GLASGOW PATTER / GLASWEGIAN
EE Varieties 2020/2021
Ema Bícová

INFLUENCES
 > Influenced by Highlander (traditional Gaelic-speakers) and Irish migrants from 19-20th century
 > Scots is replaced by standard and colloquial English vocabulary
> Modern Scots = sister language of Modern English, recognized as a regional indigenous language of
UNESCO
> Both independently diverged and developed from Early Middle English
> Considered a variety of English by some

COCKNEY INFLUENCE?
 Some studies suggest that working-class adolescents have started to adopt certain aspects of
Cockney and SE England accents due to their prominence on TV:
TH-fronting
Reduced (typical Scottish) post-vocalic /r/

 J.C. Wells notably disagrees with this:
Journalists misrepresented TH-fronting prominence
No evidence TH-fronting originated in London
Dialects change over time

BOOKS IN GLASWEGIAN
 The Complete Patter – Michael Munro
A compound version of two guidebooks to Glaswegian

 A Glasgow Bible – Jamie Stuart

 Alice‘s Adventirs in Wunnerlaun
Translation of Alice‘s Adventures in Wonderland into Glaswegian Scots by Thomas Clark
Linguistically, the maist important immigrants bi faur wir the Irish an the Scottish Hielanmen, who
settlt in Glesca in their droves. The vowel soonds ae Glaswegian, mebbe its maist significant
distinguishing merks, owe much tae the pronunciation ae the city's Irish an Hielan incomers.

VARIETIES
 Glasgow Standard English (GSE)
•form of Scottish Standard English used by the middle class


 Glasgow vernacular (GV)
•working-class dialect with distinctive slang based on West-Central Scots and strongly influenced
by Irish English

FEATURES - CONSONANTS
•T-glottalization – also occurs with K and P
•T and D dentalisation
•D omitted at the end of words (old, stand)
•Th-fronting – to a degree, mostly younger speakers
•x – loch; not as frequent amongst younger speakers
•ʍ – used in wh-words (whine)
•No H-dropping except in unstressed cases of him and her.
•Yod-dropping only occurs after l or s.
•Rhoticity – ɹ, ɻ or r.
•L is dark in almost all positions.

FEATURES - VOWELS
RP
GSE
GV
kit
ɪ
ɪ
ɪ̈ ~ i
head
ɛ
ɛ
I
lot
ɒ
ɔ
o
foot
ʊ
ʉ
ɪ̈ ~ ɪ
nurse
ɜː
ʌ̈
ʌ̈ ~ ɪ
mouth
aʊ
ʌʉ
ʉ
cure
ʊə
jʉ
jʉ

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL – SNL
(WITH JAMES MCAVOY)


EXAMINING THE GLASWEGIAN ACCENT BBC SCOTLAND



GLASGOW / GLASWEGIAN ACCENT
ENGLISH LIKE A NATIVE