Scotish dialects/accents

[piggy40]

I don't know anything about Scotish dialects, but I'm curious about them and the different accents. Is gaelic a dialect or a language? What else is spoken in other regions of Scotland, does the accent vary a lot?

[Duthill]

The Gaelic tongues are Languages in their own right , and have variants / dialects .

Read up on these two wiki pages , to get a background to the discussion that may follow your query .

Scottish Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic: Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, and is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic (collectively called the "Goidelic languages") are all descended from Old Irish. Other common names for Scottish Gaelic are Scots Gaelic and Highland Gaelic.

Outside Scotland, it is occasionally also called Scottish, particularly when being compared to Irish and Manx, though Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with the Scots language (Lowland Scots, Lallans), which is an Anglic language descended from Old English. Within Scotland, Gaelic is pronounced [ˈɡaːlɪk] while outside Scotland it is usually pronounced /ˈɡeɪlɪk/.

Scottish Gaelic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The earliest attested form of Irish is known as Primitive Irish. It is chiefly known through fragments inscribed in the ogham alphabet, which have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish transitioned into Old Irish through the 5th century. This is the earliest form of Irish for which there are extensive written texts. By the 10th century Old Irish evolved into Middle Irish, which was spoken throughout Ireland and in Scotland and the Isle of Man. From the 12th century Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man. Modern Irish emerged from the literary language known as Early Modern Irish in Ireland and as Classical Gaelic in Scotland; this was used through the 18th century.

Irish language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Polwarth]

I'm not a Gaelic speaker but can vouch for the fact that the accents found in Scotland amongst non-Gaelic speakers vary considerably. We can all recognise someone is from a certain place by the accent of the speaker. For instance, a Glaswegian accent is quite distinct from that of Edinburgh - ditto someone from Fife to someone from Dundee. Aberdeen has a distinct accent - the borders, too. Some of the words used are distinct to areas, too - such as wean for a child in Glasgow (and perhaps other parts of the West Coast) whilst we would use bairn.

[Crofter]

Polwarth is quite right. In Scotland, as in England you can place a person by the accent or dialect. I hear tell that in the bigger cities you can place them to district.

In the Gaelic speaking areas the same applies.

Regards,
Crofter