LL-L: "Orthography" [S] LOWLANDS-L, 30.MAY.1999 (01)

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From: "John M. Tait" <jmtait at jmt.prestel.co.uk>
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Orthography" [E/S] LOWLANDS-L, 28.MAY.1999 (06)

Some mair comments on whit Andy wrate aboot vowel soonds, juist ti try ti
relate it wi the kynd o terminology at seems ti be uised bi Scots linguists.

Andy wrate:
>
> We can sinder atween wirds that's:
>
>1. pronounced /i/ in aa Scots dialects (/e/ in Ulster).

This wad be the anes at Scots linguists caas BEET or MEET class, frae
aulder Scots /e:/.

>2. Pronounced /i/ or /e/ dependin on dialect.

BEAT class, frae aulder Scots /E:/.
>
>1. Aiblins wirds that's pronounced wi /i/ in aa Scots Scots dialects shuid
>be spelt <ee>. eg. teeth, need, green, keep, dee, deed, sleep, weet, knee,
free,
>three,
>
>Final <ee> wad be pronounced /Ei/ in soothren Scots an aa thir wirds /e/ in
>Ulster.
>Whit aboot breest (breast), freend (friend), seek (sick) an wheel etc? Are
>thir wirds pronounced wi /e/ in Ulster?
>
>2. Aiblins wirds that's pronounced aither /i/ or /e/ shuid be spelt <ei>
>eg. eist (east), sheif /sheaf), beit (beat), heid (head), deif (deaf), deid
>(dead), eit (eat), meit (meat), steil (steal), teir (tear).

I think this wad be a guid idea, as lang's the EI spellin wis keepit juist
for that class o words. Alternatively, Derrick McLure ("Scots and its
Literature") suggestit EI for the BEET class an AE for the BEAT class.
>
>Anither option wad be tae spell aa the wirds in 2. <ea>. Thon wad gie's
>head, deaf an dead. Monie fowk wadna thole siclike as Scots spellins.

Or AE - haed, daef an daed.

The'r anither group o words at's sindert in some by-leids but no ithers -
the BAIT class frae aulder Scots /ai/, wi words like aim, bait, wait, raik,
fair, etc. The prablem is at this soond is sindert frae the BEAT class in
some by-leids but no ithers. Sae in I think Gallovidian, Shetlandic an
pairts o Angus BEET, BEAT an BAIT is aa sayed different, whaurbyes in maist
ither pairts BEAT is sayed the same as aither BEET or BAIT.

Gin we war free o aa the meinimalist/maximalist an ither threips, it wadna
be ower deificult ti come up wi a three-wey sinderin o thae classes o
words, e.g.

Derrick's system:

EI for the BEET class - creip, sheip, weit, seik, greit, veision, etc.
AE for the BEAT class - baet, haet, haed, maet, daeth, braeth, faer, taem
AI for the BAIT class - brain, main, aim, bait wait, said, raik, fair

Andy's system:

EE for the BEET class - creep, sheep, weet, seek, greet, veesion, etc.
EI for the BEAT class - beit, heit, heid, meit, deith, breith, feir, teim
AI for the BAIT class - brain, main, aim, bait wait, said, raik, fair

(CSD dis gie [diT] fir _deith/daith_ an *[briT] - appearently obsolete -
for _breith/braith_)

Or the system at I uise for Shetlandic - EE for the BEET class an AE for
the BEAT class.

Coorse, it wadna be as simple as this. The'r anither historical class - the
MATE class, frae aulder Scots /a:/ - at appearently merges wi BAIT and/or
BEAT in maist by-leids - words like mate, wame, stane, bane, mair, sair,
hail/hale, etc. Maist o thir cuid be spelt wi thair tradeitional spellins,
aither A-E or whiles AI. Anomalies - siclike as _braith_ an _daith_ gin
thay hae tint the [i] variant - cuid be spelt ithergates frae the uisual
wey o spellin thair class, the same wey at it's mair mensefu ti spell <wid>
an >fit> nor <wuid> an <fuit> cause thae words haes tint the UI variants.

The prablem wi this kynd o approach - whitiver system ye suggestit - is at
it's aye scuppered bi ideological ettles, e.g. ti dae awa wi EE cause it's
English, or ti haud wi tradeitional spellins o words at micht be spelt the
same e'en tho thay belang differin clesses, or different e'en tho thay
belang the same ane. It's no easy ti pictur the RWS lobby adoptin aither EE
spellins for the BEET class (e.g. dreech, speer) or AE anes for the BEAT
class (e.g. haed, daed), or the SNDA adoptin onie systematic wey o sinderin
spellins ava. Practically speakin, I think at yer suggestion o EE for the
BEET class an EI for the BEAT class micht be the best ane, tho it dis leave
the questin o whit ti dae wi words like _tradition_, etc. (I wad be for IE
mysel - the E actin as a kynd o lenth sign for the etymological I, shawin
the soond athoot breingin on the ither classes - but nae ither bodie likes
that.)

Gin ye mynd, ane o the oreiginal suggestions at wis pitten ti the spellin
comatee (whit I cryed 'virtual etymology') wis a kynd o compromise atween
thir kynds o systems - it mair or less addit up ti uisin EE for maist BEET
words, AI for BAIT anes, an a mixtur o EI an AE for BEAT anes dependin on
rules o thoum; but this gied wey ti the 'English'/'Scots' EE/EI sinderin
awin ti the fash ti dae awa wi EE.

(The wittins comes frae Paul Johnston's airticle 'Regional Variation' in
the Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, an J.C. Catford, 'Vowel
Systems of Scots Dialects' in Transactions of the Philological Society,
1957. Thay dinna seem ti say naething aboot BEET class words bein sayed [e]
in Ulster.)

John M. Tait.

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