Scots and scottish english

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 or whether its occasional appearance in Scottish English is simply code-switching.

Unlike Scottish English Scots tend to say "nae" for "not." So, instead of the word "cannot," the Scots would say "cannae." Similarly, "do not" becomes "dinnae," and so forth. Instead of the word "understand" Scots use the word "ken." This word is also occasionally used to substitute for "know," as in "I dinnae ken where the fellow be."

The way Scots is written has gone through many changes since the emergence of Scots as a national language during the period leading up to the fifteenth century.

Modern Scots has no officially sanctioned authority which prescribes the ‘right’ way to spell Scots. Nevertheless, Modern Scots does have an extensive written canon.

Scots orthography should model itself on Standard English forms - although with Scots, it is sensible to take into consideration the influence of Standard English - especially because most people in Scotland have Standard English as their first language of literacy.

Consonants usually have the same phonetic values (pronunciation) in Scots, as in Standard English. But /r/ rat, is usually trilled (rolled) in Scots. The <x> in the prefix ex is usually /gz/ between unstressed and stressed vowels, otherwise /ks/.

Conclusion

In many ways, the conservative SSE is phonologically close to Scots, while in others it has departed from it.

1. The SSE accent is rhotic, and all the vowels and diphthongs appear unchanged before /r/: beard/bird/, laird, lard, moored /murd/, bird /bird/.

2. There is no distinction between cam [kæm] and calm, both having /a/, between cot [kɒt] and caught [kɔːt], both having /o/, and between full [fʊl] and fool [fuːl], both having /u/.

3. The monophthongs and diphthongs total 14 vowel sounds, perhaps the smallest vowel system of any long-established variety of English.

4. The wh- in such words as whale, what, why is pronounced /hw/ and such pairs as which /witch are sharply distinguished.

5. In some speakers, initial /p, t, k/ are unaspirated.

 Features of present-day Scots grammar are carried over into SSE:

1. Passives. The passive may be expressed by get: I got told off.

2. Negatives. SSE not is favoured over -n’t: He’ll not come in preference to He won’t come, You’re not wanted to You aren’t wanted, and similarly Is he not coming? Can you not come? Do you not want it? Did he not come? Not may negate a main verb as well as an auxiliary: He isn’t still not working?; Nobody would dream of not obeying.

3. Pronouns in -self may be used nonreflexively: How’s yourself today? Is himself in? (Is the man of the house at home?).

4. Anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody are preferred to anyone, everyone, no one, someone.

5. Amn’t I? is used virtually to the exclusion of aren’t I?: I’m expected too, amn’t I?

There is a continuum of SSE lexical usage, from the most to the least international:

1. Words of original Scottish provenance used in the language at large for so long that few people think of them as SSE: caddie, collie, croon, eerie, glamour, golf, pony, raid, weird.

2. Words widely used or known and generally perceived to be Scottish: cairn, clan, gloaming, kilt, whisky.

3. Words that have some external currency but are used more in Scotland than elsewhere, many as covert Scotticisms: brae, canny, douce.