Central Scots

Central Scots is a group of dialects of Scots.

Central Scots is spoken from Fife and Perthshire to the Lothians and Wigtownshire, often split into North East Central Scots (Northeast Mid Scots) and South East Central Scots (Southeast Mid Scots), West Central Scots (West Mid Scots) and South West Central Scots (Southwest Mid Scots).

Like other varieties of Scots, Central Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from Standard English. By the end of the twentieth century Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland.

Phonology

Consonants

Most consonants are usually pronounced much as in English but:
* ch is traditionally realised in, for example, (bought), (cough), (daughter), (fought), (sought) and (trough).
* ld and nd elision to and occurs in all Central Scots dialects but in the Lothians ‘’ld’’ only simplifies to ‘’l’’ finally where the next word begins with a consonant.
*ng: is always .
*nch: usually . (branch), (push), etc.
*r: or is pronounced in all positions, i.e. with rhoticity.
*t: may be a glottal stop between vowels or word final.
*wh: usually , older .

Vowels

Vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish vowel length rule (SVLR).

*a (vowel 17) is usually but to the north and east also occurs. Note final ''a'' (vowel 12) in ''awa'' (away), ''twa'' (two) and ''wha'' (who) is usually realised South of the Forth, often written ''awae'', ''twae'' and ''whae'' in dialect writing.
* aw and au (vowel 12) is usually in the East and parts of Perthshire or in the West to West Lothian, however, is spreading eastwards, for example ''aw'' (all), ''cauld'' (cold), ''braw'' (fine, pleasant), ''faw'' (fall) and ''snaw'' (snow).
* ai, ay and a (consonant)e, ae (vowel 4 or 8) are usually realised , for example ''baith'' (both), ''braid'' (broad), ''cake'', ''claes'' (clothes), ''grape'' (grope), ''kail'' (cole), ''laid'' (load), ''laif'' (loaf), ''made'', ''raip'' (rope), ''saip'' (soap), ''spae'' (foretell). South of the Forth the initial realisation is often , for example ''acre'', ''aik'' (oak), ''aits'' (oats), ''ale'', ''ane'' (one) and ''ance'' (once) often written ''yicker'', ''yick'', ''yits'', ''yill'', ''yin'' and ''yince'' in dialect writing. Where that occurs, ''ae'' (one-before nouns) is realised , often written ''yae'' in dialect writing.
* e (vowel 16) is usually realised , for example ''bed'', ''het'' (heated), ''yett'' (gate), etc.
*ea, ei (vowel 3), has generally merged with (vowel 2) or (vowel 4 or 8) depending on dialect. With prevailing in the south east and west and prevailing in the north east of the dialect area. Before , may occur. For example, ''deid'' (dead), ''heid'' (head), ''meat'' (food), ''clear'' etc.
*ee (vowels 2 and 11), e (consonant)e (vowel 2). Occasionally ei and ie with ''ei'' generally before ''ch'' (), but also in a few other words, and ''ie'' generally occurring before ''l'' and ''v''. The realisation is generally e.g. ''dree'' (endure), ''ee'' (eye), ''een'' (eyes), ''flee'' (fly), ''here'', ''lee'' (lie, fib), ''see'', ''speir'' (enquire), ''steek'' (shut), ''thee'' (thigh) and ''tree'' etc. The digraph ''ea'' also occurs in a few words such as ''lea'' and ''sea''.
* eu (vowel 7 before and see ''ui'') is usually realised in the west and Fife, and in the southwest and south of the Forth, for example ''beuk'' (book), ''eneuch'' (enough), ''ceuk'' (cook), ''leuk'' (look) and ''teuk'' (took).
*o (vowel 18): has merged with vowel 5 () throughout much of the dialect area, often spelled phonetically ''oa'' in dialect spellings such as (box), (corn), ''Goad'' (God) (job) and (on) etc.
*oa (vowel 5) is usually .
*ou the general literary spelling of vowel 6, also u (consonant)e in some words, is realised , often represented by oo, a 19th-century borrowing from Standard English. e.g. ''cou'' (cow), ''broun'' (brown), ''hoose'' (house), ''moose'' (mouse) etc.
*ow, owe (root final), (vowel 13) is usually Johnston, Paul (1997) ''Regional Variation'' in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 498 in ''bowe'' (bow), ''howe'' (hollow), ''knowe'' (knoll), ''cowp'' (overturn), ''yowe'' (ewe), etc. Vocalisation to often occurs before , for example ''bowk'' (retch), ''howk'' (dig) often written ''boak'' and ''hoak'' in dialect writing.
*ui, the usual literary spelling of vowel 7 (except before and see eu). The older realisation may still occur in Perthshire and in Parts of Fife otherwise, as is the norm elsewhere, vowel 7 merges with vowel 15 () in SVLR short environments and vowel 8 () in long environments,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'' (board), ''buit'' (boot), ''cuit'' (ankle), ''fluir'' (floor), ''guid'' (good), ''schuil'' (school), etc. Note that v. and n. (use) are and . The realisation is often written ''ai'' in dialect writing, e.g. ''flair'' for ''fluir'' (floor), ''shair'' for ''shuir'' (sure), for (use v.) and ''yiss'' for (use n.).

See also

* Glasgow dialect
* Berwick-upon-Tweed#Berwick dialect

References

{{Reflist

Scots dialects
Fife
Clackmannanshire
Perth and Kinross
Stirling (council area)
Falkirk (council area)
East Dunbartonshire
West Dunbartonshire
Culture in Glasgow
Renfrewshire
Inverclyde
East Renfrewshire
North Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
West Lothian
Culture in Edinburgh
Midlothian
East Lothian
North Ayrshire
East Ayrshire
South Ayrshire
Galloway