4.4. Local Dialects in New English

Superseded by the literary language, all dialects, except Scottish, were reduced to the state of merely oral languages, used by the local population.

Scotland’s political independence [restored in 1314] had important consequences for her language. When the English national language was forming, Scotland remained outside this process. A special national language arose in Scotland, which is often called Scots, and a separate national literature (J.Barbour, R.Burns).

In NE there are six groups of dialects: Lowland (Scottish), Northern, Western, Midlands (Central), Eastern and Southern.

Each group has its peculiarities at the four levels of the language – in the sound system, in grammar (both morphology and syntax) and vocabulary.

4.4.1. Scottish Dialect

(1) In Scottish ME [ū] has not undergone the vowel shift. Thus, the words house, out, down, mouth, crowd, now are pronounced [hu:s], [u:t], [du:n], [mu:θ], [kru:d], [nu:].

(2) OE [ā], that changed in English into [ǭ] > [ou], remained intact and became [ei] in the vowel shift. The literary stone, bone, whole, road correspond to Scottish stane, bane, hail, raid.

(3) Words like dance, glance, chance, etc. are usually pronounced with long [æ:] [dæ:ns], [glæ:ns], [tæ:ns].

(4) The consonant [r] has not undergone vocalization and is pronounced (with a roll of the tip of the tongue) in kirk, perk, wark [kirk], [perk], [wлrk].

(5) Many Scottish dialects have preserved the guttural spirant [x], which is denoted by gh, e.g. naught, ought, brought.

In Scottish some old plural forms of the nouns and possessive pronouns have survived, e.g.

eyen (NE eyes), shoon (NE shoes), yon (NE yours).

Some Scottish words go back to Old Germanic roots, e.g.

dochter – G Tochter (NE daughter), nocht – G nicht (NE nothing), ken – G kennen (NE know).

Some words go back to Scandinavian roots, e.g.

sark OE serc OSc serkr (NE shirt), kirk OE cirice OSc kirkja (NE church), brig OE brycg < OSc bryggia (NE bridge).

4.4.2. Northern Dialects

Differences between Northern and Scots are insignificant as the basis of Scots is the Northern dialect.

(1) In most Northern dialects ME long [ū] has not undergone the vowel shift and remained unchanged, e.g.

clouts [klu:ts] (NE clothes), noo [nu:] (NE now), hoose [hu:s] (NE house), aboot [ə΄bu:t] (NE about)

(2) OE long [ā] developed into [ei] in the vowel shift (as in Scottish), e.g. stane [stein] (NE stone)

(3) ME long open [ ] that has changed in literary English into long closed [i:] in the vowel shift, in Northern dialects has not narrowed. The literary pronunciation of speak, heal, deal [spi:k], [hi:l], [di:l] corresponds to Northern [spe:k], [he:l], [de:l]

(4) Long [α:] developed only before [m] and [f] as in calm [kα:m], palm [pα:m], calf [kα:f], half [hα:f]. In all other cases, Northern dialects have long [æ:], e.g.

dance [dæ:ns], chance [tæ:ns], ask [æ:sk], past [pæ:st].

(5)In Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire short [u] did not change into [л]. The corresponding words are pronounced with [u] or a vowel intermediate between [u] and [o], e.g.

cum [kum] (NE come [kлm]).

(6) ME short [a] has not changed into [æ] Thus, words like hat, cat, hand, etc. are pronounced [hat], [kat], [hand]

(7) In Northern Northumberland a uvular [r] is pronounced.

(8) Initial [h] has mostly been dropped.

(9) There is a tendency to drop final [l] and [l] before dental consonants, e.g. ca’ (NE call), owd (NE old), saut (NE salt).