Shetland dialect (also variously known as Shetlandic;[The use of Shetlandic for the language occurs in, for example, James John Haldane Burgess (1892) Rasmie's Büddie: poems in the Shetlandic, Alexander Gardner; James Inkster (1922) Mansie's Röd: Sketches in the Shetlandic; T. & J. Manson; Jack Renwick (1963) Rainbow Bridge. (A collection of poems in English & Shetlandic.), Shetland Times; Jack Renwick, Liam O'Neill, Hayddir Johnson (2007) The harp of twilight: an anthology of poems in English and Shetlandic, Unst Writers Group.] broad or auld Shetland or Shaetlan;[Catford J.C. (1957) Vowel-Systems of Scots Dialects, Transactions of the Philological Society. p.115] with a degree of Norse influence[http://www.scotslanguage.com/Scots_Dialects_uid117/Insular_uid118/Shetland_uid675 The Main Dialects of Scots: Shetland][http://www.scotslanguage.com/Scots_Dialects_uid117/Insular_uid118/Orkney_uid1243 The Main Dialects of Scots: Orkney.][http://www.scotslanguage.com/Scots_Dialects_uid117/Insular_uid118/Insular_uid3422 The Main Dialects of Scots: Insular.] from the Norn language, which is an extinct North Germanic language spoken on the islands until the late 18th century.[Price, Glanville (1984) The Languages of Britain. London: Edward Arnold. p.203 ]
Consequently, Shetland dialect contains many words of Norn origin. Many of them, if they are not place-names, refer to e.g. seasons, weather, plants, animals, places, food, materials, tools, colours, parts of boats.[Barnes, Michael (1984) Orkney and Shetland Norn. Language in the British Isles. Ed. Peter Trudgill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.29 states that a paper by Gunnel Melchers "lists the following areas of vocabulary as being particularly rich in Norn words: types of wind and weather; flowers and plants; animals; seasons and holidays; food; tools; materials and colours; movement; whims, ludicrous behaviour, unbalanced states of mind, qualities." But, as published, the paper he cites (The Norn Element in Shetland Dialect Today – A Case of Never-Accepted Language Death, in Ejerhed, E. and I. Henrysson (eds.) Tvåspråkighet. Föredrag från tredje Nordiska Tvåspråkighetssymposiet 4-5 juni 1980. Acta Universitatis Umensis. Umeå Studies in the Humanities 36. 254-261) does not include such a list.]
Like Doric in North East Scotland, Shetland dialect retains a high degree of autonomy owing to geography and isolation from southern dialects. It has a large amount of unique vocabulary but, as there are no standard criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, whether Shetland dialect is a separate language from Scots is much debated.[. Shetlopedia. Retrieved 14 July 2012.]
Phonology
"Shetland dialect speakers generally have a rather slow delivery, pitched low and with a somewhat level intonation".
[Graham, John J. 1993. The Shetland Dictionary 3rd ed. (1st ed. 1979, 2nd ed. 1984). Lerwick: The Shetland Times. xxii]
Consonants
By and large, consonants are pronounced much as in other
Modern Scots varieties. Exceptions are:
The
and may be realised as
and respectively,
[SND Introduction - Phonetic Description of Scottish Language and Dialects. p.xl.] for example and rather than , or debuccalised and , (thing) and
mither (mother) as in
Central Scots. The
qu in
quick,
queen and
queer may be realised rather than , initial
ch may be realised and the initial cluster
wr may be realised or .
[SND Introduction - Phonetic Description of Scottish Language and Dialects. p. xl.]
Vowels
The underlying vowel
of Shetland dialect based on McColl Millar (2007) and Johnston P. (1997). The actual
may differ from place to place.
| Aitken | 1l | 1s | 8a | 10 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| | | | | 1 | 2 | | | | 3 | 4 | | | | | 5 | 6 | 7 | | |
-
Vowel 11 occurs Word stem final.
-
Vowel 3 is often retracted or or may sometimes be realised .
[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 33.]
-
Vowel 7 may be realised before and before and .
[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 48.]
-
Vowel 8 is generally merged with vowel 4,
[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 37.] often realised or before .[Johnston P. Regional Variation in Jones C. (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh p. 485.] The realisation in the cluster ane may be as in Mid Northern Scots.[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 35.]
-
Vowel 15 may be realised
[Johnston P. Regional Variation in Jones C. (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh p. 469.] or diphthongised to before .[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 45.]
-
Vowel 16 may be realised
[McColl Millar. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: University Press Ltd. p. 39.] or .[Johnston P. Regional Variation in Jones C. (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh p. 469.]
-
Vowel 17 often merges with vowel 12 before and .
[Johnston P. Regional Variation in Jones C. (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh p. 485.]
Vowel length is by and large determined by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, although there are a few exceptions.[Melchers, Gunnel (1991) Norn-Scots: a complicated language contact situation in Shetland. Language Contact in the British Isles: Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Language Contact in Europe, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1988. Ed. P. Sture Ureland and George Broderick. Linguistische Arbeiten 238. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. p. 468.]
Orthography
To some extent a bewildering variety of spellings have been used to represent the varied pronunciation of the Shetland dialect varieties.
[Graham, J.J. (1993) The Shetland Dictionary, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. xxiv.] Latterly the use of the apologetic apostrophe to represent 'missing' English letters has been avoided.
[Graham, J.J. (1993) The Shetland Dictionary, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. xxiv-xxv.] On the whole the literary conventions of Modern Scots are applied, if not consistently, the main differences being:
-
The and realisation of what is usually and in other Scots dialects are often written d and t rather than th; "thing" and "there" written "ting" and "dere".
-
The realisation of the qu in quick, queen and queer is often written wh; "queer" is written "wheer".
-
The realisation of initial ch, usually in other Scots dialects, is often written sh; "chair" is written "shair".
-
The letters j and k are used rather than y and c, influenced by Norse spelling. The letter j is often used to render the semivowel of the letter y, especially for the palatalised consonants in words such as Yule in English— rendered Yuil in Scots— which becomes written Jøl in Shetland dialect (for the additional change of the Scots ui to ø in this word, see below).
-
Literary Scots au and aw (vowel 12 and sometimes vowel 17) are often represented by aa in written Shetland dialect.
-
Literary Scots ui and eu (vowel 7) are often represented by ü, ö, or ø influenced by Norse spelling.
Grammar
The grammatical structure of Shetland dialect generally follows that of
Modern Scots, with traces of Norse (Norn) and those features shared with
Standard English.
[Graham, J.J. (1993) The Shetland Dictionary, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. xix.][Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. vii.]
Articles
The definite article
the is pronounced often written
da in dialect writing. As is usual in Scots, Shetland dialect puts an article where Standard English would not:
[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 1.][Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 78.]
gyaan ta da kirk/da scole in da Simmer-- 'go to church/school in summer'
da denner is ready 'dinner is ready'
hae da caald 'have a cold'
Nouns
Nouns in Shetland dialect have grammatical gender beside natural gender.
[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 2.] Some nouns which are clearly considered neuter in English are masculine or feminine, such as
spade (m),
sun (m),
mön (f),
kirk (f). This can also apply to dummy constructions, e.g.
what time is he? In a study comparing pre-oil Shetland dialect usage from oral history recordings and contemporary speech from interviews, the gender system in Shetland dialect was found to be a stable feature of modern dialect usage, and is not tied to use alongside "traditional lexical items".
The plural of nouns is usually formed by adding -s, as in Standard English. There are a few irregular plurals, such as kye, 'cows' or een, 'eyes'.[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 3.][Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 79.]
Pronouns
Shetland dialect also distinguishes between personal pronouns used by parents when speaking to children, old persons speaking to younger ones, or between familiar friends or equals
[ SND: Du] and those used in formal situations and when speaking to superiors.
[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 4.][Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 96-97.] (See T–V distinction)
The familiar forms are thoo (thou), pronounced , often written du in dialect writing; thee, pronounced , often written dee in dialect writing; thy, pronounced , often written dy in dialect writing; and thine, pronounced , often written dine in dialect writing; contrasting with the formal forms you, you, your and yours, respectively.
The familiar du takes the singular form of the verb: Du is, du hes ('you are, you have').
As is usual in Scots, the relative pronoun is that,[Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 102.] also meaning who and which, pronounced or , often written dat[ SND: Dat] or 'at in dialect writing,[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 5.] as in
da dog at bet me... – 'the dog that bit me...'
Verbs
As is usual in Scots, the past tense of weak verbs is formed by either adding -
ed, -
it, or -
t,
[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 9.][Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 113.] as in
spoot,
spootit (move quickly).
The auxiliary verb ta be 'to be', is used where Standard English would use 'to have':[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 11.] I'm written for 'I have written'.
Ta hae 'to have', is used as an auxiliary with the modal verbs coud ('could'), hed ('had'), micht ('might'), most ('must'), sood ('should'), and wid ('would') and then reduced to , often written a in dialect writing:[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 11.] Du sood a telt me, 'you should have told me'.
As is usual in Scots, auxiliary and monosyllabic verbs can be made negative by adding - na:[Robertson, T.A. & Graham, J.J. (1991) Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect, Lerwick, The Shetland Times Ltd. p. 10.][Grant, William; Dixon, James Main (1921) Manual of Modern Scots. Cambridge, University Press. p. 115.] widna, 'would not'. Otherwise, the Scots negative has no where standard English has 'not'.
Bibliography
-
Haldane Burgess, J.J. 1913. Rasmie's Büddie: Poems in the Shetlandic ("Fancy, laek da mirrie-dancers, Lichts da sombre sky o Life.") Lerwick: T. & J. Manson.
-
Knooihuizen, Remco. 2009. "Shetland Scots as a new dialect: phonetic and phonological considerations" in English Language and Linguistics Vol. 13, Issue 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
External links
