LL-L "Language varieties" 2008.09.01 (04) [E]

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2008.08.29 (01) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Language varieties
>
> As far as I can tell -- and I'm not the authority here, as I said --
> the problem with understanding Glaswegian is that it is simply not
> English, that it is basically working-class Glasgow Scots with
> Scottish English and Irish English adstrata. So in my book it is not

That's true, but even Scottish English (at least my Scottish English,
which isn't mixed with Scots), needs a certain amount of adjustment if
it's to be understood in the south of England.

The major problem is the very different treatment of what's written with
the letter "r" in English. There are a few words which I have mentally
classified as "impossible" for many (though by no means all) southern
English speakers, for example "work" /wVrk/. If an English person
doesn't get this after a repetition or two, I'll substitute the southern
English pronunciation for them just to get the word across.

The glottal stop also needs to be used more circumspectly, as does the
"-in" pronunciation of "-ing" endings in such words as "ending" (I can't
say "participle" here, after my recent description of verb paradigms!),
but on the whole they're less of a problem since a small compromise on
my part seems to be enough. I know that the -in "participial" ending is
used in many other Englishes, but in Scottish dialects there tends to be
a liaison with the following word.

Southern English speakers seem to have no trouble with the /W/
pronunciation of words such as "which" (as opposed to "witch"), nor with
the word "loch". Presumably the /W/ > /w/ and /x/ > /k/ phonetic
transforms are easy, although English people are sometimes taken aback
at hearing the correct pronunciation of many common Scottish surnames
such as Strachan, Murdoch, Buchan, Buchanan and McLaughlan.
(/'stra:x at n/, /'mVrdOx/, /'bVx at n/, /'bVx at n@n/ and /m at g'lQ:xl at n/).

Word games can sometimes get annoying: I remember a crossword where
solving one of the clues depended on the fact that "saucers" /'sQ:s at rz/
was synonymous with "sorcerors" /'sors at r@rz/!

Of course, if I speak Scots it's completely impossible. I can use it as
a secret language down here!

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

•

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