Modern Scots

Sign reading "The Ayrshire Coastal Path/Be ye man or Bairn or Wumman,/Be ye gaun or be ye comin,/For Scotland's Pride – no Scotland's shame,/Gather yer litter – an tak it Hame!"

Anti-littering sign in Modern Scots on the Ayrshire Coastal Path

Modern Scots comprises the varieties of 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 English, largely from the colloquial register. This process of language contact or dialectisation under English has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English, and increased population mobility became available after the Second World War. 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. Residual features of Scots are often simply regarded today as slang, especially by people from outwith Scotland, but even by many Scots.

Dialects

Southern Scots is spoken near the Anglo-Scottish border, Central Scots in south-central Scotland, Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, Northern Scots in northeastern Scotland, Insular Scots on the Orkney and Shetland islands, .

Map of Scots dialects

The varieties of Modern Scots are generally divided into five dialect groups:

• 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 and popularly known as the Doric) – spoken in Moray, Buchan, Aberdeenshire and Nairn .
  • 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. Like many languages across borders there is a dialect continuum between Scots and the Northumbrian dialect, both descending from early northern Middle English. The Scots pronunciation of contrasts with in Northern English. The Scots realisation 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 (-might, -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. The greater part of the valley of the Esk and the whole of Liddesdale have been considered to be northern English dialects by some, Scots by others. 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.

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 their 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.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n			ŋ
Stop		p b		t d	tʃ dʒ		k ɡ	ʔ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ç	x	h
Approximant	median			ɹ		j	ʍ w
	lateral			l
Trill				r

Vowels

Vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule.

Aitken	IPA	Notes
1	short long
2
3		With the exception of North Northern dialects this vowel has generally merged with vowels 2, 4 or 8. In northern varieties the realisation may be after and , and in the far north may occur in all environments.
4
5
6
7		Merges with vowels 1 and 8 in central dialects and vowel 2 in northern dialects. in parts of Fife, Dundee and north Antrim. Usually in northern dialects, but after and . Mid Down and Donegal dialects have . In central and north Down dialects, merger with vowel 15 occurs when short and with vowel 8 when long.
8		Always long in many varieties.
8a
9
10
11		Always long in many varieties. Final vowel 11 may be in Southern dialects.
12		Always long in many varieties.
13		Vocalisation to may occur before , especially in western and Ulster dialects.
14
15		Always short. Often varies between and especially after 'w' and 'wh'. () occurs in much of Ulster except Donegal which usually has .
16
17		Usually , often in south west and Ulster dialects, but in Northern dialects.
18		Some mergers with vowel 5.
19		Always short.

Orthography

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 , bull, full v. and pull with , bind, find and wind v., etc. with .

Alphabet

Letter	Details
A	Vowel 17
	Vowel 4 in a(consonant)e. In Northern dialects the vowel in the cluster 'ane' is often and after and dark the realisation may occur.
	Vowel 12 for final a in (away), (two) and (who), but may also be , , or depending on dialect
	The unstressed vowel
B
C	or
D
	Silent in word final nd and ld, but often pronounced in derived forms. Sometimes simply n and l or n and l e.g. auld (old) and haund (hand) etc.
E	Vowel 16. bed, (heated), (gate), etc.
	Vowel 2 in e(consonant)e
	The unstressed vowel
F
G	or
H
I	Vowel 15. E.g. big, (foot), (wood), etc.
	Vowels 1, 8a and 10 in i(consonant)e
	The unstressed vowel
J
K
L
	In many dialects in all contexts; clear in Insular and Southern and certain Gaelic-influenced varieties initially, after front vowels and dental and labial consonants; clear in South West Central and Ross-shire in all contexts.
M
N
O	Vowel 18.
	Vowel 5. Often spelled phonetically oa in dialect spellings such as (box), (corn), (God), (job) and (on) etc.
	The unstressed vowel
P
Q
R	or is pronounced in all positions, i.e. rhotically
S	or
T
	May be between vowels or word final
	Silent in medial cht ('ch' = ) and st, and before final en, e.g. (fought), (thistle) and also the 't' in (often) etc.
	Silent in word final ct and pt, but often pronounced in derived forms e.g. respect and accept etc.
U	Vowel 19 but, cut, etc.
	Vowel 7 occurs in u(consonant)e, especially before nasals, and sometimes for u alone
	Vowel 6 in u(consonant)e in some words
	The unstressed vowel
V
W
X
Y	Vowels 1, 8a and 10 in y(consonant)e
Z
	or , may occur in some words as a substitute for the older <> (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 following the perceived realisation of the written form, as more controversially is sometimes Menzies.)

Consonant digraphs

• ch:
  • Usually . (fjord or lake), (night), (daughter), (dreary), etc.
  • word initial or where it follows 'r'. (arch), (march), etc.
  • usually where it follows 'n'. (branch), (push), etc.
• gh: .
• gn: . In Northern dialects may occur.
• kn: . In Northern dialects or may occur. (talk), knee, (knoll), etc.
• ng: .
• sh: .
• th: or . Initial 'th' in thing, think and thank, etc. may be .
• wh: .
• wr: ; more often realised as but may be in Northern dialects: (wreck), (wrong), write, (worked), etc.

Vowel digraphs

• ae (generally in final positions): Vowel 4. Also occurs for vowel 7 in dae (do), tae (too) and shae (shoe). In Southern Scots and many central and Ulster varieties ae, ane and ance may be realised , and often written yae, yin and yince in dialect writing.
• ai: Vowel 8 in initial and medial positions. Often before . 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. (soap), (whole), (one), (once), (bone), etc. and word final (slope) and day etc. Long vowel 7 is often written ai in dialect writing for central and north Down dialects.
• ay (generally in final positions): Vowel 8. Usually but in (yes) and (always). In Dundee it is noticeably .
• au, aw: Vowel 12 in southern, central and Ulster dialects but in northern dialects, with au usually occurring in medial positions and aw in final positions. Sometimes a or a' representing L-vocalisation. The digraph aa also occurs, especially in written representations of the () realisation in northern and insular dialects. The cluster 'auld' may also be in Ulster, e.g. (all), (cold), (handsome), (fall), (snow), etc.
• ea: Vowel 3. may occur before . (food), clear etc. Vowel 2/11 in a few words such as sea and tea.
• ee: Vowels 2 and 11. The realisation is generally but in Northern varieties may be after and . (eye), (eyes), (shut), here, etc. Often used for vowel 7 in dialect writing for northern dialects.
• ei: Vowel 3. (dead), (head), etc. Occasionally vowels 2 and 11, generally before ch (), but also in a few other words, e.g. (enquire).
• eu: Vowel 7 before and , see ui. or depending on dialect. (book), (enough), (cook), (look), (took) etc.
• ew: Vowel 14. In Northern dialects a root final 'ew' may be . few, new, etc.
• ey: Vowels 1, 8a and 10.
• ie: Vowels 2 and 11, generally occurring before l and v.
• oa: Vowel 5.
• oi, oy: Vowel 9.
• oo: Vowel 6, a 19th-century borrowing from Standard English. (house), (mouse) etc. Vowel 7 also occurs from the spelling of Standard English cognates.
• ou: The general literary spelling of vowel 6. Occasionally vowel 13. Root final may occur in southern dialects. (cow), (brown) etc.
• ow, owe (root final): Vowel 13. (retch), (bow), (hollow), (knoll), (overturn), (ewe), etc.
• ui: The usual literary spelling of vowel 7 (except before and , see eu). Also used for before in some areas e.g. fuird (ford). (board), (boot), (ankle), (floor), (good), (school), etc. In central dialects uise v. and uiss n. (use) are and .

History

As of 2022, there is no official standard orthography for modern Scots, but most words have generally accepted spellings.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, when Scots was a state language, the Makars had a loose spelling system separate from that of English. However, by the beginning of the 18th century, Scots was beginning to be regarded "as a rustic dialect of English, rather than a national language". Scots poet Allan Ramsay "embarked on large-scale anglicisation of Scots spelling". Successors of Ramsay—such as Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott—tended to follow his spelling ideas, and the general trend throughout the 18th and 19th centuries was to adopt further spellings from English, as it was the only accessible standard. Although descended from the Scots of the Makars, 18th–19th century Scots abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings for standard English ones; although from the rhymes it was clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended. Writers also began using the apologetic apostrophe, to mark "missing" English letters. For example, the older Scots spelling / (meaning "taken") became ; even though the word had not been written or pronounced with a "k" for hundreds of years. 18th–19th century Scots drew on the King James Bible and was heavily influenced by the conventions of Augustan English poetry. All of this "had the unfortunate effect of suggesting that Broad Scots was not a separate language system, but rather a divergent or inferior form of English". This 'Scots of the book' or Standard Scots lacked neither "authority nor author". It was used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster, 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. It is described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots.

By the end of the 19th century, Scots spelling "was in a state of confusion as a result of hundreds of years of piecemeal borrowing from English". Some writers created their own spelling systems to represent their own dialects, rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots. The variety referred to as 'synthetic Scots' or Lallans shows the marked influence of Standard English in grammar and spelling. During the 20th century, with spoken Scots and knowledge of the literary tradition waning, phonetic (often humorous) spellings became more common.

In the second half of the 20th century a number of spelling reform proposals 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 18th–19th century conventions and avoiding the 'apologetic apostrophe'. Other proposals sought to undo the influence of standard English conventions on Scots spelling, by reviving Middle Scots conventions or introducing new ones.

A step towards standardizing Scots spelling was taken at a meeting of the Makar's Club in Edinburgh in 1947, where the Scots Style Sheet was approved. J. K.Annand, Douglas Young, Robert Garioch, A.D. Mackie, Alexander Scott, Tom Scott and Sydney Goodsir Smith all followed the recommendations in the Style Sheet to some extent. Some of its suggestions are as follows:

• , , for words like , , – this was later discouraged
• -ie for final unstressed -y
• y for the sound in words like and , and i for the short sound in words like and .
• ui for the sound in words like
• ou for the sound in words like and
• ow(e) for the sound in words like and
• and for and

In 1985, the Scots Language Society (SLS) published a set of spelling guidelines called "Recommendations for Writers in Scots". They represent a consensus view of writers in Scots at the time, following several years of debate and consultation involving Alexander Scott, Adam Jack Aitken, David Murison, Alastair Mackie and others. A developed version of the Style Sheet, it is based on the old spellings of the Makars but seeks to preserve the familiar appearance of written Scots. It includes all of the Style Sheet's suggestions, but recommends that writers return to the more traditional -aw, rather than -aa. Some of its other suggestions are as follows:

• ei for the sound at the beginning or middle of words (, , ), unless ee is firmly established (for example in and )
• y for the sound in words like and , but if it's at the beginning or end of a word use ey (, , )
• eu for the sound in words like , ,
• -k for final -ct in words like and (which become and )
• sk- for initial (→, →, →)
• -il for final unstressed -el and -le (→, →, →)
• -ss for final (→, →, →) unless -se follows a consonant (, )
• omit final -d where it is silent (→, →, →)

The SLS Recommendations says "it is desirable that there should be traditional precedents for the spellings employed and [...] writers aspiring to use Scots should not invent new spellings off the cuff". It prefers a number of more phonetic spellings that were commonly used by medieval Makars, such as: ar (are), byd, tym, wyf (bide, time, wife), cum, sum (come, some), eftir (after), evin (even), evir (ever), heir, neir (here, near), hir (her), ir (are), im (am), littil (little), sal (shall) speik (speak), thay (they), thaim (them), thair (their), thare (there), yit (yet), wad (would), war (were), wes (was), wul (will). David Purves's book A Scots Grammar has a list of over 2500 common Scots words spelt on the basis of the SLS Recommendations. Purves has also published dozens of poems using the spellings.

In 2000 the Scots Spelling Committee report was published in Lallans. Shortly after publication Caroline Macafee criticised some aspects of that, and some previous spelling suggestions, as "demolishing the kind-of-a standardisation that already existed where Scots spelling had become a free-for-all with the traditional model disparaged but no popular replacement", leading to more spelling variation, not less.

Language endangerment

The Scots language has had a long history of being devalued and marginalized in the Scottish education system.

Due to the Anglicisation of Scotland and the Education (Scotland) Act 1872, the education system required that every child learn English. This caused Scots to become forgotten about in main education and considered slang. As of 2022, it is deemed a vulnerable language.

Language revitalization

In 2012, the Scottish Government released a policy approach that highlights their aim to provide opportunities for children to learn languages other than their mother tongues. And in 2014, there was a dictionary app developed to help aid students in their learning of the Scots language.

The Curriculum for Excellence is the national curriculum for schools in Scotland, for students from aged 3–18. It was implemented in Scotland in 2010 and the initiative aimed to provide support for the incorporation of the Scots language learning in classrooms in Scotland.

There is still hesitancy in acknowledging Scots as a 'proper' language in Scotland, and many believe that it should not be taught in schools. Individuals are starting to understand the cultural impact that learning Scots has on young people, and want to encourage the use of the language in everyday conversations and help re-appropriate it as a traditional.

Along with the introduction of Scots learning in Scottish classrooms, publishing companies have translated popular books into Scots. Itchy Coo has issued Scots editions of Harry Potter, and The Gruffalo, and by doing this they have made Scots more accessible to children, teachers, and families.

Grammar

Spelling variants
afternoon
at times (whiles)
are; aren't	, ; ,
anyone, anybody	,
anything	,
anyhow, anyway
anyhow
beneath
beside
between	/
could; couldn't	, ; ,
eight, eighth	,
eleven, eleventh	,
everyone, everybody	,
into
nine, ninth	,
seven, seventh	,
should; shouldn't	, ; ,
will; won't	, ; ,

The spellings used below are those based on the prestigious literary conventions described above. Other spelling variants may be encountered in written Scots.

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

Definite article

is used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades and occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: ('autumn'), ('Wednesday'), ("off to church"), ("at the moment"), (today), ('influenza'), ('Latin'), ("The duck ate a piece of bread"), ("my wife") etc.

Nouns

Nouns usually form their plural in but some irregular plurals occur: / ('eye'/'eyes'), / ('calf'/'calves'), / ('horse'/'horses'), / ('cow'/'cows'), / ('shoe'/'shoes'). Nouns of measure and quantity are unchanged in the plural: ("four feet"), ("two miles"), (five pounds), (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include (loaves), (leaves), (shelves) and (wives).

Pronouns

Personal and possessive pronouns

English	Scots
I, me, myself, mine, my
thou, thee, thyself, thine, thy (Early Modern English)
we, us, ourselves, ours, our
you (singular), you (plural), yourself, yours, your
they, them, themselves, theirs, their

The second person singular nominative (, Southern Scots , Shetland dialect ) survived in colloquial speech until the mid 19th century in most of lowland Scotland. It has since been replaced by in most areas except in Insular Scots where (, Shetland ) is also used, in North Northern Scots and in some Southern Scots varieties. is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular or is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder. The older second person singular possessive thy (), and thee (, Shetland along with thine(s) ) still survive to some extent where remains in use. See T–V distinction.

Relative pronoun

The relative pronoun is (Template:'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 (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms 'who, whom, whose', and the older 'which' are literary affectations; is only used after a statement (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 (the woman whose house was burnt), (the woman whose daughter got married); (the men whose boat was lost).

A third adjective/adverb , indicating something at some distance Also (those) and (these), the plurals of that and this respectively.

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

Other pronouns

English	Scots
this, these
that, those
anyone
anything
nothing
something
everyone
everything
both
each
every
other

Verbs

Modal verbs

The modal verbs (may), (ought to), and (shall), are no longer used much in Scots but occurred historically and are still found in anglicised literary Scots. , (should), and are the preferred Scots forms. Scots employs double modal constructions (He won't be able to come today), (I may be able to come tomorrow), (I used to be able to do it, but not now). Do-support can be found in Modern Scots syntax, but is variable in frequency, and is likely to be a result of influence from English syntax.

Negation occurs by using the adverb , in the North East , as in (I'm not coming), (I will not teach you), or by using the suffix - sometimes spelled nae (pronounced variously , or depending on dialect), as in (I don't know), (They can't come), (We couldn't have told him), and (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 He'll no come and Did he no come?

English	Scots
are, aren't
can, can't
could, couldn't
dare, daren't
did, didn't
do, don't
had, hadn't
have, haven't
might, mightn't
must, mustn't
need, needn't
should, shouldn't
was, wasn't
were, weren't
will, won't
would, wouldn't

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, , , (They say he's too small), etc. but , but . (Those who come first are served first). (The trees grow green in summer).

'was' may replace 'were', but not conversely: .

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: The -ed ending may be written -'d if the e is 'silent'.

• -it appears after a stop consonant, e.g. (hurted), (smacked), (mended), (cut), (hurt), (kept), (slept);
• -t appears:
  • after an unstressed syllable ending in l, n, r, or ie/y, e.g. (travelled), (fastened), (carried);
  • after a voiceless fricative or affricate, e.g. (reached), (troubled), (coughed), (stretched, pronounced );
  • in some irregular verbs, e.g. (told), (knew/known);
• -(e)d appears after a stressed syllable ending in a sonorant, a voiced fricative or affricate, or a vowel, e.g. cleaned/clean'd, (asked; but also ), (scribbled), (wedged), (died).

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

• (bite/bit/bitten), (drive/drove/driven), (ride/rode/ridden), (rive/rived/riven), (rise/rose/risen), (slide/slid/slid), (slit/slit/slit), (write/wrote/written), pronounced in Mid Northern Scots;
• (bind/bound/bound), (climb/climbed/climbed), (find/found/found), (fling/flung/flung), (hang/hung/hung), (run/ran/run), (spin/spun/spun), (stick/stuck/stuck), (drink/drank/drunk);
• (creep/crept/crept), (weep/wept/wept), (sweat/sweat/sweat), (wet/wet/wet), (put/put/put), (sit/sat/sat), (spit/spat/spat);
• (break/broke/broken), (get/got/got[ten]), (speak/spoke/spoken), (fight/fought/fought);
• (bear/bore/borne), (swear/swore/sworne), (tear/tore/torn), (wear/wore/worn);
• (cast/cast/cast), (let/let/let), (stand/stood/stood), (fetch/fetched),(thresh/threshed/threshed), (wash/washed/washed);
• (bake/baked/baked), (laugh/laughed/laughed), (shake/shook/shaken), (take/took/taken);
• (go/went/gone), (give/gave/given), (have/had/had);
• (choose/chose/chosen), (swim/swam/swum), (sell/sold/sold), (tell/told/told).

Present participle

The present participle and gerund in are now usually but may still be differentiated and in Southern Scots and, and North Northern Scots.

Adverbs

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

Adverbs are also formed with -s, -lies, , gate(s)and , (at times), (perhaps), (splendidly), (pretty well), (perhaps), (backwards), (partly), (secretly), (almost), (always, everywhere), (everywhere), (anyhow), (everywhere), (anyhow, anywhere), (straight ahead), (how, why).

Numbers

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

English	Scots
one, first
two, second
three, third
four, fourth
five, fifth
six, sixth
seven, seventh
eight, eighth
nine, ninth
ten, tenth
eleven, eleventh
twelve, twelfth

Ae , is used as an adjective before a noun such as : (The One House), (One boy and two girls). is pronounced variously, depending on dialect, , in many Central and Southern varieties, in some Northern and Insular varieties, and , often written , and in dialect writing.

The impersonal form of 'one' is a body as in (One can never live by oneself).

Prepositions

English	Scots
above, upper, topmost
below, lower, lowest
along
about
about (concerning)
across
before
behind
beneath
beside
between
beyond
from
into

Interrogative words

English	Scots
who?
what?
when?
where?
why?
which?
how?

In the North East, the 'wh' in the above words is pronounced .

Syntax

Scots prefers the word order to 'He turned the light out' and (Give us it) to 'Give it to me'.

Certain verbs are often used progressively , .

Verbs of motion may be dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion .

Subordinate clauses

Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by (and) express surprise or indignation. (She had to walk the whole length of the road—and she seven months pregnant). (He told me to run—and me with my sore leg).

Suffixes

• Negative na: or depending on dialect. Also or 'y' e.g. (can't), (don't) and (mustn't).
• fu (ful): or depending on dialect. Also 'fuTemplate:'', 'fie', 'fy', 'fae' and 'fa'.
• The word ending ae: or depending on dialect. Also 'a', 'ow' or 'y', for example: (arrow), (barrow) and (window), etc.

Diminutives

Diminutives in -ie, small (stream), (frightened person, coward), (gamekeeper), (kilted soldier), (postman), (woman, also used in Geordie dialect), (rhododendron), and also in -ock, (little bit), (toy, plaything), (sorrel) and Northern –ag, (little), (child, common in Geordie dialect), (Geordie), -ockie, (small house), (little woman), both influenced by the Scottish Gaelic diminutive -ag (-óg in Irish Gaelic).

Times of day

English	Scots
morning
midday
afternoon
evening
dusk, twilight
midnight
early morning

Literature

File:Stone Seat - geograph.org.uk - 63845.jpg

Stone seat by the River Cree, engraved with Modern Scots poem by Liz Niven

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.

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, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch and Robert McLellan. The revival extended to verse and other literature.

William Wye Smith's New Testament translations appeared in 1901 and in 1904 in a new edition. 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)

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

See also

Scots Wikipedia

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