Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: KarenH
Date: 31 Dec 18 - 07:08 AM

some vowel sounds, according to Crystal vary greatly depending what is either side of them. The close back vowel is fronted so that SE moon and use are heard in several dialects as in French tu and spelled eg muin a yuise. There is absence of lip rounding in such words as stone and go giving stand and gae.

As a friend of ours said over Xmas: I dinnae ken, I cannae mind.

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: KarenH
Date: 31 Dec 18 - 06:59 AM

The best summary of Scots variations I know is in David Crystal's 'The English Language'. Too much detail to post here. He distinguishes between Scots, Lallans and Lowland Scots. Some lexical features are shared with dialects from the North of England. A great deal of the distinctiveness of the 'Scots lexicon' derives from the influences of other languages especially Gaelic, Norwegian and French. But its origins like those of English are with invaders from Europe who also brought

(The original 'Scots' were, of course, Irish.)


Crystal has a map of Scots dialect areas, and the western bit within which Burns grew up (Ayrshire) seems to be on the border of the west central and sw central areas. So not the bit of modern Scotland that was in the old Angle kingdom of Northumbria.

Interestingly, Crystal describes 'Lallans' as a synthetic mainstream Scots created in the 20th century, something that emerged first of all in poetry rather than speech.

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 31 Dec 18 - 04:55 AM

The Scots tongue is a language in its own right, not a mere dialect of English!!!

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Joe_F
Date: 30 Dec 18 - 06:07 PM

"Even"! LOL %^)

A compact source is _Burns: Complete Poems and Songs_, ed. by James Kinsley (Oxford U.P., 1969; paper, 1971). It includes tunes of the songs, and a substantial glossary.

You can also listen to his _Complete Songs_, a set of 13 CDs (Linn Records, 1995). It includes some songs that he did not write, but collected & edited.

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Dec 18 - 03:46 PM

At seventeen I started my degree course at Edinburgh University in the sixties. The course was French and Linguistics, and included English Literature, Social Anthropology, Moral Philosophy, Phonetics and several other 'side-studies'.

I sat in the lecture hall ready for my first Eng Lit lecture, which turned out to be all about Robert blooming Burns! I was a real Londoner with a rather dodgy Cockney accent, and hadn't the least clue what the lecturer was saying. I had the textbook, but every word was riddled with apostrophes.
I had to grab a Scots girl in my Hall of Residence and get her to translate for me each evening.
It was like learning a foreign language.
And Robert Burns wasn't even English was he?

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Dec 18 - 10:13 AM

You'll find loads of people reading the works of Robert Burns on this BBC website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Noreen
Date: 30 Dec 18 - 09:34 AM

From Epistle To J. Lapraik, An Old Scottish Bard:

While briers an' woodbines budding green,
An' paitricks scraichin loud at e'en,
An' morning poussie whiddin seen,
Inspire my muse,
This freedom, in an unknown frien',
I pray excuse.

Hello Guest,

Which word is it that you want pronounced?

Subject: poussie
From: GUEST,epistle to john lapraikn
Date: 30 Dec 18 - 08:26 AM

how to pronounce the subject word from the first verse of the epistle to john lapraik

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Alex
Date: 24 Apr 99 - 02:47 PM

Note: That would be Andy M. Stewart. You probably wouldn't want to follow the dialect of Andy Stewart (of "A Scottish Soldier" fame, he being of Angus (that's a county - not a cow) stock, I believe.)

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Harald
Date: 23 Apr 99 - 10:01 AM

Andy Stewart recorded a collection of Robert Burns songs on his CD "Songs of Robert Burns". It contains many wonderful songs/lyrics, and pronounciation can also be achieved by listening to that masterpiece. Additionally lyrics are given in the leaflet and also uncommon words are explained.

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 23 Apr 99 - 05:06 AM

It's a well-known fact that Scots who speak "proper" English pronounce it much better than the English do! If Burns' phonetic spelling is read/sung as it would be pronounced in RP (Received Pronunciation - "the Queen's English"), it should be reasonably accurate. There's a problem if you have a different accent, though. For example, where I come from, there's no distinction between the vowel sounds in good luck, whereas they are quite different a bit further south. This kind of thing can cause no end of confusion if you're not careful!

Steve

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Alex
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 11:56 PM

"Lallans" or lowland Scots is not exactly easily defined. Burns used standard English pronunciation and the Ayrshire Lallans dialect at will where it best suited his intention of the mood of the poem or song. So the sound of a word could be different in two or three places in the same song. You have to look at the intended rhyme to figure out the sounds. The dialect is very onomatopoeic? (where the word sounds like the sound it describes). EG there are two words for a cold draft of air in the house, a "Shooch" is a draft coming in and a "Sooch" is a draft going out. Jean Redpath has been trying to record every song Burns' collected or wrote and has several CDs out. She has even recorded some of the "Merry Muses of Caledonia" songs, which were the bawdy versions of some of the published songs. I'm not crazy about some of the musical arrangements, but her dialect is spot on.

Subject: RE: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Bruce O.
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 07:36 PM

Burns songs with tunes are in James Dick's 'The Songs of Robert Burns' and in J. Kinsley's 3 vol. edition of Burns' songs and poems. Many are actually in DT. There are only a very few songs by Burns wherre the tunes are unknown.

Subject: Robert Burns tunes/Scot dialect pronounce
From: Dan
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 07:06 PM

I was reading some Burns poetry and realized it's mostly song. Is there music to these? Also can someone help me with the pronuciation of the main vowel combinations in the Scottish dialect he wrote in?