Home A regional survey of the relationship between vowel and consonant duration in Shetland Scots
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

A regional survey of the relationship between vowel and consonant duration in Shetland Scots

  • Peter Sundkvist EMAIL logo and Man Gao
Published/Copyright: April 28, 2015
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The local dialect spoken in the Shetland Isles constitutes a form of Lowland Scots. It has been suggested that stressed syllables in Shetland Scots tend to contain either a long vowel followed by a short consonant (V:C) or a short vowel followed by a long consonant (VC:), and furthermore that this pattern constitutes a trace of complementary quantity in Norn, a Nordic language spoken in Shetland approximately until the end of the eighteenth century. The existence of such a pattern has also been supported by acoustic measurements. Following a summary and overview of Norn’s demise in the Shetland Isles, this paper presents a regional survey of the relationship between vowel and consonant duration in stressed syllables in Shetland Scots. Based on acoustic data from 43 speakers, representing ten separate regions across the Shetland Isles, the inverse correlation between vowel and consonant duration is assessed. The results reveal that the inverse correlation is strongest in the northern part of Shetland and weakest in the south, and displays a general north-to-south decline across Shetland. The results are thus generally consistent with predictions that follow from regional variation concerning Norn’s death; evidence suggests that it survived the longest in the northern parts of Shetland.

Funding statement: Funding: This research was supported by a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our warmest gratitude to all the Shetlanders who participated in the regional survey. We would also like thank all those who assisted us in various ways in recruiting participants. This includes several members of the organization Shetland Forwirds (http://www.shetlanddialect.org.uk/), in particular Laureen Johnson and Mary Blance. To those who took their time to act as contact persons for their particular region we are forever indebted. Furthermore, we would like to thank Doreen Waugh and Gunnel Melchers for their much appreciated help during the planning of this project. This research was funded by a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. Finally, we wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers and Professor Hubert Cuyckens, editor of Folia Linguistica, for their perceptible and helpful comments.

References

Árnason, Kristján. 1980. Quantity in historical phonology: Icelandic and related cases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 1984. Orkney and Shetland Norn. In PeterTrudgill (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 352366. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 1989. The death of Norn. In HeinrichBeck (ed.), Germanische rest- und trümmersprachen, 2143. Berlin: De Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 1991. Reflections on the structure and the demise of Orkney and Shetland Norn. In Per StureUreland & GeorgeBroderick (eds.), Language contact in the British Isles: Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Language Contact in Europe, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1988, 429460. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.10.1515/9783111678658.429Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 1996. The origin, development and decline of Orkney and Shetland Norn: Jakob Jakobsen and the Norn language of Shetland. In Hans F. Nielsen & LeneSchøsler (eds.), The origins and development of emigrant languages: Proceedings from the Second Rasmus Rask Colloquium, Odense University, November 1994, 169199. Odense: Odense University Press.10.1075/nss.17.12barSearch in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 1998. The Norn language of Orkney and Shetland. Lerwick: Shetland Times.Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, Michael P. 2010. The study of Norn. In Robert McCollMillar (ed.), Northern lights, northern words: Selected papers from the FRLSU conference, Kirkwall 2009, 2647. Aberdeen: Forum for Research on the Languages of Scotland and Ireland.Search in Google Scholar

Barry, George. 1805. A history of the Orkney Islands: In which is comprehended an account of their present state as well as their ancient state. Edinburgh: Printed by D. Wilson. (British Library, Historical Print Editions, 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Boersma, Paul & DavidWeenink. 2013. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (Computer program), Version 5.3.51. http://www.praat.org/ (retrieved 2 June 2013).Search in Google Scholar

Brand, John. 1701. A new description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-firth and Caithness. Gale ECCO, Print Editions, 2010.Search in Google Scholar

Campbell, J. L. 1954. The Norse language in Orkney in 1725. The Scottish Historical Review33. 175.Search in Google Scholar

Catford, John C. 1957. Shetland dialect. Folk Book3. 7176.Search in Google Scholar

Catton, James. 1838. The history and description of the Shetland Islands: With an account of the manners, customs, circumstances, superstitions, and religion of the inhabitants. Wainfleet, England: P. I. Tuxford. (British Library, Historical Print Editions, 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Census2001Scotland. http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp. (accessed 23 June 2013). (Source 2001 Census data supplied by the General Register Office for Scotland. © Crown Copyright.)10.17730/praa.23.3.2663m5867371n045Search in Google Scholar

Clark, James R. S. 1978. A hundred years of Lerwick. In John R. Baldwin (ed.), Scandinavian Shetland: An ongoing tradition?3541. Edinburgh: Scottish Society for Northern Studies.Search in Google Scholar

Crystal, David. 1995. The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Donaldson, Gordon. 1983. The Scots settlement in Shetland. In Donald J. Withrington (ed.), Shetland and the outside world 1469–1969, 819. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Edmondston, Arthur. 1809. A view of the ancient and present state of the Zetland Islands. Edinburgh: Ballantyne.Search in Google Scholar

Flom, George T. 1928–9. The transition from Norse to Lowland Scotch in Shetland, 1600–1850. Saga-book of the Viking Society10. 145164.Search in Google Scholar

Green, John. 1894. Aberdeen to the Muckle Flugga: A tour through the Orkney and Shetland Isles. Sunderland, England: Herald and Daily Post General Printing Works. (British Library, Historical Print Editions, 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Grønneberg, Roy. 1981. Jakobsen and Shetland. Lerwick: Shetland Publishing Co. Ltd.Search in Google Scholar

Haugen, Einar. 1976. The Scandinavian languages: An introduction to their history. London: Faber.Search in Google Scholar

Hughes, Arthur, PeterTrudgill & DominicWatt. 2012. English accents and dialects: An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles. London: Hodder Education.Search in Google Scholar

Irvine, Thomas. 1814. Zetlandic Memoranda, notebook, vol. 1 commenced 1814. Shetland Archives: D16/394/3.Search in Google Scholar

Jakobsen, Jakob. 1897a. Det norrøne sprog på Shetland. København: Wilhelm Priors Hofboghandel.Search in Google Scholar

Jakobsen, Jakob. 1897b. The dialect and place names of Shetland: Two popular lectures. Lerwick: T. & J. Manson.Search in Google Scholar

Jakobsen, Jakob. 1985 [1928–32]. An etymological dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland. 2 vols. Reprinted 1985 by Shetland Folk Society. London/Copenhagen: David Nutt/Wilhelm Prior.Search in Google Scholar

Johnston Jr, Paul A. 1997. Regional variation. In CharlesJones (ed.), The Edinburgh history of the Scots language, 433513. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9781474410977-013Search in Google Scholar

Knooihuizen, Remco. 2005. The Norn-to-Scots language shift: Another look at the socio-historical evidence. Northern Studies39. 105117.Search in Google Scholar

Laurenson, Arthur. 1860. Om sproget paa Shetlandsöerne. Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1860. 190201.Search in Google Scholar

Marwick, Hugh. 1929. The Orkney Norn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Mather, J. Y. & H.-HSpeitel. 1986. The linguistic atlas of Scotland: Scots section. Vol. III. Phonology. London: Croom Helm.Search in Google Scholar

McClure, John Derrick. 1994. English in Scotland. In RobertBurchfield (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. V, English in Britain and overseas: Origins and developments, 2393. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CHOL9780521264785.003Search in Google Scholar

Melchers, Gunnel. 1984. Is the structure of the syllable in Shetland dialect Scandinavian? In Claes-ChristianElert, IreneJohansson & EvaStrangert (eds.), Nordic Prosody II, 179186. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Search in Google Scholar

Melchers, Gunnel. 1987. On the low German and Dutch element in Shetland dialect. In Per StureUreland (ed.), Sprachkontakt in der Hanse, 295316. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.10.1515/9783111715308.295Search in Google Scholar

Millar, Robert McColl. 2007. Northern and insular scots. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9780748629961Search in Google Scholar

Millar, Robert McColl. 2008. The origins and development of Shetland dialect in light of dialect contact theories. English World-Wide29(3). 237267.10.1075/eww.29.3.02milSearch in Google Scholar

Murison, David. 1954. Scots speech in Shetland. In W. Douglas Simpson (ed.), The Viking congress, Lerwick July 1950, 255260. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen.Search in Google Scholar

Rampini, Charles. 1884. Shetland and the Shetlanders: Two lectures delivered before the Philosophical institution, Edinburgh, on the 5th and 8th February 1884. With Additions, notes, and appendices. Kirkwall, Orkney: William Peace and son. (British Library, Historical Print Editions, 2011.)Search in Google Scholar

Rendboe, Laurits. 1987. Det gamle shetlandske sprog: George low’s ordliste fra 1774. Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag.10.1075/nss.3Search in Google Scholar

Riad, Tomas. 1995. The quantity shift in Germanic: A typology. In HansFix (ed.), Amsterdamer beiträge zur älteren germanistik. Vol. 42, quantitätsproblematik und metrik: Greifswalder symposion zur germanischen grammatik. 159184. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/18756719-90000061Search in Google Scholar

Riad, Tomas. 2005. Phonological developments from Old Nordic to early Modern Nordic III: Swedish. In OskarBandle (ed.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages, vol. 2. 11021115. Berlin: De Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Romaine, Suzanne. 1982. The English language in Scotland. In Richard W. Bailey & ManfredGörlach (eds.), English as a world language, 5683. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.Search in Google Scholar

Sibbald, Robert. 1845. Description of the Islands of Orkney and Zetland. (Reprinted from the edition of 1711.) Edinburgh: Thomas Stevenson. (British Library, Historical Print Editions, 2011)Search in Google Scholar

Smith, Brian. 1996. The development of the spoken and written Shetland dialect: A historian’s view. In Doreen J. Waugh (ed.), Shetland’s northern links: Language and history, 3042. Edinburgh: Scottish Society for Northern Studies.Search in Google Scholar

Smith, Jennifer & MercedesDurham. 2011. A tipping point in dialect obsolescence? Change across the generations in Lerwick, Shetland. Journal of Sociolinguistics15(2). 197225.Search in Google Scholar

Smith, Jennifer & MercedesDurham. 2012. Bidialectalism or dialect death? Explaining generational change in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. American Speech87(1). 5788.10.1215/00031283-1599959Search in Google Scholar

Sundkvist, Peter. 2007. The pronunciation of Scottish standard English in Lerwick, Shetland. English World-Wide28(1). 121.10.1075/eww.28.1.02sunSearch in Google Scholar

Sundkvist, Peter. 2011a. ‘Standard English’ as spoken in Shetland’s capital. World Englishes30(2). 166181.10.1111/j.1467-971X.2011.01708.xSearch in Google Scholar

Sundkvist, Peter. 2011b. The Shetland Isles: Globalisation and the changing status of standard English. English Today27(4). 1925.10.1017/S0266078411000496Search in Google Scholar

Tait, John M. 1999. Guid unkens efter Mark: Mark’s gospel in Shetlandic. Printed by Fact and Fiction, Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, England.Search in Google Scholar

van Leyden, Klaske. 2002. The relationship between vowel and consonant duration in Orkney and Shetland dialects. Phonetica59(1). 119.10.1159/000056202Search in Google Scholar

Wiggen, Geirr. 2002. Norns død, især skolens rolle: Kommentarer til en disputt om nedgangen for det nordiske språket på orknøyene og Shetland. Oslo: Novus forlag.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2014-8-20
Revised: 2013-8-19
Revised: 2014-5-23
Accepted: 2014-8-21
Published Online: 2015-4-28
Published in Print: 2015-5-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 3.11.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/flin-2015-0002/html
Scroll to top button