Scottish accents

Hi all,

I'd like to know what differences exist among the Scottish accents.

Javier:

Accents are as varied within Scotland just as they are in any other part of the UK. This is a very small island but heavily populated and "local" is really quite a tiny area, unlike in many other much larger countries. Travel say 25 miles from one spot to another and you find yourself in quite a different area as far as accent and dialect is concerned, and perhaps local climate as well!

In Scotland, the two largest cities ...Edinburgh and Glasgow... are about 40 miles apart but the accents are very different, very noticeably so, even to someone not used to hearing them. Even within Edinburgh there is supposed to be a "smart accent" called Morningside, the name of a very up market and expensive suburb, but that no longer holds good to be honest. Maybe something snobbish and generational from the past. It's never evident to me and I often pass through Morningside.

Other large towns such as Dundee and Aberdeen are different again in accent and dialect. Go further up to Inverness and the distinct Highlands accent has a soft lilt to it, evident throughout the north and west of Scotland, and over to the Western Isles, where Gaelic is still spoken and has a bearing on the local accent when speaking English. Many people find the Highlands and Islands Regions the most attractive accents because of its softness and lilting quality.

The south west (Galloway) has tinges of Irish, which is not surprising because it is the part of Scotland closest to Northern Ireland. Both countries can see each other very clearly (on clear days!) across the St George's Channel, much as the French and English can see each other across the English Channel (again only on clear days....a bonus in Britain!) ;-)

Travel way, way up and hop over the water to both the Orkney and Shetland Island groups and it's a different kettle of fish up there as well. The Shetlands are actually closer to Norway than they are to the South of England, and although the local accent is basically Scottish, there is just a hint of the Scandinavian influence still present I believe. Many of the locals are tall and blond (or blonde, of course) ...again their Scandi heritage I reckon.

The south east (Borders Region) is a wee bit "less Scottish" sounding because it borders onto England, as the name of the Region suggests.

I hope this puts you in the picture, Javier.

I have found the following article touching on this subject:
http://www.madasafish.com/news/tabloid_bespoke.asp?cat=Culture&aid=7591930

By the way, has anybody seen anything like an accent map of the British Isles online? It is mentioned in the article above that such a thing is being worked on, but I wonder if anything close to it is available already.

Joining the former James Bond on the celebrity front was the dappy but delectable voice of actor Hugh Grant at number four, with many of us enjoying the typically English and almost excruciatingly polite vocal fumblings that made him famous in films such as Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill.


Does any of you know the meaning of "dappy" here?

rich7:

"Dappy" does not exist as a word, but it may well be a sort of informal form of "dapper", which often suits Hugh Grant's image. He seems to be the personification of the stereotypical upper class, Eton educated Englishman, with his bumbling, fumbling manner indicating isolation from the streetwise down to earth world outside so called "privileged" Sloane Ranger environment.

Dapper...neat and spruce in dress and bearing and mannerisms. I'm sure that people outside this country don't really think all Brits are like Hugh Grant! Or speak anything like him, or act like a self conscious mumbling idiot. ;-)

<<Does any of you know the meaning of "dappy" here?>>

= "DO any of you etc....." Sorry!

I've often found that Glaswegians (sp?) are a good deal harder to understand than folks from Edinburgh. While Americans can understand a movie from Edinburgh fairly easily, a good many films from Glasgow are subtitled.

Although I can't be sure, I've always chalked up my greater ability to understand Edinburgh residents to the fact that there are a lot of cultural institutions that attract other nationalities of English speakers. There's the University of Edinburgh, which is basically an English university, as well as the massive Edinburgh fringe festival, which brings in hordes of Americans and Brits every years.

Based on what I know about Scottish accents, I also second that Glaswegian is more difficult to understand than the Edinburgh accent. I recall on of my teachers at university (Irish, by the way) reading out the following poem with the Glaswegian accent, it sounded quite unique and not very easy to understand:

A Gude Buke
By Stephen Mulrine

Ah like a gude buke
a buke's aw ye need
jis settle down
hiv a right gude read

Ay, a gude buke's rerr
it makes ye think
nuthin tae beat it
bar a gude drink

Ah like a gude buke
opens yir mine
a gude companion
tae pass the time

See me wi a buke, bit
in a bus ur a train
canny whack it
wee wurld i yir ain

Ay, ah like a gude buke
widny deny it
dje know thon wan
noo - whit dje cry it?

Awright, pal, skip it
awright, keep the heid
howm ah tae know
yir trying tae read?

ehh u mister, gee iz a fag, got eny chewnie? im fae glasgae, the green side

Ben:

sp for Glaswegian is spot on.

<<Americans can understand a movie from Edinburgh>>

I suppose you're going to mention THAT film....the one most people associate with my home city. ;-( Every city has it's seedy side and Rabelaisian goings on...at least Ewan Mcgregor and Robert Carlyle were a redeeming feature...could you really understand their smackhead dialogue? I'm so impressed! As for wee Mr Carlyle (he's nae much taller than I am!) he was totally different as PC Hamish Macbeth (ye cannae get more Scottish than that!) ...a benign country copper way up there in the Hebrides, with never a score in sight.

PS: Easterner's accent was spot on as well! Pure Pollokshields!

Thanks for your answers, above all Damian's explanations. I asked this question after reading Irvine Welsh's books and Ian Rankin's novels. Both Edinburgh and Glaswegian accents appear in their books a lot and I've tried to imagine what they sound like.

Ian Rankin.....a local guy from Edinburgh and one of my fave modern authors. His books are serialised on BBC radio, Radio 4 as well as Radio Scotland.

I was going to avoid mentioning "that film," mighty entertaining as it is.

It's quite unfortunate, actually, that that's one of the only Edinburgh films of note, because I found it to be such a lovely, hospitable place the week or so I was there.

Given, I was at least a wee bit intoxicated the whole time, but what kind of tourist would I be if I didn't partake of Scotland's world-renowned public houses? It would just be impolite.

The nice thing about the Scottish accents is for me, as a German, that the Scottish, but also the Irish, accents are much easier to understand than the different English accents. Especially the pronunciation of the A and the U.

i personally think that having so many different accents in our magnificant counry is good for scotland it lets us be seperate from english twats south of the border with there pompous swooty accent fcuk england dee 4 life ya bas