Luath Scots Language Learner sampler

INTRODUCTION
! in Scots, ch occurring in the middle or at the end of a word is
generally pronounced as in the name of the composer, Bach
(but see immediately below).
! at the beginning of a word, ch has the same sound as in the
English word ‘cheese’. Where this sound occurs later in a
word, it is spelt tch as in, for example, fleetch.
! th in Scots has the same two pronunciations as in English. One
is as in ‘the’, ‘that’ or ‘breathe’; the other is as in ‘thank’,
‘thin’, ‘three’ or ‘teeth’.
! wh is pronounced hw-, not w- as in English: for instance,
Scots-speakers make a clear distinction between the respective
pronunciations of wit and whit. In the North East, wh is
always pronounced f- in the interrogatives wha, whas, whan,
whaur and whit. Some North East speakers also employ this
pronunciation in a range of other words, such as white
or
whaul (‘whale’).
! in some dialects north of the river Tay, the k in the initial kn
is pronounced rather than silent in a few words not shared
with English, such as tae knipe, ‘to go hurriedly’.
! ui varies according to dialect:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
in some conservative dialects the pronunciation is similar to
the vowel of French peu or German schön;
in North and East Fife, the pronunciation is like the a in
Scottish Standard English ‘late’ or ‘blade’;
in many other dialects the pronunciation in some words is like
i in Scottish Standard English ‘bit’, so that buit and bit
are
pronounced identically;
in northern dialects the pronunciation is the same as ee (‘eye’),
except after c or g (e.g in cuit or guid) when the pronunciation
is the same as wee (‘little’), but if it is followed by a k (e.g in
buik or cuik) then it is pronounced as a short oo.
NP