LL-L "Phonology" 2003.04.09 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.APR.2003 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net>
Subject: Bilabial "f" in Scots

To what extent is/was bilabial "f" employed in Scots?

A few Web sites state that bilabial "f" is frequent in Ulster Scots. Can
anyone suggest an authoritative published work wherein this is (or might
be) discussed/confirmed/denied? Is there any relation to the replacement of
(voiceless bilabial) "wh" with "f(u)" in some dialects of Scots (e.g.,
"fuskie" for "whiskey")? Might a bilabial "f" reflect a Celtic influence?

Sylvester Douglas in his treatise on Scots some time ago described two ways
of forming an "f" sound, bilabial and labiodental, of which he thought
better of the latter (the English standard, I think).

There are old Hiberno-English spellings such as "fwo" for "who" (IIRC):
here one might have expected "hwo", and the implied perception of /fw/ as
similar to /hw/ would be similar perhaps to the perception in Japanese
(where "hu" and "fu" are alternative transliterations of the same syllable,
which is spoken with a bilabial "f").

Do/did (some) Scots speakers use a bilabial "f"? If so, would it be used
for every "f" sound, or preferentially in certain words, or perhaps
preferentially before /u/ or /w/?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

-- Doug Wilson

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