Article 4.3

States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue.

UN Commission on Human Rights

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.

Adopted by General Assembly resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992

Shaetlan grammar

Pre-oil an contemporary

Transcription orthography

fir a systematised analysis o da spokken data

Archival an contemporary

Baessed apø da typological principles set oot in

SIL FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLeX) 9.0

as weel as wi da general conventions o da speech community

Viveka Velupillai & Roy Mullay

wi tanks tae Angus Johnson an Brian Smith fir comments an inpitteens

Hit’s a fundamental human right tae be teached at da skül athin yir midder tongue. Yit despite dir rich litererary tradeetion, Shetlanders ir nivver bøn gien dis right. Reider as dat, øsin Shaetlan idda classroom, till nae time ago an athoot ony linguistic raisoneen, wisna even alood athin da sküls.

Een o da main obstacles fir a language tae be accepted as a medium o instruction is der no bein a standardised spelling system. W’ir tinkin tae tak an address dat concern here by giein a pragmatic orthography wi linguistic raisoneen. Da main idee ahint dis transcription system is tae shaa da phonemes o Shaetlan øsin da clossest equivalent o da International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol, but at da sam time keepin da orthography meaneenfil fir spaekkers baith in terms o legibility an fir øsin keyboards. It sud be taen nott o at da graphemes idda maist pairt represents phonemes – dat is soonds at sets meanins apairt – an dat means at peerie differences isna taen intae it, but reider da main soonds at’s maist laekly tae be understüd by aabody idda speech community. Dis is da sam as ivvry idder orthographic system idda wirld, whar significant soond differences atween an athin da varieties o ony kinda language is left uncoded idda spelleen. Fir example, de’r significant differences idda soond o speech atween spaekkers o Standirt English aroond da UK: de’r some odds atween da voice o a body fae Belfast spaekin Standirt English compared wi a body fae Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow or Kent spaekin Standirt English. But da spelleen system bides da sam. Seemlarly, da voice o a body fae Hamburg spaekkin Standirt German certainly isna da sam as da da voice o a body fae Köln, Stuttgart, Leipzig or München spaekkin Standirt German. But da spelleen bides da sam. An you fin nae idder fir regional accents an voices athin ivry speech community.

Da raison fir dis transcription system is tae no leet da differences an tae focus mair apø da commonalities. In idder wirds, whar in writeen de’ll be onnly a single consistent spelleen fir ee wird, whin it comes tae real spaekeen dat parteeclar wird’ll be seid aa different wyes idda different districts, atween different spaekers an even by da sam body spaekin fae ee time tae da nixt. Dis absolute physical variations wunna be shaan in a systematised transcription system. Reider as dat, whit’ll be mair emphasised here is at, even though da fact at a parteeclar wird’ll be seid different wyes idda different districts an by different fokk, hit’s understüd aa ower by da hale speech community as dat sam wird. Fir example, spindrift can be seid laek /spin:drɜft/, /spin:drəft/, /spɪn:drɜft/, /spɪn:drəft/, /spøn:drɜft/, /spøn:drəft/, etc. Hoosumivver, aabody understaands yun tae mean ‘sea spray blaan aboot wi a stoor o wind’ even if no ivvry pronunciation variant is shaan athin a systematised transcription system. Seemlarly, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland (Jakob Jakobsen, 1928-1932), de’ll be ee entry wi wan orthographic spelleen (referred tae as "normalised" by Jakob Jakobsen), but da actual wye it’s pronounced can fairly differ aroond aboot Shetland, as shaan by da phonetic transcriptions listit fir it. Yit, aa spaekkers understaand it as meanin da sam thing an refferin tae da sam wird, laek da single entry sandilu ‘ring-plover’, at lists aa dis pronunciations (in Jakobsen’s ain transcription system): [sanˑdilūˑ], [sanˑdiļūˑ], [sānˑdilūˑ], [sanˑdilūgˑ], [sanˑdiļūgˑ], [sānˑdilūgˑ]. Da fact at de’r baith variation atween districts an individual fokk fir ivvry wird isna da point o a systematised transcription system tae shaa. Reider, da point is tae unify a meaneenfil wye.

Hit’s important tae mind on at Shetland is a bilingual community. Aa spaekkers o Shaetlan is bilingual in Standirt English. Hoosumivver, you mosst tak nott firbye at whar aa spaekkers o Shaetlan is gotten da minimum o nine year o formal sküleen an traineen in readin an writin Standirt English, dey micht as weel o gotten nae traineen in readin an writin Shaetlan. Hit’s a mistak tae tink at literacy is alreidy in aabody: naebody is boarn wi da abeelity tae read an write in dir ain language. Aa spaekkers needs traineen in literacy o dir ain midder tongue, an it is, as wis seid abün, a fundamental human right tae git dat traineen. Swedes gits a minimum o nine year o traineen in literacy in dir ain language, as does spaekkers o German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, etc. Da fact at spaekkers o Shaetlan gits naethin idder as systematic traineen in Standirt English (an no Shaetlan) can dø nae idder but affect whit wye da community naiterally wants tae treat da orthography (i.e. spelleen). In idder wirds, you can fairly see da influence o Standirt English apø da intuitive community conventions o baith published an digitalk material. Dis is reflected inna wir suggested transcription system, laek da wye at da intuitive silent letters is taen intae accoont – espeecially da silent es an ws – at shaas da intueetions o a writer trained an weel versed wi Standirt English orthography (see mair below).

Da principles fir dis transcription system maistly folloo da eens set oot in Grammar and usasge of Shetland dialect (T. A. Robertson & John J. Graham, 1991 [1952]), in combination wi da principles set oot atidda exceptionally weel-resaerched Shetland words (A & A Christie-Johnson wi Neil Anderson, 2014), at in turn taks mony o dir principles fae An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland mentioned abün. Firbye yun, we ir follooin da wye da general community spells eenoo at can be seen comin oot troo da community’s digitalk. Whit little cheinges is bøn maed boils it doon tae a consistent system. So, whar -mogit is ey pronounced /mɔ:gət/ in John Graham’s Shetland dictionary online, wi a lang vowel foremaist, at, gyaan by da principles set oot in Grammar and usage of the Shetland dialect, ocht tae be follooed by a doobled-up consonant tae indicate da lent o da vowel. Hit’s spelt -moagit in catmogit but -moget in gulmoget (no da sam foremaist vowel, follooed by ony ee consonant – at accordin tae da principles set oot in Grammar and usage of the Shetland dialect sud pit across a short vowel – an different end vowels). W’ir gien aheid an streamlined dis tae da wan an da sam spelleen -mogit. Firbye dat w’ir set aboot, as muckle as we can, streamlinin a lok o different spelleens at pits across da sam soond tae hae da sam spelleen, but at da sam time keepin da transcription meaneenfil tae da speech community eenoo. A third point tae tink aboot in da pickeen o transcriptions is, as seid afore, da wyes da general public writes eenoo, espeecially as dey dø wi digitalk. Laek, da soond /u/ is written (in a wye at’s neider ee thing or anidder, but nondaless is wint tae be braaly consistent) as eider u (e.g. du) or oo (e.g. noo); in dat wye w’ir taen tae keepin dis orthographic variation, at affen shaas dem bein spreid oot equally atween een anidder (da unstressed function wirds is wint tae be spelt wi u wharas da stressed as weel as da lang /u:/ is wint tae be spelt as oo). As seid abün, it sud be minded at dis is a high-contact variety whar aa da spaekkers is gotten intense sküleen in Standirt English. A gret quantity o da lexicon owerlaps wi da English lexicon an is wint tae keep da English spelleen. As weel as dat, a braa grain o da set wyes da community is shaan tae hae its røts athin bein really fameeliar wi da Standirt English orthography, whar, fir example, da diphthong /aɪ/ is spelt in a haep o wyes laek <i> (e.g. wife), <ye> (e.g. bye), <ui> (e.g. quite), etc. W’ir geen aboot keepin dis orthographic variation an aa, seein as it seems tae ey be seen wirkin fine aawye, as is shaan tae wis troo no jüst published material but in rattled aff digitalk as weel. In idder wirds, da raisoneen ahint da system is pragmatic reider as purist.

Noo it sud be seid at da wye some is wint tae tink at Standirt English is da norm at idder things deviates fae isna linguistically justified, an tae tink at it’s da baess form fir onythin written athin Shaetlan isna richt. Lookin at da history o it, Standirt English developed fae da Mercian dialect o Aald English, wharas Scots developed fae da Northumbrian dialect o Aald English. Dis is da neebir o da wye it is wi Swedish an Norwegian, whar Swedish developed fae Aest Aald Norse, an Norwegian developed fae Wast Aald Norse. Scots is nae mair a dialect o English as English is a dialect o Scots, jüst laek hoo Swedish is nae mair a dialect o Norwegian as Norwegian is a dialect o Swedish. Fir da sam raison neider wid it be justified tae mak oot at closs cognate wirds is ‘English’ jüst becis dat’s da form teached athin sküls. A wird sic as plaess ‘place’ is a laet-on Latin lonn. (platea, laetter in Anglo-Norman plas) intae Aald English. Da Northumbrian forms widda bøn da forms at Scots inherited, wharas da Mercian forms widda bøn da eens inherited in whit cam tae be Standirt English. So hit’s justified spaekin historically tae shaa at dis is a Scots form reider as a English een, espeecially seein as English startit tae be dat oosterin in Shetland twartree hunder year efter Scots wis bøn established here. In dis caess haein anidder spelleen, at folloos da intueetion o da community, is historically an linguistically justified firbye, seein as da twa forms is pronounced no fairly da sam by bilingual spaekkers: plaess haes a short vowel an a lang hidmaist consonant (/ple̞s:/) wharas place haes a langer vowel an a short hidmaist consonant (/ple:s/) (dis is diffren agein fae RP an GA /pleɪs/ wi a diphthong). Gyaan aboot it wi da idee at "English wird sud be spelt da English wye" wid hoid da fact at dis kinds o wirds is nae mair exclusive tae English as dey ir exclusive tae Scots – hit’s jüst at da Standirt English forms is da maist fameeliar eens becis English is da socio-politically dominant language as weel as bein da language at’s da default een fir instruction idda sküls – firbye da fact at dey’r no actually pronounced da sam wye athin da bilingual Shetland community.

A orthography at wirks weel can help tae shaa da underlyin structure o a language. Fir example, de’ll be a odds idda pronunciations accoardin tae whidder a wird is athin a stressed poseetion or no, an dis is espeecially da caess fir sicn function wirds as pronouns, preposeetions, auxiliaries an idder semantically bleak wirds at first an foremaist haes a grammatical function idda claase. So da verbs can an be (at functions laek auxiliaries an aa) is affen reduced in dir pronunciation in a lok o plaesses. But tae render yun as (in a wye at’s agein neider ee thing or anidder) can, cen, caen, cin, cun, cøn, cün, etc wid hoid da fact at dis forms aa boils doon tae sam functional unit – dat is, da auxiliary can. In da sam wye, fir example, haein saeperit spelleens fir negated forms an tags, laek can ~ caenna ~ cinnen, reider as can ~ canna ~ cannen, wid hoid da regularity an predictabeelity o da structure idda language: whit we hae isna twartree forms wi a differ atween dem aa, but a braaly reg’lar system o can + da auxiliary negative suffix -na, an can + da tag negative suffix -(e)n. Tae hoid da structure o a language, espeecially een at’s bøn stigmatised fir sae lang, risks passin on dis widespreid but wrang assumption at it’s dis kinda bruckit, queer-laek wye o spaekin an no a structured language at’s perfectly viable an valid in its ain right. In idder wirds, makkin da orthography predictable accordin tae da structure o da language helps tae shaa fokk at dis is a variety wi its ain viable grammar. Dis maks it mair predictable an becis o dat it maks it aisier tae lairn fokk da written form o da language.

As is wint tae be døn wi idder languages wirldwide, da lent o a soond (quantity) is shaan wi a dooble-up grapheme. Fir example, a lang vowel is shaan wi dat vowel grapheme doobled-up, as in waar /wa:r/, maak /ma:k/, taak /ta:k/. Lang or stressed consonants is shaan wi a doobled-up grapheme, laek in tell /tɛɫ/, bigg /bɪg/, brünnie /bryni/. Wi da lang or stressed velar soond w’ir pickit a system seen as aft internationally tae render it wi <ck>, laek in puckle /pɔkɫ/, muckle /mɔkɫ/, back /bak/. As wi ony transcription system, de’r ey twartree exceptions tae dis at’s established demsels troo hoo aft d’ir øsed, e.g. <fokk> fir /fɔ:k/ (wi a lang vowel).

Gien aa da raisoneen abün w’ir pickit da follooin graphemic representations fir da soonds o da language, baith phonemes an allophones (major an minor phonemes). Nottice at da example wirds isna necesarily Shetland specific, d’ir onnly yunder tae shaa da parteeclar soond. So fir example, neider pech, bairn or chuffed is Shetland specific, wi pech bein a pan-Scots wird, bairn bein baith pan-Scots an pan-Nort English an chuffed bein fun aawye in baith Scots an English varieties. Gien dat Shaetlan is variety whar contact is nivver aised, an firbye dat it’s in closs contact eenoo wi Standirt English, a vocabulary wi origins fae aa ower is aa at can be lippent, an dis kind o wirds mentioned abün forms a stable pairt o da vocabulary as spokken noo.

Front roonded vowels

Shaetlan haes twa front rounded vowels: /y/ an /ø/. Dey ir meaneen distinguishin soonds an dey sud be kept apairt in dir spelleens. Fir example, shin is pronounced /ʃɪn/ an means ‘shin (front o da boddam o da laeg)’ wharas shün is pronounced /ʃyn/ an means ‘in a peerie start’ an shun is pronounced /ʃun/ an means ‘peerie loch’. In da sam wye, on is pronounced /ɑn/ an means ‘on’ wharas øn is pronounced /ø:n/ an means ‘vaam, scomfishin air’. Tae øse da speeleens <u> an <o> fir dis soonds wid be misleadin.
Becis da symbol <y> is noo come tae shaa aff a soond laek /i/ in Shaetlan trowe da influence o English, it maks sense tae øse da symbol ü fir da front rounded vowel /y/. De’r twa graphemic wyes tae shaa da front rounded vowel /ø/: eider <ø> or <ö>. Baith is equally valid an dey stand in free variation wi een anidder. Wir feeleen is at variation sud be accepted, a lok laek hoo da variation in speeleen o da /ɔr/-endeen atween da Standirt Englishes idda wirld (-or/-our), as lang as ivvry text is consistent athin itsel. Wir pickit <ø> fur hit’s da sam as da symbol in da International Phonetic Alphabet. Hit’s da sam symbol as baith Aald Norse an Aald English øsed an aa, an d’ir da twa main ultimate ancestors o Shaetlan. Firbye dat, hit’s da symbol fir da front rounded vowel øsed in aa da descendants o Wast Norse (Norwegian, Icelandic an Faroese), an in dat wye dis spelleen shaas hoo w’ir blyde tae be connekit wi wir linguistics aa trowe da Nort Altantic cultural area.

The velar plosive (“hard” k-sound)

As mentioned abün, w’ir pickit tae spell wird wi eider <k> or <c> fir da velar plosive (da “herd” k-soond). Da pickeen o dis is becis o da etymology o da wird: wirds at comes fae da Scandinavian an Low Germanic plaesses is spelt wi <k> (laek krø) wharas wirds at comes fae Aald English, Latin or da Romance area is spelt wi <c> (laek caa or corbie). Da exception is Latin or Romance wirds at haes a /sk/- or /k/- soond afore front vowels (“saft” vowels), whar <(s)c> maks oot it’s a saft soond, laek in science an century. Here wir pickit tae spell wirds wi a <k> tae shaa at da consonant is herd, laek wi skül ‘school’ an kerry ‘carry’.

A nott on lonnwirds

As is da wye wi maist international orthographies, lonnwirds, whidder de’r fae English or ony idder language, keeps dir original spelleens. So Kensington Gardens, Piccadilly Circus, champaign, rioja, sputnik, tagliatelle, schadenfreude, etc. bides wi dir original spelleens. Da sam is da caess fir aalder lonns, maistly fae Latin an Greek, laek declaration, documentation, variation, psychology, archaeology, etc.

A nott on silent letters

As seid abün, Shetland is a bilingual community at’s bøn formally lairned an trained in Standirt English literacy an spelleen. Becis o dat, a norms o da Standirt English orthography, fir aa at d’ir in a lok o wyes aald farrant an steekit by noo, is weel røtit atidda intueetions o Shaetlan spaekkers. Da øse o silent <e> an <w> characters is fun aawye athin da community conventions, fir example blyde /blaɪd_/, wrocht /_rɔxt/, writin /_raɪtɪn/, etc. See da sample text doon below (writin, wrot, happened).

A nott on contractions

De’r a weel røtit intueetion tae shaa contractions wi da apostrophe <’>, at parallels twartree idder orthographic conventions aroond da wirld (cf., fir example, French j’ai ‘I hae’ fir je ai, Italian c’é ‘de ir’ fir ci é, German gibt’s ‘de ir’ fir gibt es, etc). W’ir gien wi follooin dis convention tae shaa reduced, unemphasised pronunciations wi da apostrophe, laek du’s (for du is), de’r (for de ir), we’ll (for we will) etc. It sud be notted at dis is onnly fir Shaetlan contractions, an no fir situations whar de’r a odds atween da Shaetlan wye o sayin it an English’s wye. Fir example, tae write <‘oo’ > implies at soonds is bøn contracted, but dat isna da caess: da Shaetlan wird fir ‘wool’ (in Standirt English) is oo, so da hale wird is <oo>. In da sam wye, da Shaetlan suffix fir da present participle is /ən/, spelt -in, an dat means at a wird laek winnin doesna hae ony contractions athin it an so it sudna be spelt wi ony apostrophe. Fir da verbal paradigm be da contractions is as folloos:

A nott on ‑(o)cht versus –(o)wt

Past tense forms laek bocht, wrocht, tocht etc, wis wint tae be fir whit dey caa waik verbs wi a waik Germanic t-endeen. Da Aald English form bohte (boh-te) shaas da Proto-Wast-Germanic boh-ta ‘bocht’, whar da Germanic u-stems is wint tae git lowered til a o-vowel wi a ‑ta endeen (laek worh-ta ‘wrocht’ fae wurkjan ‘tae wirk’). In da sam wye, da Standirt English wird daughter an da Scots wird dochter gings back til da Proto-Wast-Germanic wird *dochter. Da Scots forms bocht, wrocht, tocht (< Aald English ðohte) an dochter shaas da aalder pronunciation (/ɑxt/ for ‑ocht) an is attestit fae da 16t century. Da idder endeen ‑owt (as in bowt, towt, dowter) shaas a newer pronunciation /ɜʊt/ at’s come aboot trowe contact wi da English varieties efter da Great Vowel Shift (ca 1400-1700). Da Great Vowel Shift startit idda sooth o English idda 15t century an spreid peerie-wyes til da nordert, but hit nivver cam tae be a internal cheinge idda Scots varieties.

W’ir decidit on da forms at dey wir ey wint tae be wi ‑(o)cht, da sam wye as wis wi da original ‑icht forms (as in licht), even if de ir a differ idda pronunciation o dem. Dis wid be jüst da sam as whit’s døn wi da braaly aald-farrant Standirt English ‑ought an ‑ight forms, fur naen o dem haes da /ʒ/ soond at da <gh> in ‑ought an ‑ight wis meant tae pit across, so at bought is pronounced /bɔːt/ an light is pronounced /laɪt/.

Da peerie d-wirds

Hit maks sense fir a orthographic system tae shaa de’r a differ atween different function wirds, i.e. yun kind o wirds at dunna kerry muckle semantic meaneen demsels, but reider jüst hae grammatical functions atidda sentence. Fir example, Standirt English they’re, their an there is aa pronounced da sam wye. But tae hae ee single form fir dem aa wid hoid whit grammar functions dey hae; a sentence athin Standirt English laek There over there lifting there potatoes maks aafil little sense ava. Da different forms doesna jüst gie clues aboot da etymologies o da wirds, but it shaas aff dir functions an aa. In da sam sorta wye w’ir decidit tae keep da forms apairt atween da definite article da, da locative adverbial dere, da third person plural dey, da third person plural possessive pronoun dir, da contracted form fir da third person plural + BE d’ir, da existential dummy de, an da present tense existential form de’r baessed on da table below.[9] Tae hae different forms at gits øsed ony aald wye wid mak even less sense; something laek Their over they’re lifting there potatoes maks nae sense ava. English Spaekers fae aa erts can mak oot da differ atween da Standirt English forms the/there/their/they’re/there’s/they/theirs/there’s jüst fine dependin on whit it’s døin idda sentence, espeecially whin d’ir gien sküleen. Shaetlan spaekers could bear ill wi dem at tinks Shaetlan spaekers widna be able tae dø da sam.

[9] Da existential ‘there is’ is commonly spelt <der> by contact induced analogy tae da English there, espeecially athin modal constructions laek Der canna be ony left fir ‘There can’t be any left’, at shaas it bein jüst da analogy wi da Standirt English existential expression. Dis micht git it wittered up wi dey ir an dere firbye (see da fitnott abün), dat’s agein why w’ir gien fir haein dem different.

Da biggeen stanes o wirds

Shaetlan haes a systematic set o derivational affixes, in idder wirds, biggeen stanes at gits eekit ontae wirds so at dey can mak new wirds, as weel as inflectional affixes, an dat’s biggeen stanes at’s pitten ontae wirds tae lat you ken grammatical information. Hit maks sense fir a orthographic system tae shaa de’r a differ atween dis biggeen stanes in a meaneenfil wye. Fir example, da follooin twa affixes maks new wirds:

-een: maks nouns oot o verbs, e.g. biggeen ‘structure’ (from bigg + -een ‘nominalizer’);

-lins: maks adjectives or adverbs oot o nouns or verbs, e.g. backlins ‘backwards’ (back + -lins ‘adverbalizer’)

An da follooin affix gies grammatical information:

-in: marks a verb fir da progressive aspect or da present participle (e.g. bigg-in ‘[tae be] biggin’)

Dis tree affixes comes fae different sources, an is nivver been pronounced da sam wye in Scots:

• da nominalizer -een derives fae Aald English -ing/-ung, an in Shaetlan is keepit a hadd o its high frontit pronunciation /in/ an frontit its velar nasal /ŋ/ tae da alveolar /n/;

• da present participle/progressive marker -in comes fae Aald English -ende (< Proto-Germanic *-andz), an in Shaetlan is keepit a hadd o its waikent central pronunciation /ən/ wi a alveolar /n/ (da velar nasal /ŋ/ Sooth English hypercorrects, mergin wi da Aald English -ing/-ung form);

• da adverbializer/adjectivizer -lins comes fae Aald English ‑ling(a)/‑lung(a) (< Proto-Germanic *liŋg‑/laŋg‑/luŋg‑ ‘tae extend, reck’) + Aald English -es ‘adverbalizer’ (< Proto-Germanic *-as/*-is).

So it maks sense tae shaa da differ atween dis affixes troo da orthography.

Da personal pronouns

Sample text