51-658: Aith , ( Shetland dialect : Eid, Old Norse : Eið , meaning Isthmus, cf Eday ), is a village on the Northern coast of the West Shetland Mainland , Scotland at the southern end of Aith Voe, some 21 miles (34 kilometres) west of Lerwick . Aith lies on the B9071 that runs south to the junction with the A971 (which links Lerwick to the west of Shetland) at the village of Bixter and North East via East Burrafirth to
102-593: A in dialect writing: Du sood a telt me , 'you should have told me'. As is usual in Scots, auxiliary and monosyllabic verbs can be made negative by adding - na : widna , 'would not'. Otherwise, the Scots negative has no where standard English has 'not'. Modern Scots Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster , from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing
153-544: A consensus view of writers in Scots at the time, following several years of debate and consultation involving Alexander Scott , Adam Jack Aitken , David Murison, Alastair Mackie and others. A developed version of the Style Sheet, it is based on the old spellings of the Makars but seeks to preserve the familiar appearance of written Scots. It includes all of the Style Sheet's suggestions, but recommends that writers return to
204-667: A free-for-all with the traditional model disparaged but no popular replacement", leading to more spelling variation, not less. The Scots language has had a long history of being devalued and marginalized in the Scottish education system . Due to the Anglicisation of Scotland and the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 , the education system required that every child learn English. This caused Scots to become forgotten about in main education and considered slang. As of 2022, it
255-971: A high degree of autonomy due to geography and isolation from southern dialects. It has a large amount of unique vocabulary but as there are no standard criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, whether or not Shetland dialect is a separate language from Scots is much debated. "Shetland dialect speakers generally have a rather slow delivery, pitched low and with a somewhat level intonation". By and large, consonants are pronounced much as in other Modern Scots varieties. Exceptions are: The dental fricatives /ð/ and /θ/ may be realised as alveolar plosives [d] and [t] respectively, for example [tɪŋ] and [ˈmɪdər] rather than [θɪŋ] , or debuccalised [hɪŋ] and [hɪn] , (thing) and [ˈmɪðər] mither (mother) as in Central Scots . The qu in quick , queen and queer may be realised [xʍ] rather than [kw] , initial /tʃ/ ch may be realised [ʃ] and
306-639: A list of over 2500 common Scots words spelt on the basis of the SLS Recommendations. Purves has also published dozens of poems using the spellings. In 2000 the Scots Spelling Committee report was published in Lallans. Shortly after publication Caroline Macafee criticised some aspects of that, and some previous spelling suggestions, as "demolishing the kind-of-a standardisation that already existed where Scots spelling had become
357-709: A meeting of the Makar's Club in Edinburgh in 1947, where the Scots Style Sheet was approved. J. K.Annand, Douglas Young, Robert Garioch, A.D. Mackie, Alexander Scott, Tom Scott and Sydney Goodsir Smith all followed the recommendations in the Style Sheet to some extent. Some of its suggestions are as follows: In 1985, the Scots Language Society (SLS) published a set of spelling guidelines called "Recommendations for Writers in Scots". They represent
408-546: A process of language attrition , whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from English , largely from the colloquial register . This process of language contact or dialectisation under English has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English, and increased population mobility became available after the Second World War . It has recently taken on
459-806: A real guid day (Having a really good day). She's awfu fauchelt (She's awfully tired). Adverbs are also formed with - s , - lies , lins , gate ( s )and wey(s) -wey , whiles (at times), mebbes (perhaps), brawlies (splendidly), geylies (pretty well), aiblins (perhaps), airselins (backwards), hauflins (partly), hidlins (secretly), maistlins (almost), awgates (always, everywhere), ilkagate (everywhere), onygate (anyhow), ilkawey (everywhere), onywey (anyhow, anywhere), endweys (straight ahead), whit wey (how, why). Ordinal numbers end mostly in t : seicont , fowert , fift , saxt — (second, fourth, fifth, sixth) etc., but note also first , thrid / third — (first, third). Ae /eː/ , /jeː/
510-616: Is a body as in A body can niver bide wi a body's sel (One can never live by oneself). In the North East, the 'wh' in the above words is pronounced /f/ . Scots prefers the word order He turnt oot the licht to 'He turned the light out' and Gie's it ( Give us it ) to 'Give it to me'. Certain verbs are often used progressively He wis thinkin he wad tell her , He wis wantin tae tell her . Verbs of motion may be dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion A'm awa tae ma bed, That's me awa hame, A'll intae
561-516: Is 'silent'. Many verbs have ( strong or irregular ) forms which are distinctive from Standard English (two forms connected with ~ means that they are variants): The present participle and gerund in are now usually /ən/ but may still be differentiated /ən/ and /in/ in Southern Scots and, /ən/ and /ɪn/ North Northern Scots. Adverbs are usually of the same form as the verb root or adjective especially after verbs. Haein
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#1732793802627612-930: Is a dialect of Insular Scots spoken in Shetland , an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland . It is derived from the Scots dialects brought to Shetland from the end of the fifteenth century by Lowland Scots, mainly from Fife and Lothian , with a degree of Norse influence from the Norn language , which is an extinct North Germanic language spoken on the islands until the late 18th century. Consequently, Shetland dialect contains many words of Norn origin. Many of them, if they are not place-names, refer to e.g. seasons, weather, plants, animals, places, food, materials, tools, colours, parts of boats. Like Doric in North East Scotland, Shetland dialect retains
663-571: Is deemed a vulnerable language. In 2012, the Scottish Government released a policy approach that highlights their aim to provide opportunities for children to learn languages other than their mother tongues. And in 2014, there was a dictionary app developed to help aid students in their learning of the Scots language. The Curriculum for Excellence is the national curriculum for schools in Scotland, for students from aged 3–18. It
714-425: Is described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots . By the end of the 19th century, Scots spelling "was in a state of confusion as a result of hundreds of years of piecemeal borrowing from English". Some writers created their own spelling systems to represent their own dialects, rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots. The variety referred to as 'synthetic Scots' or Lallans shows
765-1173: Is he? In a study comparing pre-oil Shetland dialect usage from oral history recordings and contemporary speech from interviews, the gender system in Shetland dialect was found to be a stable feature of modern dialect usage, and is not tied to use alongside "traditional lexical items". The plural of nouns is usually formed by adding -s, as in Standard English. There are a few irregular plurals, such as kye , 'cows' or een , 'eyes'. Shetland dialect also distinguishes between personal pronouns used by parents when speaking to children, old persons speaking to younger ones, or between familiar friends or equals and those used in formal situations and when speaking to superiors. (See T–V distinction ) The familiar forms are thoo (thou), pronounced [duː] , often written du in dialect writing; thee , pronounced [di(ː)] , often written dee in dialect writing; thy , pronounced [daɪ] , often written dy in dialect writing; and thine , pronounced [daɪn] , often written dine in dialect writing; contrasting with
816-698: Is preferred to that with - na with contractable auxiliary verbs like - ll for will , or in yes/no questions with any auxiliary He'll no come and Did he no come? The present tense of verbs adhere to the Northern Subject Rule whereby verbs end in - s in all persons and numbers except when a single personal pronoun is next to the verb, Thay say he's ower wee , Thaim that says he's ower wee , Thir lassies says he's ower wee (They say he's too small), etc. Thay're comin an aw but Five o thaim's comin , The lassies? Thay'v went but Ma brakes haes went . Thaim that comes first
867-404: Is serred first (Those who come first are served first). The trees growes green in the simmer (The trees grow green in summer). Wis 'was' may replace war 'were', but not conversely: You war/wis thare . The regular past form of the weak or regular verbs is -it , -t or -ed , according to the preceding consonant or vowel: The -ed ending may be written -'d if the e
918-420: Is used as an adjective before a noun such as : The Ae Hoose (The One House), Ae laddie an twa lassies (One boy and two girls). Ane is pronounced variously, depending on dialect, /en/ , /jɪn/ in many Central and Southern varieties, /in/ in some Northern and Insular varieties, and /wan/ , often written yin , een and wan in dialect writing. The impersonal form of 'one'
969-651: Is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder. The older second person singular possessive thy ( [ðai] ), and thee ( [ði] , Shetland [diː] along with thine ( s ) [dəin(z)] ) still survive to some extent where thoo remains in use. See T–V distinction . The relative pronoun is that ( ' at is an alternative form borrowed from Norse but can also be arrived at by contraction) for all persons and numbers, but may be left out Thare's no mony fowk (that) bides in that glen (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms wha, wham, whase 'who, whom, whose', and
1020-571: The burr , which is not a Scots realisation. The greater part of the valley of the Esk and the whole of Liddesdale have been considered to be northern English dialects by some, Scots by others. From the nineteenth century onwards influence from the South through education and increased mobility have caused Scots features to retreat northwards so that for all practical purposes the political and linguistic boundaries may be considered to coincide. As well as
1071-570: The Scottish Vowel Length Rule . Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scottish English are generally spelled as in English. Other words may be spelt the same but differ in pronunciation, for example: aunt , swap , want and wash with /a/ , bull , full v. and pull with /ʌ/ , bind , find and wind v., etc. with /ɪ/ . As of 2022, there is no official standard orthography for modern Scots, but most words have generally accepted spellings. During
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#17327938026271122-518: The apologetic apostrophe , to mark "missing" English letters. For example, the older Scots spelling taen / tane (meaning "taken") became ta'en ; even though the word had not been written or pronounced with a "k" for hundreds of years. 18th–19th century Scots drew on the King James Bible and was heavily influenced by the conventions of Augustan English poetry . All of this "had the unfortunate effect of suggesting that Broad Scots
1173-611: The is pronounced [də] often written da in dialect writing. As is usual in Scots, Shetland dialect puts an article where Standard English would not: gyaan ta da kirk/da scole in da Simmer -- 'go to church/school in summer' da denner is ready 'dinner is ready' hae da caald 'have a cold' Nouns in Shetland dialect have grammatical gender beside natural gender. Some nouns which are clearly considered neuter in English are masculine or feminine, such as spade (m), sun (m), mön (f), kirk (f). This can also apply to dummy constructions, e.g. what time
1224-547: The 15th and 16th centuries, when Scots was a state language, the Makars had a loose spelling system separate from that of English. However, by the beginning of the 18th century, Scots was beginning to be regarded "as a rustic dialect of English, rather than a national language". Scots poet Allan Ramsay "embarked on large-scale anglicisation of Scots spelling". Successors of Ramsay—such as Robert Fergusson , Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott —tended to follow his spelling ideas, and
1275-559: The Scottish Gaelic diminutive - ag (- óg in Irish Gaelic). The eighteenth century Scots revival was initiated by writers such as Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson , and later continued by writers such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott . Scott introduced vernacular dialogue to his novels. Other well-known authors like Robert Louis Stevenson , William Alexander, George MacDonald , J. M. Barrie and other members of
1326-464: The adverb no , in the North East nae , as in A'm no comin (I'm not coming), A'll no learn ye (I will not teach you), or by using the suffix - na sometimes spelled nae (pronounced variously /ə/ , /ɪ/ or /e/ depending on dialect), as in A dinna ken (I don't know), Thay canna come (They can't come), We coudna hae telt him (We couldn't have told him), and A hivna seen her (I haven't seen her). The usage with no
1377-408: The formal forms you , you , your and yours , respectively. The familiar du takes the singular form of the verb: Du is, du hes ('you are, you have'). As is usual in Scots, the relative pronoun is that , also meaning who and which, pronounced [dat] or [ət] , often written dat or 'at in dialect writing, as in da dog at bet me... – 'the dog that bit me...' As is usual in Scots,
1428-406: The general trend throughout the 18th and 19th centuries was to adopt further spellings from English, as it was the only accessible standard. Although descended from the Scots of the Makars, 18th–19th century Scots abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings for standard English ones; although from the rhymes it was clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended. Writers also began using
1479-402: The greatest linguistic hobbies of the past century". Most proposals entailed regularising the use of established 18th–19th century conventions and avoiding the 'apologetic apostrophe'. Other proposals sought to undo the influence of standard English conventions on Scots spelling, by reviving Middle Scots conventions or introducing new ones. A step towards standardizing Scots spelling was taken at
1530-1054: The hoose an see him . Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by an (and) express surprise or indignation. She haed tae walk the hale lenth o the road an her seiven month pregnant (She had to walk the whole length of the road—and she seven months pregnant). He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg (He told me to run—and me with my sore leg). Diminutives in - ie , burnie small burn (stream), feardie/feartie (frightened person, coward), gamie (gamekeeper), kiltie (kilted soldier), postie (postman), wifie (woman, also used in Geordie dialect), rhodie (rhododendron), and also in - ock , bittock (little bit), playock (toy, plaything), sourock (sorrel) and Northern – ag , bairnag (little), bairn (child, common in Geordie dialect), Cheordag (Geordie), - ockie , hooseockie (small house), wifeockie (little woman), both influenced by
1581-803: The indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: the hairst ('autumn'), the Wadensday ('Wednesday'), awa tae the kirk ("off to church"), the nou ("at the moment"), the day (today), the haingles ('influenza'), the Laitin ('Latin'), The deuk ett the bit breid ("The duck ate a piece of bread"), the wife ("my wife") etc. Nouns usually form their plural in -(e)s but some irregular plurals occur: ee / een ('eye'/'eyes'), cauf / caur ('calf'/'calves'), horse / horse ('horse'/'horses'), cou / kye ('cow'/'cows'), shae / shuin ('shoe'/'shoes'). Nouns of measure and quantity are unchanged in
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1632-423: The initial cluster wr may be realised [wr] or [wər] . The underlying vowel phonemes of Shetland dialect based on McColl Millar (2007) and Johnston P. (1997). The actual allophones may differ from place to place. Vowel length is by and large determined by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule , although there are a few exceptions. To some extent a bewildering variety of spellings have been used to represent
1683-797: The junction with the A970 (which links Lerwick to the North) at the village of Voe . A single track road leads north from Aith along the west shoreline of Aith Voe to Vementry . Every year in early June the Aith Lifeboat Gala is held to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution , featuring a jarl squad and displays by the Shetland Coastguard among other activities. The modern settlement occupies an area originally named Aithsting during
1734-417: The main dialects, Edinburgh , Dundee and Glasgow (see Glasgow patter ) have local variations on an Anglicised form of Central Scots. In Aberdeen , Mid Northern Scots is spoken by a minority. Due to their being roughly near the border between the two dialects, places like Dundee and Perth can contain elements and influences of both Northern and Central Scots. Vowel length is usually conditioned by
1785-427: The marked influence of Standard English in grammar and spelling. During the 20th century, with spoken Scots and knowledge of the literary tradition waning, phonetic (often humorous) spellings became more common. In the second half of the 20th century a number of spelling reform proposals were presented. Commenting on this, John Corbett (2003: 260) writes that "devising a normative orthography for Scots has been one of
1836-675: The men that thair boat wis tint (the men whose boat was lost). A third adjective/adverb yon/yonder , thon/thonder indicating something at some distance D'ye see yon/thon hoose ower yonder/thonder? Also thae (those) and thir (these), the plurals of that and this respectively. In Northern Scots this and that are also used where "these" and "those" would be in Standard English. The modal verbs mey (may), ocht tae/ocht ti (ought to), and sall ( shall ), are no longer used much in Scots but occurred historically and are still found in anglicised literary Scots. Can , shoud (should), and will are
1887-562: The mid 19th century in most of lowland Scotland. It has since been replaced by ye/you in most areas except in Insular Scots where thee ( [ðiː] , Shetland [diː] ) is also used, in North Northern Scots and in some Southern Scots varieties. Thoo is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular ye or you
1938-763: The more traditional -aw , rather than -aa . Some of its other suggestions are as follows: The SLS Recommendations says "it is desirable that there should be traditional precedents for the spellings employed and [...] writers aspiring to use Scots should not invent new spellings off the cuff". It prefers a number of more phonetic spellings that were commonly used by medieval Makars, such as: ar (are), byd, tym, wyf (bide, time, wife), cum, sum (come, some), eftir (after), evin (even), evir (ever), heir, neir (here, near), hir (her), ir (are), im (am), littil (little), sal (shall) speik (speak), thay (they), thaim (them), thair (their), thare (there), yit (yet), wad (would), war (were), wes (was), wul (will). David Purves's book A Scots Grammar has
1989-756: The mouth of the north Esk in north Cumbria , crossing Cumbria and skirting the foot of the Cheviots before reaching the east coast at Bamburgh some 12 miles north of Alnwick . The Scots [ x ] –English [∅] / [ f ] cognate group ( micht - might , eneuch - enough , etc.) can be found in a small portion of north Cumbria with the southern limit stretching from Bewcastle to Longtown and Gretna . The Scots pronunciation of wh as [ ʍ ] becomes English [ w ] south of Carlisle but remains in Northumberland , but Northumberland realises r as [ ʁ ] , often called
2040-529: The nature of wholesale language shift towards Scottish English , sometimes also termed language change , convergence or merger. By the end of the twentieth century, Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland. Residual features of Scots are often simply regarded today as slang , especially by people from outwith Scotland, but even by many Scots. The varieties of Modern Scots are generally divided into five dialect groups: The southern extent of Scots may be identified by
2091-457: The older whilk 'which' are literary affectations; whilk is only used after a statement He said he'd tint it, whilk wis no whit we wantit tae hear (he said he'd lost it, which is not what we wanted to hear). The possessive is formed by adding ' s or by using an appropriate pronoun The wifie that's hoose gat burnt (the woman whose house was burnt), the wumman that her dochter gat mairit (the woman whose daughter got married);
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2142-466: The past tense of weak verbs is formed by either adding - ed , - it , or - t , as in spoot , spootit (move quickly). The auxiliary verb ta be 'to be', is used where Standard English would use 'to have': I'm written for 'I have written'. Ta hae 'to have', is used as an auxiliary with the modal verbs coud ('could'), hed ('had'), micht ('might'), most ('must'), sood ('should'), and wid ('would') and then reduced to [ə] , often written
2193-562: The period of Norse occupation. The surrounding parish is still known as Aithsting. On 20 February 2008 several houses in Aith were evacuated due to a fire in the local garage prompting fears that oxyacetylene canisters stored there might explode. The garage was destroyed and the site later cleared. Shetland dialect Shetland dialect (also variously known as Shetlandic ; broad or auld Shetland or Shaetlan ; and referred to as Modern Shetlandic Scots (MSS) by some linguists)
2244-411: The plural: fower fit ("four feet"), twa mile ("two miles"), five pund (five pounds), three hunderwecht (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include laifs (loaves), leafs (leaves), shelfs (shelves) and wifes (wives). The second person singular nominative thoo ( [ðuː] , Southern Scots [ðʌu] , Shetland dialect [duː] ) survived in colloquial speech until
2295-519: The preferred Scots forms. Scots employs double modal constructions He'll no can come the day (He won't be able to come today), A micht coud come the morn (I may be able to come tomorrow), A uised tae coud dae it, but no nou (I used to be able to do it, but not now). Do -support can be found in Modern Scots syntax, but is variable in frequency, and is likely to be a result of influence from English syntax. Negation occurs by using
2346-404: The prestigious literary conventions described above. Other spelling variants may be encountered in written Scots. Not all of the following features are exclusive to Scots and may also occur in some varieties of English. The is used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades and occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of
2397-542: The range of a number of pronunciation features which set Scots apart from neighbouring English dialects. Like many languages across borders there is a dialect continuum between Scots and the Northumbrian dialect , both descending from early northern Middle English . The Scots pronunciation of come [kʌm] contrasts with [kʊm] in Northern English . The Scots realisation [kʌm] reaches as far south as
2448-505: The use of the language in everyday conversations and help re-appropriate it as a traditional . Along with the introduction of Scots learning in Scottish classrooms, publishing companies have translated popular books into Scots. Itchy Coo has issued Scots editions of Harry Potter , and The Gruffalo , and by doing this they have made Scots more accessible to children, teachers, and families. The spellings used below are those based on
2499-476: The varied pronunciation of the Shetland dialect varieties. Latterly the use of the apologetic apostrophe to represent 'missing' English letters has been avoided. On the whole the literary conventions of Modern Scots are applied, if not consistently, the main differences being: The grammatical structure of Shetland dialect generally follows that of Modern Scots , with traces of Norse (Norn) and those features shared with Standard English . The definite article
2550-431: Was implemented in Scotland in 2010 and the initiative aimed to provide support for the incorporation of the Scots language learning in classrooms in Scotland. There is still hesitancy in acknowledging Scots as a 'proper' language in Scotland, and many believe that it should not be taught in schools. Individuals are starting to understand the cultural impact that learning Scots has on young people, and want to encourage
2601-411: Was not a separate language system, but rather a divergent or inferior form of English". This 'Scots of the book' or Standard Scots lacked neither "authority nor author". It was used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster, by writers such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Murray , David Herbison , James Orr , James Hogg and William Laidlaw among others. It
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