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Vowel harmony in Buchan Scots English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2002

Colleen M. Fitzgerald
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Abstract

In this article, I discuss vowel reduction, stress, and vowel harmony in Buchan Scots English, a dialect spoken in Aberdeenshire in northern Scotland. Work by Wölck (1965) describes Buchan Scots English as having vowel harmony. This article explores the conditions that restrict the distribution of vowels in those syllables that do not receive a primary stress. Such syllables allow a smaller range of contrasts, and vowel height in these syllables is at least partially predictable from a preceding stressed vowel. These facts show that both vowel reduction and vowel harmony operate in Buchan Scots English.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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