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Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 36:3 (2015) ► pp.315–347

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“Scottish”, “English” or “foreign”

Mapping Scottish dialect perceptions

 | The Australian National University
Published online: 3 November 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.36.3.02kin
This paper provides the first perceptual dialectology survey of Scotland. Respondents from the northeast fishing town of Buckie were asked to mark and label dialect areas on a map, and to rate 12 government regions on five scales: “degree-of-difference”, “correctness”, “pleasantness”, “broadness” and “sounding Scottish”. Based on the results of the survey, Scottish dialect perceptions could be placed into three main cultural dimensions: : (i) “Scottishness”, the “Good Scots/Bad Scots” distinction; (ii) “Englishness”, the cultural prominence of the Scotland-England border; and (iii) “Foreignness”, the influence of other languages on its islands. The conflicting responses regarding correctness offer a glimpse into different aspects of linguistic (in)security in Scotland. These findings provide a means of understanding Scotland’s current perceived linguistic landscape through significant regional and cultural dimensions.
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