Do the People of Scotland have Different Accents?

Looking for Scottish Ancestors

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sheilajim
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Do the People of Scotland have Different Accents?

Post by sheilajim » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:03 pm

Hi All

This is not really an important question, but as I have never been to Scotland myself, I was wondering if the Scottish People had/have different accents.

The reason that I ask this, is because my mother and her sister were born and raised in Scotland. I never noticed my mother's accent, except when she would pronounce words like, pull, push, etc. On the other hand, everyone else noticed my mother's accent immediately. My aunt seemed to have some kind of modified "English" accent.

The reason for my question is that my mother had a friend, a woman, like herself from Scotland. Unlike my mother and my aunt,this lady had such an accent, that at times I had trouble understanding her. When I mentioned this once to my mother, my mother admitted to me that sometimes even she had trouble understanding all that this lady said. :shock:

I found this strange and wonder if there are different accents in Scotland.


Regards,

P.S. My mother and my aunt were born in Paisley.
Sheila

LesleyB
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Post by LesleyB » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:20 pm

hi Sheila
I was wondering if the Scottish People had/have different accents.
Absolutely!! Have a listen at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/

Best wishes
Lesley

emanday
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Post by emanday » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:22 pm

Hi Sheila,

There are a multitude of different accents in Scotland.

Although born and raised in Glasgow, my personal favourite is the Inverness accent - so soft and lilting :D I could listen to it for hours.
[b]Mary[/b]
A cat leaves pawprints on your heart
McDonald or MacDonald (some couldn't make up their mind!), Bonner, Crichton, McKillop, Campbell, Cameron, Gitrig (+other spellings), Clark, Sloan, Stewart, McCutcheon, Ireland (the surname)

Jean Jeanie
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Post by Jean Jeanie » Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:43 pm

OMG

Different accents!

Jings, crivvens, help ma boab!

My husband's family are from Aberdeen and Inverness. I am from West Lothian. We met in Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh accent can be so "pan loaf" (only something a Scot would understand!)

So, when I met my husband our accents were so different :!: When I met his mother, a true Aberdonian, I couldn't understand her!!! :oops:

His father was something different.............never in my life have I met a Scotsman who spoke the language of "English" in a true and proper manner.

Bear in mind that by this time I had met cousins who were raised in England.

The only "perfect" English pronunciation, as far as I am concerned comes from Inverness!

Biased........maybe........but there you go.

Jean

marilyn morning
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Post by marilyn morning » Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:52 pm

Sheila, YES they certainly do. It was amazing to sit with different folk here from TalkingScot last year (while I was visiting Scotland) and each one spoke with a different accent. :lol: Oh and some of them speak so fast you really have to listen to understand what they're talking about.

Regards
Marilyn

Russell
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Post by Russell » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:19 pm

Jean

I totally agree with you about the Inverness accent. Soft but precise and each word is clear.
I was born in Ormiston yet a dozen miles down the road in Musselburgh the accent was totally different. Edinburgh was a mixture of 'Pan-loaf' and 'Leithers'. Maybe that was why they stayed apart for so long :D

Russell
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emanday
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Post by emanday » Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:24 am

During my time as a contract computer programmer I worked in Amsterdam for six months and one Dutch colleague, (all great fans of all things Scottish I might add), agreed that Inverness was the place she found it easiest to understand the language.

I'd recommended a visit to that area and she was delighted that she'd followed my advice.
[b]Mary[/b]
A cat leaves pawprints on your heart
McDonald or MacDonald (some couldn't make up their mind!), Bonner, Crichton, McKillop, Campbell, Cameron, Gitrig (+other spellings), Clark, Sloan, Stewart, McCutcheon, Ireland (the surname)

sheilajim
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Post by sheilajim » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:23 am

Hi All

I think that it is strange that nobody, as far as I know, has ever mentioned this subject before. It seems that Scotland, small as it is, has as many different accents as England. Compare this to Canada, which is so big, and has only minor regional accents. :roll:

Thanks for the link Leslie, I am now going to listen to some of those voices. :D

Regards,
Sheila

AnneM
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Post by AnneM » Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:57 pm

Hi

Scotland has such a variety of accents. When I moved to Aberdeen I could not understand a word anyone said. The greatest problem I have also is working out what people are saying at children's hearings up North in Fraserburgh and Peterhead..... a bit of a handicap when you're meant to be noting the proceedings.

I baffle everyone because I was born on the West, spent about 10 years in Edinburgh, then moved to Yorkshire and now have been in Aberdeen for 20 years. As a result my West coast accent only resurfaces in all its glory when speaking to someone else from the same area. Apart from that people find it very difficult to place me.

It does seem remarkable that within the same small country people can be virtually incomprehensible one to another. There is of course also the question of education and 'class' if such a word is still acceptable.

Anne
Anne
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maple23
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Post by maple23 » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:20 am

Russell wrote:I was born in Ormiston yet a dozen miles down the road in Musselburgh the accent was totally different.
and if you go a dozen miles down the road but to the east to 'Gillane' you will hear a different accent again

I'm sure some Gullane folks put the accent on just because they live there