Why is this introduction written in English? 

• It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the proposed multiphonologic orthography before reading Scots written it. 

• The text below to introduce the need for a new spelling system is repeated at the end of this  document.

Why do we need a new spelling system? 

• The current situation is that each main dialect has developed their own spelling system that phonetically represents their dialect rather than working together to develop a system that works for everyone. 

• We could continue in this way, with several concurrent dialects of Scots being written, however one dialect  is already dominant (Lallans – Central Belt, Borders and Ulster) from all government and official channels, and this is not a desirable situation because: 

• This alienates people from the North East and Northern Isles and leaves us in a similar situation to using English for writing where most of the country puts up with reading text that does not match how they speak.  
• The differences between the dialects are so significant there is a chance that a common written Scots based solely on the dialect from the South (Lallans – Central Belt, Borders and Ulster) where we are told to “just pronounce it our way” is unlikely to be adopted by Scots speakers from the North East and Northern Isles. Both of these areas have the highest concentrations of first language Broad Scots speakers and having a writing system that does not include them will only lead to written Scots diverging into at least three distinct dialects / languages as they are unlikely to adopt a written form that is not a phonetic match to their dialect.  
• This will hold back the use of Scots for official communication in Scotland (i.e. newspapers,  schooling, science etc.) and lead to us continuing to use English as our common written language.  
• For Scots to develop and grow as a written language it would be better to be united with a single un-biased way of writing that everyone in Scotland from Dumfries to Shetland can use.  

How can we do this? 

• A pan-dialectical orthography that encompasses the main dialects would allow written Scots to be used all over Scotland without one any of those main dialect groups feeling left out.  

• The main differences between the dialects form a relatively predictable pattern and it is possible to have groups of  letters that are pronounced differently by each dialect to accommodate these differences. There are always awkward exceptions to the rule or variations – however for the main part these groups of letters or section of our shared cognate word are where the variation occurs.

• This draft spelling system that is proposed makes use of a new set of phonemics (the way that graphemes  (letters or groups of letters) correspond to phonemes (sounds)) and is diphonological / triphphonological.  This means that some graphemes correspond to different phonemes depending on which dialect the reader has. 

Multiphonologic Graphemes

Graphemes	Sooth o Scotlanhd  / Ulster	Nordh East o  Scotlanhd	Nordhern Isles	Typical Inglis  Cognate	Examples (English in  Brackets)
aw / au	aw  IPA: ɔː	a  IPA: æ	a  IPA: æ	all / ow	aw (all)  waw(wall)  baw (ball)  slaw (slow)  snaw (snow)  shaw (show)
vh	wh  IPA: hw	f  IPA: f	wh  IPA: hw	wh / h	vha (who)  vhit (what)  vhaar (where)  vhaan (when)  vhitna / vhilk (which) vhit wye / vhit fir (why) vhoo (how)
dh	th (sometimes  “r” in Glesga at  dhe stert o a  wird)  IPA: ð	Silent / glottal  stap at dhe stert  o a wird (aften  “th” gin efter a  vooel / middle o  a wird)  IPA: ʔ / ð	Shetland: d Orkney: th  IPA: d / ð	th (Aalhd Inglis  letter “eth” /  “ð”)	dhe (the)  dhat (that)  dhis (this)  dhere (there)  dhair (their)  dhay (they)  midher (mother)  faidher (father)  bridher (brother)  blydhe (glad)  nordh (north)
th	th  IPA: θ	Maistly “th” bit  some wirds it is  chynged til a “h” sic as “think”  IPA: θ / h	th  IPA: θ	th (Aalhd Inglis  letter “thorn”  / “þ”)	thoosan (thousand) think (think)  thing (thing)  thin (thin)  theatre (theatre)  sooth (south)
ui	oo / ui   IPA: uː	ee / wee  IPA: iː / wiː	oo / ui   IPA: uː	oo	guid (good)  fuid (food)  efternuin (afternoon)  suin (soon)
ey	ay (sometimes  “yay” or “yi” gin  at dhe stert o a  wird)  IPA: eɪ	ee  IPA: iː	ay / ee  IPA: eɪ / iː	o / ow / oo	dey (do)  neyn (none)  deyn (done)  beyn (bone)  teyn (taken)  steyn (stone)  eyn (one)  eysin (using)
hd	d / glottal stap  IPA: d	glottal stap  IPA: ʔ	d  IPA: d	d	aulhd (old)  caulhd (cold)  baulhd (bald) staunhd (stand) lanhd (land)
ydh	y IPA: j	y IPA: j	Shetland: d Orkney: th  IPA: d / ð	y	ydhe (you)   ydhou (you / thou)
eh	ee IPA: iː	ih i IPA: ɪ	ee IPA: iː	ee / ea	spehk (speak) brehks (breeks)
wu	ou / a IPA: ʌ	wi / ou IPA: wɪ / u	ou IPA: u	ou	wud (would) cwud (could)

Monophonologic Graphemes

Monophonlogic Graphemes	Sooth o Scotlan  / Ulster  Pronoonciation	Nordh East o  Scotlan  Pronoonciation	Nordhrin Isles Pronoonciation	Typical Inglis  Cognate	Examples (English in  Brackets)
ei	ee  IPA: iː			ea	heid (head)  deid (dead)  breid (bread)
ae	ay (in some areas sometimes reduces to a or i, as in folla, winda or dinnae to dinna, haes to his etc.) IPA: eɪ			o / ow	nae (not)  brae (hill)  hae (have)  follae (follow)  windae (window)
oo	oo  IPA: uː			ow / ou	vhoo (how)  broo (brow)  coo (cow)  broon (brown)  toon (town)  coonter (counter)
ie	ee  IPA: iː Note: Words like “pie” would not follow this rule and have distinct punctuation in Dundonian – if someone with a good ear for Dundonian can suggest a pattern at all it would be good to accommodate the “eh” in “peh”.			ive	gie (give)  gied (gave)
ai	ay  IPA: eɪ			o	ain (own)  ainly (only)  maist (most)
wh	wh  IPA: hw			wh	wheen (few) whaul (whale)
eu	eeoo / ui  IPA: jiu:			oo	neuk (nook) beuk (book) leuk (look)
ch	ch IPA: x Note: Often silent in younger generation speakers except for very rural communities – however appears to have been in use throughout Scotland.			gh / ch (aften silent in modren Inglis)	loch (lake) nicht (night) bricht (bright)

Draft leet o concessions an staunhderts fir dhe screevit register: 

Afore readin dhis leet, ye maun unnerstaunhd dhis “staunhderts” an “concessions” are ainly proponed for vhan eysin Scots for official screevin. Naebody’s eftrer stappin ilka dialect spehkin dhair ain wye an naebody can stap fowk screevin vhooivver dhay wahnt vhan it isnae for offical expository purposes.  

– Vhan eysin dhe negative “nae” (Inglis “not”) aye eys “nae” an nae “no” but contract dhem dhegidher.  

– In a Scots expository register, contractin dhegidher a verb an dhe negative “nae” an idher contractions wud be allooed in dhe same wye as contractions are pairt o expository French. 

• Dhe concession atween dhe Nordh an Sooth is tae aye eyse “nae” an dinnae shorten tae “dinna” vhan screevin. Dhat isnae tae say dhat contractin dhem dhegidher tae mak “isna”, “winna” or “dinna” is nae alloued at aw or, bit vhan screevin fir official purposes we hae tae wark dhegidher an aw dey it dhe same wye if follaein dhis multiphonologic system an wid jist pronoonce it “dinna”.  

– Chynges tae wirds afore an efter vooels are ainly duin in informal Scots an isnae deyn in dhe screevit Scots expository (i.e. “div ydhe ken”, “hiv ydhe” etc. wud be “dey ydhe ken”, “hae ydhe”).  

– “Til” is eysed fir dhe Inglis wird “to” vhaan screevin aboot gaan somewye or gien something til somebody (i.e.  “gaan til Edinburgh”, “gied a beuk til him”). “Tae” is eysed for tae mak dhe infinitive o a verb (i.e. “tae mak”) an non-directional cases sic as “matched weel tae dhis”. For fowk dhat wudnae say “til” it wid be recommended dhat vhan readin oot ydhou say as “ti / tae”.

– Words sic as “wioot” are preferred tae “athoot” as dhe former eyses twa staunhdart Scots words an is said bi mony fowk in Scotland an aw.  

– “ydhe” (thee / dee / you) is tae be preferred ower “ydhis” or “ydhouse” (yis / du / thoo) an “ydhou” (you / thoo / du) in a formal Scots expository register as it is said by awbody. For cases addressin mair dhan ae body, “ydhou” wid be recommendit tae match Orcadian an Shetlandic.

  – “I” will be dhe staunhdart insteid o “Ah” for dhe “stressed first-person singular nominative case personal pronoun”.  Even in dhis multiphologic Scots, it micht be wirth haudin ontil stressed an unstreed pronoons sic as “I / Ah” an “oor / wir”. Vhan spoken “Ah” will aye exist, pairticularly eftera vooel or at dhe stert o a sentence in dhe same wye as  “oor” becomes “wir”. 

– For tae mak dhe past tense baith dhe suffix “it” an “ed” can be eysed dependin on vhitna verb it is.  

– New wirds sic as “byleid” are walcome bit we dinnae hae tae reinvent dhe wheel an sudnae be feart tae eys academic terms vhit originally came frae Frainch / Latin / Greek. Vhit’s mair something tae haud an ee oot for is dhe eyse o words wi Scots cognates (i.e. bolster insteid o bowster) an nae tae be feart o words sic as cognate or etymology as mony a Scots spehker can hae vhit cwud be descrived as an extendit vocabular.

– Spellin sud ainly be chynged frae dhe current Scots / Inglis spellin gin dhe wird soonhds gye different either atween dhe byleids or frae Inglis (chyngin words for smaw differences in pronoonciation isnae encooraged).  

– “Frae” in dhis draft system is eysed fir official screevin an nae “fae”.  

– For dhis “first draft” o a unitit spellin system “vh” haes been eysed as a compromise atween dhe Nordh East an aabody else. Idher options are available sic as gaan back til “quh” or idher new digraphs sic as “phw” or  “fh”, bit fir dhe noo “vh” is proponed. Feedback frae Scots spehkers frae dhe Sooth an Nordh East on vhidher dhay wud prefer “quh” or “fwh” wud be walcomed. 

Vhit dey we need a new spellin system for? 

• Dhe current situation is dhat ilka main byleid haes developed dhair ain spellin systems dhat phonetically represents dhair byleid raidher dhan warkin dhegidher tae develop a system dhat warks for awbody. 

• We cwud cerry on in dhis wye, wi a wheen o concurrent byleids o Scots bein screevit, vhooivver ae byleid is awready dominant (Lallans – Central Belt, Borders an Ulster) frae aw government an official channels, an dhis isnae a desirable situation acause: 

• Dhis maks fowk frae dhe Nordh East and Nordhrin Isles feel fremmit an leas us in a similar situation tae eysin Inglis fir screevin vhaur maist o dhe kintra pits up wi readin text dhat disnae match vhoo dhay spiik.  
• Dhe differences atween dhe byleids are sae significant dhere is a chance dhat a common screevit Scots based salely on dhe dialect frae dhe Sooth (Lallans – Central Belt, Borders an Ulster) winnae be teyn up bi Scots spehkers frae dhe Nordh East an Nordhern Isles. Baith o dhis airts hae dhe heichest concentrations of first leid Braid Scots spehkers an haein a screevin system dhat disnae include dhem will ainly lead tae screevit Scots divergin intae three or fower distinct byleids as dhay are unlikely tae tak up a  screevit form dhat isnae a phonetic match tae dhair byleid.  
• Dhis will haud back dhe eys o national form o Scots for official communication in Scotlanhd (i.e. newspapers, skuilin,  science etc.) an lead tae us continuin tae eys Inglis as oor common screevit leid.  

• For Scots tae develop an growe as a screevit leid it wud be better tae be unitit wi a single un-biased wye o screevin dhat awbdy in Scotlanhd can eys.  

Vhoo can we dey dhis? 

• An aw-byleid orthography dhat taks in dhe main byleids wud alloo screevit Scots tae be eysed aw ower Scotlanhd wioot ilka byleid gaun aff in dhair ain direction.  

• Dhe main differences atween dhe byleids form a predictable paittern an it is possible tae hae groups o letters dhat are pronoonced differently bi ilka byleid tae accommodate dhis differences. 

• Dhis draft spellin system dhat is proponed maks eys o a new set o phonemics (dhe wye dhat graphemes  (letters or groups o letters) correspond tae phonemes (soonhds)) an is diphonological / triphphonological. Dhis means dhat some graphemes correspond tae different phonemes dependin on vhitna byleid the reader haes.