INTRODUCTION
(1) The diphthong ei occurs in the same classes as in the Black
Isle, and in the younger generation is replaced by the a of
fate [e], the Mry. vowel. See § 147.1.
(2) The diphthong oi also appears in words like pipe, but
only among old people, and ow before g and l can be
heard, as in dowg, bowld, fowg.
(3) o̜, written au, aw, is wanting in this dialect, as
in n.Sc. generally. The long a that takes its place, written often
aa, and the short a as well, tend to be sharper than in other
parts of the north — i.e. pronounced with the tongue advanced from the
back position. Examples: wall, old, hold,
cold, all, owe are waa, aal, haad,
caal, aa + aal.
(4) u. This vowel is pronounced with the tongue very much advanced in
the mouth, giving a sound midway between the Fr. u in rude and
the Eng. oo in rood. This is a very marked feature of Cai.
speech; for a similar phenomenon in Gsw. speech see § 93.4.
Consonants.
§ 158. d and t before r are pronounced with
the tongue advanced to the teeth. In the suffix ed, d does not
become t as in other Sc. dialects — e.g. chapped,
crabbed, barefooted are chappid, crabbed,
beirfeeted [ˈʃapɪd, ˈkrabɪd, etc.]. So likewise
the noun termination et becomes ad, as limpet,
packet = limpad, packad. It is either hid or
id.
k. Words ending in ock (unaccented), whether diminutive or
not, change ock into ag — e.g. bannick,
paddock become bannag, paddag; bairn —
bairnag, bairnagie; wife — wife-ag, wife-
agie. d may be inserted between the ag or ie
diminutive endings and n or l ending the word — e.g.
John — Johndie, Johndag [ˈtʃɔndi,
ˈtʃɔndəg], Wuldag [ ˈwʌldəg].
l medial, and final l and n are pronounced with the
point of tongue advanced to the teeth, as in siller, pale.
f is used for initial wh as in ne.Sc.
th [ð] becomes f in a few words — e.g.
meeth (sultry), thresh (corn), Thursday
become meef, fresh, Fuirsday [ˈfju:rzdɪ̜].
Place-name Thrasvik is now Freswick. Cf. feets for
theets (plough- traces) in Rxb.
th initial is dropped in all pronominals — e.g.
the, they, there become ee, ey,
ere. This gives a curious wheedling effect to the speech. In
the, on the, of the, at the are often reduced to
’e in Canisbay speech. See two examples in § 158.1. See also
§§ 96.6, 125.
ch [tʃ] initial is pronounced as sh [ʃ], as in the
Black Isle, Sh., and Chirnside in Bwksh. — e.g. chalk,
cheese, chimney are pronounced shaak, sheeze,
shumley.
Initial j or g [dʒ], as in Jean and gin,
is pronounced like ch in chin, hence Janet becomes
Chinnad.
In the speech of the last generation the distinction between the pr.p.
and the gerund was still recognised, representing the Middle Sc. and
and ing — e.g. fechtand and fechting. “He wis aye
gutteran aboot.” “He's fond o’ gutterin aboot.”
v is still heard for w before r, in words like
wreck, wrong — e.g. vrack, vrang — but
chiefly in Canisbay.
r is pronounced with inverted point of tongue and is commonly
called the trailing r [ɹ̣], the on-glide being particularly strong.
k is still known before n, as in knife and knowe,
in the older speech.
An example of the Caithness speech of Canisbay.
§ 158.1. Cai.(D) 1909 D. Houston ’E Silkie Man 4:
“En Donel’ says tee’s brither: ‘Boy, he 1
micht be a shance ’e day for a dip ’e Soon’, gin we hed
twa’r three lempads.’ ‘O aye,’ says Peter, ‘at
may be, bit ’ey’ll be nee ebb nor Soon’ for his ’iss
day, we man feenish ’e barlan 2 reeg, Donel’, if we dinna
feenish ’ir ’iss week, we’ll be ’e mooth ’e pairish.
Ither shither’s 3 a’ feenished a week sin.’”
Note “’e” for in the.
Insular Scots
§ 159. Orkney and Shetland were colonised from Norway in the 9th
cent., the greatest influx taking place in the reign of Harald Harfager. The
Scand. speech of the colonists had, at that time, probably not yet broken up
into distinct dialects. At a later period that variety of it spoken in Norway
and its colonies came to be known as Norroena (i.e. Northern), and its
Used in speaking of the weather.
2 Bereland — i.e. barley land.
3 People.