Scottish Vowel Length Rule
E54489
The Scottish Vowel Length Rule is a phonological rule in Scots and Scottish English that determines when certain vowels are pronounced long or short depending on the sounds that follow them.
Statements (39)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
phonological rule
ⓘ
vowel length rule ⓘ |
| affects |
phonemic vowels of Scots
ⓘ
phonemic vowels of Scottish English ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | Aitken’s Law ⓘ |
| appliesToLanguage |
Scots
ⓘ
Scottish English ⓘ |
| conditionedBy | following phonological environment ⓘ |
| createsContrastIn | vowel quantity ⓘ |
| determines | distribution of long and short vowels ⓘ |
| documentedIn |
descriptive grammars of Scots
ⓘ
descriptive grammars of Scottish English ⓘ works of A. J. Aitken ⓘ |
| doesNotCreateContrast | vowel quality ⓘ |
| explains | alternation between long and short vowels in minimal pairs ⓘ |
| hasException | some lexicalized forms and proper names ⓘ |
| hasScopeOver | certain stressed vowels ⓘ |
| influences | perception of Scottish accent by non-Scots speakers ⓘ |
| isImportantFor |
description of Scots phonology
ⓘ
description of Scottish English phonology ⓘ |
| isRealizedAs | predictable vowel length differences ⓘ |
| isRelevantTo |
dialectology of English
ⓘ
historical phonology of English in Scotland ⓘ phonological theory ⓘ |
| isTypicallyFormulatedAs | vowels are long before voiced fricatives, /r/, and morpheme or word boundaries, and short elsewhere ⓘ |
| isUsedToExplain | difference between Scots and Southern British English vowel systems ⓘ |
| lengthensBefore |
/r/ in many dialects
ⓘ
/v/ ⓘ /z/ ⓘ /ð/ ⓘ /ʒ/ ⓘ morpheme boundary ⓘ voiced fricatives ⓘ word boundary ⓘ |
| namedAfter | A. J. Aitken ⓘ |
| shortensBefore |
most other consonants
ⓘ
nasals in many environments ⓘ voiceless fricatives ⓘ voiceless stops ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.