Cover not available
Article published In:
English World-Wide
Vol. 42:2 (2021) ► pp.121–144

Rhotics in Standard Scottish English

| University of Münster | University of Campinas
| University of Hamburg
| University of Münster
| University of Münster
| University of Münster
The present study investigates rhotics in Standard Scottish English (SSE). Drawing on an auditory analysis of formal speeches given in the Scottish parliament by 49 speakers (members of parliament and the general public), it examines whether an underlying rhotic standard exists for SSE speakers from all over Scotland, whether and where rhotics are realized as trills/taps or approximants, and what factors influence variation in the realization and distribution of rhotics. The results show that SSE is variably rhotic, with 54% of all non-linking coda /r/ realized, and that trills/taps are more frequent in intervocalic (onset and linking coda) position. The findings contradict the idea of SSE being generally rhotic but rather confirm previous reports of increasing occurrence of non-rhoticity, not just by specific speaker groups, but also in a formal context. They further show that variation in rhotics in SSE foremost tends to be affected by language-internal than language-external factors.
Keywords: Standard Scottish English, rhotics, rhoticity, sociophonetics, sound change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction – The linguistic situation in Scotland
  • 2.Rhotics in Scottish English
  • 3.Method
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Overall distribution of rhotics in Standard Scottish English
    • 4.2Onset /r/
    • 4.3Non-linking coda /r/
      • 4.3.1Rhoticity vs. non-rhoticity
      • 4.3.2Realizational differences in rhoticity
    • 4.4Linking coda /r/
      • 4.4.1Rhotic productions vs. non-rhotic productions
      • 4.4.2Realizational differences in in rhotic productions
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00070.mee
References (41)
References
Aitken, Adam J. 1984. “Scots and English in Scotland”. In Peter Trudgill, ed. Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 517–532.Google Scholar
Bates, Douglas, Reinhold Kliegl, Shravan Vasishth, and Harald Baayen. 2018. Parsimonious Mixed Models. <[URL]> (accessed April 18, 2019).
Becker, Kara. 2014. “(r) we there yet? The Change to Rhoticity in New York City English”. Language Variation and Change 26(2): 141–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, Paul, and David Weenink. 2019. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer. Version 6.0.49. <[URL]> (accessed March 2, 2019).
Dickson, Victoria, and Lauren Hall-Lew. 2017. “Class, Gender, and Rhoticity: The Social Stratification of Non-Prevocalic /r/ in Edinburgh Speech”. Journal of English Linguistics 451: 229–259. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
Eddington, David. 2015. Statistics for Linguists: A Step-by-Step Guide for Novices. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
IBM Corp. 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.Google Scholar
Jauriberry, Thomas, Rudolph Sock, and Albert Hamm. 2015. “Phonetic Variation in Standard Scottish English: Rhotics in Dundee”. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow: The University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Johnston, Paul. 1997. “Regional Variation”. In Charles Jones, ed. The Edinburgh History of Scots. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 433–513.Google Scholar
. 2007. “Scottish English and Scots”. In David Britain, ed. Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 105–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lawson, Eleanor, Jane Stuart-Smith, and James M. Scobbie. 2008. “Articulatory Insights into Language Variation and Change: Preliminary Findings from an Ultrasound Study of Derhoticisation in Scottish English”. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 141: 101–110.Google Scholar
Lawson, Eleanor, James M. Scobbie, and Jane Stuart-Smith. 2011. “The Social Stratification of Tongue Shape for Postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 151: 256–268. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
. 2014. A Socio-Articulatory Study of Scottish Rhoticity. In Robert Lawson, ed. Sociolinguistics in Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 53–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lawson, Eleanor, Jane Stuart-Smith, and James M. Scobbie. 2018. “The role of gesture delay in coda /r/ weakening: An articulatory, auditory and acoustic study”. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 143(3): 1646–1657. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
Lawson, Robert (Ed.). 2014. Sociolinguistics in Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Llamas, Carmen. 2010. “Convergence and Divergence across a National Border”. In Carmen Llamas, and Dominic Watt, eds. Language and Identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 227–236.Google Scholar
McArthur, Tom. 1979. “The Status of English in and furth of Scotland”. In Adam J. Aitken, and Tom McArthur, eds. Languages of Scotland. Edinburgh: Chambers, 50–67.Google Scholar
McColl Millar, Robert. 2020. A Sociolinguistic History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Nagy, Naomy, and Irwin, Patricia. 2010. Boston (r): Neighbo(r) s Nea(r) and Fa(r). Language Variation and Change 221: 241–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
National Records of Scotland (NRS). 2019. “Scotland’s Census.” <[URL]> (accessed April 18, 2019).
Purse, Ruaridh, and Euan McGill. 2016. “An Intraspeaker Variation Study of Scottish English /r/ Pharyngealisation”. Lifespans & Styles 21: 36–43. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
Piercy, Caroline. 2012. A Transatlantic Cross-Dialectal Comparison of Non-Prevocalic /r/. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 181: 75–86.Google Scholar
Pulgram, Ernst. 1970. Syllable, Word, Nexus, Cursus. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Mairi, ed. 1985. Concise Scots Dictionary. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Romaine, Suzanne. 1978. “Postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English: Sound Change in Progress?”. In Peter Trudgill, ed. Sociolinguistic Patterns in British English. London: Arnold, 144–157.Google Scholar
Rosenfelder, Ingrid. 2009. “Sociophonetic Variation in Educated Jamaican English: An Analysis of the Spoken Component of ICE-Jamaica”. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Freiburg.Google Scholar
Schiel, Florian. 2004. “MAUS Goes Iterative”. Proceedings of the IV. International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation. Lisbon: University of Lisbon, 1015–1018. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
Schützler, Ole. 2013. “The Sociophonology and Sociophonetics of Scottish Standard English (r)”. In Peter Auer, Javier Caro, and Götz Kaufmann, eds. Language Variation – European Perspectives IV. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 215–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. “Vowel Variation in Scottish Standard English: Accent-Internal Differentiation or Anglicisation?” In Robert Lawson, ed. Sociolinguistics in Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 129–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. A Sociophonetic Approach to Scottish Standard English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schützler, Ole, Ulrike Gut, and Robert Fuchs. 2017. “New Perspectives on Scottish Standard English: Introducing the Scottish Component of the International Corpus of English”. In Joan C. Beal, and Sylvie Hancil, eds. Perspectives on Northern Englishes. Berlin: de Gruyter, 273–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Speitel, Hans H., and Paul A. Johnston. 1983. A sociolinguistic investigation of Edinburgh speech. London: Economic and Social Research Council.Google Scholar
Stuart-Smith, Jane. 2003. “The Phonology of Modern Urban Scots”. In John Corbett, Derrick McClure, and Jane Stuart-Smith, eds. The Edinburgh Companion to Scots. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 110–137.Google Scholar
. 2006. “The Influence of Media on Language”. In Carmen Llamas, Peter Stockwell, and Louise Mullany, eds. The Routledge Companion to Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge, 140–148.Google Scholar
. 2008. “Scottish English: Phonology”. In Bernd Kortmann, and Clive Upton, eds. Varieties of English (vol. 1): The British Isles. Berlin: de Gruyter, 48–70.Google Scholar
Stuart-Smith, Jane, Claire Timmins, and Fiona Tweedie. 2007. “‘Talkin’ Jockney’? Accent Change in Glaswegian”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 111: 221–61. < DOI logo>Google Scholar
Stuart-Smith, Jane, Eleanor Lawson, and James M. Scobbie. 2014. “Derhoticisation in Scottish English: A Sociophonetic Journey”. In Chiara Celata, and Silvia Calamai, eds. Advances in Sociophonetics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 57–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter, and Elizabeth Gordon. 2006. “Predicting the Past: Dialect Archaeology and Australian English Rhoticity”. English World-Wide 271: 235–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watt, Dominic, Carmen Llamas, and Daniel E. Johnson. 2014. “Sociolinguistic Variation on the Scottish-English Border”. In Robert Lawson, ed. Sociolinguistics in Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 79–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wittenburg, Peter, Hennie Brugman, Albert Russel, Alex Klassmann, and Han Sloetjes. 2006. ELAN: A Professional Framework for Multimodality Research. In Proceedings of LREC 2006, Fifth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, 1556–1559.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Li, Zeyu & Ulrike Gut
2024. [bɪt] by [bɪʔ]: Variation in T-glottaling in Scottish Standard English. Language Variation and Change 36:1 ► pp. 49 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.