Middle Scots describes the language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 13th century its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and in vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English. Subsequently its orthography differed from that of the emerging Early Modern English standard. Middle Scots was fairly uniform throughout its many texts, albeit with some variation due to the use of Romance forms in translations from Latin or French, echoes of Chaucerian words, turns of phrases and grammar in recensions of southern texts or the writings of Scots in exile in England influenced by southern forms, misunderstandings and mistakes made by foreign printers in Paris or the likes of Chepman and Myllar’s English craftsmen in Edinburgh and the use of archaisms in poetry. Anglic is a term used to refer to speech varieties derived from Old English, especially the Anglian variety thereof spoken in Northumbria—the most notable modern descendants of which are English and Scots—and their corresponding speech communities. ... The Scottish Lowlands, although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Highlands (or Gàidhealtachd), that is, everywhere due south and east of a line (the Highland Boundary Fault) between Stonehaven and... Early Scots or Older Scots describes the emerging literary language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1100 to 1450 which began diverging from the early Middle English descendant of Northumbrian or Early Northern English. ... Northumbria is primarily the name of an Anglian or Anglo-Saxon kingdom which was formed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, and of the earldom which succeeded the kingdom. ... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion in 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the later half of the 1400s) to 1650. ...

History

The now established Stewart identification with the lowland language had finally secured the division of Scotland into two somewhat antagonistic parts, the Gaelic highlands and the Anglic lowlands. The adherance of many Highlanders to the Catholic faith during the reformation led to the 1609 Statutes of Iona forcing Clan chiefs to establish Protestant churches, send their sons to lowland schools and withdraw their patronage from the heridary guardians of Gaelic culture - the bards. This was followed in 1616 by an act establishing parish schools in the highlands with the aim of extirpating the Gaelic language. Just over a hundred years later this endeavour gained almost genocidal proportions after the Jacobite uprisings. The Coat of Arms of King James I, the first British monarch of the House of Stuart. ... The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic (Goidelic), a division of Insular Celtic languages. ... The Scottish Highlands are the mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. ... Anglic is a term used to refer to speech varieties derived from Old English, especially the Anglian variety thereof spoken in Northumbria—the most notable modern descendants of which are English and Scots—and their corresponding speech communities. ... The Scottish Lowlands, although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Highlands (or Gàidhealtachd), that is, everywhere due south and east of a line (the Highland Boundary Fault) between Stonehaven and... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... A bard is a poet and singer, with the particular meaning differing for various countries and epochs. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig; IPA: ) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Each Jacobite Rising formed part of a series of military campaigns by Jacobites attempting to restore the Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland (and after 1707, Great Britain) after James VII of Scotland and II of England was deposed in 1688 and the thrones usurped by his...

The Danish dependency of Orkney and Shetland had been held by Scottish magnates from the late 14th century. These had introduced the lowland tongue which then began to replace Norn. In 1467 the islands became part of Scotland. The Orkney Islands form one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, and are a Lieutenancy Area. ... See Shetland (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... For a wealthy or powerful business baron, executive, or tycoon, see business magnate Magnate is a title of nobility commonly used in Sweden, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and some other medieval empires. ... Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken on the Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland. ...

By the early 16th century Scottis (previously used to describe Gaelic in Ireland as well as Scotland) had been adopted for what had become the national language of the Stewart kingdom. The term Erse (Irish) being used for Gaelic. The previous Inglis was then increasingly used to refer to the language south of the border. In 1559 William Nudrye was granted a monopoly by the court to produce school textbooks, two of which were Ane Schort Introduction: Elementary Digestit into Sevin Breve Tables for the Commodius Expeditioun of Thame That are Desirous to Read and Write the Scottis Toung and Ane Intructioun for Bairnis to be Learnit in Scottis and Latin. Gaelic as an adjective means pertaining to the Gaels, whether to their language or their culture. ... The Coat of Arms of King James I, the first British monarch of the House of Stuart. ...

Later in the period southern influence on the language increased due to the new political and social relations with England, prior to and following the accession of James VI to the English throne. By the Union of Parliaments in 1707 southern Modern English was generally adopted as the literary language though Scots remained the vernacular. James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland (Charles James) (June 19, 1566–March 27, 1625) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland. ... The Acts of Union were twin Acts of Parliament passed in 1707 (taking effect on 26 March) by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. ... For the 80s pop band, see Modern English (band). ... Scots or Lallans (Eng: Lowlands), sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from the Gaelic language of the Highlands, is a West Germanic language used in Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland, and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or...

Orthography

Middle Scots scribes never managed to establish a single standardised spelling for every word but operated a system of free variation based on a number of spelling variants. Some scribes used their own variants but this was relatively seldom. Middle Scots used a number of now obsolete letters and letter combinations: A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. ...

þ (thorn) was equivalent to the modern th as in thae. & Thorn was often indistinguishable from the letter y and often written so.
ȝ (yogh) in nȝ was /ɲ/ as in the French Bretagne. It later changed to /ŋ/ or /j/ leading to the modern spellings with z and y as in Menzies ['mɪŋʌs] and Cunyie ['kʌnji:].
quh [xw] was equivalent to the modern wh.
sch was equivalent to the modern sh.
ß represents the modern s. The initial ff was a stylised single f.
-ys, -is. The inflection -ys once [ɪs, ɪz] now -s. Hence the place name Glamis [glɑ:mz].
d after an n was often (and still is) silent i.e. barrand is ['barən] = barren.
i and j were often interchanged. h was often silent.
l after a and o had become vocalised and remained in use as an orthographic device to indicate vowel length. Hence the place names Balmalcolm [bɑ:'məko:m], Falkirk [fɑ:'kɪrk], Kirkcaldy [kər'kɑ:di], Culross ['ku:rəs] and Culter ['kutər].
i after a vowel was also used to denote vowel length e.g.ai /a:/, ei /e:/ oi /o:/ and ui /y/ or /ø/.
u, v and w were often interchanged.
-ch and -th (-cht, -tht) Some scribes affixed a t after -ch and -th (-cht, -tht) this was an unpronounced orthographic feature.
Ane represented the numeral ane as well as the indefinite article an and a, and was pronounced similar to Modern Scots usage i.e. Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis was pronounced a satyre o the thrie estaits.
yng, -ing The verbal noun (gerund) yng, (-ing) differentiated itself from the present participle -and in Middle Scots. The final d in -and and the final g in -yng, (-ing) being silent, as in cryand and techynge. Þþ The letter Þ (minuscule: þ), which is also known as thorn or þorn is a letter in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic alphabets. ... The letter yogh (Ȝ ȝ; Middle English: ogh) was used in Middle English and Middle Scots, representing y (IPA: ) and various velar phonemes. ... Menzies is a Scottish surname, originally the name of the Clan Menzies (Gaelic Mèinnearach). ... Inflection or inflexion refers to a modification or marking of a word (or more precisely lexeme) so that it reflects grammatical (i. ... Glamis is a small village in Angus, Scotland and is home to the famous Glamis Castle. ... In animals, vocalization is a means of communication generated in many cases by their primitive versions of vocal chords. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... Falkirk (An Eaglais Bhreac in Scottish Gaelic) is a town in central Scotland. ... Kirkcaldy (pron. ... Culross Culross (pronounced Coo-ros) is a burgh in Fife, Scotland. ... Coulter or Culter (both spellings are in used, pronounced Cooter with no l) is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. ... An article is a word that is put next to a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. ... Scots or Lallans (Eng: Lowlands), sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from the Gaelic language of the Highlands, is a West Germanic language used in Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland, and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or... In linguistics, a gerund is a kind of verbal noun that exists in some languages. ... In linguistics, a participle is a verbal adjective. ...

Phonology

The Development of Middle Scots Vowels

The Scottish Vowel Length Rule is assumed to have come into being between the early Middle Scots and late Middle Scots period. Here vowel length is conditioned by phonetic and morphemic environment. The affected vowels tended to be realised fully long in end-stressed syllables before voiced oral continuants except /l/, in hiatus, before word or morpheme boundaries and before /rd/ and /dʒ/. Early Scots or Older Scots describes the emerging literary language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1100 to 1450 which began diverging from the early Middle English descendant of Northumbrian or Early Northern English. ... Early Scots or Older Scots describes the emerging literary language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1100 to 1450 which began diverging from the early Middle English descendant of Northumbrian or Early Northern English. ... The Scots Vowel Length Rule, also known as Aitkens Law after Professor A.J. Aitken who formulated it, describes how vowel length in Scots and Scottish English is conditioned by environment. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... In spoken language, a phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words (i. ... In Linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a given language. ... This article discusses the unit of speech. ... A continuant is a sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract. ... Hiatus in linguistics is the separate pronunciation of two adjacent vowels, sometimes with an intervening glottal stop. ...

The major differences to contemporary southern English were the now well established early merger of /ei/ with /e/ (dey 'die', ley 'lie'), early 15th century l-vocalisation where /al/ (except intervocalically and before /d/), /ol/ and usually /ul/ merged with /au/, /ou/ and /u:/, medial and final /v/ was lost (deil 'devil', ser 'serve'). The Great Vowel Shift occured partially, /u/ and /ø:/ remained unaffected, /ɔ:/ became /o:/, /i:, e:, ɛ:/ and /a:/ became /ɛi, i:, e:/ and /ɛ:/. L-vocalization (also called l-dropping) is a process that occurs in many dialects of English English that causes a /l/ sound occurring at the end of a word or before a consonant to be replaced with /o/ and /U/, resulting in the following pronounciations: gulf - /gVUf/ milk - /mIUk/ Categories... The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language, generally accomplished in the 15th century, although evidence suggests it began as early as the 14th century. ...

References

• Aitken, A.J. (1977) How to Pronounce Older Scots in Bards and Makars. Glasgow, Glasgow University Press.
• Aitken, A.J. (2002) Macafee C. (Ed) The Older Scots Vowels: A History of the Stressed Vowels of Older Scots From the Beginnings to the Eighteenth Century. Edinburgh, The Scottish Text Society. ISBN 1897976186
• Jones, Charles (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Press. ISBN 0748607544
• Smith, G. Gregory (1902) Specimens of Middle Scots. Edinburgh.

See also

• Phonological history of the Scots language
• Dictionary of the Scots Language
• The Palaeography of Scottish Documents 1500 - 1750
• Reading Older Scots
• Teaching Package
• The Scottish Text Society