Standard Scottish English

Many sources on Standard Scottish English (SSE) claim that there is a distinction between /Ir/, /Vr/ and /Er/ in words such as BIRD, FUR and HERD, which are all pronounced with the same vowel /3:/ in RP or /3`/ in GA.
However, the few speakers I've listened to seem to merge those three towards something like [Vr] or [3r].
Do our Scottish contributors make a distinction between the vowels of BIRD and NERD for example? Or do they pronounce them in the same way? Are there regional/local differences in this respect?

There is a difference in the way I personally pronounce those two words, as there is for practically all Scots.

One is "Burrrd" and the other "Nairrd" - with the Rs well rolled. I can't put it clearer than that in here without you actually hearing me utter these words. Fur resembles bird, and herd resembles nerd, as you would expect.

Any regional variations in Scotland would be fairly slight as far as these words are concerned.....incidentally, these two last words follow the same respective patterns in general Scottish English, including the rolled Rs of course.

Goodnight

Theoretically, Scottish speakers make a distinction between /Ir/, /Er/, /Vr/.

But there's an issue here that makes this distinction less easy to deduce. Looking, for example, at the English of Glasgow, the /E/ and /I/ phoneme are pronounced quite close together, being near-merged in some speakers, to [ɛ̈] for the KIT-set and [ɛ̞] in the DRESS-set. And the STRUT phoneme isn't much further away, at [ʌ̈].

So ultimately, in Urban Scottish English, these phonemes are distinguished, but close enough together in pronunciation that they aren't easily distinguished to HURT-BIRD-HERD-merged speakers.

Thank you for the answers. I wonder what those in posh Morningside or Kelvinside do. Is it refined for Scottish people in these areas to keep the distinction or to lose it?

Scottish English is substandard.

***I wonder what those in posh Morningside or Kelvinside do***

They verbally strangulate themselves. Anyway, Edinburgh Morningside especially is gradually ebbing away with the passage of time and of all those posh, refined and elegant Ladies who Lunched and performed great works for charity.