SCOTCH VARIANT OF ENGLISH

Prepared by: Veronika Derkach,

344 Group.

Mykolaiv 2013

CONTENT

Introduction 3

CHAPTER I LEXICAL DIFFERENCES 4

CHAPTER II PHONOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES 6

CHAPTER III SYNTACTICAL DIFFERENCES 8

CHAPTER IV SCOTS AND SCOTTISH ENGLISH 9

CONCLUSION 10

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..12

Introduction

Scotch is an accent spoken in Scotland. Scotland has not only different words for things, but different pronunciations for words that English speakers from around the world may not be familiar with. Scottish English is the variety of English spoken in Scotland, also called Scottish Standard English often abbreviated to SSE. SSE may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class in Scotland and the accepted norm in schools."

It should be mentioned that Scottish English is the result of dialect contact between Scots and English after the 17th century.

In spelling and punctuation, Scottish English does not normally differ from other British dialects of English. The speech of the middle classes in Scotland tends to conform to the grammatical norms of the written standard, particularly in situations that are regarded as formal.

SSE may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. As many Scots use both Scots and Scottish English depending on the situation, there is a strong influence of Scots, and sometimes it is difficult to say whether a Scots form also belongs to Scottish English.

Highland English is slightly different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic substratum.

Scottish English has a number of lexical items which are rare in Southern British English (and possibly other forms of Standard English). General items are "outwith", meaning "outside of"; "wee", the Scots word for “small” etc.

While pronunciation features vary among speakers (depending on region and social status), there are a number of phonological aspects characteristic of Scottish English. Scottish English is a rhotic accent, meaning |/r/ is pronounced in the syllable coda. The phoneme IPA|/x/ is common in names and in SSE's many Gaelic and Scots borrowings, so much so that it is often taught to incomers, particularly for "ch" in loch etc. So, Scottish English has some lexical, grammatical and phonological differences comparing with British RP.

Lexical differences

Scottish English has a number of lexical items which are rare in Southern British English (and possibly other forms of Standard English). General items are "outwith", meaning "outside of"; "wee", the Scots word for small (which also occurs in Hiberno-English, Geordie English, American English and New Zealand English); "pinkie" for little finger and "janitor" for caretaker (both of which also occur in American English); “bairn” for child; “bonnie” for pretty, attractive, (or good looking, handsome, as in the case of Bonnie Prince Charlie); “braw” for fine; “muckle” for big;; “cowp” for tip or pour, “fankle” for a tangled mess. “Kirk” for church has parallels in other Germanic languages. Examples of culturally specific items are Hogmanay; caber, haggis, bothy; scone; oatcake; tablet; rone (roof gutter); teuchter, ned, numpty (witless person) and landward (rural); They say: It's your shot for "It's your turn"; and the once notorious but now redundant tawse.

The diminutive ending '-ie' is added to nouns to indicate smallness, as in laddie and lassie for a young boy and young girl. Other examples are peirie (child's wooden spinning top) and sweetie (piece of confectionary). The ending can be added to many words instinctively, e.g. bairn (see above) can become bairnie, a small shop can become a wee shoppie.

The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is distinctive of Scottish as well as Northern English and Northern Irish English. "Why not?" is often rendered as "How no?"

There is a wide range of legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots, e.g., "depute" /ˈdɛpjut/ for "deputy", "proven" |/ˈproːvən/ for "proved", "interdict" for "injunction" and "sheriff substitute" for "acting sheriff".

Often, lexical differences between Scottish English and Southern Standard English are simply differences in the distribution of shared lexis, such as "stay" for "live" (as in: "where do you stay?"); "doubt" for "think the worst" ("I doubt it will rain" meaning "I fear that it will rain" instead of the standard English meaning "I think it unlikely that it will rain")."Correct" is often preferred to "right" (meaning "morally right" or "just") when the speaker means "factually accurate".