Apologetic apostrophe
Frae Wikipedia
The apologetic apostrophe is the name gien tae a wey o writin Scots for tae mak the seimilarities atween Scots an Inglis gey appearent. It is the uiss o an apostrophe (') for tae shaw letters wantin frae Scots wirds but's aye tae the fore in Inglis, for tae gie the impression that Scots is nocht but orra Inglis.
Aften thae wirds haes nivver haed thir letters "wantin". Ae exemplar in this seestem, is the wird taen it wad be spelt ta'en (frae Inglis taken); but the wird wis spelt tane in the 14t century, sae the apostrophe here coud be caa'd specious.
Robert Burns, altho a Scot his ain sel, wis the maist weel-kent uiser o the apologetic apostrophe, but its uiss bydes in written Scots the day.
[edit] Exemplars
| RRSSC | Apologetic Apostrophe | Inglis |
| gien | gi'en | given |
| mak | mak' | make |
| o | o' | of |
| fitbaa | fitba' | football |
| aabodie | a'body | In thir cases the'r nae direct Inglis marrae — the Inglis word is everybody — but the aa in aabodie is cognate wi Inglis all, sae is spelt wi apologetic a'. |
[edit] Legeetimate uiss o the apostrophe in Scots
Antrin wirds in Scots haes a cutty form an a lang form; for ordinar an apostrophe is uised for tae shaw the wantin letters in the cutty form. Some exemplars:
| Cutty | Lang |
| e'en | even |
| e'er | iver |
| eneu' | eneuch |
| lea' | leave |
| ne'er | nivver |
| ne'er's day | new year's day |
| nor'land | northland |
The'r an apostrophe forby in the bygane mak o wirds endin wi ee for tae evyte haein three eee's in a wird: dee > dee'd, gree > gree'd etc.
Apostrophes is for ordinar uised in Scots the selsame wey as in English an aa, in the rinnin thegither o twa wirds sic as A'm, the'r, it's an sae on.
