scots dialect/phrases

Subject: RE: scots dialect/phrases
From: BobKnight
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 05:45 PM

Gowan - a daisy, same as cow, with "an" added.
Braid - same as raid, but with added "b."
Thocht - ch is soft like loch. A velar fricative if I remember correctly.
Heugh - gh is soft like loch. So, it's Hugh with a soft ch sound.
Fause - false ommiting the "L"
Wa's - just wall leaving out the "L." Watch the vowel - English people are inclined to make the "a" sound like an "o." More like "a" for apple.
Fa's - pronounced like wa's, but could mean falls, or in Aberdeen/shire "who is."
Shaws - could be a couple of things - a place, or the stalks of the potato plant.
Flowers, etc - pronounced floors, they all rhyme with floors.
Birks - birch trees
Die - dee
Cry - cry, but the old Scots word is "greet."
Riving - usually drop the "g." again a couple of things - pulling, tugging, or it could mean gnawing, or "worrying" at something.
Maun - depends, accents vary from place to place. Lowlanders would say "mawn." but in Aberdeen/shire we would say "mun."

The trick with Scots is not to RRRROll the r's. It's the vowel sounds. Scots use a lot more vowel sounds than the English, and less diphthongs = sliding vowels.

Subject: scots dialect/phrases
From: MAG
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 05:03 PM

I'm looking for the correct pronunciation for these phrases:

gowan (annie laurie) gow an?

braid he's roar'd (Auld Lang Syne) -- the rest is more obvious


thocht (taucht or thaucht)
rins ower the heugh
A' the lave are sleepin'

(ye waukin'O)

luve (? luv or loove)

fause (in general is the shift form "l" an "oo" or something else?)

wa's, fa's, shaws,

flowers, pours, showers -- all rhyme?

(Birks of Aberfeldie)

and while we're o n that, does the "m" usually shift to "ae"?
(from , frae)

die, cry -- like English, or dee and cree?

bryde, riving her hair (bride or breed? reiving or reeving?)

maun (mahwn or mooon?)

I'm working on a Scottish set with somebody and he wants to do it with the accent; as a storyteller I know how tricky it is to get this right, without making it into a parody, but I'm willing to give it a go.

While I'm at it, hew and I are having a difference of opinion on the tune for Mairi's wedding;

in the key of A, he thinks the chorus starts on the low E and ends back on that note, with the verses going from the high E to the low.

I think it is the other way around; the chorus starting on the high note.

Any definitive answers on this?

TIA, MAG