Phonology
The development of Middle Scots vowels:
| Middle Scots | |||
| Early Scots |
Early c1575 |
Late c1600 |
|
| Long Vowels | |||
| 1: | iː → | ei → | ɛ(ː)i |
| 2: | eː → | iː → | i(ː) |
| ↗ | |||
| 3: | ɛː → | eː | |
| ↘ | |||
| 4: | aː → | ɛː → | e(ː) |
| 5: | o̞ː → | oː → | oː |
| 6: | uː → | uː → | u(ː) |
| ↗ | |||
| 6a: | u̞lː#, u̞lːC → | u̞l → | öl |
| 7: | øː → | ø(ː) (iː) → | øː |
| Diphthongs | |||
| 8a: | ai# → | ɛi → | ɛi |
| 8: | aiː → | æi → | ei |
| 8b: | ?äː#, ?ɑː# → | aː → | e̞ː |
| 9: | o̞i → | o̞i → | oɪ |
| 10: | ui → | u̞i → | öi |
| 11: | ei → eː → | iː → | i# |
| 12: | au → | ɑː(aː) → | ɑː(aː) |
| 12a: | al#, alC# ↗ → | al → | al |
| 13: | o̞u → | o̞u → | o̞u |
| 13a: | ol ↗ → | ol | |
| 14a: | iu → iu → | iu → | iu, ju |
| 14b: | ɛːu → ɛu ↗ | ||
| Short Vowels | |||
| 15: | ɪ → | ɪ (ɛ̽) → | ɪ(ɛ̽) |
| 16: | ɛ → | ɛ → | ɛ |
| 17: | a → | a → | a |
| 18: | o̞ → | o → | o |
| 19: | u̞ → | u̞ → | ö |
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/.
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 /uː/, medial and final /v/ was lost (deil 'devil', ser 'serve'). The Great Vowel Shift occurred partially, /u/ and /øː/ remained unaffected, /ɔː/ became /oː/, /iː, eː, ɛː/ and /aː/ became /ɛi, iː, eː/ and /ɛː/.
Read more about this topic: Middle Scots