Phonological history of Scots

This is a presentation of the phonological history of the Scots language.

Scots has its origins in Old English (OE) via early Northern Middle English; though loanwords from Old Norse and Romance sources are common, especially from ecclesiastical and legal Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle French borrowings. Trade and immigration led to some borrowings from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch. Some vocabulary has been borrowed from Scotland's other language, Gaelic.

Consonants
Instance of between  and  were lost or did not develop:
 * OE æmerge → Modern Scots emmers and English embers
 * OE þýmel → Modern Scots thimmle and English thimble
 * OE timber → Modern Scots timmer and English timber

Certain clusters were reduced:
 * A word-final reduced to  except in some inflected forms (e.g. Modern Scots act, expect, strict).
 * reduced to in final position (e.g. Modern Scots attempt, corrupt).  Note that the English words like empty that come from OE words that did not have a  cluster also don’t have clusters in Scots (in this case, OE æmetig became Scots empy).
 * often reduced to (e.g. OE fréond, 'friend', became Modern Scots freend).
 * Final often reduced to  (e.g. Modern Scots auld 'old').
 * OE and  clusters appeared word-initially, though this feature is now highly recessive (e.g. knaw, 'know'; gnegum, 'tricky nature').

While OE became  in Modern English, Scots has retained the original pronunciation (e.g. OE scylfe, 'shelf', became skelf). Old English became  when adjacent to a front vowel (e.g. shinners from OE sinder, 'cinder').

OE was often dropped in certain contexts:
 * OE delfan → Modern Scots del and English delve
 * OE déoful → Modern Scots dou and English dove
 * OE gefan → Modern Scots gie and English give)

In contexts where OE and  palatalized to  and, respectively, in Modern English (that is, after a front vowel), Scots has retained the original velar pronunciation:
 * OE birce → Scots birk and English birch
 * OE bréc → Scots breeks and English britches
 * OE þæc → Scots thack and English thatch
 * OE giccan → Scots yeuk and English itch
 * OE hrycg → Scots rig and English ridge

Word final OE (written $⟨ð⟩$ or $⟨þ⟩$) was deleted in a few words (e.g. OE múð, 'mouth', became mou in Scots).

OE was lost in English, but remained so in Scots:
 * OE beorht → Modern Scots bricht and English bright
 * OE hlóh → Modern Scots lauch and English laugh
 * OE þóht → Modern Scots thocht and English thought

However, some words such as tho (though) and throu ('through') have dropped the.

Old English became  for a number of speakers, though  is widespread (e.g. OE hwæt, 'what', became whit).

Metathesis occurred in some words (e.g. OE græs, 'grass', became girse).

OE became vocalised after  resulting in the diphthong  in Modern Scots (e.g. boga, 'bow', became bowe).

Similarly, in the Early Scots period, was vocalized after:
 * (e.g. pullian, 'pull', became Modern Scots pou).
 * (e.g. bolster, 'bolster', became Modern Scots bowster), becoming and then changing to  in Modern Scots.
 * (e.g. healdan, 'hold', became Modern Scots haud); becoming  and then changing to  or, depending on dialect.

Vowels
The following table shows the modern realisation of the various Scots vowels along with their pronunciation in Early Scots, the Early Middle English vowels they can largely be derived from, and the main Old English sources of these vowels. See also Middle English phonology for a more in-depth overview of the Old English sources of the Early Middle English vowels below. External sources are: For the principal Old English, Norse and Romance sources of the Early Scots vowels see Aitken, A.J, (Ed. Macafee C.) (2002) pp. 89–95; for an overview of the historical developments see Vowel systems of Scots: a rough historical outline in A History of Scots to 1700, p. lvii.

Vowel 1
Old English and Old Norse í and ý, Old English i+ld and y+nd, as well as Old French í became  in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots and subsequently conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule to  when short and  or  when long in Modern Scots, for example: wyce (wise), wyte (blame), bide (remain), kye (cows), hive and fire from wís, wíte, bídan, cý, hýf and fýr. Similarly with Norse grice (pig), sile (strain), tyke (curr), lythe (shelter) and tyne (lose), and Romance advice, fine, cry, sybae (onion) but where Romance words entered Scots after this sound shift the original (Vowel 2) remained in Scots, for example bapteese (baptise), ceety (city), ceevil (civil), eetem (item), leeberal (liberal), leecence (license), meenister (minister), obleege (oblige), peety (pity), poleetical (political), poseetion, releegion (religion) and speerit (spirit).

Similarly with Old French ai and ei, for example Modern Scots chyce (choice), eynment (ointment), eyster (oyster), evyte (avoid), jyne (join), ile (oil), pynt (point), syle (soil), spyle (spoil) and vyce (voice)

Vowel 2
Old English é became in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots and   in Modern Scots, for example: bee, breest breast, cheese, creep, deed, freend (friend), hear, heich (high), knee, seek (sick), sheep, sleep, teeth and wheen a few from béo, bréost, cése, créap, déd, fréond, héran, héah, cnéo, séoc, scép, slép, téþ and hwéne. Also grieve (overseer) from grœfa.

Vowel 3
Old English ea and éa became in Early Scots, merging with vowel 2  or  vowel 4  in Middle Scots depending on dialect or lexeme, except for a few Northern Scots dialects where it became,  for example Modern Scots: beard, breid (bread), deid (dead), deif (deaf), heid (head), meat (food), steid (stead) and tread from beard, bréad, déad, déaf, héafod, mete, stede and tredan. Similarly with Romance words like beast, cheat, conceit, creitur (creature), deceit, ease, please, ream (cream), reison and seison.

Vowel 4
Old English á became in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots and  in Modern Scots, for example: aik (oak), ait (oat), braid (broad), gae (go), hale (whole), hame (home), lade (load), mair (more), raip (rope), saip (soap), sair (sore) and nae (no) from ác, áte, brád, gá, hál, hám, lád, mára, ráp, sáp and ná.

Before, now in Modern central, southern and Ulster varieties and  in northern varieties, for example: ane (one), ance (once), bane (bone), gane (gone), nane (none) and stane (stone) from án, ánes, bán, gán, nán and stán. Similarly with Norse, for example frae (from), kail (cole) and spae (foretell) from frá, kál and spá. The vowel occurs in other words of Norse origin, for example graith (harness), hain (spare) and lair (mud) from greiða, hagna and leir.

Before + consonant, depending on dialect, now  or  in Modern Scots, for example: airm (arm), airae (arrow), bairn (child), dairn (darn), hairm (harm), hairst (harvest), wairm (warm) and shairp (sharp) from earm, arwe, derne, hearm, hærfest, wearm and scearp. Similarly with aiple (apple), aix (axe), efter (after), peth (path), and wraith (wrath) from æpel, æx, æfter, pæþ and wræþþu. Similarly with Romance caird (card), cairy (carry), gairden (garden), regaird (regard), mairy (marry), mairtyr (martyr) and pairt (part).

Vowel 5
In open position o became in Early Scots then eventually  in Modern Scots, for example: coal, foal, hole and thole endure.

Vowel 6
Old English ú became in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots, remaining so but Stem final it became  in Southern Scots, for example Modern Scots: brou (brow), broun (brown), cou (cow), dou (dove), doun (down), hoose (house), hou (how), mou (mouth), moose (mouse), nou (now), soor (sour) and thoum (thumb) from brú, brún, cú, dúfe, dún, hús, hú, múð, mús, nú, súr and ðúma. Similarly with Norse boun (ready), couer (cower), droop and stroup (spout), and Romance allou (allow), bouat (lantern), coont (count), dout (doubt), pouder (powder) and roond (round).

Vowel 6a

Older Scots became vocalised to  by the Middle Scots period, for example Modern Scots: fou (full), pou (pull) and oo (wool) from full, pullian and wull. Similarly Romance coum (culm) and poupit (pulpit).

Vowel 7
Old English ō, eō became in Early Scots becoming  in Modern peripheral dialects. In Fife and parts of Perthshire Middle Scots merged with vowel 4. In Modern central varieties it has merged with vowel 15 in short environments conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, for example: bluid (blood), duin (done), muin (moon) and spuin (spoon) from dōn, blōd, mōna, and spōn. Similarly with Romance words like bruit (brute), fruit, schuil (school), tuin (tune), uiss (use n.).

In central varieties Middle Scots merged with vowel 4  in long environments conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, for example Modern Scots: buird (board), fuird (ford), fluir (floor) and muir (moor) from bōrd, fōrd, flōr and mór along with dae (do), shae (shoe) and tae (to) from dō, scō and tō. Similarly with Norse words like Fuirsday (Thursday), luif (palm) and ruise (praise), and Romance words like puir (poor), shuir (sure), uise (use v.).

In northern varieties Middle Scots merged with vowel 2, in Mid Northern varieties after  and  it became , for example Modern Scots: guid (good), cuil (cool), from gōd, cōl and Dutch cuit (ankle), and Romance schuil (school). Note: But not Modern Scots fit (foot), wid (wood), wad (would), oo (wool), coud (could) and shoud/su(l)d (should).

A following or  resulted in Modern Scots, ,  and/or  depending on dialect, for example: beuch (bough), beuk (book), ceuk (cook), eneuch (enough), heuch (cliff), heuk (hook), leuch (laughed), leuk (look), pleuch (plough), sheuch (ditch), teuch (tough) and teuk (took) from bōh, bōk, cōk, genóh, hōh, hōk, hlōh, tōk, plōh, sōh, tōh and tōk.

Vowel 8
Old English a or æ in open position became in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots and subsequently,  or  in Modern Scots, though  may also occur, especially in Ulster, for example: faither (father), gaither (gather), haimer (hammer), day, brain, fair, nail and tail from fæðer, gaderian, hamer, dæg, brægen, fæger, nægel and tægel. Similarly with Norse cake, gate (street), sale and scaith (damage).

Vowel 8a

Older Scots stem final became  in Middle Scots merging with vowel 1  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 9
Older Scots became  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 10
Early Scots merged with vowel 1  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 11
Early Scots in stem final positions, became  then  in Middle Scots merging with vowel 2  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 12
Old English ag-, aw- and áw became in Early Scots then  in Middle Scots and subsequently, depending on dialect,  or  in Modern Scots,  for example: draw, gnaw, and law from dragan, gnagan, haga and lagu, and Norse maw (seagull) and claw from maga and clawa. blaw (blow), craw (crow), maw (mowe), sawe (sow), saul (soul) and snaw (snow) from bláwan, cráwe, máwan, sáwan, sáwol and snáwan. Similarly with Old English ág and Norse lágr which became awn (to own) and law (low).

Before and  + consonant, Middle Scots  also became  or  in Modern Scots, for example: caunle (candle), draucht (draught), haund (hand), lauch (laugh), saund  (sand) and slauchter (slaughter) from candel, draht, hand, hæhhan, sand and slæ. Similarly with Norse baund (band), Dutch fraucht (freight), and Romance chancy, glanders, graund, and stank (a drain).

Vowel 12a

Older Scots became vocalised to  by the Middle Scots period and subsequently, depending on dialect,  or  in Modern Scots, for example: aw (all), caw (call), fauch (fallow), faw (fall), gaw (gall), haud (hold), haw (hall), maut (malt), sauch (sallow), saut (salt), smaw (small), staw (stall) and waw (wall) from eal, ceallian, fealh, fallan, gealla, healdan, hall, mealt, salh, sealt, smæl, steall and wall. Similarly with Norse hause (neck) and Romance aum (alum), baw (ball) and scaud (scald).

Vowel 13
Old English ów became in Older Scots then  in Modern Scots, for example: flowe (flow), glowe (glow), growe (grow) and stowe (stow) from flówan, glówan, grówan and stówigan.

Vowel 13a

Early Scots became vocalised to  by the Middle Scots period and subsequently diphthongised to  in Modern Scots. In some dialects this is vocalising to especially before, for example Modern Scots: bowster (bolster), bowt (bolt), cowt (colt), gowd (gold), howe (hollow), knowe (knoll), powe (poll) and towe (toll) from bolster, bolt, colt, gold, holh, cnol, polle and toll. Similarly with Romance rowe (roll) and sowder (solder), also Dutch gowf (golf).

Vowel 14
Older Scots (a) and Older Scots  (b(i)) became  in Middle Scots then  or  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 14b(ii) Older Scots became  in Middle Scots then  in Modern Scots.

Vowel 15
Old English i and y became in Early Scots, remaining so, but approach  in some Modern dialects especially after  and, for example Modern Scots: hill, filthy, will, win, wind, whip, whisper and whisky.

Vowel 16
Before alveolars Old English æ became in Early Scots, remaining so, for example Modern Scots: bress (brass), clesp (clasp), ess (ash), fest (fast), gled (glad), gless (glass), gress (grass) and hesp (hasp) from bræs, claspe, æsce, fæst, glæd, glæs, gæs and hæpse.

Vowel 17
Old English a or æ in close position became in Older Scots, remaining so, although  or  occasionally occur, for example Modern Scots: back, bath, blad (leaf/blade), cat, clap, hack, mak (make), ram, rax (stretch), tak (take), wall (well for water), wash, watter (water) and waps (wasp) from bæc, bæþ, blæd, catt, clappian, haccian, macian, ram, raxan, tacan, wælla, wæscan, wæter, and wæps. Similarly with Norse bag, flag (flagstone) and snag and Dutch pad (path).

Also before and, for example Modern Scots: can, lang (long), man, pan, sang (song), sank, strang (strong), than (then) and wran (wren) from cann, lang, mæn, panne, sang, sanc strang, þanne and wrænna. Similarly with Norse bann (curse), stang (sting), thrang (busy) and wrang (wrong).

Similarly with Old English o before, , and , for example Modern Scots: craft (croft), crap (crop), drap (drop), laft (loft), pat (pot), saft (soft) and tap (top) from croft, cropp, dropa, loft, pott, softe and top.

Similarly with a w before e, for example Modern Scots: wab (web), wast (west), wadge (wedge), twal (twelve) and dwall (dwell) from web, west, wecg, twelf and dwellan.

Vowel 18
Old English o in close position became in Older Scots then  in Modern Scots but in some dialects became, for example: box, lock and rock.

Vowel 19
Old English u became in Early Scots then  in Modern Scots, for example but and cut, but in some words it merged with vowel 15, for example Modern Scots: din (dun), hinnie (honey), simmer (summer), son and nit (nut) from dunn, hunig, sumor, sunne and hnut. Similarly in some Romance words, for example Modern Scots: kimmer (commère), kiver (cover), ingan (onion), stibble (stubble) and tribble (trouble).

Word endings
Various Old English word endings became any of, , , , , or depending on dialect, for example Modern Scots: borrae (borrow), follae (follow), marrae (marrow), meidae (meadow), pillae (pillow), sheddae (shadow), swallae (swallow), weedae (widow) and yallae (yellow) from borgian, folgian, mearh, maedwe, pyle, sceadu, swelgan/swealwe, widwe and geolo. Similarly with Norse windae (window).