Glasgow dialect

Last updated
Glasgow dialect
Glaswegian
Native to United Kingdom
Region Scotland
Ethnicity Scottish people
Native speakers
(undated figure of Unknown, likely up to 1,000,000 (see Greater Glasgow)[ citation needed ])
Early forms
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
IETF sco-u-sd-gbglg, en-scotland-u-sd-gbglg

The Glasgow dialect, also called Glaswegian, varies from Scottish English at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum to the local dialect of West Central Scots at the other. [1] [2] Therefore, the speech of many Glaswegians can draw on a "continuum between fully localised and fully standardised". [3] Additionally, the Glasgow dialect has Highland English and Hiberno-English influences [4] owing to the speech of Highlanders and Irish people who migrated in large numbers to the Glasgow area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. [5] While being named for Glasgow, the accent is typical for natives across the full Greater Glasgow area and associated counties such as Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire and parts of Ayrshire, which formerly came under the single authority of Strathclyde. It is most common in working class people, which can lead to stigma from members of other classes or those outside Glasgow.

Contents

As with other dialects, it is subject to dialect levelling where particularly Scots vocabulary is replaced by Standard English words and, in particular, words largely from colloquial English. [6] However, Glaswegians continue to create new euphemisms and nicknames for well-known local figures and buildings.

Literature

The Glasgow vernacular has also established itself in Scottish literature. [7] Many authors spell some of the Scots elements phonetically, often coinciding with common spelling errors, [8] rather than using the prestigious Modern Scots conventions. The general effect of that, particularly its comic forms, is to exaggerate the unintelligibility of Glasgow speech to outsiders. [8] The resulting orthographic representation of the vernacular gives the overall impression of an anti-standard rather than a local standard. [8]

Michael Munro wrote a guide to Glaswegian entitled The Patter, first published in 1985. With illustrations by David Neilson, and later by the Paisley-born artist and playwright John Byrne, the book was followed by The Patter – Another Blast in 1988, with The Complete Patter, an updated compendium of the first and second books, being published in 1996.

James Kelman's 1994 novel How Late It Was, How Late is written largely in Glaswegian dialect from the point of view of Sammy Samuels, a 38-year-old ex-convict who wakes up blind after a drinking binge and a fight with police. The novel won the 1994 Booker Prize.

Jamie Stuart, a Church of Scotland elder from the High Carntyne Church, produced "A Glasgow Bible" in 1997, relating some biblical tales in the Glaswegian vernacular. More recently, in 2014 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was translated into Glaswegian Scots by Thomas Clark as Alice's Adventirs in Wunnerlaun.

A 2020 Graeme Armstrong novel, The Young Team, narrated by a gang member in the local dialect, focuses on the 'ned culture' of the region in the early 21st century (albeit set in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire a few miles east of Glasgow rather than in the city itself). [9] [10] Armstrong, who had been inspired by the style used by Irvine Welsh for Trainspotting – written in the similar but distinct accent of Edinburgh [11] – struggled to have his novel published and was advised to mitigate the use of the dialect to appeal to a wider audience, but refused to compromise the authenticity of the characters' voices. [12]

Phonology

Jane Stuart-Smith contributed a chapter to the 1999 book Urban Voices entitled "Glasgow: accent and voice quality". She defined two varieties for descriptive purposes:

Differences between the two systems are mostly in lexical incidence. [14] Many working-class speakers use the SSE system when reading aloud, albeit with different qualities for the vowels. [15] The table below shows the vowels used in both variants, as given in Table 11.1 of Stuart-Smith's work. [16]

Lexical setGSEGV
KITɪɪ̈~i
DRESSɛɛ
HEADɛi
NEVERɛ~ɛ̈ɪ̈
TRAPa̠a̠
STANDa̠ɔ
LOTɔo
STRUTʌ̈ʌ̈
FOOTʉɪ̈~ɪ
BATHa̠a̠
AFTERa̠ɛ
CLOTHɔo
OFFɔa̠
NURSEʌ̈ʌ̈~ɪ
FLEECEï~i̠i~i̠
FACEee
STAYee~ʌi
PALMa̠a̠
THOUGHTɔo
GOAToo
MOREoe
GOOSEʉʉ
DOʉe
PRICEʌiʌi
PRIZEaeae
CHOICEɔeɔe
MOUTHʌʉʉ
NEARii
SQUAREeɛ~e
STARTa̠e
BIRTHɪɪ̈~ʌ̈
BERTHɛɛ~ɪ
NORTHɔo
FORCEoo
CUREjʉjʉ
happYee~ɪ̈
lettERɪ̈~ʌ̈ʌ̈
horsESɪɪ̈~ʌ̈
commAʌ̈ʌ̈

Stuart-Smith also gave the following summary of how consonants differ in the Glasgow patter from other dialects. [17]

In the media

In the 1970s, the Glasgow-born comedian Stanley Baxter parodied the patter on his television sketch show. "Parliamo Glasgow" was a spoof programme in which Baxter played a language coach and various scenarios using Glaswegian dialogue were played out for laughs. [18] [19] [20] Popular television comedies using the dialect include Rab C. Nesbitt , Chewin' the Fat , Still Game , [21] Burnistoun and Limmy's Show .

The 1998 film by Ken Loach, My Name is Joe , is one of the few films recorded [almost] entirely in Glasgow dialect. As a result, the film had to be given subtitles when released in the United States and even for audiences in England. The same situation occurred with another Loach film, 2002's Sweet Sixteen , based in the town of Greenock which has a local accent virtually identical to that of Glasgow, [22] [23] and with the 2010 release Neds set in the city. [24]

Alleged influence from Cockney

Studies have indicated that working-class adolescents in areas such as Glasgow have begun to use certain aspects of Cockney and other Anglicisms in their speech, [25] infiltrating the traditional Glasgow speech. [26] For example, th-fronting is commonly found, and typical Scottish features such as the post-vocalic /r/ are reduced, [27] although this last feature is more likely to be a development of Central Belt Scots origin, unrelated to Anglo-English nonrhoticity. [28] Researches suggest the use of English speech characteristics is likely to be consequential on the influence of London and south east England accents which feature prominently on television. [29] [30] [31] [32]

The linguist John C. Wells, a critic of the media reporting on Estuary English, has questioned whether Glasgow is being influenced by Cockney speech. He claimed that journalists had misrepresented the prevalence of th-fronting in Glasgow and that there is no evidence that th-fronting originated in London. He also wrote that all dialects change over time and that change does not mean that the Glasgow patter will disappear. [33]

Related Research Articles

Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle-class roots. The term Cockney is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, or, traditionally, born within earshot of Bow Bells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scots language</span> West Germanic language

Scots is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland. Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, and northern Ulster, it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Goidelic Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Galloway after the sixteenth century; or Broad Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Standard English. Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English, as the two diverged independently from the same source: Early Middle English (1150–1350).

Estuary English is an English accent, continuum of accents, or continuum of accent features associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary, including London, since the late 20th century. Phonetician John C. Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England". He views Estuary English as an emerging standard accent of England, while also acknowledging that it is a social construct rather than a technically well-defined linguistic phenomenon. He describes it as "intermediate" between the 20th-century higher-class non-regional standard accent, Received Pronunciation (RP), and the 20th-century lower-class local London accent, Cockney. There is much debate among linguists as to where Cockney and RP end and where Estuary English begins, or whether Estuary English is even a single cohesive accent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Scots dialect</span> Scots as spoken in Ulster, Ireland

Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots, also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect of Scots spoken in parts of Ulster, being almost exclusively spoken in parts of Northern Ireland and County Donegal. It is normally considered a dialect or group of dialects of Scots, although groups such as the Ulster-Scots Language Society and Ulster-Scots Academy consider it a language in its own right, and the Ulster-Scots Agency and former Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure have used the term Ulster-Scots language.

Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools". IETF language tag for "Scottish Standard English" is en-scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Scots language</span>

The history of the Scots language refers to how Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland developed into modern Scots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire dialect</span> Dialects of English spoken in Yorkshire, England

Yorkshire dialect is a geographic grouping of several dialects of English spoken in the Yorkshire region of Northern England. The varieties have roots in Old English and are influenced to a greater extent by Old Norse than Standard English is. Yorkshire experienced drastic dialect levelling in the 20th century, eroding many traditional features, though variation and even innovations persist, at both the regional and sub-regional levels. Organisations such as the Yorkshire Dialect Society and the East Riding Dialect Society exist to promote the survival of the more traditional features.

In English, the digraph ⟨th⟩ usually represents either the voiced dental fricative phoneme or the voiceless dental fricative phoneme. Occasionally, it stands for. In the word eighth, it is often pronounced. In compound words, ⟨th⟩ may be a consonant sequence rather than a digraph.

The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster English</span> Variety of English spoken in Northern Ireland

Ulster English, also called Northern Hiberno-English or Northern Irish English, is the variety of English spoken mostly around the Irish province of Ulster and throughout Northern Ireland. The dialect has been influenced by the local Ulster dialect of the Scots language, brought over by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster and subsequent settlements throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. It also coexists alongside the Ulster dialect of the Irish (Gaelic) language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English language in Southern England</span> Varieties of English language in Southern England

English in Southern England is the collective set of different dialects and accents of Modern English spoken in Southern England.

This article describes those aspects of the phonological history of English which concern consonants.

In English phonology, t-glottalization or t-glottalling is a sound change in certain English dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions. It is never universal, especially in careful speech, and it most often alternates with other allophones of such as, ,, , or.

Th-stopping is the realization of the dental fricatives as stops—either dental or alveolar—which occurs in several dialects of English. In some accents, such as of Indian English and middle- or upper-class Irish English, they are realized as the dental stops and as such do not merge with the alveolar stops ; thus, for example, tin is not a homophone of thin. In other accents, such as varieties of Caribbean English, Nigerian English, Liberian English, and older, rural, or working-class Irish English, such pairs are indeed merged. Variation between both dental and alveolar forms exists in much of the working-class English speech of North America and sometimes southern England. It is also common for babies and toddlers, who are still learning to talk and/or haven't fully grown their front teeth capable of producing the Th sound. Th-stopping occurred in all continental Germanic languages, resulting in cognates such as German die for "the" and Bruder for "brother".

Th-fronting is the pronunciation of the English "th" as "f" or "v". When th-fronting is applied, becomes or and becomes or. Unlike the fronting of to, the fronting of to usually does not occur word-initially. For example, while further is pronounced as fervour, that is rarely pronounced as *vat, although this was found in the speech of South-East London in a survey completed 1990–1994). Th-fronting is a prominent feature of several dialects of English, notably Cockney, Essex dialect, Estuary English, some West Country and Yorkshire dialects, African American Vernacular English, and Liberian English, as well as in many non-native English speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Scotland</span> Languages of a country

The languages of Scotland belong predominantly to the Germanic and Celtic language families. The main language now spoken in Scotland is English, while Scots and Scottish Gaelic are minority languages. The dialect of English spoken in Scotland is referred to as Scottish English.

The English language spoken and written in England encompasses a diverse range of accents and dialects. The language forms part of the broader British English, along with other varieties in the United Kingdom. Terms used to refer to the English language spoken and written in England include English English and Anglo-English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Scots</span> Varieties of Scots spoken since 1700

Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700.

Barrovian is an accent and dialect of English found in Barrow-in-Furness and several outlying settlements in Cumbria, England, historically in the county of Lancashire. Although a member of the Cumbrian dialect, The Barrovian and south Cumbria accent has a lot in common with the dialect of northern Lancashire, particularly the Lancaster/Morecambe area.

The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant,, is preserved in all pronunciation contexts. In non-rhotic accents, speakers no longer pronounce in postvocalic environments: when it is immediately after a vowel and not followed by another vowel. For example, in isolation, a rhotic English speaker pronounces the words hard and butter as /ˈhɑːrd/ and /ˈbʌtər/, but a non-rhotic speaker "drops" or "deletes" the sound and pronounces them as /ˈhɑːd/ and /ˈbʌtə/. When an r is at the end of a word but the next word begins with a vowel, as in the phrase "better apples," most non-rhotic speakers will preserve the in that position since it is followed by a vowel in this case.

References

  1. ↑ Macafee C.I. (1983) ‘Glasgow’ in Varieties of English around the World. Amsterdam: Benjamins. p.7
  2. ↑ Stuart-Smith J. Scottish English: Phonology in Varieties of English: The British Isles, Kortman & Upton (Eds), Mouton de Gruyter, New York 2008. p.47
  3. ↑ Macafee C.I. (1983) ‘Glasgow’ in Varieties of English around the World. Amsterdam: Benjamins. p.31
  4. ↑ Menzies, Janet (1991), "An Investigation of Attitudes to Scots", Scottish Language, 10: 30–46, archived from the original on 11 November 2020, retrieved 28 August 2010
  5. ↑ Fraser, W. Hamish; Thomas Martin Devine; Gordon Jackson; Irene Maver (1997). Glasgow: Volume II: 1830–1912. Manchester University Press. pp. 149–150. ISBN   978-0-7190-3692-7.
  6. ↑ Robert McColl Millar (2018) Modern Scots: An Analytical Survey, Edinburgh University Press, p. 135
  7. ↑ Hagan, Anette I. (2002) Urban Scots Dialect Writing. Bern: Lang.
  8. 1 2 3 Macafee C.I. (1983) ‘Glasgow’ in Varieties of English around the World. Amsterdam: Benjamins p.40
  9. ↑ Book review: The Young Team, by Graeme Armstrong, Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman, 5 March 2020
  10. ↑ The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong review – a swaggering, incendiary debut, Jude Cook, The Guardian, 13 March 2020
  11. ↑ "Ex-gang member and Young Team author Graeme Armstrong on the lonely road to redemption". HeraldScotland. 7 March 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Graeme Armstrong – Standard English is oor Second Language". Literature Alliance Scotland. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  13. ↑ Stuart-Smith, pp.203–4
  14. ↑ Stuart-Smith, p.205
  15. ↑ Stuart-Smith, p.205
  16. ↑ Stuart-Smith, p.206
  17. ↑ Stuart-Smith, pp.208–210
  18. ↑ "Scotslanguage.com – Parliamo Glasgow". www.scotslanguage.com. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "A newbie's guide to Glasgow". Blog. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  20. ↑ Wright, Jane (1 June 2016). "Parliamo Glasgow? Stanley Baxter is still puredeadbrilliant byrraway". GlasgowLive. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  21. ↑ Wallace, Megan (2 April 2019). "Still Game: why the filthy, cantankerous, duck-feeding Scots will be sorely missed". the Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  22. ↑ "Loach film may be subtitled for English audience". The Independent. London. 23 July 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "'English' subtitles on film set in Scotland". 21 February 2005. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  24. ↑ Neds – Film Review The Hollywood Reporter, October 14, 2010
  25. ↑ Is TV a contributory factor in accent change in adolescents? – ESRC Society Today
  26. ↑ Cockney creep puts paid to the patter – Evening Times
  27. ↑ Stuart-Smith, Jane; Timmins, Claire; Tweedie, Fiona (1 April 2007). "'Talkin' Jockney'? Variation and change in Glaswegian accent1". Journal of Sociolinguistics. 11 (2): 221–260. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9841.2007.00319.x.
  28. ↑ Speitel, H. H. & Johnston, P. (1983). ESRC End of Grant Report "A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Edinburgh Speech."
  29. ↑ "Soaps may be washing out accent". Bbc.co.uk. 4 March 2004.
  30. ↑ 'We fink, so we are from Glasgow' – Times Online
  31. ↑ Scots kids rabbitin' like Cockneys – Sunday Herald
  32. ↑ – Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow Archived 30 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ↑ "Glasgow and Estuary English". Phon.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
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