds strong, were billeted on the
1 ′b&turnv;d&scirtail;, ′p&turnv;r&sci;t&sh.,
′b&turnv;n t, ′r&turnv;b&schwa;rt, ′m&turnv;n&schwa;,
′m&turnv;n&scirtail;, ′st&turnv;m&sci;k, ′f&turnv;r&schwa;n.
2 ′wa&gl.&schwa;r, ′b&turnv;&gl.&schwa;r, ka&gl.,
ra&gl..
3 bju:, pju:, jeks.
4 ′p&turnv;r&sci;t&sh., ′b&turnv;n&sci;t,
′b&turnv;n&sci;k.
5 ′kan&schwa;,
′arn&schwa;, ′w&scirtail;n&schwa;.