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.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 Most consonants are usually pronounced much as in English but: ch is traditionally 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 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.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.502 ng: is always .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.510 nch: usually .Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.500 (branch), (push), etc. r: or is pronounced in all positions,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. with rhoticity. t: may be a glottal stop between vowels or word final.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p.501 wh: usually , older .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 usually conditioned by the Scottish vowel length rule (SVLR).
a (vowel 17) is usually but to the north and east also occurs.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 (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,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 489-490 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 ,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 461/465 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.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 458 Before , may occur.Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 455 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 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 (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,Johnston, Paul (1997) Regional Variation in Jones, Charles (ed.) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. p. 482 often spelled phonetically oa in dialect spellings such as (box), (corn), Goad (God) (job) and (on) etc. oa (vowel 5) is usually .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 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