SCOPE OF THE DICTIONARY such as [v, ð, z] and [r]. The tense vowels may also be shortened without loss of quality, and in this respect Sc. resembles Fr. rather than St.Eng. Whenever an earlier l, v, or w has been vocalised and absorbed by the preceding vowel the result is a long vowel or diphthong. See § 78.2. Full length is marked (:), half length (.) 1 placed after the vowel symbol. CONSONANT QUANTITY When d has been lost after n or l, the n or l is often lengthened. In some dialects the vowel is lengthened, but in others the lengthening is spread over the vowel and consonant, thus land may become [la:n, lan or lan̅]. DIACRITIC MARKS
~  placed over a symbol indicates that the sound is nasalised; thus Fr. on = [&openotilde;&openotilde;].
o  placed under a symbol indicates a voiceless sound, as &lringbl; in Welsh Lloyd.
.  placed under a symbol indicates a sound produced with inversion of tongue tip, as Cai. [&turnrdotbl;].
′  placed before a syllable indicates that the stress falls on that syllable; thus ar′rive [&schwa;′ra&sci;v].
..  placed over a vowel indicates that the vowel is intermediate in acoustic effect between the standard sound and the mixed vowel. Thus [&sciuml;] lies between [&sci;] and [&schwa;]; it is sometimes heard in ne.Sc. in the second syllable of father.
̀  placed over a tense vowel-symbol indicates that it is tending to become lax — e.g.[ì].
́  placed over a lax vowel-symbol indicates that it is tending to become tense — e.g. [&openoacute;].
¯  placed over a vowel or consonant-symbol marks length; used only occasionally and in quoted matter. SCOPE OF THE DICTIONARY The Scottish National Dictionary deals with (1) Scottish words in existence since c.1700 (a) in Scottish literature, (b) in public records, (c) in glossaries and in dictionaries, (d) in private collections, (e) in special dialect treatises, and (2) Scottish words gathered from the mouth of dialect speakers by competent observers. The general vocabulary will include (1) Scottish words that do not occur in St.Eng. except as acknowledged loan words; (2) Scottish words the cognates of which occur in St.Eng.; (3) words which have the same form in Sc. and St.Eng. but have a different meaning in Sc. — i.e. so-called Scotticisms; (4) legal, theological or ecclesiastical terms which, within our period, have been current in Scottish speech — e.g. liege pousté, avizandum, action sermon; (5) words borrowed since c.1700 (from other dialects or languages) which have become current in Gen.Sc., or in any of its dialects, especially Gaelic words in counties on or near the Sc.Western limit and Gipsy words in the Border counties. IDENTIFICATION OF WORDS Words are identified by (A) their spelling, (B) their grammatical function, (C) their status, (D) their meaning, (E) their pronunciation, (F) their inflexions, (G) their origin. (A) It is very seldom that a word is spelled only in one way in Sc. See §§ 19-21. The variant spellings at the head of each article are divided into two classes. The first class, in large capitals, contains the most common spelling or spellings found in our conventional literary dialect. The second class, in smaller capitals, represents less important or dialectal spellings. The placing of the words in the first group is determined by three considerations: (1) frequency of occurrence; (2) historical importance; and (3) phonetic correctness. An example will illustrate this: ADAE, ADO, ADÜ, ADEU, ADEE. Adae is placed first because it is the form most commonly used and because it suggests the most common pronunciation. Ado is also in common use, and is found in O.Scots, but is apt to be identified with an English pronunciation. The next two forms are rare spelling variations, and the last is an attempt to represent a dialect pronunciation. 1 Seldom used