The Scottish Accent

Origin of the Scottish Accent

First there was Gaelic, the ancient
language of the Celts. Then, around
1500 CE, there was a geographic shift,
and Gaelic became mostly confined to
the Highlands; whilst in the Lowlands,
a different language began to develop
distinct from Gaelic: Scots! But no,
that’s still not quite Scottish English…
 Origin of the Scottish Accent

In the Lowlands, Scots mixed with Standard English (both mutually

influencing each other), and in the 18th century, Scottish English was born!
Scottish English can best be summed up as being an accent that is the perfect
combination of Gaelic roots, Scots phonology and an English lexicon. And,
linguistically speaking, the fact that Scottish English only developed three
centuries ago makes this accent one of the “newest” accents in the British Isl
 Scottish accent vs British accent
As for standardised British English, there are long and short vowel
sounds whereas this tends not to be the case in Scottish English where we
have fewer vowel sounds.
Examples: Caught, Cot
In a standardised version of British English these two words would be
pronounced differently with the first having a long vowel sound and the
second maintaining a short sound. In Scottish English, these two words
sound exactly the same as we do not tend to distinguish between long and
short vowel sounds.
 Scottish accent vs British accent

Just as there is a clear difference in some of the vowel sounds between

standard British English and Scottish English, there is also a big difference
with how an “r” is pronounced
Examples: Girl, World, Curl
In standard English, the “r” in the examples above would almost vanish
and not be pronounced, but the same cannot be said for the “r” in Scottish
English. North of Hadrian’s Wall, the “r” is almost always pronounced and
is sometimes almost likened to the “r” sound in Spanish. In other words, it
is a much stronger sound than in standardised English.
 Scottish accent vs British accent

Pronouns in Scottish English Unlike standard English where the personal

pronoun “you” is used in both singular and plural, this is not the case in the
majority of Scotland where the personal pronoun “yous” is used as the plural.
Examples: Have yous finished your homework?
Are yous okay?
Yous won’t believe what I’m going to say.