Central Scots

Central Scots is a group o dialects o th' Scots leid. It wis spaken bi Robert Burns.

Central Scots is spaken frae Fife an Perthshire tae the Lothians an Wigtounshire, aften split intae North East Scots (Northeast Mid Scots) an Sooth East Central Scots (Sootheast Mid Scots), Wast Central Scots (Wast Mid Scots) an Sooth Wast Central Scots (Soothwast Mid Scots). Commonly spaken bi Iain Smith an popularised bi his cronies in Dalkeith.

Like ither varieties o Scots, Central Scots haes been gang throu a process o language attrition, whaur fowk fae later generations ur adoptin mair featurs frae Inglis. Bi the end o the 201 yearhunner Scots wis at an advanced stage o language deeth ower a lot o Lawland Scotland.Macafee C. "Studying Scots Vocabulary in Corbett, John; McClure, Derrick; Stuart-Smith, Jane (Editors)(2003) The Edinburgh Companion to Scots. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. . p. 51

 Phonology 

 Consonants 
Maist consonants are uisually pronoonced much as in Inglis but:

 ch is tradeetionally realised Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.505 in, for exemple, bocht, coch, dochter, focht, socht an troch.
 ld an nd elision tae  an  happens in aw Central Scots dialects but in the Lothians ‘’ld’’ anerly simplifies tae ‘’l’’ finally whaur the nixt wird stairts wi a consonant.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.502
 ng: is aye .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.510
 nch: uisually .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.500 brainch, dunch, etc.
 r:  or  is pronooncit in aw poseetions,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.510-511 i.e. rhotically.
 t: micht be a glotal stop atweesh vowels an at the end o a wird.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.501
 wh: uisually , aulder .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.499

 Vowels 
Vowel length is uisually condeetioned bi the Scottish Vowel Length Rule (SVLR).

 a (vowel 17) is uisually  but tae the north an east  happens an aw.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.486 Note final a (vowel 12) in awa, twa, an wha is uisually realised  South o the Forth, aften scrieved as awae, twae and whae in dialect scrievin.
 aw an au (vowel 12) is uisually  in the East an pairts o Perthshire or  in the Wast tae Wast Lothian, hounaiver,  is spreadin eastwards,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.489-490 for exemple aw, cauld, braw, faw an snaw.
 ai, ay an a (consonant), e, ae (vowel 4 or 8) are uisually realised ,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.461/465  for exemple baith, braid, cake, claes, grape, kail, laid, laif, made, raip, saip, spae. Sooth o the Forth the stairtin realisation is aften , for exemple acre, aik, aits, ale, ane an ance aften scrieved yicker, yick, yits, yill, yin an yince in dialect writin. Whaur that happens, ae (ane afore nouns) is realised , aften scrieved yae in dialect writin.
 e (vowel 16) is uisually realised , for exemple bed, het, yett, etc.
 ea, ei (vowel 3), has generally melled wi  (vowel 2) or   (vowel 4 or 8) dependin on dialect.  Wi   prevailin in the sooth east an wast and  prevailin in the north east o the dialect area.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.458 Afore ,  micht occur.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.455 For exemple deid, heid, meat, clear etc.
 ee (vowels 2 an 11), e (Consonant), e (vowel 2). Occasionally ei an ie wi ei generally afore ch (), but in twa three ither wirds an aw, an ie generally occurrin afore l an v.  The realisation is generally Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.454-455  e.g. dree, ee, een, flee, here, lee, see, speir, steek, thee (thigh) and tree etc. The digraph ea also occurs in a few words such as  lea and  sea.
 eu (vowel 7 afore  an  see ui) is uisually realised  in the wast an Fife,  and   in the sooth wast  an sooth o the Forth, for exemple beuk, eneuch, ceuk, leuk an teuk.
 o (vowel 18):  haes melled wi vowel 5 () oothrou a muckle pairt o the the dialect area,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.482 aften spellt phonetic-like oa in dialect spellins such as , , Goad  an  etc.
 oa (vowel 5) is uisually .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.480
 ou the general literary spellin o vowel 6, forby u (consonant) e in some wirds, is realised , aften representit bi oo, a 19t-yearhunner borrawom frae Inglis.  e.g. cou, broun, hoose, moose etc.
 ow, owe (root final), (vowel 13) is uisually  Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.498  in bowe, howe, knowe, cowp, yowe, etc. Vocalisation tae  aften happens afore , for exemple bowk, howk aften written boak an hoak in dialect writin.
 ui, the uisual literary spellin o vowel 7 (except afore  and  see eu). The aulder realisation   micht still occur in Perthshire an  in pairts of Fife itherwise, as is the norm elsewhere, vowel 7 mells wi vowel 15 () in SVLR short environs an vowel 8 () in lang environs,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.467  e.g. buird, buit, cuit, fluir, guid, schuil, etc. Note that  v. an  n. (use) are  an . The realisation  is aften scrieved ai in dialect writin, e.g. flair for fluir, shair for shuir,  for  an yiss for .

 See an aw 

 Glesga patter
 Berwick-upon-Tweed

 References 

Category:Scots dialects