Subject: LL-L: "Orthography" [S] LOWLANDS-L, 06.JUN.1999 (01)

[Lowlands-L Administrator]

 ==========================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 06.JUN.1999 (01) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 ==========================================================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 ==========================================================================

From: "Sandy Fleming" <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Orthography

> From: "John M. Tait" <jmtait at jmt.prestel.co.uk>
> Subject: Orthography
>
> queerest o aa, _love_ at I hinna haurd said wi [2] soonds. This is juist
> ane o a puckle anomalies atween the LAS record o the Hamnavoe dialect an
> the wey I speak - an I'm certainly no awaur o onie differ atween the wey
> thay speak an the wey I div. I canna understaund whit wey the LAS
> representation o ither Shetlandic dialects frae faurer awa is
> mair like the
> wey I speak. I wad like ti ken wha thay gat thair wittins frae. Houaniver,
> anent _bruise_, a possible explanation is at this is a word I niver haurd
> uised whan I wis young - the normal Shetlandic for a bruise is
> 'blue-melt'.
> Canna figure 'love' tho. I'll need ti speir aboot neist time I gang hame.

Div ye ken the hae the informant's details at the backs o the beuks? Like
LAS(1) p308 gies the Hamnavoe informant as a 57-year-auld male that's bade
thare 31 year an wis born at Setter. His mither wis born at Sandsting an his
faither on Burra. Seems a gey reliable informant tae the area!

As faur's A see it, dialect chynge tends tae traivel alang physical lines o
communication (i.e. roads). This is hou Anglicisms in Scots reach Edinburgh
lang afore they reach rural areas, for example, an yit Border dialects bide
mair conservative. It happens on a smaaer scale inamangst Scots dialects an
aa - like hou in the veilage & toun twae mile tae the north an sooth o ma
veilage in Scotland fowk spaeks aboot the same kin o Scots wi certain
register shifts (tho aa weel ithin the range o registers available tae fowk
fae ma veilage!), while in the _nearest_ veilage tae oors ye'll hear actual
differs atween the vocabulars. This is, A think likely, wi hou the'r nae
direct road atween the twae veilages, juist a wee kintra track.

A dout a hauf mile isna faur eneuch for daecent linggistic differs, but it's
worth thinkin aboot if your fowk mibbie disna hae mair contact wi ither
airts fae Hamnavoe, maugre o deistance (disna seem likely, fae the map o
West Burra tho!). I see Burra's nae mair a island nor Skye nou!

Sandy Fleiman
http:\\www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

==================================END=======================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are to
   be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 ========================================================================