Scots leid

**Scots** or **Lawland Scots** (Inglis: *Scots* or *Lowland Scots*; ) is a Wast Germanic leid o tha Anglic varietie that's spaken on tha Lawlands o Scotland an en tha stewartrie o Ulster en Ireland (whaur it's kent as "Ulster-Scots", "Scotch", or "Ullans"). En maist airts, it is spaken anent tha an Inglis leid. Historically, it wis kent as "Lallans" or "Doric" but thir terms uisually noo refer tae mair soothren an northren byleids respectively.

Up til tha 15t yeirhunder *Scottis* (modern furm *Scots*) wis the name o the Gallic, the Celtic leid o the aunshint Scots. Thaim that bruikit Scots cried tha Gaelic *Erse* (meinin *Irish*). Tha Gallic o Scotland is noo maistly cried the Scots Gallic an is yit spaken bi sum en tha western Scots Hielands an ilands. Fur tha maist pairt, Scots originatit fae tha Northumbrian variety o Anglo-Saxon (Auld Inglis), tho wi a meikle influence fae the Auld Norse o the Vikings, the Dutch an law Saxon thro troke wi (an incummers fae) tha law kintras, an tha Romance  fae itse uise in the Kirk an legal Latin, Anglo-Norman an possibly Pairisian French cause o the Auld Alliance.

Anglian spikkers wir weil staiblisht in sooth-eist Scotland bi tha 7t yeirhunder. In tha 13t yeirhunder Norman launainers an thair reteiners, speakin Northumbrian Middil Inglis, war bade tae cum an sattil bi tha King. Scots kyth'd fer tha first tym en scrieved form en tha mids o tha 14t yeirhunder an didnae differ mukkil fae ither northren Inglis byleids. The Anglian leid o Scotland gra an its ain sinsyn. Bi tha lat 15t yeirhunder tha sicht fowk haed o tha differs wi tha leid spaken faurder sooth cam til tha fore an Scots-spikkin Scots begoud tae crie thair leid "Scots". Scots haes lend-wirds fae tha fak thit tha Scots fowk haed contak wi Gaelic spikkers. Thair lend-wirds is fer ordinair anerlì fer geographical an cultural hings, sik as *clan* an *loch*. Lyk onì leivin leid, Scots haes chynged ae bittie ower tha yeirs, tho hit haes arguablì stey'd naurer til its Anglo-Saxon springheid nor Inglis. Monie Scots wirds hae becum pairt o the Inglis ava: *flit, greed, eerie, cuddle, clan, stob*.

In Scotland's census o 2011, ae speir on Scots wis speired.

## Scrieved Scots

Mony writers the noo evyts apostrophes whaur thay ar thocht tae shaw letters thit's "missin" fae Ingles (the apologetic apostrophe). Sikna letters niver war missin in Scots at aw. For exemple, in the twalt yeirhunner, Barbour spelt the Scots cognate o *taken* as 'tane'. Hæin been nae *k* in the wird for mair nor 700 yeir, shawin the want o't wi ae apostrophe coud be caa'd specious. The modren spellin is for ordinair 'taen'. Vouel nummers is fae Aitken an the phonetics is en IPA. Maugre the establisht tradeetional spellin conventions descrived ablo, durin the twantiet yeirhunner ae wheen o propones fur spellin reform wis pitten forrit. Commentin on sicweys, John Corbett (2003: 260) writes thit "devisin ae normativ ortografee fer Scots haes been waen o the grattest linguestic hobbies o the past centuair." An writin anent the affcome o thon in *Lallans* 57, Caroline Macafee merkit that spellin reform "haes had the effeck o caain doun the kynd-o-a staudartisation that aareadie existin" an that "Spellin haes gotten tae be ae free-fur-aw, wi the tradeetional model bemeanit, an nae populair replacement" leadin til mair speelin variation, nae less.

### Consonants

Maist consonants is fer ordinair soondit sic n sae as en Inglis bit:
***c**:  or , as en Inglis.
***ch**: , **gh** an aw. Medial 'cht' micht be  in Northren dialects. *loch*, *nicht*, *dochter*, *dreich*, etc. Seemilar til the German "Na**ch**t".
***ch**: waird ineetial or whaur it follaes 'r' . *airch*, *mairch*, etc.
***ck**: at the end o a silable n whan intervocaleec efter ae cuttie vouel e.g. *bick*, *geck*, *muckle*, *ruck*, etc. 
***gn**: . In Northren dialects  micht kythe.
***kn**: . In Northren dialects  or  micht kythe. *knap* *knee*, *knowe*, etc.
***ng**: is aye .
***nch**: fer ordinair . *brainch*, *dunch*, etc.
***r**:  or  is pronoonced in aw positions, i.e. rhoteeclie.
***s** or **se**:  or .
***t**: micht be ae glottal stap atween vouels or waird final. En Ulster dentalised soondins micht kythe an aw, even fer 'd'.
***th**:  or  as is Inglis. En Mid Northren varieties n intervocallic  micht be soondit . Initial 'th' en *thing*, *think* and *thank*, etc. micht be .
***wh**: fer ordinair , aulder . Northren byleids haes  an aw.
***wr**:  mair aften  bit micht be  en Northern byleids. *wrack*, *wrang*, *write*, *wrocht*, etc.
***z**:  or , micht kythe en som wirds aes ae substitute fer the aulder  (yoch). Fer example: *brulzie*, *gaberlunzie* n the names *[[Menzies]]*, *[[Finzean]]*, *[[Culzean]]*, *[[Mackenzie (surname)|Mackenzie]]* etc. (Aes aen affcome o the want o edducation in Scots, *Mackenzie* is nou generally soondit wi ae  follaein the perceeved soondin o the scrieved form, aes mair controversial is whiles *Menzies*.)

### Seelent letters
*The wird final 'd' in **nd** n **ld** bit aften soodit in derived forms. Whiles jist 'n' n 'l' or 'n&#39;' n 'l&#39;' e.g. *auld* n *haund* etc., aes en the Dens leid.
*'t' en medial **cht** ('ch' = ) n **st** n afore final **en** e.g. *fochten*, *thristle* n the 't' in *aften* etc. an aw., as in Inglis.
*'t' en wird final **ct** n **pt** bit aften soondit en derived forms e.g. *respect* n *accept* etc.

### Vouels

Fer ae histereecal luikower see the Phonologeecal histerie o Scots.

The vouel seestem o Scots (in IPA):

En Scots, vouel length is fer ordinair condeetiont bi the Scots Vouel Lenth Rule. Wirds that differ jist ae bittie en soondin fae Scots Ingils is fer ordinair spelt aes en Ingils. Ither wirds micht be spelt the same wa bit differ en soondin, fer ensaumple: *aunt*, *swap*, *want* n *wash* wi , *bull*, *full* v. n *pull* wi , *bind*, *find* n *wind* v., etc. wi .
*The onstrest vouel  micht be shawn bi onie vouel letter.
***a** (vowel 17): fer ordinair , aften  en sooth wast n Ulster byleids, bit  en Northren byleids. Maurk final *a* (vouel 12) en *awa*, *twa* an *wha* micht be , ,  or  an aw depending on the byleid.
***au**, **aw** (vouel 12)  or  en Soothren, Central n Ulster byleids bit  in Northren bileids, wi *au* fer ordinair in medial poseetions n *aw* in final poseetions. Sometimes **a** or **a&#39;** representin L-vocalisation. The digraph **aa** kythes an aw, speciallie in scrieved representations o the () soondin in Northren n Insular byleids. The cluster 'auld' micht be  in Ulster an aw, e.g. *aw*, *cauld*, *braw*, *faw*, *snaw*, etc.
***ai** (vouel 8) en ineetial n medial poseetions n **a**(consonant)**e**  (vowel 4). The graphemes **ae** (vouel 4) n **ay** (vouel 8) fer ordinair in final poseetions. Aw generallie . Aften  afore . The merger o vouel 8 wi 4 haes resultit in the digraph *ai* occurrin en some wairds wi vouel 4 n *a*(consonant)*e* occurrin in some wairds wi vouel 8, e.g. *saip*, *hale*, *ane*, *ance*, *bane*, etc. n waird final *brae* n *day* etc. The digraph *ae* kythes fer vouel 7 an aw en *dae*, *tae* v. an *shae*. En Northren byleids the vouel en the cluster 'ane' is aften  n efter  n daurk  the soondin  micht kythe. En Sooth Scots n monie Central n Ulster varieties *ae*, *ane* n *ance* micht be soondit ,  n  aften scrieved *yae*, *yin* n *yince* en byleid writin.
***ea**, **ei** (vouel 3), haes generallie merged wi  (vouel 2) or  (vouel 4 or 8) dependin on the by leid.  micht kythe afore . En Northren varieties the soondin micht be  efter  an  n en the faur north  micht kythe en aw environments. *deid*, *heid*, *meat*, *clear* etc.
***ee** (vouels 2 an 11), **e**(Consonant)**e** (vouel 2). Whiles **ei** n **i.e.** wi *ei* fer ordinair afore *ch* (), bit en ae few ither wairds an aw, n *ie* fer ordinair afore *l* an *v*. The soondin is fer ordinair  bit en Northren varieties micht be  efter  n . Final vouel 11 () micht be  en Southren byleids. e.g. *e*, *een*, *speir* , *steek*, *here*, etc. The digraph *ea* kythes en ae few wairds lyk *sea* n *tea* an aw.
***e** (vouel 16): . *bed*, *het*, *yett*, etc.
***eu** (vouel 7 afore  an  see *ui*):  or  dependin on dialect. Whiles *u*(consonant)*e*. Whiles *u* phonetically an *oo* efter Staundart Ingils kythes an aw, e.g. *beuk*, *eneuch*, *keuk*, *leuk*, *teuk* etc.
***ew** (vouel 14): . En Northren bileids a ruit final 'ew' micht be . *few*, *new*, etc.
***i** (Vouel 15): , but aften varies atween  an  specially efter 'w' an 'wh'.  kythes en Ulster an aw afore voiceless consonants. *big*, *fit*, *wid*, etc.
***i**(consonant)**e**, **y**(consonant)**e**, **ey** (vouels 1, 8a an 10):  or . 'ay' is fer ordinair  bit  in *ay* n *aye*. En Dundee hit is ae kenspeckle .
***o** (vouel 18):  bit aften mergin wi vouel 5 () aften speelt phoneteeclie *oa* in byleid speelins lyk *boax* (box), *coarn* (corn), *Goad* (God)*joab* (job) n *oan* (on) etc.
***oa** (vouel 5): .
***oi**, **oy** (vouel 9)
***ow**, **owe** (ruit final), seendle **ou** (vouel 13): . Afore 'k' vocalisation til  micht kythe speciallie en wastren n Ulster byleids. *bowk*, *bowe*, *howe*, *knowe*, *cowp*, *yowe*, etc.
***ou** the ordinair leeterar speelin o vouel 6. Whiles **u**(consonant)**e** en some wairds:  the foregane aften representit bi **oo**, ae 19t centuair lend fae Staundairt Ingils. Ruit final  micht kythe en Soothren byleids. *cou*, *broun*, *hoose*, *moose* etc.
***u** (vouel 19): . *but*, *cut*, etc.
***ui**, the ordinair leeterar speelin o vouel 7 (binna afore  an  see **eu**), the speelin *u*(consonant)*e* whiles kythed, speciallie afore nasals, n **oo** fae the speelin o Staundairt Ingils cognates:  in conservative byleids. In pairts o Fife, Dundee north Aintrim . In Northren byleids fer ordinair  bit  efter  n  aften speelt *ee* in byleid writin, n  an aw afore  en some airts e.g. *fuird*. Mid Doun n Donegal byleids haes . En central n north Doun byleids merger wi vouel 15 () occurs whan cuttie n vouel 8 () whan lang, aften scrieved *ai* en byleid writin, e.g. *buird*, *buit*, *cuit*, *fluir*, *guid*, *schuil*, etc. En central byleids *uise* v. an *uiss* n. (use) is  an .

## Some graimmar featurs
### The definit airtikil
*The* is bruikit afore the names o saisons, days o the week, monie nouns, illnesses, tredds, occupations, sciences n acadeemic subjeks. It's aften bruikit in stead o the indefinit airtikil n instad o a possesseev pronoun n aw: *the hairst*, *the Wadensday*, *awa til the kirk*, *the nou*, *the dei*, *the haingles*, *the Laitin*, *The deuk ett the bit breid*, *the wife* etc.

### Nouns
Nouns fer ordinair eiks –(*e*)*s* fer the plural bit some irraigulair plurals kith: *ee*/*een*, *cauf*/*caur*, *horse*/*horse*, *cou*/*kye*, *shae*/*shuin*.
Nouns o meisur an quantitie byds the same en the plural *fower fit*, *twa mile*, *five pund*, *three hunnerwecht*.
Raigular plurals incluid *laifs*, *leafs*, *shelfs* n *wifes*, etc.

### Dimeenuteeves
Dimeenuteeves wi –*ie*, *burnie* (*wee burn*), *feardie*/*feartie*, *gamie*, *kiltie*, *postie*, *wifie*, *rhodie*, an wi *ock*, *bittock*, *playock*, *sourock* n Northren –*ag*, *bairnag* (*wee bairn*), *Cheordag*, -*ockie*, *hooseockie*, *wifeockie*, baith is influenced bi the Scots Gaelic dimeenuteeve -*ag*.

### Modal verbs
The modal verbs *mey*, *ocht tae*, an *sall* isna aften bruikit in Scots n this is histereec, bit is whiles still fand in anglifie'd leeterair Scots. *Can*, *shid*, n *will/wul* is the prefer'd Scots maks. 
Scots employs doobel modal maks *He'll no can cum the day*, *A micht cud cum the morn*, *A uised tae cud dae hit, but no nou*.

### Praisent tense o verbs
The praisent tense o verbs ends en –*s* en aw persons n nummers cept whan a singil personal pronoun is nex til the verb, *Thay say he's ower wee*, *Thaim that says he's ower wee*, *Thir lassies says he's ower wee* etc. *Thay'r cummin an aw* bit *Five o thaim's cummin*, *The lassies? Thay'v went* bit *Ma brakes haes went*. *Thaim that cums first is ser'd first*. *The trees growes green en the simmer*.

*Wis* micht can tak the steid o *war*, but na widdershins: *Ye were*/*wis thaur*.

### Past tense o verbs
The raigulair past form o the verb is –(*i*)*t* or –(*e*)*d*, gaun bi the aforegaun consonant or vouel *hurtit*, *skelpit*, *Mendit*, *kent*/*kenned*, *cleant*/*cleaned*, *skreived*, *telt*/*tauld*, *dee'd*. Some verbs haes kenspeakle maks *greet*/*grat*/*grutten*, *fesh*/*fuish*/*fuishen*, *lauch*/*leuch*/*lauchen*, *gae*/*gaed*/*gane*, *gie*/*gied*/*gien*, *pit*/*pat*/*pitten*, *git*/*gat*/*gotten*.

### Wird order
Scots aften haes tha wird order *He turnt oot tha licht* an na *He turnt tha licht oot* an *Gie me hit* an na *Gie hit til me*.

Antrin verbs is aften uised progressive *He wis thinkin he wad tell her*, *He wis wantin tae tell her*.

Verbs o motion micht be drappit afore aen adverb or adverb phrases o motion *Ah'm awa til ma bed*, *That's me awa hame*, *Ah'll intil tha hoose an see him*.

Partecipils gaes til tha end o tha clause mair aften nor in Inglis whaur chynge o state is impleid (pairtéculair in Ulster): *He's awfu auld gettin*, *Ah hae ma siller chynged*.

### Ordinal nummers
Ordinal nummers ends wi –*t* *seicont*, *fowert*, *fift*, *saxt* etc. *first*, *Thrid*/*third*.

### Adverbs
Adverbs fer ordinair taks the same mak aes the verb ruit or adjecteeve specialie efter verbs. *Haein ae real guid day*. *She's gey fauchelt*.
Adverbs is shaped wi –*s*, -*lies*, *lins*, *gate*(*s*) an *wey*(*s*) – *whyls*, *mebbes*, *brawlies*, *geylies*, *aiblins*, *airselins*, *hauflins*, *hidlins*, *maistlins*, *awgates*, *ilkagate*, *oniegate*, *ilkawey*, *onywey*(*s*), *endweys*, *fit weys*.

### Subordinate clauses
Verbless subordinate clauses is brocht en wi, *n* pittin ower surpreese or skunner *She haed tae walk the hale length o the road n her sieven month pregnant*, *He telt me tae rin n me wi ma sair leg*.

### Negation
Negation is pitten ower bi bruikin the adverb *na*, en the North Eist *nae*, as in *Ah'm na cummin*, or bi bruikin the suffix –*na* (soondin lippens oan byleid), aes in *"A dinnae ken"*, *Thay canna cum* n *We coudna hae telt him*. 
The uiss wi *na* is fer ordinair taen foreby –*na* wi contractabil auxiliair verbs lyk –*ll* fer *will*, or en ay nae speirins wi onie auxiliair *He'll na cum* n *Did he na cum?*

### Reelateeve pronoon
The reelateeve pronoon is *that* (*&#39;at* is anither mak borraed fae the Norse bit hit can cum aboot bi contraction) fer aw persons n nummers, bit micht be drappit *Thaur's na monie fowk* (*that*) *byds en that glen*. The anglifie'd maks *wha*, *wham*, *whase*, n the auld-farrant *whilk* is j ist leeterair pensfuness; *whilk* is alanerlie bruikit eftir ae statement *He said he'd tint hit, whilk wis na whit we wantit tae hear*. The possesseeve cums aboot bi eikin *'s* or bi bruikin aen appropriate pronoon *The wifie that's hoose gat burnt*, *the wumman that her dochter gat mairit*; *the men that thair boat wis tint*.

The thrid adjecteeve/adverb *yon*/*yonder*, *thon*/*thonder* pynts oot sommit that's faur fae the speaker n the leestener, *D'ye see yon*/*thon hoose ower yonder*/*thonder?* The plurals o *this* n *that* is *thae* n *thir*. Northren byleids taks *this* n *that* fer the plural ava.

## Hamelt leids

Scots haes monie hamelt leids, or *byleids*. Thir include;

* Sooth Scots
* Doric
* Shetlandic
* Urban Scots (Scots as spaken in tha céties o Aiberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee an Glesgae)
* Central Scots
* Northren Scots
* Ulster Scots (Spaken in Northren Irland an Coontie Dunnagal)

## See foreby

* IPA chairt fer Scots
* Scots Language Centre

## References

* Aitken, A.J. (1977) *How to Pronounce Older Scots* in Bards and Makars. Glasgow, Glasgow University Press.
* Aitken, A. J. (1987) *The Nuttis Schell: Essays on the Scots Language*. Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press. ISBN 0-08-034530-1
* Caldwell, S.J.G. (1974) *The Pronoun in Early Scots*. Helsinki, Société Néophilique.
* Corbett, John; McClure, Derrick; Stuart-Smith, Jane (Editors)(2003) *The Edinburgh Companion to Scots*. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-1596-2
* Eagle, Andy (2005) *Wir Ain Leid*. Scots-Online. Available in full at http://www.scots-online.org/airticles/WirAinLeid.pdf 
* Jones, Charles (1997) *The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language*. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Press. ISBN 0-7486-0754-4
* Jones, Charles (1995) *A Language Suppressed: The pronunciation of the Scots language in the 18th century*. Edinburgh, John Donald. ISBN 0-85976-427-3
* Kingsmore, Rona K. (1995) *Ulster Scots Speech: A Sociolinguistic Study*. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0711-7
* McClure, J. Derrick (1997) *Why Scots Matters*. Edinburgh, Saltire Society. ISBN 0-85411-071-2
* McKay, Girvan (2007) *The Scots Tongue (La skota lingvo)*, Polyglot Publications, Tullamore, Ireland.
* Niven, Liz; Jackson, Robin (Eds.) (1998) *The Scots Language: its place in education*. Watergaw Publications. ISBN 0-9529978-5-1
* Robertson, T.A.; Graham, J.J. (1991) *Grammar and Use of the Shetland Dialect*. Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd.
* Ross, David; Smith, Gavin D. (Editors)(1999) *Scots-English, English-Scots Practical Dictionary*. New York, Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-0779-4
* Scottish Language Dictionaries (1985) *Concise Scots Dictionary *. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 1-902930-01-0
* Scottish Language Dictionaries (1990) *Scots Thesaurus*. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 1-902930-03-7
* Warrack, Alexander (Editor)(1911) *Chambers Scots Dictionary*. Chambers.
* Yound, C.P.L. (2004) *Scots Grammar*. Scotsgate. Available in full at http://www.scotsgate.com/scotsgate01.pdf 

## Fremmit airtins

* Dictionar o the Scots Leid – 22 volumes o Scots 
* Byleid cairt 
* Scots-online
* The Scots Language Society
* Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. 
* SLD's Scuil Wab – fer bairns o aw ages 
* ScotsteXt—beuks, poems an texts in Scots
* A Tait Wanchancie. 
* SAMPA for Scots 
* Scots in Skuils 
* Scots at the Varsitie 
* Scottish words – illustrated
* Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech – Multimedia corpus of Scots and Scottish English
* Scots Language Centre
* ''Words Without Borders'' Peter Constantine: Scots: The Auld an Nobill Tung
* Scots Syntax Atlas