'Scots words and language, making connections between dialects, regions and communities within Scotland through song.'

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Northern Ireland Screen

A Press and Journal report on the Scots language wedding

A Daily Record report of obstruction to the Scots language wedding

In 2010 the Scots language Centre chatted to Colin Wilson about the Scots language he heard while growing up in the North East of Scotland. This short film shows Colin and Dauvit discussing language influences and shifts.

Whuppity Stoorie

Nursery rhymes

Songs

Poems

JR Baxter's list contains information about his published works.

SUB DIALECT OF CENTRAL SCOTS:

EAST CENTRAL NORTH

Thumbnail History

This region contains some of the most historic towns in Scotland. On its northern edge is Dundee, founded in the late 12th century by Earl David, brother of William The Lion.  In the west is Perth, to the far east, in Fife, are both Dunfermline and St Andrews, and towards the southern edge of the region is Stirling. We can see traces of the early Scots language as vernacular words contained in charters, beginning in the 12th century, while full texts appear from the 14th century ownwards.

Name

The dialect of this region has long been called either Scots (the traditional name) or Scotch. In the Dundee, which is on the edge of this dialect, the dialect of the city is known as Dundonian.

Characteristics

The dialect of what is now Angus and Tayside falls somewhere between Central and Northern Scots.  Strictly speaking, the speech of, say, Dundee and the area to the west of the city, is the same as the dialect spoken in Edinburgh and Glasgow, called Central Scots. To the north of Dundee the dialect begins to change and merge with Northern Scots.  In one old saying the town of Forfar is regarded as standing on the boundary between the two dialect regions: ‘Bi foo, fit, far an fan, ye can tell a Farfar man’.

 There are in Angus some points of pronunciation which differ from further south.  Whereas in the south the sound i is usual to words such as muin, spuin and guid, in Angus the same words substitute an oo sound, becoming mune, spune and gude (moon, spoon, good).  Also, in Angus, the word ane (one) is pronounced as it looks while to the south it becomes yin.

In the city of Dundee there is also a ‘classic’ sound by which native Dundonians may be recognised: eh. Billy Kay, in Scots The Mither Tongue, gives a good example of this sound in the following sentence: ‘Eh hud meh eh on a peh’ (I had my eye on a pie).

Region

There are one or two writers who are connected with this region, such as William Soutar and Violet Jacob, but probably William Lorimer, who translated the New Testament into Scots, is the most well known.

Scots is the collective name for Scottish dialects known also as ‘Doric’, ‘Lallans’ and ‘Scotch’ or by more local names such as ‘Buchan’, ‘Dundonian’, ‘Glesca’ or ‘Shetland’. Taken altogether, Scottish dialects are called the Scots language.

 The dialect stretches down through the western half of Angus, includes the city of Dundee, Perth and Kinross, and also the whole of Fife, Clackmannan, and Stirlingshire together with Falkirk district. Within this region are included the towns of Anstruther (Ainster), Auchterarder (Auchterairder), Cowdenbeath (Coudenbaith), Cupar,  Dunfermline (Dumfaurlin),  Dunkeld (Dunkell), Falkirk (The Fawkirk), Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, Perth, St Andrews (St Aundraes) and Stirling (Stirlin). The biggest town within this dialect is the city of Dundee which has its own city dialect of Scots known by its speakers as Dundonian of whom Ellie McDonald, Gary Robertson, Mark Thomson, and Sheena Wellington are poets, singers and writers. In Dundee the dialect is largely like that of Scots spoken to the south and west but there are some characteristics that stand out. Perhaps the most well known characteristic of Dundonian is the eh sound as in the sentence “Eh hud meh eh on a peh” (I had my eye on a pie). In this dialect generally people say hoo, whit, whaur, whan, in difference to the f pronunciation (for example, fit - what) used further north. Much of the dialect is very similar to the other regions of Central Scots further south, but the accent, or way people pronounce things, is obviously somewhat different. For example, the fishing communities of the East Neuk of Fife and the old mining communities of the west of Fife both have distinct ways of pronouncing the dialect, the people of the East Neuk tending to raise the pitch at the end of sentences. Outside Dundee there are a number of other poets, singers and writers in the dialect including Willie Hershaw, Mary Kermack, Andrew McNeil and William Soutar.

SOUTHERN

Thumbnail History

Name

Characteristics

Region

Straddling between the rest of Scotland and the old frontier with England, the people of the Borders and Dumfries made war and peace independently of the central powers either side of the border.  They stood apart in their speech as well. 

Whereas most speakers of Scots would say you, a person from this region would say yow, and whereas one might say pea, people from this region would say pey.  By this classic test, in which words ending in the usual sounds –oo and –ee become –ow and –ey, we discover the more obvious ways in which the speech of this region differs from the rest of Scots.  Other features include the the manner in which the sounds –ai (as in baith or claes) become –eea (as in beeath or cleeaz), and –e in the middle of word such as bed becoming –a in this region, sounded like bad. 

In addition to these features, there are a number of Romany words, such as barry (good) or gadgie (man) which were adopted into the dialect, though since then they have been adopted into other dialects too.  The kings of the Romanies – the Faa family – lived in the Borders.

SUB DIALECT OF SOUTHERN SCOTS:

SOUTHERN

Because the Southern dialect has no subdivsions as such, the main and sub dialect are one and the same thing. This dialect covers the greater part of the Scottish Borders, taking in Annandale, Eskdale, Ettrick, and Roxburgh. It is known as Southern Scots and to its speakers either as Scotch or Scots, or more particularly as Borders. Included within it are Annan, Hawick (Haaick), Jedburgh (Jethart), Kelso (Kelsae), Lockerbie and Selkirk. Scots and its ancestor Anglo-Saxon, have been spoken in this region since the 7^th century AD, that is 1,400 years or so. Sometimes Southern Scots has been called the ‘yow and mey’ dialect because of the different vowel sounds its speakers make in comparison with the other dialects of Scots. This means that speakers of Borders say now and down rather than noo and doon (now and down) but they also say yow rather than you. Whereas the speakers of other dialects say baith, braid and claes (both, broad and clothes), speakers of Borders say beeath, breead and cleeaz. As far as distinct words are concerned, the dialect of the area contains a number of words from the Gypsy tongue. The Borders dialect also shares with the North East of Scotland the distinction of a long tradition of poetry and song giving rise to the great Border Ballads in Scots. The region has been well known since the Middle Ages for its large scale sheep farming, and later for the Tweed industry. Since the late 19^th century the Borders have also been notable for the game of rugby. The yearly Common Ridings mark the traditional boundaries and provide an opportunity for the celebration of the Borders horse culture. The famous Scots language poet and writer Hugh MacDiarmid was a Borderer from Langholm. Other Borderers who have written in Scots include Alasdair Allan MSP, James Hogg, David Purves and Sir Walter Scott.

SUB DIALECT OF CENTRAL SCOTS

SOUTH CENTRAL

Thumbnail History

The dialect spoken in Kirkudbright and Wigtown (collectively Galloway) was once more distinct than it is today.  The reason for this lies with influences spreading from the north (from the Glasgow conurbation), and by means of people settling from Ireland, principally around Stranraer and Wigtown.

In a book named ‘Gallawa Gossip’ which was printed in 1901 the author, a native of Galloway, was quite critical of the apparent changes in the local dialect.  He began by making the claim that the dialect of the south west was “nae wey different frae whut they speak a’ ower Scotland, a’ but Aiberdeenshire…”, but continued “Hooever…Thae Ayrshiremen’s bringan doon their horrid Ayrshire-Eerish wi them – Glesca-Eerish some folk ca’s’t; an they’r bringan baith Ayrshires an Eerish tae speak it, an it’ll no be lang till there’s naething else in Gallowa.  A min’ whun there wus nae siccan gibberish, an the Glesca folk an the Ayrshire folk spak as gude Scotch as onybuddy; but tae hear them noo! ye wud think ye wur amang a ship-load o’ Cheenamen, sneevelin that wey.”

It was reckoned that the border between traditional speech and this so-called ‘Glesca-Eerish’ was the River Cree.  One person, named Willie Scott, published a small word book about the speech of Mid-Nithsdale in 1925.  This region straddles the dialects of both the south west and the Borders.  By and large the idioms and vocabulary contained in the book reflect the Scots of other regions.

Name

Scots has been spoken here since the Middle Ages. The dialect is known as South Central Scots, though speakers usually call it Scotch or Scots.

Region

The dialect covers Nithsdale, South Ayrshire (from the town of Ayr southwards), Stewartry and Wigtown,. It is bounded to the east by the town of Dumfries and includes within it Castle Douglas (Carlinwark), Crossmichael (Crossmickle), Dalbeattie (Dabaittie), Dalmellington (Damelintoun), Girvan, Kircudbright (Kirkcoubrie), New Galloway (New Gallowa), Newton Stewart and Stranraer (Stranrawer).

Characteristics

The dialect of this region shows influence coming in from further north, from West Central, and, in Wigtonshire, there has been some influence from Irish migrants. In Nithsdale people traditionally said blaa and craa instead of blaw and craw (blow and crow) and through most of the region dialect speakers use pronunciations such as gyid, min, shin (good, moon, shoes). It is common to hear certain things in the dialect contracted in speech. For example, in the, on the, and at the become i’e’, o’e’, etc, as for example i’e’ toon or i’e’ mornin (in the town and in the morning). The most famous of the poets in Scots – Robert Burns – was born and bred in this dialect region. His family home at Alloway (Allowa) is now a museum. Other writers include William McDowall and the late William Neill.

SUB DIALECT OF CENTRAL SCOTS

WEST CENTRAL

Thumbnail History

Name

Characteristics

Region

Studies of modern Scots speakers and writers from Burns Country suggest that this variety of Scots combines tradition and innovation. The Scottish National Dictionary supplements include some well established Scots terms alongside variations on old themes. For example coggle 'rock' has been around since the early 19th century, and survives in expressions such as He's cogglet ower aff the seat. By contrast the verb crunckle 'rustle or crackle' has been turned into a noun that refers to small pieces of coal that crackle when on the grate, as in a "shivelfu' o' crunklies" was waiting to join the cheery blaze, from the Irvine Valley News of September 1950. The familiar verb greet 'weep' has not only been turned into a noun, as in a wee greet, but also an adjective, greety.

Macaulay's exploration of Ayrshire speech in the 1970s and 1980s suggests that, amongst workers at least, there had been little change in pronunciation since the 1920s. If you keep your ears open you will hear pronunciations like aboot, hame, baith, aw, smaw, nicht and bricht, though some of these features are now characteristic of older speakers (e.g. the ch in nicht, bricht).

There is also tradition and innovation in grammar. Part of the old system of demonstratives survives, in expressions like thae men, yon/thon women, and working-class speakers retain the Scots negatives -nae and no, as in ye cannae come, ye'll no go? A notable innovation, probably introduced from Ireland, is the second person plural pronoun, youse, which has spread elsewhere in Scotland.

The Scots spoken in Glasgow is distinctive in a number of ways. Since cities are the meeting-grounds for people of different backgrounds, they provide many opportunities for language contact. Studies are also beginning to show the impact of the media on young people's speech. Cities are therefore the engines of language change. The expression, ken, still used widely in Ayrshire and elsewhere in Scotland in order to check comprehension, is seldom used in the city. Glasgow slang or 'patter' is however a source of colourful coinages, such as the buroo 'the Department of Health and Social Security' ie 'the Bureau', and the baw's on the slates, 'the situation is hopeless'.

SUB DIALECT OF CENTRAL SCOTS:

WEST CENTRAL

Scots has been spoken in this region since the Middle Ages. The dialect covers a large area and is known as West Central Scots, though speakers usually call their dialect Scotch or Scots. Within Glasgow a distinct city dialect is also spoken and sometimes called The Patter. The West Central dialect includes Dunbartonshire, the city of Glasgow, Lanarkshire, North Ayrshire (as far south as the town of Ayr), Renfrewshire, and also speakers in Arran, Bute and Kintyre. Towns included within the dialect are Campbeltown (Cammletoun), Cumbernauld (Cummernaud), Dumbarton, Glasgow (Glesca), Greenock, Hamilton, Kilmarnock (Kilmaurnock), Largs (Lairgs), Motherwell, Paisley, Rothesay (Rossay) and Wishaw (Wishae). Generally speaking, north Ayrshire and Lanarkshire tend to be more traditional spoken than the region around Glasgow which has seen more change and innovation. This region of Scotland, more than any other, saw great changes brought by industrialisation, and significant influence on the dialect from Highland and Irish migrants. In Ayr and Lanark people use traditional Scots words such as awa, braw, nicht, muckle (away, fine, night, great/much) and, generally, people in this dialect use forms such as abin, gid, shae, pair and yin (above, good, shoe, poor and one).  In the Glasgow region people say sentences such as “Gaunae no dae it” rather than “Dinnae dae it” heard in other parts of the dialect. Also, it is common for people to cut words down such as “gae up” or “gae oot” (go up and go out) to g’up and g’oot or watter and butter to wa’er and bu’er (water and butter).  The Glasgow region is also noted for introducing new words to Scots such as The Buroo (unemployment office) or mentions (graffiti). Throughout the whole region people say wean (child) rather than bairn. West Central has produced a large number of poets, singers and writers in both rural and urban Scots down through the centuries. Among the more recent are included Billy Kay, James Kelman, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Edwin Morgan, Liz Niven, Jamie Stuart, and Rab Wilson.

SUB DIALECT OF CENTRAL SCOTS:

EAST CENTRAL SOUTH

Thumbnail History

This dialect lies between the Firth of Forth and the Borders region, and Scots and its ancestor Anglo-Saxon have been spoken here since the 7^th century AD, that is 1,400 years or so. Because the Scottish government became centralised in Edinburgh, it was the Scots of this region which provided a general Scots standard for written records when Scotland was an independent country.

Name

It is known as East Central South to distinguish it from the related dialect further north. Speakers call their dialect either Scotch or Scots, or simply refer to it by the name of the region. So, for example, a person in East Lothian who speaks the dialect could either say they speak Scots, or they speak Lothian Scots.

Characteristics

One of the most distinctive features of the language in this area is the sound in words like whae and twae, where other dialects would use wha and twa. Yin (or yae before vowels) is used instead of ane (or ae before vowels). Like other Central dialects, East Central speakers split the sound in words like mune, dune, fluir, spune, use, abune and puir into two groups according to whether the vowel is long or short, giving min, din, spin, yiss and abin, but flair, yaise and pair.

In southern parts you’ll hear the pronoun ou used where other speakers would use we, in phrases like ‘Ou’ll can dae that the morn’.

Many well-known local words have come into the language from Romany speech: Edinburgh shibboleths like radge and barry, as well as more locally specific words like pannie (river), chorie (steel), lowie (money) and deek (look), all come from the language of the travelling people. Ironically, the word gadge (or its diminutive gadgie) that has come to be just a general term for a man, was originally used by travellers to indicate an outsider, a non-traveller.

Region

While Edinburgh has been the home of many of the Scots language’s best-known writers: Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Walter Scott an Robert Louis Stevenson all lived or worked in the capital; these writers often didn’t emphasise local features when they wrote in Scots. Perhaps because of the historical associations of Edinburgh with the Scottish court, East Central Scots writers have often written in a Scots that links their work to that of the Older Scots Makars, pushing Edinburgh speech to the margins of Scots-language writing. In the twentieth century, the poet Robert Garioch used a general kind o Scots most of the time, despite writing about the city in many of his poems. More recently, however, the novelist Irvine Welsh, who writes in both Scots and English, has catapulted East Central Scots to centre stage, with large parts of his famous novel Trainspotting, set in Edinburgh and in Leith, written in the local dialect.

CAITHNESS

Thumbnail History

In 1735 Aneas Bayne, in his 'A Survey of the County of Caithness', commented that the local dialect was then spoken in five or six parishes, with Gaelic in the other four.  He also commented that 'the commons speak it tolerably well where they are not much corrupted by the accents and idioms of the Irish' (by which he meant Gaels). The compilers of the Old Statistical Account said in 1791 that the speech of Canisbay was “Scotch with a intermixture of Norwegian vocables” while in Wick (1791) the people spoke the “common provincial dialect of the north”.  The same was said of Canisbay and Wick in 1840-41. In Halkirk in 1840 Gaelic was giving way to Scots and had been doing so for some forty years previously.

Name

The dialect is generally known as Caitnes ('Kate-niss') which is the local form of the county name in Scots.

Characteristics

Although Caithness (Caitnes) faces towards Orkney, it forms part of another, wider dialect known as Northern Scots. Northern Scots includes all the forms of Scots spoken from Caithness as far south as eastern Angus. There is much about the Caithness dialect that is similar to the North East of Scotland. For example, in Caithness, just as in the North East, an f is used instead of a wh. So what and when become fat and fan. Also, the th at the start of many words is lost so that the, that, this and they are pronounced e, at, is and ey by Caithness speakers. It is also common, perhaps even more so than the North East, for the sound ee to replace a number of vowels such as ai, oo and u.  For example, words such as been (bone), heer (hair), meed (made), and meen (moon). There are also a few features which are probably derived from cross over with Gaeilc.  The sound ch is softened to an s or sh as in shapel (chapel). Caithness speakers also say she, her or hers instead of it and its.

Region

The well known places of Caithness include Dounreay (Dounerie), John O’ Groats (The Groats), Thurso (Thursa), and Wick (Weik). Like some other parts of Scotland, Caithness has a long-established fishing community who also have their own distinct Scots words and phrases. Writers in Caithness dialect include George Gunn, Robert MacKay, D Manson and Jenny Stewart. There were a number of publications in the local dialect, such as E Silkie Man (above right), published during the 20th century.

SUB DIALECT OF NORTHERN SCOTS:

NORTH EAST

Thumbnail History

In the early Middle Ages Pictish was spoken in the region, followed by Gaelic, and then Scots. There were early contacts too with Scandinavia and the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) with fishermen and traders sharing common words across the North Sea. David I established Aberdeen and Elgin as royal burghs in the 12th century. The Gordon earls of Huntly, and Keith earls Marsichal, were for long the dominant poltical families and who produced much documentation in the Scots language. Historically the region had both Highland and Lowland parishes within its area.

Name

The dialect of the North East forms part of the wider Northern Scots dialect, but to many of its speakers it is known as The Doric in recognition of its strong association with the farming communities of the region. In the smaller area roughly between Banff and Ellon, the dialect is sometimes called Buchan.

Characteristics

In both pronunciation and vocabulary, The Doric is distinct from Central and Southern dialects. Perhaps the most outstanding features of the dialect are, firstly, the use of f rather than wh, as in foo, fit, far and fan (how, what, where and when), and with some people fite, funn, fusky. A before n sometimes becomes ee: ane (or yin) is een, nane is neen, lane is leen. And the ui of muin, suin, guid is also pronounced as ee in the Doric: meen, seen, gweed. Also, speakers of this dialect say nae in all senses. So, for example, people from other dialects make a distinction between “A’ve nae mair left” but “A’m no comin” while in the North East people would say the same in both senses – “A’ve nae mair left” and “A’m nae comin.” The word gang (go) is commonly pronounced without the ‘a’ and sounds like ging. There are also a substantial number of words that are not to be heard elsewhere in Scotland: cappie (ice-cream cone), dubby (muddy), ficher (play with your fingers) fooge (play truant), hallach, halliket or hallyrackit (obstreperous), stewie-bap (floury roll) and many others.

Region

The dialect as a whole covers a large area ranging from the Black Isle and Nairn in the west, all the way across Moray, Banff and Buchan, down through Gordon, the city of Aberdeen (Aiberdeen), and into Deeside. Included within this region are Burghead (Brochheid), Fraserburgh (The Broch), Lossiemouth (Lossie), and Peterhead (Peterheid) on the coast, with Alford (Aaford), Elgin, Ellon (Eilan), Forres, Huntly, Inverurie (Innerurie), Keith, and Turriff (Turra) inland. Together with Shetland, the North East is arguably one of the two most active and aware dialect communities in Scotland, with distinct farming and fishing traditions. In more recent times the oil industry has become significant too. The North East has produced a significant number of poets and writers in the dialect, such as Marion Angus, Sheena Blackhall, John C Milne, Charles Murray, Alexander Ross, and David Toulmin. The region is also famed for its bothy ballads and traditional song which are celebrated each year in the Doric Festival.

SUB DIALECT OF NORTHERN SCOTS:

EAST ANGUS & KINCARDINE

Thumbnail History

In the earliest times Pictish was spoken. In the Middle Ages both Gaelic and Scots were spoken in this region, though Scots gradually expanded westward. The Lindsays of Glenesk were among the prominent families using the Scots language for adminstration as early as the 1380's. John of Fordoun, the first Scot to describe the differences between Gaelic and Scots speakers, was a native of Kincardineshire. The important abbey at Arbroath was founded in 1178 and soon followed by a burgh and fishing town. Stonehaven was established as a burgh by the Keith earls Marischal in 1587.

Name

People here usually call their dialect Scots generally, but if you live in the northern part of the region you might say you speak Mearns, while those who are in the south might say they speak Angus.

Characteristics

This dialect forms part of the wider Northern Scots dialect, sharing some features with the Doric further north (see North East Scots) and some with Central Scots to the west and south. The counties of Angus and Kincardine are a frontier region where the Northern form of Scots gives way to the Central form of Scots. This means that Kincardine and eastern Angus fall traditionally within the Northern Scots-speaking region while western Angus falls within Central Scots. Traditionally, the town of Forfar stood at the boundary where the Northern foo, fit, far and fan (how, what, where and when) changed to hoo, whit, whaur and whan further west. Also, forms such as been and steen (bone and stone) are used in this dialect rather than the more southern bane and stane. Angus speakers also pronounce some words with a very round sound such as mune, spune and gude (moon, spoon, good). 

Region

The region is largely rural, dotted with fishing communities, stretching down from Kincardineshire (The Mearns) as far as the outskirts of the city of Dundee. It includes Arbroath, Carnoustie, Montrose and Stonehaven (Steenhive), and, inland, Brechin and Forfar (Farfar). Poets, singers and writers in Scots from this region have included Steve Byrne, Helen B Cruickshank, George Webster Donald, Violet Jacob and Raymond Vettese.