Doric dialect (Scotland)
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| Doric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Scotland | |
| Region: | North East Scotland (Angus over to Nairn and Forres) | |
| Total speakers: | no official figures, but probably several hundred thousand | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic Scots language Doric |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | ||
| Regulated by: | — . | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | sco | |
| ISO 639-3: | sco | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
- For the Doric dialect of ancient Greek, see Doric Greek
Doric was formerly used to refer to all dialects of Lowland Scots but is now usually used as a name for the dialect spoken in the north-east of Scotland.
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[edit] Pronunciation and Lexis
The main phonetic differences between Doric and other Lowland Scots dialects are as follows:
- wh is pronounced /f/ instead of /ʍ/ — /fɪt/ meaning "what" instead of /ʍɪt/, /fa:/ meaning "who" instead of /ʍɑ:/ or /ʍɒ:/. In more anglicised areas such as Inverurie and Aberdeen, wh is often used[citation needed].
- aw, au and aa are pronounced /a:/ instead of /ɑ:/, /ɒ:/— aw, a' or aa meaning "all".
- An a before /b/, /g/, /m/ and /ŋ/ may be /ə/ or /ʌ/.
- ui (often anglicised oo or dialectialised ee) is pronounced /i(:)/ and /wi(:)/ after /g/ and /k/ e.g. abeen meaning above instead of abuin, gweed and qheet instead of guid ("good") and cuit ("ankle").
- The cluster ane is pronounced /in/, e.g. in ane and a(i)nce.
- Initial /g/ and /k/ as in gnap and knowe are pronounced.
- "Y" /j/ sounds often occur after certain initial consonants, e.g. "tyauve"
Doric contains a number of words not found in other dialects of Lowland Scots. Also, because it expanded into areas where Scottish Gaelic was formerly spoken, and the Eastern Highlands, it contains a few loanwords from that language, as well as Norse. Loanwords from Pictish are curiously absent, except within placenames, notably those beginning with "Pit-".
As with other parts of Scotland, the travelling folk maintained a distinct lexis of Doric, much of which is recorded in Stanley Robertson's stories.
[edit] Origin of the name
The term "Doric" was used to refer to all dialects of Lowland Scots as a jocular reference to the Dorian dialect of Greek. The Greek Dorians lived in Sparta, a more rural area, and were supposed by the ancient Greeks to have spoken laconically, and in a language that was thought harsher in tone and more phonetically conservative than the Attic spoken in Athens. Doric Greek was used for the verses spoken by the chorus in Greek tragedy.
Use of the term Doric in this context may also arise out of a contrast with the anglicised speech of the Scottish capital, because at one point, Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. The upper/middle class speech of Edinburgh would thus be 'Attic', making the rural areas' speech 'Doric'.
[edit] Doric Literature
North east Scots has an extensive body of literature, mostly poetry, ballads and songs. When Doric appears in prose, it is usually as quoted speech, although this is less and less the case. As is usually the case with marginalised languages, local loyalties prevail in the written form, showing how the variety "deviates" from standard ("British") English as opposed to a general Scots "norm". This shows itself in the local media presentation of the language e.g. Grampian Television & The Aberdeen Press and Journal. These local loyalties, and relative distance from the Central Lowlands, ensure that the Doric scene has a degree of semi-autonomy.
The North East has been claimed as the "real home of the ballad" [1], and according to Les Wheeler, "91 out of a grand total of (Child's) 305 ballads came from the North East - in fact from Aberdeenshire", which makes the usual name of "Border Ballad" a misnomer put about by Sir Walter Scott.
Doric was used in a lot of so called, 'Kailyard' literature, a genre which paints a sentimental, melodramatic picture of the old rural life, and is currently very unfashionable. This negative association still plagues Doric literature to a degree, as well as Scottish literature in general.
The most famous novelist to use Doric in his novels was George MacDonald from Huntly, who is commonly considered one of the fathers of the Fantasy genre, an influence on C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, and a friend of Mark Twain.
Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Scots Quair trilogy is set in the Mearns, and has been the basis of a successful play and television series. It is very popular throughout Scotland, and tells the story of Chrissie, an independent-minded woman, mainly in a form of English strongly influenced by the rhythms of local speech.
A version of Aesop's Fables has been published in Doric, as well as some sections of the Bible.
For an example of Doric literature, see the poetry of Charles Murray. Here is his short poem, Gin I was God:
| Doric | Translation |
|---|---|
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Contemporary writers in Doric include Sheena Blackhall, a poet who writes in Doric and Scottish Gaelic, Mo Simpson, who writes in the Aberdeen Evening Express, and peppers her humour column with "Doricisms" and Doric words. The Doric has also featured on stage and television, notably in the sketches and songs of the Aberdeen-based comedy trio Scotland the What?.
[edit] Recent developments
2006 saw some interesting developments on the Doric front. Firstly, an Aberdeen hotel decided to use a Doric voice for their lift. Phrases said by the lift include "Gyan Up" (Going up), "Gyan Doon" (Going down), "atween flairs een an fower" (between floors one and four) [2]. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Maureen Watt of the SNP took her Scottish Parliamentary oath in Doric. She said "I want to advance the cause of Doric and show there's a strong and important culture in the North East." [3]. She was required to take an oath in English beforehand. There was some debate as to whether the oath was "gweed Doric" or not, and notably it contains certain anglicised forms such as "I" rather than "A", and "and" instead of "an":
- "I depone aat I wull be leal and bear ae full alleadgance tae her majesty Queen Elizabeth her airs an ony fa come aifter her anent the law. Sae help me God"
There is also some controversy over the use of "majesty" for a Scottish monarch.
[edit] Select vocabulary
The most distinctive, and common Doric phrase is - "Ay ay, fit like?" (Ay Ay, what like?) - "Hello, how are you?"
- "Causey Mounth" – the road over the "Mounth" or Grampians
- "Claik" – the Doric dialect of Buchan fishing villages
- "Foggy bummer" – Bumblebee
- "Furryboots?" (Whauraboots) – Whereabouts? (Aberdeen is nicknamed "Furryboots City" from "Furraboots ye fae?" (Whereabouts are you from?)
- "Futret" (Whitrat) – Weasel - a common missconception is that a "Futret" is a Ferret due to the similarity between both words.
- "Louns an quines" (louns an queans) – Lads and lassies, boys and girls. (NB "loun" or "loon" has no derogatory meaning in Doric)
- "Min" – Man, as in "Ay ay, min".
- "Fou's yer dous?" – How are your pigeons? (How are you?)
- "tak a scoof" - drink a big gulp
- "fou lang" (hou lang) - how long
- "for a filie" (for a whilie) - for a long time
- "gealt" - cold
- "a dirl aroond 'e lug" - A Smack on the side of the head (about the vicinity of the ear)
