Western Scots Norse

Outer Scots Norse
Veastèghsc
Pronunciation	[ˌvɛst.ˈejʃc]
Created by	Melinoë
Native to	Siarègh
Ethnicity	Norse Scots
Native speakers	(L1) 900 (2020) (L2) < 20,000
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic West Scandinavian Gaelo-Nordic? Outer Scots Norse
Early forms	Old Norse Old West Norse Sudrey Norse Scots Norse Western Scots Norse
Dialects	Fadhèghsc Ìvistèghsc Barèghsc
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Scotland
Scots Norse is classified as critically endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Western Scots Norse (endonym: Veastèghsc; /ˌvɛst.ˈejʃc/) is spoken throughout the Veastèghiar, or the Outer Hebrides. It has the heavier influence of the two dialect groups from Gàidhlig.

Western Scots Norse is one of two main dialect groups, the other being Inner Scots Norse, corresponding to the Inner and Outer Hebrides. Western Scots Norse is further divided into Fadhèghsc (Lewis and Harris), Ìvistèghsc (Uist), and Barèghsc (Barra). Ìvistèghsc and Barèghsc tend to be more similar than Fadhèghsc, which often leads to them being paired as Sudhveastèghsc.

Phonology

A "standard" phonology is difficult to establish as the dialects tend to differ from each other in small but major ways, but it'd probably look like the following.

		labial		alveolar		velar
		broad	slender	broad	slender	broad	slender
Nasal		m	mʲ	n	ɲ
Stop	Unvoiced	p	p͡f	t	t͡ʃ	k	c
	Voiced	b	b͡v	d	d͡ʒ	g	ɟ
Fricative	Unvoiced	f	fʲ	s	ʃ	x	ç
	Voiced	v	vʲ	z	ʒ	ɣ	ʝ
Approximant				r, ɫ	rʲ, ʎ	j

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-High		ɤ
Mid	e	o
Low	ɛ	ɔ

Nasals	Front	Back
High	iə̯	uə̯
Near-High		ɤə̯
Mid	eə̯	oə̯
Low	ɛə̯	ɔə̯

1. /ə/ is the unstressed realization of /æ, ɔ/. (differing by slender vs broad)

All Outer dialects share the following features:

• front round vowels > a back vowel, thus words like "systir" become siuest in Outer.
• short i-e merger, always to /ɛ/.
• loss of dental fricatives through merging variably with ⟨t, d⟩ or ⟨(c)h, gh⟩. (Always with ⟨(c)h, gh⟩ when slender)
• denasalization of nasal vowels, giving varying values throughout the dialects.
• merger of /r/ and /ɾ/.
• Broad A/À rather than the slender A and plain À of Inner dialects
• no a-e merger, keeping ⟨a⟩ as /ə/, thus words like "hvelpr" and "hvalpa" become velp and valp, rather than merging to valp as in Inner.
• no à > /o/ shift, keeping ⟨à⟩ as /ɑ/. Thus /ˈɑv/ (àv) for Inner /ˈovʲ/ (àev)
• ⟨a⟩ for Old Norse ⟨ǫ⟩, where Inner has ⟨o⟩.

Fadhaèghsc

Fadhaèghsc, or High Scots Norse (Locative "high"), is spoken on Fadhaègh, or Lewis and Harris.

		labial		alveolar		velar
		broad	slender	broad	slender	broad	slender
Nasal		m	mʲ	n	ɲ
Stop	Unvoiced	p	p͡f	t	t͡ʃ	k	c
	Voiced	b	b͡v	d	d͡ʒ	g	ɟ
Fricative	Unvoiced	f	f(j)~ç	s	ʃ	x	ç
	Voiced	v	v(j)~ʝ	z	ʒ	ɣ	ʝ
Approximant				ɾ, ɫ	ɾʲ	j

1. The dental fricatives merge with /x, ɣ/
2. /ʎ/ becomes /j/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-High		ɤ
Mid	e	o
Low	ɛ	ɔ~ɒ

1. /ə/ is the unstressed realization of /ɛ, ɔ/. (differing by slender vs broad)

"Nasal" vowels are typically realized as centering diphthongs.

	Front	Back
High	iɪ̯̈	uʊ̯̈
Near-High		ɤʊ̯̈~ʊ̈ː
Mid	eɪ̯̈	oʊ̯̈
Low	ɛɪ̯̈	ɔʊ̯̈

1. /əɪ̯̈/ is the unstressed realization of /ɜˑ, ɞˑ/. (differing by slender vs broad)

Ìvistèghsc

Ìvistèghsc, or Uist Norse, is spoken on the islands of Ìvist, or Uist.

		labial		alveolar		velar
		broad	slender	broad	slender	broad	slender
Nasal		m	mʲ	n	ɲ
Stop	Unvoiced	p	p͡f	t	t͡ʃ	k	c
	Voiced	b	b͡v	d	d͡ʒ	g	ɟ
Fricative	Unvoiced	f	f(j)	s	ʃ	x	ç
	Voiced	v	v(j)	z	ʒ	ɣ	ʝ
Approximant				r, ɫ	rʲ, ʎ	j

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-High		ɤ
Mid	e	o
Low	ɛ	ɔ~ɒ

1. /ə/ is the unstressed realization of /ɛ, ɔ/. (differing by slender vs broad)

"Nasal" vowels in Uist Norse are typically realized slightly centralized and longer.

	Front	Back
High	ɪ̈ˑ	ʊ̈ˑ
Mid	ɘˑ	ɵˑ
Low	ɜˑ	ɞˑ

1. /əˑ/ is the unstressed realization of /ɜˑ, ɞˑ/. (differing by slender vs broad)

Prosody

The rules for stress are very slightly more complex than they were in Old Norse, but not by much.

Stress always goes on the left-most syllable possible. When there are vowels with a grave, stress goes to the first one, skipping over all vowels without one. (so sudhraèir is stressed on "aèi")

Mutation

radical (basic)

lenition

eclipsis

mec tàlir /ˈmʲɛc ˈtɑ.ʎəɾʲ/ — "I speak"

ha dàlir /ˈxə ˈdɑ.ʎəɾʲ/ — "he speaks"

ec thàlir /ˈɛc ˈxɑ.ʎəɾʲ/ — "we (emphatic) speak"

Orthography

(updated up to "bh")

consonants
Letter(s)			Phoneme	Examples
b	broad		/b/	bòegh /ˈboj/
	slender		/b͡v/	brìa /ˈb͡vɾiə̯/
bh	especially before u/ù	intervocalically	/./	[Term?] //
		elsewhere	null	[Term?] //
	broad		/v/	[Term?] //
	slender	before a front vowel	/v/	[Term?] //
		before a back vowel	/vʲ/	[Term?] //
c	plain/broad		/k/	coeth /ˈkɔç/
	slender		/c/	ceth /ˈcɛç/
ch	plain/broad		/x/	loch /ˈɫɔx/
	slender		/ç/	[Term?] //
chd			/xk/	[Term?] //
cn			/kɾ/	cnà /ˈkɾo/
chi	before a vowel		/ç/	[Term?] //
chn			/xɾ/ [ɾ̥]	[Term?] //
d	plain		/d/	dàegh /ˈdoj/
	broad		/dˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/dʲ/	[Term?] //
dh	plain		/ð/	[Term?] //
	broad	normally	/ɣ/	[Term?] //
		intervocalically	/./	[Term?] //
	slender	normally	/ʝ~j/	[Term?] //
		intervocalically before /ə, ɪ, i/	/./	[Term?] //
		elsewhere before /ə, ɪ, i/	null	[Term?] //
g	plain/broad		/g/	godh /ˈɡɔ/
	slender		/ɟ/	dàge /ˈdoɟ/
gh	plain/broad		/ɣ/	(han) ghodh /(ˈhã) ˈɣɔ/
	slender		/ʝ/	[Term?] //
gn			/ɡɾ/	gnaèt /ˈɡɾet/
h	plain		/h/	hàte /ˈhot͡ʃ/
	broad		/x/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ç/	dìhiale /ˈd͡ʒi.çəʎ/
l	plain	non-finally	/l/	[Term?] //
		finally	/ʃ/	sèl /ˈʃeʃ/
	broad		/lˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ʎ/	sèlir /ˈʃe.ʎɪθ͇/
ll	plain		/l/	tàll /ˈtol/
	broad		/lˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ʎ/	[Term?] //
m	plain		/m/	màl /ˈmoʃ/
	broad		/mˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/mʲ/	[Term?] //
mh	plain		/m̥/	(hin) mhàl /(ˈçɪ̃) ˈm̥oʃ/
	broad		/m̥ˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/m̥ʲ/	[Term?] //
n	plain		/n/	[Term?] //
	broad		/nˠ~ŋ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ɲ/	[Term?] //
	post-vocalic when final/pre-fricative		/Ṽ/	[Term?] //
nh	plain		/n̥/	[Term?] //
	broad		/n̥ˠ~ŋ̊/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ɲ̊/	[Term?] //
nn	plain		/n/	hann /han/
	broad		/nˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ɲ/	[Term?] //
p	plain	initially, before a vowel/finally	/pʰ/	[Term?] //
		elsewhere	/p/	priadh /ˈprʲa/
	broad		/pˠ/	post /ˈpˠɔstʰ/
	slender		/pʲ/	[Term?] //
ph	plain		/f/	ophàrr /ɒ.ˈfor/
	broad		/fˠ/	(sa) phost /(ˈsa) ˈfˠɔstʰ/
	slender		/fʲ/	(han) phiutharr /(ˈhã) ˈfʲɤ.ər/
r	finally		/θ͇/	bhar /ˈvaθ͇/
	plain		/r/	sudhraèscc /sˠʌ.ˈreskʰ/
	broad		/rˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/rʲ/	bhère /ˈvʲerʲ/
rr	finally		/r/	bhàrr /ˈvor/
	plain		/r/	[Term?] //
	broad		/rˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/rʲ/	[Term?] //
-rt, -rd			/ɾʃt̪/	[Term?] //
s	plain		/s/	[Term?] //
	broad		/sˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ʃ/	sèl /ˈʃeʃ/
sh	plain		/h/	[Term?] //
	broad		/x/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ç/	(bholl) shèl /(ˈvˠɔl) ˈçeʃ/
t	plain	initially/finally	/tʰ/	tàll /ˈtʰol/
		elsewhere	/t/	[Term?] //
	broad		/tˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender	initially/finally	/t͡ʃʰ/	[Term?] //
		elsewhere	/t͡ʃ/	[Term?] //
th	intervocalic/pre-consonantal/finally		/./ or null	[Term?] //
	plain		/h/	[Term?] //
	broad		/x/	thù /ˈxu/
	slender		/ç/	[Term?] //
z	plain		/z/	[Term?] //
	broad		/zˠ/	[Term?] //
	slender		/ʒ/	(an) zèl /(ˈan) ˈʒeʃ/

Morphology

Pronouns

Scots Norse personal pronouns

		simple		emphatic
		singular	plural	singular	plural
1st		mic	vit	mèrr	oecᶫ
2nd		tic	tit	tèrr	icᶫ
3rd	masc	haᶰ	tèrr	hanuᶰ	tèᶰ
	fem	hoᶰ		henᶫ, honuᶰ
reflexive		sic, -sc		sèrr, -sc

Nouns

Nouns have been reduced down to a basic singular/plural distinction, with the masc/fem distinction only maintained when paired with the article hin.

The plural is always formed with -arr, while the singular has roughly two methods that apply to both genders, those being "e-ᶫ" and "-" (note that the "e-" represents slenderization of the preceding consonant).

All nouns fit into one of these two patterns, regardless the forms in Old Norse. Below are several examples.

Declension of ald (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	aldᶫ	aldarr
definite	hin h'aldᶫ	hin h'aldarr

Declension of hàet (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	hàetᶫ	hàtarr
definite	hin ghàetᶫ	hin ghàtarr

Declension of hàmar (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	hàmarᶫ	hàmrarr
definite	hin ghàmarᶫ	hin ghàmrarr

Declension of bèdh (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	bèdhᶫ	bèdharr
definite	hin bhèdhᶫ	hin bhèdharr

Declension of bòegh (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	bòeghᶫ	bògharr
definite	hin bhòeghᶫ	hin bhògharr

Declension of màel (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	màel	màlarr
definite	hin mhàel	hin mhàlarr

Declension of poest (masculine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	poest	postarr
definite	hin phoest	hin phostarr

Declension of arrv (feminine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	arrvᶫ	arrvarr
definite	hin arrvᶫ	hin arrvarr

Declension of bèt (feminine)

	singular	plural
indefinite	bèt	bètarr
definite	hin bèt	hin bètarr

Adjectives

Adjectives have long lost all declension, with the gender distinction through mutation having been leveled off.

Numerals

1	è
2	thèr
3	trìr
4	fiòr
5	fi
6	siacs
7	siò
8	àth
9	niù
10	tiù
11	eliov
12	tòlv

Prepositions

Scots Norse has a very, very simple system of inflected prepositions, only inflecting for person and number.

A large amount of speakers simply don't use inflected prepositions.

Inflection of i

	1st	2nd	3rd
singular	ig	idac	inhᶰ
plural	iogh	igh	idà

ᶰ: causes nasal

Inflection of til

	1st	2nd	3rd
singular	tilg	tiltac	tilhᶰ
plural	tiolch	tilch	tiltà

ᶰ: causes nasal

Verbs

Many significant changes have happened to the verb system since Old Norse, notably both the mood and voice distinctions have been lost. The active indicative has descended into the present and past tense, while the active subjunctive was lost entirely. The oppositive happened in the mediopassive, with the subjunctive becoming the future and stative, while the indicative was lost.

The stative doesn't exist for every verb, but the forms are still displayed for convenience's sake.

The original mediopassive indicative only remains in a small set of verbs acting as a reciprocal, typically physical actions taken towards others, like [Term?] ("to fight"), slà ("to hit"), [Term?] ("to embrace"), as well as a few abstract verbs, such as elsc ("to love"). Otherwise it's been replaced by hinnar

Verbs have reduced to such a limited number of forms that analogy and sound changes have leveled them all down to essentially one pattern (excluding a few irregular verbs), which seemingly descends from Old Norse's weak class 2 pattern.

Conjugation of tàel (regular)

		present	past
infinitive		tàel	—
participle		tàlann	tàla
		singular			plural			impersonal
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
pos.	pres.	tàlarr mic	tàlarr tic	tàlarr ha	tàlarr vit	tàlarr tit	tàlarr tèrr	tàlarrt
	past	tàladharr mic	tàladharr tic	tàladharr ha	tàladharr vit	tàladharr tit	tàladharr tèrr	tàladharrt
	fut.	tàlist mic	tàlist tic	tàlist ha	tàlist vit	tàlist tit	tàlist tèrr	tàlista
	stat.	tàladhist mic	tàladhist tic	tàladhist ha	tàladhist vit	tàladhist tit	tàladhist tèrr	tàladhista
neg.	pres.	è thàlarr mic	è thàlarr tic	è thàlarr ha	è thàlarr vit	è thàlarr tit	è thàlarr tèrr	è thàlarrt
	past	è thàladharr mic	è thàladharr tic	è thàladharr ha	è thàladharr vit	è thàladharr tit	è thàladharr tèrr	è thàladharrt
	fut.	è thàlist mic	è thàlist tic	è thàlist ha	è thàlist vit	è thàlist tit
	stat.
continuative
perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg. perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.

Conjugation of (regular)

		present	past
infinitive			—
participle
		singular			plural			impersonal
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
pos.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
continuative
perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg. perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.

Conjugation of (regular)

		present	past
infinitive			—
participle
		singular			plural			impersonal
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
pos.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
continuative
perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg. perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.

Suppletive verbs

There are very few known suppletive verbs in Scots Norse, the main one being the copula , and even it has been leveled by many speakers.

Conjugation of (suppletive)

		present	past
infinitive			—
participle
		singular			plural			impersonal
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
pos.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
continuative
perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg. perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.

"arr" and "varr" are the more prevalent forms, but the regularized forms "vèrarr" and "vèradharr" are also rather common.

Another suppletive verb is that of , which has a suppletive reciprocal from the Old Norse verb "unna" (Scots Norse "uen")

Conjugation of (regular)

		present	past
infinitive			—
participle
		singular			plural			impersonal
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
pos.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
continuative
perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.
neg. perf.	pres.
	past
	fut.
	stat.

Texts

UDHR Article 1

Original (English)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Old Norse (modern translation)

Allir menn eru bornir frjálsir ok jafnir at virðingu ok réttum. Þeir eru allir viti gœddir ok samvizku, ok skulu gøra hvárr til annars bróðurliga.

Scots Norse

arr manarr al bhori mhriàl h-o hiavn, vèrann vhirrdhing o rhèt h-atharr. vèrann gaèdhadh h-o shanvisc h-atharr, o shcùl ghèor hanna thil bròdhligh.

English translation

lit: "all men are born free and equal, being dignity and rights at them. being reason and conscience at them, and should act to brotherhood at each other"

"all men are born free and equal, having dignity and rights. they have reason and conscience, and should act to eachother as a brotherhood"

Deor

Old English

Welund him be wurman

wræces cunnade,

anhydig eorl

earfoþa dreag,

hæfde him to gesiþþe

sorge and longaþ,

wintercealde wræce,

wean oft onfond

siþþan hine Niðhad on

nede legde,

swoncre seonobende

on syllan monn.

Þæs ofereode,

þisses swa mæg.

Scots Norse

Vòluenn shi, thur ròvnirr

cvàlarr cenn,

ànar iall

arrvidh thoeld,

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

ta h-oevgangtirr,

tash thil mègh.

(lines with "-" are yet to be translated)

Lexical comparison

Leipzig-Jakarta List
Rank	English	Old Norse	Scots Norse	Icelandic	Swedish
1	fire	eldr	ald /ˈæʎdʲ/	eldur	eld
2	nose	nǫs	no /ˈnˠɔ/	nös	nas
3	to go	ganga	gang /ˈɟæŋ̟/	ganga	gånga
4	water	vatn	vat /ˈvʲætʲ/	vatn	vatten
5	mouth	(body) munnr (river) mynni (river) óss	(body) muenn /ˈmˠɤɲ/ (river) mainn /ˈmiɲ/
6	tongue	tunga	tueng /ˈtˠɤŋ̟/
7	blood	blóð	blòd /ˈbˠɫodˠ/
8	bone	bein	bè /ˈbʲe/
9	2sg pronoun (you)	þú	tù /ˈtˠu/
10	root	rót	ròt /ˈrˠotˠ/
11	to come (move)	koma	còem /ˈkomʲ/
12	breast	brjóst	briòst /ˈbʲrʲosˠ(tˠ)/
13	rain	regn	rei /ˈrʲɛː/
14	1sg pronoun (I)	ek	e /ɛɛ/
15	name	nafn	nav /ˈnʲæ/
16	louse (Phthirapteron)
17	wing
18	flesh/meat
19	arm/hand
20	fly (Dipteron)
21	night (time)	nátt	nàtt /ˈnot/
22	ear
23	neck
24	far (prep.)
25	to do/make
26	house/structure
27	stone/rock (singular)
28	bitter
29	to say	tala	tàel /ˈtoʎ/
30	tooth
31	hair
32	big
33	one (number)	einn	è /ˈe/
34	who?
35	3sg pronoun (they)	hann (m) hǫ́n (f) þat (n)	ha (m) /ˈha/ hò (f) /ˈxo/
36	to hit/beat
37	leg/foot
38	horn
39	this (pron.)	sá	tà /ˈto/
40	fish	fiskr	fisc /ˈfʲɪʃc/
41	yesterday
42	to drink
43	black (color)
44	navel
45	to stand
46	to bite
47	back (body)
48	wind
49	smoke (substance)
50	what?
51	child (kin term)
52	egg
53	to give
54	new (adj.)
55	to burn (intr.)
56	not (adj./adv.)	eigi (verbal) -at	ègh /eʝ/ (verbal) -(a)t /(ə)tʲ/
57	good
58	to know	kunna (a person) kenna	cuen /ˈkɤ̃/ (a person) cen /ˈcɛ̃/
59	knee
60	sand
61	to laugh
62	to hear
63	soil
64	leaf
65	red (color)
66	liver (organ)
67	to hide
68	skin/hide	feldr (animal) skinn (general) húð	feld /ˈfʲɛʎdʲ/ (animal) sci /ˈʃcɪ/ (general) hùd /ˈxudˠ/
69	to suck
70	to carry
71	ant (Formid)
72	heavy
73	to take
74	old
75	to eat	eta	èt /ˈetʲ/
76	thigh
77	thick
78	long (spacially)
79	to blow
80	wood
81	to run
82	to fall
83	eye (body-part)
84	ash
85	tail
86	dog	hundr rakki	huenn /ˈxɤɲ/ (archaic) rac /ˈrʲæc/ (affectionate) cù /ˈku/	hundur rakki	hund rakka
87	to cry/weep
88	to tie
89	to see
90	sweet
91	rope
92	shade/shadow
93	bird	fugl	fùil /ˈfˠɯʎ/
94	salt
95	small
96	wide
97	star
98	in	í	ì /i/
99	hard (materially)
100	to crush/grind