LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 015.SEP.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Phonology"

> From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
> Subject: Phonology
>
> Sandy, Lowlanders,
>
> I have long been wondering about the Scots "vowel shift" you
explained
> above.
>
> Question 1: Did this apply as a general rule, i.e., in all cases
where an
> earlier short /u/ [U] may be assumed?
> Standard English is not a reliable guide here, because it often
> has a short
> vowel where Scots (and some English dialect) appears to have a long
vowel,
> e.g., _good_ = _guid_, _book_ = _buik_.

This is a good question - I've often wondered why this class
of words is so restricted - which is part of the answer I
suppose - it does seem rather restricted. It's worth noting
that Aitken, as I quoted him, said that this shift happened
_before_ the Scottish Vowel Length Rule came into play. While
I don't understand all the ins and outs of phonology I have a
feeling that you can't really investigate these questions
without a proper understanding of the SVLR (I assume that you
don't know this Ron, as "guid" and "beuk" actually have _short_
vowels both in actual pronunciation and as a result of the SVLR).

The basic idea behind the SVLR is that a certain class of
vowels, when in the stressed position in a word, will be
long if the following consonant is "sufficiently soft",
and short otherwise.

This class of vowels is in fact most vowels (including dipthongs)
in the language, the exceptions being [I] and [V] (which are
always short) and [Q:] (which is always long).

"Sufficiently soft" (perhaps you can characterise them more
scientifically for me!) consonants are: [v], [D], [z], [Z],
[r] and a morpheme boundary (including at the end). Note
that [r] doesn't apply in all dialects.

That's about it, although exceptions can apply according to
dialect.

This is why "guid" and "beuk" (pronounced in various dialects
[gId], [gwid], [güd], [göd] and [bjuk], [bVk] respectively)
have short vowels.

I'm afraid I don't have the linguistic training to give thought
to your questions Ron, but a proper grasp of this might help
you to think it through better for yourself!

Some examples:

Puir fuil (Eng: "Poor fool") -

in Central dialect: [pe:r fIl] ("ui"-long is pronounced [e:],
"ui"-short
[I])
in North Eastern:   [pi:r fil] (I deduce! I'm not familiar with the
dialect)

"Die", "dead", "died" and "deed" are, respectively -

dee    [di:]  (long at end of word)
deid   [did]  (short preceding "hard" vowel)
dee'd  [di:d] (long preceding morpheme boundary - "dee" + past tense
"-ed")
deed   [did]  (short preceding "hard" vowel)

I hope this is helpful and not something you already knew all about!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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