Doric

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Doric (also Northeast Scottish ) refers to the dialects of the Scots as they are spoken in the northeast of Scotland. They differ in pronunciation and vocabulary from both Scots and other dialect forms of Northern Scottish.

Linguistic origin

All English languages ​​arose from Old English , which is divided into four main dialects: North Humbrian, Merzisch (South Humbrian), West Saxon and Kentish. Middle English in the north of England as well as an early form of Scots developed from North Humbrian. Over the centuries, this was exposed to a wide variety of cultural (and thus of course also linguistic) influences, and today's Scots with its dialects developed from it.

Doric as a dialect of the Scots

The Scots can be divided into four or five dialects. Island Scottish, North Scottish, Central Scottish, and South Scottish, as well as, if you count them, Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland and Ireland . Each of these dialects does not designate a completely uniform form of language, but is rather a combination of individual dialects with similar pronunciation and / or lexicons . Doric, the Northeast Scottish, is a sub-variant of the North Scottish and can be differentiated into different local variations.

Geographical location

Geographically, the Doric area is north of Stonehaven (15 miles south of Aberdeen ) and east of the Highland Line or the Moray Firth . The Grampian Mountains are a natural barrier to the west and south and thus cause the region to be (almost) linguistically isolated. The land in the north-east of Scotland is very fertile and has been characterized by agriculture (and coastal fishing) for centuries and there are hardly any urban influences. Like the Grampians, this fact has favored the preservation of the regional language variant. It is not without reason that Billy Kay calls the region “the heartland of spoken Scots in our day”.

Linguistic characteristics

Even the Scots can be distinguished from British English with RP in terms of phonology and vocabulary . Doric is different from Scots and also from other dialects of Northern Scottish. In principle, a further regional differentiation of Doric is possible and available, but if you ignore it, general phonological characteristics of this dialect can be determined.

The phonological characteristics of Doric are determined in comparison with Scots and are to be differentiated according to changes in consonants and changes in vowels .

Changes in consonants

For a better understanding, the actual or spoken spellings are in triangular brackets; the phonemic notation in square brackets; the examples are given as follows: Standard spelling in Scots → spoken spelling of Doric

consonant becomes Examples
<wh> = [ʍ]; at the beginning of the word <f> = [f] what → fat, wheel → feel
<w> = [ʍ]; before <r> <v> = [v] wrong → vrong, write → vrite
<th> = [ð]; before <er> <d> = [d] mither → mider
<kn> = [n]; at the beginning of the word <kn> = [kn] knee [ni:] → knee [kni:]

Changes in vowels

Notes, see section: Changes in consonants

vocal becomes Examples
<ui> = [i] <ee> = [i:] muin, spuin → meen, speen
<ui> = [i]; after a <g> or <k> <wee> = [wi] guin → gween, schuil → skweel
<i> / <ei> / <y> = [ai]; before consonants <oy> = [ɔi] bide → boyd, tyne → toyn
<a> = [əi]; after a <w> <y> = [ai] wame → wyme
<ei> = [i]; after <p> or <k> <y> = [əi] speik → spyke, sweit → swyte
<ai> = [e] <ya> = [each] naikit → nyakit

Lexical characteristics

In terms of vocabulary, each Scots region has its own “specialties”, including Northeast Scottish. Examples of words that are typical of the Doric include:

  • "Dubby" - "muddy", "muddy"
  • "To fooge" - "skipping school"
  • "Hallach", "hallyrackit" or "halliket" for "defiant", "rebellious"
  • "Cappie" - "ice cream cone"

literature

  • Adam Jack Aitken: Scottish Speech. A historical view, with special reference to the Standard English of Scotland. In: Adam Jack Aitken, Tom McArthur (Eds.): Languages ​​of Scotland. Edinburgh 1979, ISBN 0-550-20261-7 , pp. 85-118.
  • Adam Jack Aitken: A History of Scots. In: The Concise Scots dictionary. Aberdeen 1985, ISBN 0-08-028491-4 , pp. Ix-xvi.
  • Paul Johnston: Regional Variation. In: Charles Jones (Ed.): The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. Edinburgh 1997, ISBN 0-7486-0754-4 , pp. 433-513.
  • Billy Kay: Scots. The Mither Tongue. London 1988, ISBN 0-586-20033-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A. J. Aitken: Scottish Speech. A historical view, with special reference to the Standard English of Scotland. In: AJ Aitken, T. McArthur (Eds.): Languages ​​of Scotland. Edinburgh 1979, p. 87.
  2. ^ R. Weißenberger: Historical background. ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1997. Last accessed on March 9, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.scotslanguage.de
  3. ↑ B. Kay: Scots. The Mither Tongue. 1988, p. 151.
  4. ^ P. Johnston: Regional Variation. In: C. Jones (Ed.): The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. 1997, p. 434.
  5. ^ P. Johnston: Regional Variation. In: C. Jones (Ed.): The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. 1997, p. 445.
  6. ↑ B. Kay: Scots. The Mither Tongue. 1988, p. 161.
  7. ^ P. Johnston: Regional Variation. In: C. Jones (Ed.): The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. 1997, p. 445.
  8. ^ P. Johnston: Regional Variation. In: C. Jones (Ed.): The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. 1997, pp. 445-447.
  9. ↑ B. Kay: Scots. The Mither Tongue. 1988, pp. 160-161.
  10. ^ A b c Andy Eagle: Mid Northern Scots. 2000. Last accessed on March 9, 2010.
  11. ^ North East dialect. ( Memento from May 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) SLC, AK Bell Library, York Place, Perth. Last accessed on March 9, 2010.