Scottish English

Jan Pavlík, Hana Pálešová

 Introduction
● 1707 Act Of Union (year of creation of GB)
● 1750 - The Scottish Enlightenment
● 1800 - The Urbanisation and Industrialisation of Scotland
● 1967 - North Sea Oil (1st North oil rig was created)
● 1997 - Dolly the Sheep (1st cloned sheep in world)
● 2014 - The Scottish Independence Referendum (“No vote” won with 55,3%)
 Characteristics of Scottish English
● Huge difference in pronunciation
● vast majority of speakers in Scotland are rhotic <r>
● Short “Ooh” Sound - slight difference (foot, should, pull)
● “Eh” Sound - elongates/almost turns into “ee” (yet, settle, interest)
● “Oh” Sound - turns into “or” (Scottish, cloth, robot)
● “I” Sound - turns into “ei” (price, kite, alright) (lift ->
(here might be some misunderstandings with difference of pronounciation
for example bite -> bait / lite -> late /
● “O” Sound - longer “O”
● Dark “L” Sound
● “Ow” Sound
● “Ay” Sound
How to Talk With a Scottish Accent - Understanding Pronunciation

1. Understand the differences in Scottish dialects

- A "generic" Scottish accent is hard to define - too many types

- You can learn to speak with a general accent that non-Scottish people would be able to identify as Scottish
- Most of the Scottish accents that you may hear - from the Lowland and Midland areas. These are the regions
where the more populated cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Galloway reside.
- Even the accents of these more populous regions will differ. Galloway, which is south-west, sounds slightly
closer to Irish as it’s close to Northern Ireland
2. Set your oral posture
- Oral (vocal) posture - the way you position your jaw, lips, tongue, teeth, and even vocal chords to speak a
certain way
- Set the tip of your tongue far back in your mouth. When you speak, pull your tongue back toward your
throat. Doing this will help you get the harsher, guttural sounds associated with Scottish accents.
- When speaking, you still want to keep a lot of movement or action in your lips and jaw. Keep your lips
out and open your mouth as if to get your lips around each sound and word. Because you are pulling
your tongue back, you may be tempted to close or tighten your lips.
3. Pronounce like words the same, join syllables in words, and drop "g" endings
American English - "pull" has a slightly different pronunciation than "pool"

Scottish accent - both words sound like "pool".

● When trying a Scottish accent, think of "u" sounds as "oo" sounds.

● If there are two short words together, pronounce the two as one. "Did not" often becomes
"didnae" or "dinnae." Avoid speaking too fast.
● Drop the 'g' sound from words ending in a 'g.'

("evenin’" instead of "evening" , "sewing" becomes "sewin’")

4. Replace "o’s" with "ae" sounds
Try making the "ah" sound in words like "Not" to become "nae." Words that end in "oo" sounds get
more of the "ae" pronunciation as well.

● "To" - "tae", "Do" - "dae", "no" gets a bit of an "aw" sound at the end making it
sound like "naw" or "nae".
● Another example of changing how you pronounce words is in the sentence "I am
going to the shops over there." In a Scottish accent, it would be pronounced as "Am
gan tae the shoaps oor air."

(+ glottal stop, “r”)

Interesting Facts
Examples of Scottish English
● How To Do A Scottish Accent In Under 2 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUyY8QbMuOo
● Political blooper / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHfY0dDZxA
● Proud To Be Scottish / Kevin Bridges /
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KOhArt44M
● Elevator Recognition / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDnxzrbxn4
● Brave - Scottish dialect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MNbxXcQieY
Celebrities with Scottish accent
Gerard Butler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c42dvgPIfSk (Scottish slang)
James McAvoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxY60nncwK8 (translating Scottish tweets)
Brad Pitt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySyBMTo-1sc
Lewis Capaldi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8F1kVCLN0Q (7:12 - Shrek)
Sources
https://www.wikihow.com/Talk-With-a-Scottish-Accent?fbclid=IwAR1Eo8WWiFTGg1dE
Vurdla07KAM4EpIObIHfh9ZI7PbshYb-lEJm-A6Ir8s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F
329114685263609177%2F&psig=AOvVaw3FghO4Ir_AUuhyjmdnUBvL&ust=16976592
57769000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCMjHl-Xv_
YEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwtffunfact.com%2Fwtf-fun-fact
-canadian-shrek%2F&psig=AOvVaw3FghO4Ir_AUuhyjmdnUBvL&ust=1697659257769
000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCMjHl-Xv_YEDF
QAAAAAdAAAAABAJ
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2F9gag.com%2Fgag%2FaO0yd42
Thank you for your attention!