Transcript
Scottish English Presentation
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Lexicon
Idioms
Introduction
Languages in Scotland
- Standard Scottish English: lge of formal communication & administration
- Scots: closely related; used/understood by most people; spoken in the Lowlands
- Gaelic: Celtic lge of the Highlands & Islands; closely related to Irish
Development
- Romans --> Latin
- Irish --> Gaelic
- Anglo-Saxons --> Old English
- Skandinavian Vikings --> Norwegian/Danish
- Scot. King Malcom III married A-S Princess --> Anglo-Saxon & Gaelic as court lge
- "Auld Alliance" --> French
- Scot. Wars of Independence --> Scots = separate lge from English
- Union of Crowns & Union of Parliaments --> English replaces Scots as lge of education, church & state
- Today: Scots = mesolect; spoken by the middle class
Phonology
Main chapters on Phonology
1. the rhotic accent
2. the vowel system
3. consonant options
Examples
Rhoticity :
bird
girl /g?r?l/
Vowel system :
/ai/ ----> /ae/ buy, ride, write
/a?/ ------> /?u/ how, pout
/?i/ -------> /oi/ boy, hoy
/ju/ -----> /ju(u barré)/ hue, pew
middle word /t/ disappears butter /b?(t barré)?/
Rétrécissements
/u:/ ---> /u/ food, good, booed
/i:/ ----> /i/
/a:/ ---> /a/
/?:/ ---> /?/
/ju:/ ---> /ju(u barré)/
Morphology
The Scots use of modal verbs :
Many speakers do not use 'shall' and 'may' and use would instead of 'should'.
Might and will maybe are used for possibility and have (got) for compulsion.
Need to, use to and dare to are used as main verbs. Need may occur in the passive, and is also used non-progressively as is want.
Ex : He has got to come.
The verb have is used more like an auxiliary.
The passive is usually expressed with get .
Ex : I got told off.
Might occasionnaly combine with should and would
Examples:
You might would like to come with us
You might should claim your expenses.
He might no could do it.
Modal verbs occur after the infinitive marker “to” :
I have to can drive a car to get that job.
I’d like to could to do that.
Ah would uh could uh done it. ( I would have been able to do it).
Different irregular (strong) forms in Scots and Standard English – seen (Scots) vs saw (Standard English).
A given verb may be strong in Standard English but weak in Scots – compare sold (Standard English) and sellt (Scots)"
The following lists of words are illustrative, not exhaustive.
Past Tense forms of verbs :
brung ‘brought’
driv ‘drove’
seen ‘saw’
taen ‘took’
come ‘came’
killt ‘killed’
sellt ‘sold’
tellt ‘told’
done ‘did’
run ‘ran’
sunk ‘sank’
writ ‘wrote’
Ex : Ah telt ye (English 'told'); Ah've keepit a seat for ye (English 'kept').
Tense and aspect
Standard English stative verbs such as: know, like, want do not occur in the progressive.
“Know” behaves in the same way in Scots but other stative verbs occur regularly in the progressive.
Ex : 1. I wasnae liking it and the lassie I was going wi wasnae liking it.
2. We werenae really wanting to go last year but they sent us a lot of letters to come.
Pronouns
Us is informal but widespread instead of ‘me’, particularly with verbs such as give, show, lend:
Can you lend us a quid?
The possessive pronoun ‘mines’ is analogous to yours, his, and hisself and theirselves are analogous to yourself :
Me and Jimmy are on Monday our two selves (by ourselves).
Demonstratives adjectives:
Scots has thae (‘those’) as in:
Thae cakes was awfy dear (‘awfully dear’).
Thae is still alive but the most frequent form is now Them:
Them cakes was awfy dear.
Prepositional adverbs
The typical prepositions in passive clauses are from, frae, fae, off (of) and with.
Heh, ah’m gonna get killt fae ma maw (by my mum)
We were all petrified frae him.
Ah’d rather hae no job than bein beat frae pillar tae post off a that man (by that man)
I got helped with the midwife.
Time clauses can be introduced by tae (to) instead of till as in :
Wait here tae I come oot. (till I come out)
Number agreement
Plural subject nouns usually combine with is and was:
1. Ma glassis iz broakun. (My glasses are broken)
2. Is they yours ?
3. The windies wiz aw broakun. ( The windows are all broken).
4. The lambs is oot the field. ( The lambs are out of the field).
Syntax&Lexicon
The way negation is formed
Two indipendent words no, not
(two suffixes -nae, -n’t)
Ex. «He isn’t still not working»
«Nobody would dream of not coming»
«Do you not want it?»
In SSE double negation is possible
A particular use of some verbs, especially the modals
Many cases of double modals, such as:
«He’ll can help us tomorrow»
«She might can get away»
Shall, may are not so frequent
Would replaces should:
RP «I should if I were you»
SSE «I would if I was you»
Might, will maybe express a sense of possibility:
RP «He may come later»
SSE «He’ll maybe come later»
To express a sense of compulsion, have got:
RP «She must leave»
SSE «She has to leave»
Have is used as an auxiliary verb
Ex: «Had you fun with them?»
Frequent resort to a progressive form
Stative verbs often occur in a progressive form, e.g.
«He’s not understanding a single thing you say»
«They were meaning to join you»
Reflexive forms & verbs of motion
Reflexive forms are often used in speech and writing where RP does not require them
Ex: «How’s yourself today?»
«If it hadn’t been for myself, she’d be dead»
Verbs of motion are often elided before adverbs of motion
Ex: «I’ll away home, then»
A «wee» bit of lexicon…
Aye! Yes!
Bevvy Alcoholic drink
Eejit …I know you know…
Nowff Pub or drinking dan
Ma My
Mac Son of
Sweetiewife A gossipy man
Wee Little
Weel Well
Idioms
A'll see ye at the back o thrie.
A'm feelin a bittie wabbit.
He wis anerlie a bit laddie.
Tak yir ain tale hame.
Ye'r a sicht fir sair een.
Yir eens bigger nor yir belly.
Many Scots idioms and phrases have been carried over into SSE.
SSE Anglo English
How are you keeping? How are you?
I doubt he's not coming. I expect he isn't coming.
Away to your bed. Go to bed.
That's me away. I'm going now.
I've got the cold I've got a cold.
It's for your Christmas. It's your Christmas present.
I gave her a row. I scolded her.
He gave me a fright. He frightened me.
I'm finished it. I'm finished.
I'll get you home. I'll take you home.
Cheerio just now! Goodbye for now!
To go the messages. To go shopping.
The back of nine. Just after nine (o' clock).
«I cannae help the way I speak. I feel comfortable and at ease in my
own language in the same way I feel comfortable and at ease in my
dear old Scotland. Scottish, to me, will never be a foreign Country»
Christopher Brookmeyer
