Modern Scots

Scots language History Early Scots Middle Scots Modern Scots Dialects Insular Scots Northern Scots Central Scots Southern Scots Ulster Scots

Modern Scots describes the varieties of (Lowland) Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster from 1700.

Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from Standard English. This process of language contact has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English and increased population mobility became available after the Second World War.^[1] It has recently taken on the nature of wholesale language shift towards Scottish English, sometimes also termed language change, convergence or merger. By the end of the twentieth century Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland.^[2] Residual features of Scots are often regarded as slang.

Contents 1 Dialects 2 Orthography 3 Phonology 3.1 Consonants 3.2 Silent letters 3.3 Vowels 4 Grammar 4.1 Definite article 4.2 Nouns 4.3 Pronouns 4.3.1 Personal and possessive pronouns 4.3.2 Relative pronoun 4.3.3 Other pronouns 4.4 Verbs 4.4.1 Modal verbs 4.4.2 Present tense of verbs 4.4.3 Past tense and past participle of verbs 4.4.4 Present participle 4.5 Adverbs 4.6 Prepositions 4.7 Interrogative words 4.8 Word order 4.9 Diminutives 4.10 Subordinate clauses 4.11 Suffixes 4.12 Numbers 4.13 Times of day 4.14 Scots in comparison to other Germanic languages 5 Literature 5.1 Sample texts 6 References 7 External links

Dialects

The varieties of Modern Scots are generally divided into five dialect groups:^[3][4]

• Insular Scots – spoken in Orkney and Shetland.
• Northern Scots – Spoken north of the Firth of Tay.
  • North Northern – spoken in Caithness, Easter Ross and the Black Isle.
  • Mid Northern (also called North East^[5] and popularly known as the Doric) – spoken in Moray, Buchan and Aberdeenshire.
  • South Northern – spoken in east Angus and the Mearns.
• Central Scots – spoken in the Central Lowlands and South west Scotland.
  • North East Central – spoken north of the Forth, in south east Perthshire and west Angus.
  • South East Central – spoken in the Lothians, Peeblesshire and Berwickshire
  • West Central – spoken in Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Ayrshire, on the Isle of Bute and to the southern extremity of Kintyre.
  • South West Central – spoken in west Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire.
• Southern Scots – spoken in mid and east Dumfriesshire and the Scottish Borders counties Selkirkshire and Roxburghshire, in particular the valleys of the Annan, the Esk, the Liddel Water, the Teviot and the Yarrow Water. It is also known as the "border tongue" or "border Scots".
• Ulster Scots – spoken primarily by the descendants of Scottish settlers in Ulster, particularly counties Antrim, Down and Donegal. Also known as "Ullans".

The southern extent of Scots may be identified by the range of a number of pronunciation features which set Scots apart from neighbouring English dialects. The Scots pronunciation of come [kʌm] contrasts with [kʊm] in Northern English. The Scots realisation [kʌm] reaches as far south as the mouth of the north Esk in north Cumbria, crossing Cumbria and skirting the foot of the Cheviots before reaching the east coast at Bamburgh some 12 miles north of Alnwick. The Scots [x]–English [∅]/[f] cognate group (micht-might, eneuch-enough, etc.) can be found in a small portion of north Cumbria with the southern limit stretching from Bewcastle to Longtown and Gretna. The Scots pronunciation of wh as [ʍ] becomes English [w] south of Carlisle but remains in Northumberland, but Northumberland realises “r” as [ʁ], often called the burr, which is not a Scots realisation. Thus the greater part of the valley of the Esk and the whole of Liddesdale can be considered to be northern English dialects rather than Scots ones. From the nineteenth century onwards influence from the South through education and increased mobility have caused Scots features to retreat northwards so that for all practical purposes the political and linguistic boundaries may be considered to coincide.^[6]

As well as the main dialects, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow (see Glasgow patter) have local variations on an Anglicised form of Central Scots. In Aberdeen, Mid Northern Scots is spoken by a minority. Due to them being roughly near the border between the two dialects, places like Dundee and Perth can contain elements and influences of both Northern and Central Scots.

Orthography

Although southern Modern English was generally adopted as the literary language from the late seventeenth century, the eighteenth century Scots revival saw the introduction of a new literary language descended from the old court Scots, but with an orthography that had abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings,^[7] adopted many standard English spellings, although from the rhymes it was clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended,^[8] and introduced what came to be known as the apologetic apostrophe,^[9] generally occurring where a consonant exists in the Standard English cognate. This Written Scots drew not only on the vernacular but also on the King James Bible and was also heavily influenced by the norms an conventions of Augustan English poetry.^[10] Consequently this written Scots looked very similar to contemporary Standard English, suggesting a somewhat modified version of that, rather than a distinct speech form with a phonological system which had been developing independently for many centuries.^[11] This modern literary dialect, ‘Scots of the book’ or Standard Scots^[12][13] once again gave Scots an orthography of its own, lacking neither “authority nor author.”^[14] This literary language used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster,^[15] embodied by writers such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Murray, David Herbison, James Orr, James Hogg and William Laidlaw among others, is well described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots.^[16]

Other authors developed dialect writing, preferring to represent their own speech in a more phonological manner rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots,^[8] especially for the northern^[17] and insular dialects of Scots.

During the first half of the twentieth century, knowledge of eighteenth and nineteenth century literary norms waned and currently there is no institutionalised standard literary form.^[18] The later literary variety referred to as ‘synthetic Scots’ or Lallans also shows the marked influence of Standard English its grammar and spelling, more so that other Scots dialects.^[19] In the second half of the twentieth century a number of proposals for spelling reform were presented. Commenting on this, John Corbett (2003: 260) writes that "devising a normative orthography for Scots has been one of the greatest linguistic hobbies of the past century." Most proposals entailed regularising the use of established eighteenth and nineteenth century conventions, in particular the avoidance of the apologetic apostrophe which supposedly represented "missing" English letters. Such letters were never actually missing in Scots. For example, in the fourteenth century, Barbour spelt the Scots cognate of 'taken' as tane. Since there has been no k in the word for over 700 years, representing its omission with an apostrophe seems pointless. The current spelling is usually taen.

Through the twentieth century, with the decline of spoken Scots and knowledge of the literary tradition, phonetic (often humorous) representations became more common.

Phonology

Consonants

Most consonants are usually pronounced much as in English but:

• c: /k/ or /s/, much as in English.
• ch: /x/,^[20] also gh. Medial 'cht' may be /ð/ in Northern dialects. loch (fjord or lake), nicht (night), dochter (daughter), dreich (dreary), etc. Similar to the German "Nacht".
• ch: word initial or where it follows 'r' /tʃ/. airch (arch), mairch (march), etc.
• gn: /n/. In Northern dialects /ɡn/ may occur.^[21]
• kn: /n/. In Northern dialects /kn/ or /tn/ may occur.^[21] knap (talk), knee, knowe (knoll), etc.
• ng: is always /ŋ/.^[22]
• nch: usually /nʃ/.^[23] brainch (branch), dunch (push), etc.
• r: /r/ or /ɹ/ is pronounced in all positions,^[24] i.e. rhotically.
• s or se: /s/ or /z/.
• t: may be a glottal stop between vowels or word final.^[21] In Ulster dentalised pronunciations may also occur, also for 'd'.
• th: /ð/ or /θ/ much as is English. In Mid Northern varieties an intervocallic /ð/ may be realised /d/.^[25] Initial 'th' in thing, think and thank, etc. may be /h/.^[26]
• wh: usually /ʍ/, older /xʍ/.^[20] Northern dialects also have /f/.^[26]
• wr: /wr/ more often /r/ but may be /vr/ in Northern dialects.^[26] wrack (wreck), wrang (wrong), write, wrocht (worked), etc.
• z: /jɪ/ or /ŋ/, may occur in some words as a substitute for the older <ȝ> (yogh). For example: brulzie (broil), gaberlunzie (a beggar) and the names Menzies, Finzean, Culzean, Mackenzie etc. (As a result of the lack of education in Scots, Mackenzie is now generally pronounced with a /z/ following the perceived realisation of the written form, as more controversially is sometimes Menzies.)

Silent letters

• The word final 'd' in nd and ld^[27] but often pronounced in derived forms. Sometimes simply 'n' and 'l' or 'n'' and 'l'' e.g. auld (old) and haund (hand) etc.
• 't' in medial cht ('ch' = /x/) and st and before final en^[28] e.g. fochten (fought), thristle (thistle) and also the 't' in aften (often) etc.
• 't' in word final ct and pt^[28] but often pronounced in derived forms e.g. respect and accept etc.

Vowels

For a historical overview see the Phonological history of Scots.

The vowel system of Scots:^[29]

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	8a	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	1. Generally merges with vowels 2, 4 or 8. 2. Merges with vowels 1 and 8. in central dialects   and vowel 2 in Northern dialects.   Also /(j)u/ or /(j)ʌ/ before /k/ and /x/ depending on dialect. 3. Vocalisation to /o/ may occur before /k/. 4. Some mergers with vowel 5.
short /əi/ long /aɪ/	/i/	/e, i/1	/e/	/o/	/u/	/ø/2	/eː/	/əi/	/oe/	/əi/	/iː/	/ɑː, ɔː/	/ʌu/3	/ju/	/ɪ/	/ɛ/	/ɑ, a/	/ɔ/4	/ʌ/

In Scots, vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule. Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scottish English are generally spelled as in English. Other words may be spelt the same but differ in pronunciation, for example: aunt, swap, want and wash with /a/, bull, full v. and pull with /ʌ/, bind, find and wind v., etc. with /ɪ/.

• The unstressed vowel /ə/ may be represented by any vowel letter.
• a (vowel 17): usually /ɑ/, often /ɑː/ in south west and Ulster dialects,^[30] but /aː/ in Northern dialects. Note final a (vowel 12) in awa (away), twa (two) and wha (who) may also be /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /aː/ or /eː/ depending on dialect.^[31]
• au, aw (vowel 12) /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ in Southern, Central and Ulster dialects but /aː/ in Northern dialects, with au usually occurring in medial positions^[32][33] and aw in final positions.^[32] Sometimes a or a' representing L-vocalisation.^[34][35] The digraph aa also occurs, especially in written representations of the (/aː/) realisation im Northern and Insular dialects.^[33] The cluster 'auld' may also be /ʌul/ in Ulster, e.g. aw (all), cauld (cold), braw (handsome), faw (fall), snaw (snow), etc.
• ai (vowel 8) in initial and medial positions^[36] and a(consonant)e ^[37] (vowel 4). The graphemes ae^[36] (vowel 4) and ay (vowel 8) generally occur in final positions.^[36][38] All generally /e(ː)/. Often /ɛ/ before /r/. The merger of vowel 8 with 4 has resulted in the digraph ai occurring in some words with vowel 4 and a(consonant)e occurring in some words with vowel 8, e.g. saip (soap), hale (whole), ane (one), ance (once), bane (bone), etc. and word final brae (slope) and day etc. The digraph ae also occurs for vowel 7 in dae (do), tae (too) and shae (shoe).^[38] In Northern dialects the vowel in the cluster 'ane' is often /i/^[39] and after /w/ and dark /l/ the realisation /əi/ may occur.^[40] In Southern Scots and many Central and Ulster varieties ae, ane and ance may be realised /jeː/, /jɪn/ and /jɪns/ often written yae, yin and yince in dialect writing.
• ea,^[41] ei^[42] (vowel 3), has generally merged with /i(ː)/ (vowel 2) or /e(ː)/ (vowel 4 or 8) depending on dialect. /ɛ/ may occur before /r/. In Northern varieties the realisation may be /əi/ after /w/ and /ʍ/ and in the far north /əi/ may occur in all environments.^[43] deid (dead), heid (head), meat (food), clear etc.
• ee^[44] (vowels 2 and 11), e(Consonant)e^[45] (vowel 2). Occasionally ei and ie with ei generally before ch (/x/), but also in a few other words, and ie generally occurring before l and v. The realisation is generally /i(ː)/ but in Northen varieties may be /əi/ after /w/ and /ʍ/.^[43] Final vowel 11 (/iː/) may be /əi/ in Southern dialects.^[46] e.g. ee (eye), een (eyes), speir (enquire), steek (shut), here, etc. The digraph ea also occurs in a few words such as sea and tea.
• e^[47] (vowel 16): /ɛ/. bed, het (heated), yett (gate), etc.
• eu^[48][49] (vowel 7 before /k/ and /x/ see ui): /(j)u/ or /(j)ʌ/ depending on dialect. Sometimes u(consonant)e.^[50] Sometimes u phonetically and oo after Standard English also occur, e.g. beuk (book), eneuch (enough), ceuk (cook), leuk (look), teuk (took) etc.
• ew (vowel 14): /ju/. In Northern dialects a root final 'ew' may be /jʌu/. few, new, etc.
• i^[51] (Vowel 15): /ɪ/, but often varies between /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ especially after 'w' and 'wh'.^[52] /æ/ also occurs in Ulster before voiceless consonants. big, fit (foot), wid (wood), etc.
• i(consonant)e, y(consonant)e,^[53] ey (vowels 1, 8a and 10): /əi/ or /aɪ/. 'ay' is usually /e/ but /əi/ in ay (yes) and aye (always). In Dundee it is noticeably /ɛ/.
• o^[54] (vowel 18): /ɔ/ but often merging with vowel 5 (/o/) often spelled phonetically oa in dialect spellings such as boax (box), coarn (corn), Goad (God)joab (job) and oan (on) etc.^[55]
• oa^[56] (vowel 5): /o/.
• oi, oy (vowel 9)
• ow,^[57] owe (root final), seldom ou (vowel 13): /ʌu/. Before 'k' vocalisation to /o/ may occur especially in western and Ulster dialects. bowk (retch), bowe (bow), howe (hollow), knowe (knoll), cowp (overturn), yowe (ewe), etc.
• ou the general literary spelling^[58] of vowel 6. Also u(consonant)e in some words: /u/ the former often represented by oo, a 19th century borrowing from Standard English.^[59] Root final /ʌu/ may occur in Southern dialects. cou (cow), broun (brown), hoose (house), moose (mouse) etc.
• u^[60] (vowel 19): /ʌ/. but, cut, etc.
• ui, the usual literary spelling^[61] of vowel 7 (except before /k/ and /x/ see eu), the spelling u(consonant)e also occurred, especially before nasals,^[61] and oo from the spelling of Standard English cognates: /ø/ in conservative dialects. In parts of Fife, Dundee and north Antrim /e/. In Northern dialects usually /i/ but /wi/ after /ɡ/ and /k/ often spelled ee in dialect writing, and also /u/ before /r/ in some areas e.g. fuird (ford). Mid Down and Donegal dialects have /i/. In central and north Down dialects merger with vowel 15 (/ɪ/) occurs when short and vowel 8 (/eː/) when long, often written ai in dialect writing, e.g. buird (board), buit (boot), cuit (ankle), fluir (floor), guid (good), schuil (school), etc. In central dialects uise v. and uiss n. (use) are [jeːz] and [jɪs].

Grammar

Not all of the following features are exclusive to Scots and may also occur in some varieties of English.

Definite article

The is used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades and occupations, sciences and academic subjects.^[62] It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun:^[63] the hairst (autumn), the Wadensday (Wednesday), awa tae the kirk (off to church), the nou (at the moment), the day (today), the haingles (influenza), the Laitin (Latin), The deuk ett the bit breid (The duck ate a piece of bread), the wife (my wife) etc.

Nouns

Nouns usually form their plural in -(e)s but some irregular plurals occur:^[64][65] ee/een (eye/eyes), cauf/caur (calf/calves), horse/horse (horse/horses), cou/kye (cow/cows), shae/shuin (shoe/shoes). Nouns of measure and quantity unchanged in the plural:^[65][66] fower fit (four feet), twa mile (two miles), five pund (five pounds), three hunderwecht (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include laifs (loaves), leafs (leaves), shelfs (shelves) and wifes (wives).^[67]

Pronouns

Personal and possessive pronouns

English	Scots
I, me, myself, mine, my	A, me, masel, mines, ma[68]
we, us, ourselves, our	we, (h)us, oorsels~wirsels, oor~wir
you (singular), you (plural), yourself, yours, your	you~ye, you(se)~ye(se), yoursel~yersel
they, them, themselves, theirs, their	thay, thaim, thaimsels~thairsels, thairs, thair

Relative pronoun

The relative pronoun is that ('at is an alternative form borrowed from Norse but can also be arrived at by contraction) for all persons and numbers, but may be left out^[65][69] Thare's no mony fowk (that) bides in that glen (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms wha, wham, whase 'who, whom, whose', and the older whilk 'which' are literary affectations;^[65] whilk is only used after a statement^[65] He said he'd tint it, whilk wis no whit we wantit tae hear (he said he'd lost it, which is not what we wanted to hear". The possessive is formed by adding 's or by using an appropriate pronoun^[65] The wifie that's hoose gat burnt (the woman whose house was burnt), the wumman that her dochter gat mairit (the woman whose daughter got married); the men that thair boat wis tint (the men whose boat was lost).

A third adjective/adverb yon/yonder, thon/thonder indicating something at some distance^[65] D'ye see yon/thon hoose ower yonder/thonder? Also thae (those) and thir (these), the plurals of that and this respectively.

In Northern Scots this and that are also used where "these" and "those" would be in Standard English.

Other pronouns

English	Scots
this, these	this, thir
that, those	that, thae
anyone	onybody
anything	onything
nothing	nocht
everyone	awbody
everything	awthing
both	baith
each	ilk
every	ilka
other	ither

Verbs

Modal verbs

The modal verbs mey (may), ocht tae/ocht ti (ought to), and sall (shall), are no longer used much in Scots but occurred historically and are still found in anglicised literary Scots.^[65] Can, shoud/shud (should), and will/wull are the preferred Scots forms. Scots employs double modal constructions^[65] He'll no can come the day (He won't be able to come today), A micht coud come the morn (I may be able to come tomorrow), A uised tae coud dae it, but no nou (I used to be able to do it, but not now).

Negation occurs by using the adverb no, in the North East nae,^[65] as in A'm no comin (I'm not coming), A'll no learn ye (I will not teach you), or by using the suffix -na ^[70][71] sometimes spelled nae (pronounced variously /ə/, /ɪ/ or /e/ depending on dialect), as in A dinna ken (I don't know), Thay canna come (They can't come), We coudna hae telt him (We couldn't have told him), and A hivna seen her (I haven't seen her). The usage with no is preferred to that with -na with contractable auxiliary verbs like -ll for will, or in yes/no questions with any auxiliary^[65] He'll no come and Did he no come?

English	Scots
are, aren't	are~ar, arena~arna
can, can't	can, canna
could, couldn't	coud~cud, coudna~cudna
dare, daren't	daur, daurna
did, didn't	did, didna
do, don't	dae, daena~dinna
had, hadn't	haed, haedna
have, haven't	hae, haena~hinna~hivna
might, mightn't	micht, michtna
must, mustn't	maun, maunna
need, needn't	need, needna
should, shouldn't	shoud~shud, shoudna~shudna
was, wasn't	wis, wisna
were, weren't	war, warna
will, won't	will~wul, winna~wunna
would, wouldn't	wad, wadna

Present tense of verbs

The present tense of verbs adhere to the Northern subject rule whereby verbs end in -s in all persons and numbers except when a single personal pronoun is next to the verb,^[65][72] Thay say he's ower wee, Thaim that says he's ower wee, Thir lassies says he's ower wee (They say he's too small), etc. Thay're comin an aw but Five o thaim's comin, The lassies? Thay'v went but Ma brakes haes went. Thaim that comes first is serred first (Those who come first are served first). The trees growes green in the simmer (The trees grow green in summer).

Wis 'was' may replace war 'were', but not conversely:^[65] You war/wis thare.

Past tense and past participle of verbs

The regular past form of the weak or regular verbs is -it, -t or -ed, according to the preceding consonant or vowel:^[65][73] The -ed ending can be written -'d if the e is silent or has no purpose.

• hurtit (hurted), skelpit (smacked), mendit (mended);
• traivelt (travelled), raxt (reached), telt (told), kent (knew/known);
• cleaned/claen'd, scrieved/skreiv'd (scribbled), speired/speir'd (asked), dee'd (died).

Many verbs have (strong or irregular) forms which are distinctive from Standard English^[65][74] (two forms connected with ~ means that they are variants):

• bite/bate/bitten (bite/bit/bitten), drive/drave/driven~dreen (drive/drove/driven), ride/rade/ridden (ride/rode/ridden), rive/rave/riven (rive/rived/riven), rise/rase/risen (rise/rose/risen), slide/slade/slidden (slide/slid/slid), slite/slate/slitten (slit/slit/slit), write/wrate/written or Mid Northern vrit/vrat/vrutten (write/wrote/written);
• bind/band/bund (bind/bound/bound), clim/clam/clum (climb/climbed/climbed), finnd/fand/fund (find/found/found), fling/flang/flung (fling/flung/flung), hing/hang/hung (hang/hung/hung), rin/ran/run (run/ran/run), spin/span/spun (spin/spun/spun), stick/stack/stuck (stick/stuck/stuck), drink/drank/drucken~drunk (drink/drank/drunk);
• creep/crap/cruppen (creep/crept/crept), greet/grat/grutten (weep/wept/wept), sweit/swat/swutten (sweat/sweat/sweat), weet/wat/watten (wet/wet/wet), pit/pat/pitten (put/put/put), sit/sat/sitten (sit/sat/sat), spit/spat/sputten~spitten (spit/spat/spat);
• brek~brak/brak/brokken~brakken (break/broke/broken), get~git/gat/gotten (get/got/got[ten]), speak/spak/spoken (speak/spoke/spoken), fecht/focht/fochten (fight/fought/fought);
• beir/buir~bore/born(e) (bear/bore/borne), sweir/swuir~swore/sworn (swear/swore/sworne), teir/tuir~tore/torn (tear/tore/torn), weir/wuir~wore/worn (wear/wore/worn);
• cast/cuist/casten~cuisten (cast/cast/cast), lat/luit/latten~luitten (let/let/let), staund/stuid/stuiden (stand/stood/stood), fesh/fuish/feshen~fuishen (fetch/fetched), thrash/thruish/thrashen~thruishen (thresh/threshed/threshed), wash/wuish/washen~wuishen (wash/washed/washed);
• bake/bakit~beuk/bakken (bake/baked/baked), lauch/leuch/lauchen~leuchen (laugh/laughed/laughed), shak/sheuk/shakken~sheuken (shake/shook/shaken), tak/teuk/taen (take/took/taken);
• gae/gaed/gane (go/went/gone), gie/gied/gien (give/gave/given), hae/haed/haen (have/had/had);
• chuise/chuised/chosen (choose/chose/chosen), soum/soumed/soumed (swim/swam/swum), sell/selt~sauld/selt~sauld (sell/sold/sold), tell/telt~tauld/telt~tauld (tell/told/told), cut/cuttit/cuttit (cut/cut/cut), hurt/hurtit/hurtit (hurt/hurt/hurt), keep/keepit/keepit (keep/kept/kept), sleep/sleepit/sleepit (sleep/slept/slept).

Present participle

The present participle and gerund in are now usually /ən/^[75] but may still be differentiated /ən/ and /in/ in Southern Scots^[76] and, /ən/ and /ɪn/ North Northern Scots.

Adverbs

Adverbs are usually of the same form as the verb root or adjective especially after verbs. Haein a real guid day (Having a really good day). She's awfu fauchelt (She's awfully tired).

Adverbs are also formed with -s,^[65] -lies, lins, gate(s)and wey(s) -wey, whiles/whyls (at times), mebbes (perhaps), brawlies (splendidly), geylies (pretty well), aiblins (perhaps), airselins (backwards), hauflins (partly), hidlins (secretly), maistlins (almost), awgates (always, everywhere), ilkagate (everywhere), onygate/oniegate (anyhow), ilkawey (everywhere), onywey/oniewey (anyhow, anywhere), endweys (straight ahead), whit wey (how, why).

Prepositions

English	Scots
above, upper, topmost	abuin, buiner, buinmaist
below, lower, lowest	ablo, nether, blomaist
along	alang
about	aboot
about (concerning)	anent
across	athort
before	afore
behind	ahint
beneath	aneath~anaith
beside	aside~asyd
between	atween~atwein~atweesh~atweish
beyond	ayont
from	f(r)ae
into	intae~inti~intil

Interrogative words

English	Scots
who?	wha?
what?	whit?
when?	whan?
where?	whaur?
why?	why/how?
which?	whilk?
how?	hou?

In the North East, the 'wh' in the above words is pronounced /f/.^[77]

Word order

Scots prefers the word order^[78] He turnt oot the licht to 'He turned the light out' and Gie's it (Give us it) to 'Give it to me'.

Certain verbs are often used progressively^[65] He wis thinkin he wad tell her, He wis wantin tae tell her.

Verbs of motion may be dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion^[78] A'm awa tae ma bed, That's me awa hame, A'll intae the hoose an see him.

Diminutives

Diminutives in -ie,^[65] burnie small burn (stream), feardie/feartie (frightened person, coward), gamie (gamekeeper), kiltie (kilted soldier), postie (postman), wifie (woman, also used in Geordie dialect), rhodie (rhododendron), and also in -ock,^[65] bittock (little bit), playock (toy, plaything), sourock (sorrel) and Northern –ag,^[65] bairnag (little), bairn (child, common in Geordie dialect), Cheordag (Geordie), -ockie, hooseockie (small house), wifeockie (little woman), both influenced by the Scottish Gaelic diminutive -ag (-óg in Irish Gaelic).

Subordinate clauses

Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by an (and) express surprise or indignation.^[65] She haed tae walk the hale lenth o the road an her seiven month pregnant (and she seven months pregnant). He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg (and me with my sore leg).

Suffixes

• Negative na:^[70] /ɑ/, /ɪ/ or /e/ depending on dialect.^[79] Also 'nae' or 'y' e.g. canna (can't), dinna (don't) and maunna (mustn't).
• fu (ful): /u/, /ɪ/, /ɑ/ or /e/ depending on dialect. Also 'fu'', 'fie', 'fy', 'fae' and 'fa'.
• The word ending ae: /ɑ/, /ɪ/ or /e/ depending on dialect.^[79] Also 'a', 'ow' or 'y', for example: arrae (arrow), barrae (barrow) and windae (window), etc.

Numbers

Ordinal numbers end mostly in t:^[65][80] seicont, fowert, fift, saxt— (second, fourth, fifth, sixth) etc., but note also first, thrid/third— (first, third).

English	Scots
one, first	ane~ae, first
two, second	twa, seicont
three, third	three~thrie, thrid~third
four, fourth	fower, fowert
five, fifth	five, fift
six, sixth	sax, saxt
seven, seventh	seiven~seivin, seivent~seivint
eight, eighth	aicht~echt, aicht~echt
nine, ninth	nine~nyn, nint~nynt
ten, tenth	ten, tent
eleven, eleventh	eleiven~eleivin, eleivent~eleivint
twelve, twelfth	twal, tawlt

Ae /eː/, /jeː/ is used as an adjective before a noun^[81] such as : The Ae Hoose (The One House), Ae laddie an twa lassies (One boy and two girls). Ane is pronounced variously, depending on dialect, /en/, /jɪn/ in many Central and Southern varieties, /in/ in some Northern and Insular varieties, and /wan/, often written yin, een and wan in dialect writing.

The impersonal form of 'one' is a body as in A body can niver bide wi a body's sel (One can never live by oneself).

Times of day

English	Scots
morning	forenuin
midday	twal-oors
afternoon	efternuin~eftirnuin
evening	forenicht
dusk, twilight	dayligaun, gloamin
midnight	midnicht
early morning	wee-oors

Scots in comparison to other Germanic languages

Though regional dialect and choice of word usage may vary, the relationship between Scots and its fellow Germanic counterparts can be seen through use of the following sentence

English	The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Scots	The swipper broun tod lowpit ower the lazy dug.[82]
Dutch	De snelle bruine vos sprong over de luie hond.
German	Der schnelle braune Fuchs sprang über den faulen Hund.
Afrikaans	Die vinnige bruin jakkals spring oor die lui hond
Danish	Den hurtige brune ræv hoppede over den dovne hund
Norwegian	Den raske brune reven hoppet over lat hund.
Swedish	Den snabba bruna räven hoppade över den lata hunden.

Literature

The eighteenth century Scots revival was initiated by writers such as Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson, and later continued by writers such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Scott introduced vernacular dialogue to his novels. Other well-known authors like Robert Louis Stevenson, William Alexander, George MacDonald, J. M. Barrie and other members of the Kailyard school like Ian Maclaren also wrote in Scots or used it in dialogue, as did George Douglas Brown whose writing is regarded as a useful corrective to the more roseate presentations of the kailyard school.

In the Victorian era popular Scottish newspapers regularly included articles and commentary in the vernacular, often of unprecedented proportions.^[83]

In the early twentieth century, a renaissance in the use of Scots occurred, its most vocal figure being Hugh MacDiarmid whose benchmark poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926) did much to demonstrate the power of Scots as a modern idiom. Other contemporaries were Douglas Young, John Buchan, Sidney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch and Robert McLellan. The revival extended to verse and other literature.

In 1983 William Laughton Lorimer's translation of the New Testament from the original Greek was published.

Sample texts

From Hallow-Fair (Robert Fergusson 1750–1774)

At Hallowmas, whan nights grow lang,

And starnies shine fu' clear,

Whan fock, the nippin cauld to bang,

Their winter hap-warms wear,

Near Edinbrough a fair there hads,

I wat there's nane whase name is,

For strappin dames an sturdy lads,

And cap and stoup, mair famous

Than it that day.

Upo' the tap o' ilka lum

The sun bagan to keek,

And bad the trig made maidens come

A sightly joe to seek

At Hallow-fair, whare browsters rare

Keep gude ale on the gantries,

And dinna scrimp ye o' a skair

O' kebbucks frae their pantries,

Fu' saut that day.

From The Maker to Posterity (Robert Louis Stevenson 1850–1894)

Far 'yont amang the years to be

When a' we think, an' a' we see,

An' a' we luve, `s been dung ajee

By time's rouch shouther,

An' what was richt and wrang for me

Lies mangled throu'ther,

It's possible - it's hardly mair -

That some ane, ripin' after lear -

Some auld professor or young heir,

If still there's either -

May find an' read me, an' be sair

Perplexed, puir brither!

"What tongue does your auld bookie speak?"

He'll spier; an' I, his mou to steik:

"No bein' fit to write in Greek,

I write in Lallan,

Dear to my heart as the peat reek,

Auld as Tantallon.

"Few spak it then, an' noo there's nane.

My puir auld sangs lie a' their lane,

Their sense, that aince was braw an' plain,

Tint a'thegether,

Like runes upon a standin' stane

Amang the heather.

From The House with the Green Shutters (George Douglas Brown 1869–1902)

He was born the day the brig on the Fleckie Road gaed down, in the year o' the great flood; and since the great flood it’s twelve year come Lammas. Rab Tosh o' Fleckie’s wife was heavy-footed at the time, and Doctor Munn had been a' nicht wi' her, and when he came to Barbie Water in the morning it was roaring wide frae bank to brae; where the brig should have been there was naething but the swashing o' the yellow waves. Munn had to drive a' the way round to the Fechars brig, and in parts of the road, the water was so deep that it lapped his horse’s bellyband.

A' this time Mistress Gourlay was skirling in her pains an praying to God she micht dee. Gourlay had been a great cronie o' Munn’s, but he quarrelled him for being late; he had trysted him, ye see, for the occasion, and he had been twenty times at the yett to look for him-ye ken how little he would stomach that; he was ready to brust wi' anger. Munn, mad for the want o' sleep and wat to the bane, swüre back at him; and than Goulay wadna let him near his wife! Ye mind what an awful day it was; the thunder roared as if the heavens were tumbling on the world, and the lichtnin sent the trees daudin on the roads, and folk hid below their beds an prayed-they thocht it was the judgment! But Gourlay rammed his black stepper in the shafts and drave like the devil o' Hell to Skeighan Drone, where there was a young doctor. The lad was feared to come, but Gourlay swore by God that he should, and he gaired him. In a' the countryside, driving like his that day was never kenned or heard tell o'; they were back within the hour!

I saw them gallop up Main Street; lichtin struck the ground before them; the young doctor covered his face wi' his hands, and the horse nichered wi' fear an tried to wheel, but Gourlay stood up in the gig and lashed him on though the fire. It was thocht for lang that Mrs. Gourlay would die, and she was never the same womman after. Atweel aye, sirs. Gorlay has that morning's work to blame for the poor wife he has now.

From Embro to the Ploy (Robert Garioch 1909 - 1981)

The tartan tred wad gar ye lauch;

nae problem is owre teuch.

Your surname needna end in –och;

they’ll cleik ye up the cleuch.

A puckle dollar bill will aye

preive Hiram Teufelsdröckh

a septary of Clan McKay

it’s maybe richt eneuch,

verflüch!

in Embro to the ploy.

The Auld High Schule, whaur mony a skelp

of triple-tonguit tawse

has gien a heist-up and a help

towards Doctorates of Laws,

nou hears, for Ramsay’s cantie rhyme,

loud pawmies of applause

frae folk that pey a pund a time

to sit on wudden raws

gey hard

in Embro to the ploy

The haly kirk’s Assembly-haa

nou fairly coups the creel

wi Lindsay’s Three Estatis, braw

devices of the Deil.

About our heids the satire stots

like hailstanes till we reel;

the bawrs are in auld-farrant Scots,

it’s maybe jist as weill,

imphm,

in Embro to the ploy.

From The New Testament in Scots (William Laughton Lorimer 1885- 1967) Mathew:1:18ff

This is the storie o the birth o Jesus Christ. His mither Mary wis trystit til Joseph, but afore they war mairriet she wis fund tae be wi bairn bi the Halie Spírit. Her husband Joseph, honest man, hed nae mind tae affront her afore the warld an wis for brakkin aff their tryst hidlinweys; an sae he wis een ettlin tae dae, whan an angel o the Lord kythed til him in a draim an said til him, “Joseph, son o Dauvit, be nane feared tae tak Mary your trystit wife intil your hame; the bairn she is cairrein is o the Halie Spírit. She will beir a son, an the name ye ar tae gíe him is Jesus, for he will sauf his fowk frae their sins.”

Aa this happent at the wurd spokken bi the Lord throu the Prophet micht be fulfilled: Behaud, the virgin wil bouk an beir a son, an they will caa his name Immanuel – that is, “God wi us”.

Whan he hed waukit frae his sleep, Joseph did as the angel hed bidden him, an tuik his trystit wife hame wi him. But he bedditna wi her or she buir a son; an he caa’d the bairn Jesus.

References

External links

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• Scots Language Centre
• The Scots Language Society
• Scots-online
• Scots Language Recordings
• ScotsteXt - books, poems and texts in Scots
• Scottish words - illustrated