Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Department of English

and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Michaela Zikmundová

The Language of Trainspotting

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph. D.

2014

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently,

using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Author’s signature

I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. for her

advice, motivation, and encouragement in moments of doubt while I was writing my

thesis.

I would also like to thank my friends and family for their unconditional support

and help.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1

1. THE MANY FACES OF ENGLISH ..................................................................... 3

1.1. Accent .................................................................................................................... 3

1.1.1. Received Pronunciation (RP) .......................................................................... 4

1.2. Dialect .................................................................................................................... 5

1.3. Standard English (SE) ............................................................................................ 5

1.3.1. The Origin of Standard English ....................................................................... 6

1.3.2. World Standard English .................................................................................. 7

2. LANGUAGES OF SCOTLAND ............................................................................ 7

2.1. Scottish Gaelic and its history ................................................................................ 8

2.1.1. Old Gaelic ........................................................................................................ 8

2.1.2. Middle Gaelic .................................................................................................. 9

2.1.3. Classic Gaelic .................................................................................................. 9

2.1.4. Present-day Gaelic ........................................................................................... 9

2.2. English and Scots ................................................................................................. 10

2.2.1. What makes a language a language ............................................................... 10

2.2.2. Historical overview of the English-Scots relationship .................................. 11

2.3. Features of Scottish English ................................................................................. 13

2.3.1. Pronunciation ................................................................................................. 13

2.3.2. Grammar and vocabulary .............................................................................. 14

2.4. Scots and its varieties ........................................................................................... 16

3. CURRENT STATE OF SCOTS ........................................................................... 19

3.1. Number of speakers .............................................................................................. 19

3.2. Current status ....................................................................................................... 20

3.3. Education .............................................................................................................. 20

3.4. Activism ............................................................................................................... 21

4. SCOTS IN SPEECH AND WRITING ................................................................ 22

3.1. Speech .................................................................................................................. 22

3.2. Writing ................................................................................................................. 23

5. ANALYSIS OF TRAINSPOTTING .................................................................... 24

4.1. Audio book ........................................................................................................... 24

4.2. Locality ................................................................................................................ 24

4.3. Class ..................................................................................................................... 24

4.4. Scots and English in Trainspotting ...................................................................... 25

4.5. Narrative ............................................................................................................... 25

4.6. Situation I ............................................................................................................. 26

4.7. Situation II ............................................................................................................ 27

4.8. Situation III .......................................................................................................... 29

4.9. Situation IV .......................................................................................................... 30

4.10. Situation V ......................................................................................................... 31

4.11. Situation VI ........................................................................................................ 32

4.12. Other instances ................................................................................................... 33

4.13. Research outcome .............................................................................................. 34

4.14. Glossary.............................................................................................................. 35

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 38

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 40

ENGLISH RÉSUMÉ

CZECH RÉSUMÉ

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: A graph of written Scots language according to McClure p. 23

Table 1: Classification of Scottish words according to McArthur pp. 15-16

Table 2: Scots-English speech spectrum according to Aitken p. 22

Table 3: Glossary pp. 35-37

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INTRODUCTION

The focus of the thesis is on the use of the languages spoken in Scotland and

their specific applications in a novel by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting.

Before getting to characterization of the languages themselves, the terms such

as accent, dialect, and Standard English are defined for the clarity and overall

understanding of the topic. Moreover, the historical context is presented to establish the

evolution and mutual relationship of the languages. These chapters are written using the

works of scholars such as Baugh and Cable’s (2002) A history of the English language,

Crystal’s (1995) The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language, McArthur’s

(1992) The Oxford companion to the English language and many others.

The language situation in Scotland is complicated and constantly evolving,

which is reflected in the speech and writing of the Scots. There are three native

languages in Scotland: English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots. However, Scots is by many

considered a dialect, which was the opinion of the author as well at the very beginnings

of the research.

The present study’s author’s main motivation to pursue a research of the

Scottish languages has been to find out what exactly is the language, variety of a

language, or a form in which Irvine Welsh writes. This work is an endeavour to find out

whether it is a dialect, a completely different language or simply a way to accurately

depict the speech. The language of Trainspotting is to be observed, analysed and its

noted changes throughout the book explained.

The aim is to find a pattern in the changes, find out why they occur and analyse

and translate the ambiguous and perhaps non-standard or colloquial words.

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The thesis should help those interested in the issues of language use in Welsh’s

books as well as motivate aspiring linguists to pursue a further research of the native

tongues of Scotland in both their written and spoken forms.

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1. THE MANY FACES OF ENGLISH

English is a widespread and a popular language nowadays, according to Rogers

(2000), there are more than 377 million of native speakers worldwide (p. 17). Whether

it is to become a Global Language is, however, debatable. Crystal (2003) offers an

answer to this question, as he states that ‘a language achieves a genuinely global status

when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country.’ (p. 3) He then

continues that a special role can be acquired in two different ways: either the language

is made official in given country or it is ‘made a priority in a country’s language

teaching’ (p. 4) With regard to Crystal’s definitions, it would be safe to say that for the

time being, English is not there yet.

However, English is still a language-teaching priority in more than 100

countries worldwide (Crystal, 2003, p. 5). The variety both non-native and native

speakers are taught in school can be defined as Standard English (SE), while the accent

taught to foreign speakers in Britain is usually RP (Trask, 2007, p. 3). Although as for

SE, there is an on-going debate on what it even stands for. To get closer to

understanding what Standard English is, or whether there is only one SE, the terms

accent and dialect need to be defined first.

1.1. Accent

Accent, in the context of spoken English, has two meanings. For instance,

Cruttenden (2008) uses the term ‘accent’ to replace the word ‘stress’ (p. 23).

The second meaning, more relevant for this chapter, is nicely defined by Trask

(2007) as ‘[a] particular way in which a group of people collectively pronounce a

language’ (p. 3). In addition, McArthur’s (1992) interpretation complements and refines

Trask’s definition. According to McArthur, accent stands for ‘[a] way of speaking that

indicates a person's place of origin and/or social class’ (p. 9).

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1.1.1. Received Pronunciation (RP)

When writing about standard forms of English, as for the British Isles,

Received Pronunciation is what needs to be defined.

On the contrary to the fact that Crystal (1995) set the ancestral form of RP back

in the 16th century (p. 365), the basis for recognition of RP as we know it was laid by

phonetician Daniel Jones only in the early 20th century. Jones, in several of his

publications, set up and recorded what he considered a variety suitable for foreign

learners of English. Particularly in his Outline of English Phonetics, the pronunciation

he establishes as a standard is the one that is ‘most generally used by Southern English

persons who have been educated at the great English public boarding schools’ (p. 4).

This argument clearly shows that RP had always been connected to the upper-class and

most educated.

In fact, the term ‘received’ in Received Pronunciation stands for ‘accepted’,

‘correct’ or ‘proper’ (Cruttenden, 2008, p. 77; Rogers, 2000, p. 18), which would again

suggest it is in fact the desirable accent for both native and non-native speakers,

although it is therefore ‘a product of social judgement’ (p. 77). Cruttenden then

continues with the fact that RP is also known as ‘BBC English’, since it is an accent that

is the most understandable and least burdened by prejudice, which, in connection to

Jones’ early findings, leads one to believe the most educated and in this case successful

should speak in RP. However, Cruttenden then continues that the media has been

‘increasingly tolerant of the accent of broadcasters’ in the last decades (p. 77).

Finally, it needs to be stated that RP can nowadays be divided into three main

types (Cruttenden, 2008): General, Refined and Regional. As the names suggest,

Refined RP is closely connected to the upper-class, while Regional RP stands for

regional variations and there are only slight regional differences and characteristics. To

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conclude, London Regional RP known as ‘Estuary English’ requires at least a mention,

in connection to the various types of RP. In short, Estuary English is adopted by those

speakers who want to avoid the stigma of RP being ‘posh’ (pp. 78-79).

1.2. Dialect

Dialects, as opposed to accents, refer to forms of language that differ by

vocabulary, idiom, and grammar in addition to having distinct accents (McArthur 1992,

p. 290). It is a ‘regional and social variety of a language’ (Trask, 2007), and by this

definition, it can be further divided into regional and social dialects (sociolects) (p. 72).

While some scholars agree, that the term ‘dialect’ has traditionally been

regarded as a substandard, lower-class variety, subordinate to ‘proper’ or ‘standard’

English (Chambers, Trudgill, 2004, p. 3; McArthur, 1992, p. 290), for instance Trask

(2007) argues that it is in fact impossible for one to speak without having a dialect (p.

72).

1.3. Standard English (SE)

As has been mentioned in the introduction of this chapter, there is

unfortunately not a clear definition of Standard English among scholars. However, it is

only fair to add that Chambers and Trudgill (2004) support the idea that SE ‘is just as

much a dialect as any other form of English’ (p. 3) and is not superior to other dialects.

Similarly, Crystal (1995) provides several definitions of SE in the first edition

of his Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. He clearly states that SE is a

variety of English, which may also be called a dialect but not a regular one, because it is

not tied to a certain location. Further on, he emphasises that SE is not a matter of

pronunciation, since it is spoken in many different accents (p. 110) and has no particular

accent associated with it (Kerswill, 2006, p. 8). Although, Standard English is closely

connected with the RP, for example in non-native speakers’ minds, since it is the accent

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they are taught to be the most desirable, as has been established in the sub-chapter on

RP.

Generally, SE can be described as a variety or of English that a speaker

acquires through education, a form mostly used by the media and in scholarly and

educational publications (Trask, 2007, p. 272), however, one needs to be aware of

regional varieties and different accents.

1.3.1. The Origin of Standard English

While it has been defined what Standard English stands for, its origin and

period of emergence needs to be recognized as well. Works discussed for this section

were A History of English language (5th ed.) by Baugh & Cable (2002), McArthur’s

(1992) The Oxford Companion to the English Language, and Crystal’s (1995) The

Cambridge Encyclopedia to the English Language.

Before the emergence of the predecessor of what we now know as Standard

English, there was another distinct form of literary standard. In the Old English period,

West Saxon dialect somehow started to become the standardized variety of English.

However, the development was interrupted by the Norman Conquest and the OE

dialects, including West Saxon, were once again reduced to be the inferior unimportant

varieties.

Another standard emerged in the late Middle English period, even though this

time it is influenced by the Midlands dialects; particularly East Midlands according to

Baugh & Cable and McArthur or Central Midlands according to Crystal. In the 14th

century, there was a shift in population caused by immigration of people from Midland

counties to London area and that is when the standard became to arise.

Since the written form always establishes the standard, one of the main factors

for its emergence is the fact that it was the dialect of the print and manuscripts. Most of

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the manuscript copying took place in London area; therefore it supported the

widespread standardization. And finally, when printing was introduced in the 15th

century by Caxton, he chose to print in the London dialect as well, while it was already

influenced by Midlands’ population. London played such an important role in

standardization simply because it was and still is the commercial as well as political

centre of the country.

To sum up, the Standard eventually emerged from the London area and

blended with the Midlands dialects. By the end of the 15th century, the forerunner of

today’s Standard was undoubtedly in existence.

1.3.2. World Standard English

Eva Vahalíková pointed out McArthur’s concept of World Standard English in

her BA thesis (2011). This concept of unified norms of English, accepted

internationally, was to a certain extent disproved by Crystal (1995). While he

recognizes and admits there are proofs to the existence of WSE and refers to

McArthur’s work, he argues that the idea is misleading and that ‘A totally uniform,

regionally neutral and unarguably prestigious variety does not yet exist worldwide’ (p.

111).

However, in 2001Language Teaching journal, McArthur revises the idea of

WSE and provides more names for more or less the same concept, the point being that

he recognizes Crystal’s arguments in the definition of WSE and yet again leaves room

for discussion (p. 5).

2. LANGUAGES OF SCOTLAND

The language situation in Scotland is one of the most complex and interesting

there is. Its history is rich and ever-changing, and there are currently 3 native languages:

English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, out of which only English is official.

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2.1. Scottish Gaelic and its history

Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language of the Western Islands of Scotland and West

Highlands (McArthur, 1992, p. 905), is the most distinct native language of Scotland.

Moreover, it is related to the Gaelic of Ireland and Gaelic of the Isle of Man (Manx) as

much as Scots is related to English (Baoill, 1997, p. 551).

According to Scotland’s 2011 census, there has been a decline in the number of

speakers. The results show that only a 1.1% of the population aged 3 and more can

speak Gaelic, which is 58,000 of speakers, as opposed to 1.2% in 2001 (Census 2011 –

Release 2A, 2013, p. 26). Additionally, Baugh and Cable (2002) argue that Manx has

died out altogether since the World War II (p. 30).

Being of a different origin than English and Scots, its history is dealt with

separately, using chapters from The Edinburgh companion to the Gaelic language

(2010): Colm Ó Baoill’s A History of Gaelic to 1800 (pp.1-21) and Michelle Macleod’s

Language in Society: 1800 to the Modern Day (pp. 22-45).

2.1.1. Old Gaelic

Gaelic got to Britain through the Gael attacks and raiding between the 1st and

5th century AD. In this period, two Gaelic speaking communities were established in

today’s Wales area. Other settlements were in Cornwall and eventually, the Isle of Man

was conquered and by 843 AD, the Pictish lands in the east were ruled by the Gaels as

well.

The first Viking assaults were recorded in 795 AD; however, their exact

influence on the language is not clear. They are often said to have caused the end of the

Old Gaelic period, however, the Middle Gaelic period is dated between 900 – 1200 AD.

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2.1.2. Middle Gaelic

Middle Gaelic was a period of innovation and change. There was an expansion

of the Gaelic literature and Norse borrowings came to use. With the 1266 Treaty of

Perth, the Viking control of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man came to an end, although

it did not mean the end of Norse language in the area.

Meanwhile, between the reigns of Malcolm III and his son David I, which

means 1070 and 1153, there has been a shift in the language priorities. Even though

Malcolm was from a Gaelic family, his wife Margaret was Anglo-Saxon and probably

her influence led to the Gaelic kingdoms being centred in the south-eastern Lowlands,

with the capital being Edinburgh. Their sons were very pro-Norman-French-speaking

monarchy and one of the consequences were that Gaelic was no longer a language of

court. More about Anglicisation can be found in the English and Scots sub-chapter (See

p. 10).

2.1.3. Classic Gaelic

The written standard of the period was used mainly by poets and had a form of

Classic Gaelic. The language had simplified rules in contrast to the previous more

complicated forms.

From the late 14th century, the Gaels are perceived by historians as a distinct

group from ‘Lowlanders’ and they are described as less educated. A century later,

Gaelic starts to get called ‘Irish’ to imply it is foreign. Even though Gaelic was probably

still spoken by half of the nation in the 16th century, it was disregarded and Gaelic

children forced to get education in the Lowlands.

2.1.4. Present-day Gaelic

In the 17th and 18th century, in spite of the 1690 transcription of Gaelic Bible

for Scotland, the language is in decline. It was due to the change in social structure in

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the Highlands from clans and their chiefs to landlords and commoners, which caused

migration from Highlands to more urban areas and therefore weakening of the language

and traditions.

Later on, the establishment of Gaelic schools in the Highlands in the 19th

century did help literacy and publishing in Gaelic, but it was not until 1918 when The

Education Act officially recognized Gaelic in law.

Currently, Gaelic has its place in primary, secondary and even tertiary

education, since there are Chars of Celtic in the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and

Aberdeen as well. The only Scottish Gaelic college (and higher) Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

came to existence on the Isle of Skye in 1973.

2.2. English and Scots

The relationship of Scottish English and Scots language is often confusing,

since Scots is still considered to be a dialect or a vernacular variety by many. This

brings up the need to prove it indeed is a language, by defining what distinguishes a

dialect from a language.

2.2.1. What makes a language a language

Chambers and Trudgill (2004) suggest that a language is ‘a system of mutually

intelligible dialects’, although as they elaborate, this definition proves to be too

simplistic and not applicable to all languages (pp. 3-5).

However, the point is that languages do have varieties, despite the fact that

they may not necessarily be mutually intelligible, be it because of broad accents or

differences in vocabulary. Accordingly, this might be the reason why for example the

Scots language is still by many regarded as a broad dialect of Standard Scottish English.

Furthermore, when talking about Scots language, Crystal (1995) brings up

several strong points in favour of it being an independent language as well. He states

11

that Scots has its own history, strong literary tradition, dialect variants, ‘golden age’ and

a period of decline, a modern literary renaissance and finally a contemporary

sociolinguistic structure (p. 328). Therefore, in the scope of this thesis and for its

purposes, Scots will not be treated as a dialect but as a language and some of Crystal’s

points will be discussed and proved to be truly applicable to Scots language.

2.2.2. Historical overview of the English-Scots relationship

As has been mentioned in the introduction, the history of the language situation

in Scotland is rather complex, since it kept changing and evolving, blending with new

languages and eventually being influenced from the south of the border. Precisely for

this reason a number of works is used to create a general overview of the historical

evolution of Scots and English in Scotland. The works providing the following

information are those of Baugh and Cable (2002, pp. 298), Corbett & Stuart-Smith

(2012), Crystal (1995, pp. 52-53), Douglas (1994, pp. 1-2), and Johnston Jr. (2007, pp.

105-121) if not stated otherwise.

Scots is a descendant of a Northumbrian dialect of Old English, which came to

Scotland between 525-633 A.D. and spread over the whole Lowlands by the 1200s. It

had been evolving in a different direction from the Old English than Middle English and

eventually evolved into present-day Scots (Cruttenden, 2008, p. 85).

During the reign of David I of Scotland in the early 12th century, many

southern families, barons and their tenants and churchmen who had state administrative

functions settled in Lowland Scotland, since the king invited and encouraged them to do

so. In effect, English started to spread through the Lowlands. Also, French became the

language of the Scottish court, because of the 1295 formal treaty with France and finally

Latin became the language of the administration and Church until the end of the 14th

century.

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In spite of the very slow Anglicisation, English and Scots were able to co-exist

in both speech and writing; by 1424, the Scottish Parliament started writing its statutes

in Scots. The language underwent early stages of standardization, replaced Latin in

administrative, sermon, diaries and other and became the official language of state

(Kay, 2006, p. 50). Not to mention, the literature in Scots was flourishing since the 14th

century, with authors like Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, who

were collectively called the ‘Makars’. In the late 15th century, the term ‘Scottis’ came to

use instead of former ‘Inglis’ when referring to the evolving Northumbrian Anglo-

Saxon dialect language used in Scotland, which later became Scots, even though

‘Scottis’ previously stood for Scottish Gaelic.

However, the process of standardization, thriving of Scots and its official status

was put to an end since everything indeed lead to Anglicisation in the 16th century. The

Standard English emerging from the south started having a strong influence on Scots.

There are several factors that contributed to the decline of the language. One of them

was the lack of a complete Protestant Bible written in Scots, which led to the use of

English religious materials. Generally, the importance of England and English language

was growing: (a) because of the political ties between England and Scotland and (b)

because of the expanding ‘prestige’ of the London-based Standard written and spoken

English.

The entire situation culminated in the following centuries. Firstly, by uniting of

the crowns in 1603, when James VI of Scotland moved the court to London to become

James I of England which among other things brought Authorized Version of Bible in

English. And secondly by the Act of Union in 1707, which formally united Scotland

and England.

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Since Scots has always been associated with national identity, it was rejected

by the urban upper classes at the beginnings of the Union. English became the ultimate

standard and Scots became a mere stigmatized dialect for the centuries to come.

Eventually, during the 17th and 18th centuries as a compromise between

London and localised Scots norms, Standard Scottish English came to existence.

2.3. Features of Scottish English

As previously stated, the term Scottish English is not a synonym for Scots;

however, the languages are very close and have many features in common. Since there

is currently no standard form of Scots, the features listed in the following sections are

mostly applicable to Scots as well if not stated otherwise.

2.3.1. Pronunciation

For this sub-section, Cruttenden’s (2008) Gimson's pronunciation of

English (7th ed.), pages 85-86, is used as the chief source, along with McArthur’s

(1992) The Oxford companion to the English language, and Johnston Jr.’s chapter on

Scottish English and Scots from Language in the British Isles (2007).

a) Consonants

One of the principal differences between the Standard Scottish English and for

example the RP is the rhoticity. Similarly to the General American, the Scottish English

is a rhotic variety. As for the realization of the consonants, the main difference is in the

/r/: use of a tap [ɾ]: red [ɾed], trip [tɾɪp] or trill. Moreover, the phoneme /l/ is realized as

dark [ɫ]: little [ɫɪtɫ], plough [pɫaʊ] and lastly, intervocalic /t/ is realized as a glottal stop:

butter [bʌʔɚ], cheater [t͡ ʃi:ʔɚ].

b) Vowels

In relation to the rhoticity, there are no /ɪə, eə, ʊə/ in SSE. Therefore, the words

beard, fare and dour are pronounced as /bi:rd/, /feɪr/ and /du:r/, as opposed to /bɪəd/,

14

/feə/ and /dʊə/. Another feature is the loss of distinction between /a:/ and /æ/, /u:/ and

/ʊ/ and between /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/, which makes the pairs ant/aunt, soot/suit and caught/cot to

be pronounced the same.

Regarding the Scottish pronunciation of vowels, there is one significant rule

called Scottish Vowel Length Rule (SVLR). McArthur (1992) defines it as a

phenomenon coined as ‘Aitken’s Law’ in the 1950s by David Morison (p. 27). It refers

to the outcome of a 15th to 16th century sound change in Scots and Scottish English in

Scotland and Ulster.

SVLR means that certain vowels are either short or long, depending on their

immediate environment. They would be long in the following instances: (a) in stressed

syllables before /r/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, (b) before another vowel, (c) before a morpheme

boundary, (d) certain other conditions; and short elsewhere.

The vowels that follow the rule most regularly are /i/: Long in here, leave,

idea, short in beat, feels, greed; next one is /u/: Long in brewed (before the morpheme

boundary) and short in brood. In many dialects, /e/ and /o/ follow the rule regularly as

well.

On the contrary, vowels that do not subject to the SVLR and have the same

length in all environments, are /ɪ/ in bit, fir; /ʌ/ in but, fur, which are always short; and

/a:/ in sault; /ɔ:/ in law, which are always long (p. 910).

2.3.2. Grammar and vocabulary

There is a lot to say about specifically Scottish grammar and vocabulary,

however, Johnston Jr. (2007) argues, that SSE and Scots grammars are ‘interpenetrable’

and speakers can code-drift and switch without any difficulties, according to the

situation (p. 110). Therefore, some of them may be applicable to Scots as well.

15

There are many features that could be discussed, but only several most

prominent will be mentioned, as described by McArthur (1992, pp. 904-905):

a) Grammar

In spoken Scottish English, modal verbs are used differently: for example in

informal speech, one would not use shall, may or ought, but rather will or can.

Another feature of the variety is the form of negatives: instead of ‘He won’t

come.’ a Scottish speaker would say ‘He’ll not come’. In addition to the negatives,

aren’t I would be replaced by amn’t I, e.g.: ‘I’m expected too, amn’t I?’

Finally, there are a couple of features regarding pronouns. Firstly, pronouns

with the -self suffix are used non-reflexively: e.g.: ‘How’s yourself today?’ And

secondly, anybody, somebody, nobody would be chosen in speech over anyone,

someone, no one etc.

b) Vocabulary

Generally, the Scottish vocabulary is very much mixed with Scots and riddled

with borrowed words as well (See p. 22). McArthur (1992) has sorted the lexicon into

the seven following groups:

Table 1

Words of original Scottish provenance eerie, cosy, golf

Words widely known/used and perceived as

Scottish

kilt, wee, whisky

Words with ‘external currency’ but used

more in Scotland than elsewhere

bairn (a child), canny (cannot), kirk (a

church)

General words that have uses special to SSE

and Scots

stair (a flight of stairs), tablet (a

variety of sweets)

Technical words, many from Latin janitor (a caretaker of a school),

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provost (a mayor), timeous (timely)

Colloquial words braw (fine, good-looking), girn (to

whine)

Traditional and literary dominie (a schoolmaster), eident

(diligent)

2.4. Scots and its varieties

Adding to the material proving Scots is a language rather than a dialect, the

dialect existing within Scots are presented in the following sub-chapter. In connection to

what has been established in the first chapter: dialects are spoken in many different

local accents and so are the dialects of Scots accordingly. Scots Language Centre

divides the dialects into four main groups: Insular, Northern, Central and Southern,

although there are even more sub-dialects.

Similarly, Kay (2006), with reference to Scottish National Dictionary, divides

Scots dialects into following regional groups:

a) Central Scots

Geographically, Central Scots can be delimited by the river Tay, since it is

spoken in the whole Lowlands south and west of it. Specifically, the dialect is spoken

from West Angus and Northeast Perthshire in the north, to Galloway and Ulster in the

Southwest and the River Tweed in the Southeast (p. 177). Furthermore, Central Scots

has its subdivisions as well: South Central, West Central and East Central.

Central Scots is spoken in cities like Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee.

The most anglicised city in Scotland, as for speech, is Edinburgh, which has the East

Central dialect. Its ‘middle class tends to speak Standard English or Standard Scottish

17

English’ (p. 178) rather than Scots, however, Irvine Welsh has recently popularised the

language once again.

The West Central dialect is spoken in Glasgow, a city which is characteristic

by the speech of its inhabitants. According to Kay (2006), when in Glasgow, one can

tell whether the person they are talking to is English or Scottish and there is rarely any

confusion about that (p. 179), because the middle class is also heavily influenced by the

Glaswegian dialect.

The Southern Central Scots has been influenced by the Irish immigrants and

West Central dialects are also spreading in the area. The Southern Central Scots area

includes Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire and Galloway.

One more variety included in the Central Scots area is Ulster Scots. The reason

being that it is actually derived from the West and South Central Scots, which is once

again caused by immigrants, but conversely by the Scottish immigrants in Ireland.

Ulster Scots used to have a similar position in Ireland as Scots in Scotland, however, the

situation changed. The Good Friday Agreement guaranteed ‘respect, understanding and

tolerance’ (BBC NI – ‘Ulster Scots’, n.d.) to Ulster Scots. Therefore, bilingual signs can

be seen in Northern Ireland nowadays, which shows a considerably bigger progress in

the language’s status and position in the country than can be said about its Scottish

varieties.

b) Southern Scots

Southern Scots is sometimes called Border Scots, ‘the saft lawland tongue o

the Border’ or the ‘yow and mey dialect’. It is spoken in Roxburgh, Selkirk and East

Dumfriesshire counties.

18

This particular variety is often deemed to sound posh and resembles English

too much, since it has e.g. diphthongs, which is unusual for the language. Other features

are dealt with in the following chapter in more detail.

c) Northern Scots

Northern Scots is spoken in countries from East Angus and Mearns in the south

to Caithness in the north and ‘includes the great bulge of fertile land between the Moray

Firth and the North Sea known as the North-east’ (p. 189). In short, north-east direction

of Dundee is the imaginary gate to Northern Scots dialect areas and a city one can

associate with it is Aberdeen.

It is without a doubt that the Northern Scots dialect or Doric is different in its

nature, since it has been developing independently and with very limited outside

influences. The reason is that the local economy stood on farming and fishing until

recently, which isolated the communities from the areas with higher level of

immigration and industrialization such as Central Scots area. The locality is also why

the variety is still preserving a rich vocabulary, in contrast to other dialects.

Scots is still spoken in cities like Aberdeen as well, even though younger

generations might choose to speak Standard Scottish English instead. However, in the

North-east, Scottish literature has a higher status as far as education is concerned, than

anywhere else in the country (pp. 190-191).

For the sake of accuracy, it needs to be stated that there are some coastal areas

where Gaelic was spoken and was replaced with Highland English, not Scots (p. 194).

Nevertheless, Scots is still preserved in those areas, including some of the older forms

of the language that are hardly intelligible to Scots speakers from elsewhere.

19

d) Insular Scots

As the name indicates, the Insular Scots are spoken on the Orkney and

Shetland Isles and the ‘sub-dialects’ are called accordingly: Orkney and Shetland.

Because of the Norse occupation between the 8th and 15th century, Scots has

many borrowed words. The language spoken on the islands in the period of the

occupation was called Norn and had influence on the development of local Scots.

Naturally, Norn was later replaced by Scots and English.

Similarly to the Northern Scots, the Insular varieties developed in isolation

from the mainland influences and older forms of the language have been preserved as

well.

3. CURRENT STATE OF SCOTS

In order to find out the current status of the Scots language, only several online

sources are available and even less of them reliable. Therefore, the Scottish Government

website and Scots Language Centre are the main references for this chapter, along with

the results from the 2011 Scottish Census retrieved from Scotland’s Census website.

3.1. Number of speakers

There was a study carried out in 2009 prior to the 2011 Scottish census on

behalf of General Register Office for Scotland as a preparation for the census itself. The

aim was to find out whether Scots is worth including in the census as a language option

and whether people of Scotland and people from abroad living in Scotland understand

what Scots is. The study consisted of a questionnaire and an interview and the results

had shown that even Scottish people often get confused about what Scots means and

would consider it either English spoken with Scottish accent, a dialect, or slang.

However, in the conclusion, it was recommend including Scots in the 2011

Census as a ‘ticking’ option under a question ‘Languages spoken at home’, even though

20

it may be a source of confusion. If it was not included, people would not consider

writing it in as ‘Other’ in a blank space provided in the options (2011 Census question

testing – The language question, 2009).

Consequently, the results of the 2011 Census showed that 38% (1, 9 million) of

the Scottish population aged 3 and over can either speak, write or understand Scots, and

30% (1,5 million) state that they can speak Scots (Census 2011 – Release 2A, 2013, p.

27).

3.2. Current status

In 2001, the UK Government ratified the Europe Charter for Regional and

Minority Languages. By this act, Welsh in Wales, Scots and Gaelic in Scotland, Ulster-

Scots and Irish in Ireland and later several others, were recognizes as ‘regional or

minority languages [and an] expression of cultural wealth’ (‘Council of Europe

Charter,’ n.d.). Hence, neither Scots nor Gaelic is currently among the official

languages of Scotland. How would the situation and the status of the language change if

Scots said ‘Yes’ in the Independence referendum of September 2014, is up for

discussion.

3.3. Education

Regardless of the unofficial status of Scots, the government is more or less

actively trying to include this minority language in education, since it is now part of the

Curriculum for Excellence, which provides coherent education from the ages 3 to 18.

The government has appointed Scots language co-ordinators who will support the

learning of Scots languages in all of the stages of the curriculum (‘The curriculum in

Scotland,’ n.d; ‘Scots language co-ordinator posts,’ n.d.).

Thanks to the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Michael Russell,

Scots also has its place in the latest project Studying Scotland, an online resource for

21

studying Scotland, its history, languages and so on (‘Studying Scotland,’ n.d.). The fact

that Scots is listed on official government websites helps the recognition and

representation of the language both in Scotland and abroad.

Very recently, in August 2014, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQF)

launched a so-called Scots Language Award. This means that anybody from secondary

school pupils to adult learners can get a qualification in communicating in the language

and they can learn about the history and development of the language. The qualification

is available through the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), which

consists of 12 levels of education, while the Scots Award is offered in levels 3 to 6.

Furthermore, according to the Scots Language Centre, Scots can be studied on

a university level, for example at University of Edinburgh within Ethnology degree at

The School of Celtic studies and at PhD level, also at the Universities of Glasgow and

Aberdeen within English language degree courses, postgraduate Scottish Studies

course/programme and at PhD level as well (‘Scots language at university,’ n.d.).

3.4. Activism

There are several organisations promoting Scots language, yet only the

following two receive direct government funding since 2009:

a) Scots Language Centre

The Scots Language Centre website is one of the chief sources of this thesis

regarding the Scots language itself. It offers numerous resources for the speakers of the

languages as well as for the researchers and anyone interested.

The website offers information on the roots and development of the language,

provides audio samples of its dialects, and promotes Scots writers and poetry. Among

numerous other functions, it serves as a news source for Scots-related and Scottish

events.

22

b) Scottish Language Dictionaries

The organisation describes itself as ‘the quintessential research organisation for

the Scots language’, being the product of the ongoing as well as several previous

generations’ work. The website offers information about Scots but the main focus is on

expanding and revising a concise Dictionary of the Scots Language, which currently has

22 volumes and is available online.

While the organisation is supported by the government, the public can

contribute, primarily by becoming a member, donating or sponsoring a word. The last

one is an unusual idea of buying a word as a present or in a memory of someone.

4. SCOTS IN SPEECH AND WRITING

As was established in the earlier chapters, Scots language is widely spoken in

its many forms and it is also used in literature and written communication in general.

Before getting to the actual analysis of the language of Trainspotting, it needs to be

explained how Scots could be applied in particular, which was conveniently defined in

Languages of Scotland (1979) in the chapters by A. J. Aitken and J Derrick McClure.

3.1. Speech

Aitken (1979) introduces a model of Scots speech in a form of a table with five

columns, where the vocabulary ranges from the broadest Scots (columns 1-3) to what

would be considered ‘speaking English’ (columns 4-5):

Table 2

Shortened table of the Scots speech, reproduced from Aitken (1979: p. 86)

Scots (1) (2) (3) (4) English (5)

bairn mair before more child

kirk hame name home church

23

Some speakers would clearly switch from one register to other, according to

the circumstances; Aitken calls these people dialect-switchers. Others, however, cannot

or choose not to switch and rather shift these styles, and these people are called style-

drifters. The switching and drifting itself is motivated by the expectations that speakers

with higher social status/level of formality should shift towards English. (pp. 85-86)

3.2. Writing

Similarly, J Derrick McClure (1979) introduces a way to classify the writings

in Scots. According to him, ‘it simply does not suffice to say that a particular piece of

speech or writing is ’in Scots’: the term is too ill-defined’ (p. 29). Therefore, he uses a

simple chart as reproduced below:

Figure 1

To what extent a text is colloquial is according to McClure defined by its

closeness to actual speech. It contains idioms, orthography suggesting mode of

pronunciation, employs slang, and lacks attention to formal grammatical rules (p. 29).

Density, however, is defined in terms of closeness to Standard English.

McClure accentuates that this definition and method is used only for descriptive

purposes, since SE is well-defined and it is easy to recognize something that is unlike

Thin

Dense

Literary Colloquial

24

SE. It signifies rather a ‘positive presence’ of Scots features rather than the lack of SE

features. (p. 30)

5. ANALYSIS OF TRAINSPOTTING

The following part of the thesis is dealing with the language of both narrative

and spoken language of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.

4.1. Audio book

In addition to the print book, the audio book version was used, primarily to

establish the pronunciation of the Scots words and phrases and to record the changes in

speech according to the situation. The book is read by Tam Dean Burn, a Scottish

theatre actor born in Leith, Edinburgh who has also narrated other Welsh’s books, such

as Filth, Glue and Porno (‘Venus as a Boy’, n. d.).

4.2. Locality

The story of Trainspotting takes place in Edinburgh, the main characters being

from Leith housing estates. Therefore the pronunciation of Tam Dean Burn is

considered to be very accurate and reflects the authentic speech and pronunciation of

the area.

As has been discussed in the ‘Scots and its varieties’ sub-chapter (See p. 16),

Edinburgh is one of the most anglicised cities in Scotland and accordingly, the

characters tend to mix English and Scots, ‘drift’ from dense Scots to English with

occasional Scots words, or switch to English altogether when the situation requires it.

4.3. Class

Due to an unusual, but for Irvine Welsh recurring topic of the life of drug

addicts and criminals, the characters are usually working-class or originally middle

class and spiralled downwards as they struggled with their addiction.

25

Although one needs to remember that Scots is by no means to be viewed only

as the language of the outcasts and the uneducated. The characters of the book are not

the sole representatives of the Scots language. Trainspotting is, however, an important

piece of writing in the modern context, which brings attention to the language once

again and contributes to its current renaissance.

4.4. Scots and English in Trainspotting

Using the McClure’s tool (See Fig. 1, p. 23), the speech of Trainspotting would

be generally identified as predominantly Dense Colloquial. The question of whether the

Scots language used is thin or dense is highly dependent on the particular characters and

situation, since the language changes and is mixed with SSE throughout the story.

Therefore, the speech of the main characters is to be analysed in more detail to

determine the degree of Scots usage, as well as the phonetic orthography suggesting the

correct Scots pronunciation etc. Along with the primary source, the Dictionary of the

Scots Language (DSL) and The Online Scots Dictionary (OSD) are consulted to analyse

the words and determine the pronunciation as well as the audio book.

For the sake of being thorough, it needs to be stated that the topic of the

language used in Trainspotting is briefly covered by John Mullan (‘So to speak’, 31

May 2008) on The Guardian website.

4.5. Narrative

Narrative of the book is primarily dependent on the POV. When Mark Renton

is the narrator, for example, the narrative is mostly in Scots, since it is the language of

his inner monologue. Conversely, in chapters narrated by the author, the language tends

to remain English or English with occasional Scots or borrowed words. The case of the

latter is e.g. Growing up in public (pp. 41-52), a chapter revolving around Nina,

Renton’s cousin. The possible non-standard exceptions from the exclusively SSE

26

narrative would be wee, laddie, or lassie, these words would perhaps fall under the third

category of Table 1 (See p. 15): Words with some ‘external currency’, but used in

Scotland more than elsewhere (McArthur, 1992).

4.6. Situation I

The first instance which shows an adjustment of speech or the lack of thereof is

the whole of chapter Speedy Recruitment (pp.82-88). Two of the main characters –

Mark Renton and Daniel Murphy (Spud), are having a job interview, separately. They

need the employers to not offer them jobs in order to stay unemployed keep getting

‘giro’, money provided by the government to people in their situation.

While preparing for the interviews, their interaction is in Scots, with recurring

words like ken and likesay. However, the moment Renton starts his interview, he

smoothly switches to Scottish English, while his inner monologue remains more or less

Scots, as can be seen in the following excerpt:

Interviewer – I see from your application form that you attended George

Heriot’s

Renton – Right...ah, those halcyon school days. It seems like a long time ago

now.

Inner – Ah might huv lied on the appo, but ah huvnae at the interview.

(p. 84)

The reason Renton adjusts his speech is because he needs to look clever, so

that him lying in his application goes unnoticed and the interviewers, who speak

Standard Scottish English, consider him a viable candidate before he sabotages the

interview eventually.

In the following part of the chapter, Spud is interviewed and it does not go as

well speech-wise. When confronted with the SSE, he does not switch to seem more

educated at all and continues to speak colloquial Scots:

Interviewer – What would you see as being your main strengths?

Spud – Er... sense ay humour, likesay. Ye need that man, goatay huv it, jist

goatay huv it, ken?

27

Inner – Ah’ll huv tae stoap sayin ‘ken’ sae much. These dudes might think

ah’m a sortay pleb.

(p. 87)

On the first sight, one can notice words such as goatay (got to), stoap, or sortay

(sort of). A question arises: Are these words in Scots or are they written for the purpose

of being read as English words in Scottish accent? The confusion can be resolved when

one separates goat and tay, and sort and ay. Consulting the DSL, it becomes apparent

that tay and ay are variables of Scots words tae [te] and o [e]. Therefore, the words are

written in a way which suggests their pronunciation; however it is a pronunciation of

Scots words.

Moreover, the words likesay and ken are Spud’s characteristic fillers. Ken is

easily translated as to know and is used instead of English ‘you know’, while the

solution to likesay lies in isolating like and say once again: Say is a variable of sae [se]

or [se:] and the complete translation of the phrase is ‘like so’.

In conclusion, even though he is under the influence of drugs, Spud is unable to

switch to a more standardized speech or to tone down his Scots which proves to be a

rule throughout the entire book.

4.7. Situation II

A chapter called Inter Shitty (pp. 139-151) revolves around a train journey of

Mark Renton and Francis Begbie, while they interact with other passengers. The chapter

is narrated from Begbie’s POV and his inner monologue can be described as dense

colloquial Scots. The following excerpt shows the interaction between him and

Canadian tourists:

Begbie – No fuckin shy, they British Rail cunts, eh?

Canadian – Pardon?

Begbie – Whair’s it yis come fae then?

Canadian – Sorry, I can’t really understand you...

Begbie – WHERE...DO...YOU...COME...FROM?

(p. 146)

28

There is a clear distinction between Begbie’s and the tourist’s speech: the

Canadians speak (Canadian) English, while Begbie speaks colloquial Scots. However,

the interesting part of the skipped narrative and context is that Begbie considers his

language to be the Queens English and thinks the Canadian ladies are perhaps too

simple to understand it, therefore he makes his speech more posh and is clearly mocking

them.

Furthermore, when Renton gets asked where he and Begbie are from, his one

word answer ‘Edinburgh’ is deemed by Begbie as ‘tryin tae sound aw (...) posh, ken’ (p.

146). In fact, Renton has no problem switching to generally intelligible or Standard

Scottish English without getting insulted or overly annoyed with those who do not

understand him at first. As the next interaction shows, Renton once switches before the

conversational partner gets to hear him speak Scots:

Darlington passengers – Excuse me, these are our seats. We booked them.

Renton – I’m afraid there must be some mistake (...) there were no cards to

indicate a seat reservation when we boarded the train at Edinburgh.

(p.148)

The purpose of this particular adjustment is to get rid of the unwanted

intruders, obviously. Even though Renton tries to do so in calm manner, he still does

intentionally mock them by speaking the posh English (SSE) loathed by Begbie. In

contrast, Begbie often loses his temper and aggressively shouts at people in Scots: In

this chapter (a) At Darlington passenger ‘Ye heard what the gadge sais. Oan yir fuckin

bike, ya specky radge!’ (b) At ticket boy ‘Ah’m no fuckin carin what they cunts’ve goat

oan thir fuckin tickets, mate.’ (p. 149).

Begbie’s vocabulary is riddled with swear words, but there are words worth

noticing, even though their meaning may be apparent from the context. Yis /jis/, for

instance, stands for the second person plural, however when one looks it up on DSL

1700-, the first results are of yis being used as English ‘yes’. In other cases, there is a

29

word yi, meaning second person singular. Therefore yis is most likely its plural form or

a variable of the colloquial yese [ji:z], youse [ju:z].

The word fae [e:], with its variant fi, is not to be confused with the English

word ‘for’, which is translated as fir [fer] in Scots in the scope of Trainspotting. Fae

and fi stand for ‘from’ and are virtually pronounced the same: [fe:] or [fe].

Interestingly enough, for example aw is a word used regularly in Scots dialects

and it is not an orthographic transcription. According to the DSL, its meaning varies

depending on the context: It means either ‘all’ in this case or ‘every’ in e.g. awthing,

awbody etc.

4.8. Situation III

Similarly to the Situation I (See p. 25), another instance showing Renton’s

versus Spud’s speech occurs in the chapter called Courting Disaster (pp. 207-222). The

context is very similar, with both the men dealing with some sort of authority, in this

case making a statement in court. The pattern of their adjustment repeats itself, which

can be proved providing these simple examples:

The magistrate – Mr Renton, you did not intend to sell the books?

Renton – Naw, Eh, no, your honour. They were for reading.

The magistrate – So you read Kierkegaard. Tell us about him, Mr Renton.

Renton – I’m interested in his concepts of subjectivity and truth, and

particularly his ideas concerning choice; the notion that genuine choice is made

out of doubt and uncertainty, and without recourse to the experience or advice

of others. (...)

(pp. 207-208)

In contrast, Spud’s interaction with the authority:

The magistrate – And you, Mr Murphy, you intended to sell the books, like

you sell everything else that you steal, in order to finance your heroin habit?

Spud – That’s spot on man ... eh ... ye goat it, likesay (...)

(p. 208)

30

It becomes apparent that Spud does not care how he is being perceived and keeps

speaking colloquial language. Renton, on the other hand, has no trouble switching to

Standard Scottish English and defending himself so that he is not incarcerated.

4.9. Situation IV

In the following case, Renton is again facing an authority: A psychiatrist, Dr.

Forbes (chapter Searching for the Inner Man, pp. 229-237). He describes how the past

sessions would usually go. Since Renton does not believe in rehabilitation or

psychoanalysis, as he mentions in the narrative, he does not really cooperate speech-

wise.

Dr Forbes: You’re reluctant to talk about your brother?

Me (Renton): Naw. It’s just that ah dinnae see the relevance ay that tae me bein

oan smack.

(p. 230)

Throughout the whole reproduced counselling session, Renton does not once

switch to English entirely; the conversation on as seen above. He does not like being

analysed and knows what to say to get the psychiatrist to the conclusions he made.

Therefore, Renton does not actually try; he is being himself and simply suffers through

it without trying to impress or show off how clever he is through the medium of

standard language.

In his Scots speech, one can notice another instance of words written in a way

which suggest the pronunciation: Naw, dinnae, ay, tae, oan. However, consulting DSL

1700-, dinnae [dini], naw [nɔ:], tae [ti], [tə], and oan [ɔ:n] are all used in the same

context in the examples provided as in the book: Meaning do not, no, to, and on. The

word ay [e], deducting from the context, means of in this excerpt and accordingly in the

whole book. Yet, there are no results showing the word used as something else than

exclamation (of surprise, wonder) or yes. According to the OSD, the word for the

31

English of is o in Scots, which can be read as /o, e, ə/. And since ay is pronounced either

[e] or [ə] as well, it is the author’s or local variable suggesting the pronunciation.

4.10. Situation V

The chapter London Crawling (pp.283-298) offers at least three instances of

Renton’s speech adjustment.

a) The Asian

Looking for his friend, Renton finds himself calling an Asian man, perhaps a

landlord of the apartment where his friend used to stay:

Renton – Whair’s he steyin likesay but?

Asian man – What? What? I cannot understand you...

Renton – Where-is-my-friend-Bri-an-Nicks-on-stay-ing?

(p. 288)

In this case, Renton is as condescending and rude as would be expected of

aggressive Begbie (Situation II), since he is irritated that he cannot find any of his

former friends in London. Therefore once again, he cannot be bothered to make the

situation easier. He does not switch right away, even though he can hear the man is not

a native speaker of English.

b) The Glaswegian

Right after the Asian man, Renton briefly encounters a man described as

having Glaswegian accent:

Glaswegian – Yir a fuckin good boey, ah’ll tell ye that son...

Renton – You’re orlroight Jock

(p. 288)

As Renton explains, he tries to avoid ending up stuck with another Scotsman

and fakes Cockney, so that he is left alone. This exchange nicely shows how Welsh

used different orthography of the words boy and alright to emphasise the pronunciation

in these particular accents.

32

c) The Italian

Renton’s third London encounter is with an elderly Italian man in an all-night

cinema. The Italian is interested in Renton sexually but he is not interested at all:

Renton – Ah’m no a buftie pal (...) No homosexual.

Italian – Sorry. Sorry.

(p. 290)

As with the Asian man (a), Renton switches to English only after the man’s

confusion. Interestingly, when they talk afterwards and become temporary friends,

Renton speaks Scots and they understand each other without any trouble.

4.11. Situation VI

The last example of the varied language of Trainspotting is not a singular

event; it is a recurring theme of Simon Williamson’s (Sickboy) language.

Not only does he switch from colloquial Scots to posh English accent to mock

people, but also for the ladies. His character and behaviour is encouraged by his inner

dialogue with Sean Connery.

The first time Sean Connery’s voice appears is in the chapter In Overdrive (pp.

35-40), when the reader is introduced to Sickboy’s narrative.

Good old-fashioned Scoatish hoshpitality, aye, ye cannae beat it, shays the

young Sean Connery, the new Bond, cause girls, this is the new bondage...

(p. 36)

The orthography of the excerpt suggests or perhaps mocks Connery’s atypical

pronunciation of /s/. There have been several recent, therefore online, discussions (e.g.

on Dialect Blog or Scotland Discussion forum) on whether Connery’s pronunciation can

be ascribed to a lisp. Some users argue that it is related to his parents speaking Gaelic,

where s is pronounced [ʃ], mostly at the beginning of a word. Others suggest it is not

speech impairment but simply his personal pronunciation (user ANDY-J3, 2011).

33

Considering it is information brought up on a language forum by an

anonymous user, however, it is not a credible enough source to make a conclusion and it

remains a mere speculation.

In any case, the depiction of Connery’s speech in Trainspotting is still meant to

be exaggerated and mocking it rather than trying to be very accurate.

4.12. Other instances

There are of course many other examples of orthographic representation of

other accents or pronunciation in general, or code switching/drifting between SSE and

Scots, which have not been mentioned.

As for the latter, usually when a character in Trainspotting has a distinct

accent, it is represented orthographically, such as in cases of Cockney, Glaswegian

accent or the so-called Brummie accent (Birmingham). Brummie appears only once, in

a chapter called London Crawling: ‘That’s joost wot oi was troi-ing to tell the bastid,’

(p. 297).

Another two cases of the words being transcribed orthographically to suggest

the pronunciation can be detected when the characters sing Irish and American songs:

(a) The Irish song The boys of the Old Brigade - ‘Oh fa-thir why are you-hoo so-ho sad

oan this fine Ea-heas-ti-her morn’ (p. 59); (b) singing You make me feel so young in

‘exaggerated American noo Yawk voices’: Yoo en I, were justa like-a kapil aff taahts

(...)’ (pp. 199-200), mimicking Frank Sinatra.

For a complete clarity on the topic of the words’ spelling and their actual

pronunciation, the rest of the prominent vocabulary of Trainspotting as a whole, be it

slang or colloquial Scots, will be dealt with in the short glossary at the end of the

chapter.

34

4.13. Research outcome

There is a certain pattern of the style-drifting and code/dialect-switching,

particularly concerning Mark Renton. He uses his ability to switch to SSE to his

advantage, when he is confronted by an authority (Situations I-III), and wants to look

better educated or from a necessity when either a non-native speaker or a person from

abroad does not understand Scots (Situations II and V). Other cases of switching to SSE

or the so-called posh English have been detected in cases when the characters mock

their conversational partner.

Conversely, when a character is unable or unwilling to switch or drift towards

English, they are encountered with not being understood, being considered stupid, or

entirely lacking of formal education (Spud in Situations I and III).

The language in which Trainspotting is written is generally a mix of styles,

ranging from the most colloquial Scots language in the main characters’ speech and

narratives to ScoE, SSE or completely different dialects and accents of the less

important characters, onlookers and authorities that only appear once. All of these

phenomena are conveyed by the orthography of the book, accents being expressed by a

precise spelling suggesting the actual pronunciation. Welsh’s specially devised

orthography has been detected as a tool for characterizing his protagonists. Examples

can be found in almost all of the excerpts chosen by the author of the thesis.

35

4.14. Glossary

Table 3

Trainspotting glossary

Word in Scots Pronunciation Meaning

aboot əˈbu:t about, on the outside or

nearby

ain e:n own

airm e:ɾm, eɾm an arm

alane əˈleɪn alone

auld ɑ:l(d), ɔ:l(d) old

ayesur aɪsʌr a Catholic of Irish

ascendancy living in Britain

(derogatory; Urban

Dictionary, n.d.)

baith beθ both

barry baɾi fine, excellent

baw bɑ:, bɔ a ball

bevvy bevi an alcoholic beverage

blether blɛðər, ˈblaðər a bladder

brar bɾa:ɾ a brother

brassic (Cockney) bɾasek broke, poor

brek bɾek to break, a break

buftie bafti a homosexual

caird ke: ɾd a card

cauld kɑ:l(d) cold

caw kɑ:, kɔ: to call, a call

chib (n), chibbed (v) t͡ ʃɪb, t͡ ʃɪbəd a knife (n), to knife, get

knifed/stabbed (v)

cowp kʌup to buy and sell/trade, deal

dae de: to do

daft daft foolish, silly

dippet, dippit dɪpəʔə stupid

dreich dɾi:x dull, dreary

dug dʌg, dʌug a dog

eftirnin e:ftəɾnən afternoon

eywis aɪwəs always

elbays elbis elbows

fae, fi fe:, fe from

fir feɾ, fəɾ for

36

fitba feʔbo football

flunkie(s) flaŋki:s a servant, a condom (slang)

follayed foli:d followed

flair fle:ɾ floor (n), to flatter (v)

faw(in) fo: to fall, falling

git gɪt get

gadge gad͡ʒə a man, fellow

gaff (guffaw) gaf a loud boisterous laugh, to

laugh in such manner

guzzle gʌzl to take by the throat

gless gles a glass (n), to hit someone

with a glass or a

bottle/glassing someone (v)

gla(i)kit gleɪkeʔə stupid, foolish (about

women)

gam gam a tooth, large and squint

one

hawd, haud hɑ:d, hɔ:d to hold

heid hi:d a head

hen hen a term of endearment or

familiarity for women

hirays, hireys haɪɾi:s money

hissel hiˈsel himself

jayikit d͡ʒeɪkiʔə a jacket

Joe Baxi (Cockney) d͡ʒɔ: baxi taxi

keks keks trousers

ken (pp. kent) ken know, knew/known

kin kɪn can

labdick la:bdɛk, labdɛk a police officer

laldy laldɪ a thrashing, a punishment

maist meɪst most

masel maˈsel myself

mibbe mɪbə maybe

-nae -ne:, -ni, -ni: not, used as a suffix:

dinnae, cannae etc.

nash naʃ biting remarks (n), to hurry

(v)

nipper nɪpəɾ a boy

nowt nʌut nothing

oafay ofi ‘off of’, in the context

‘lashing oafay’, meaning

pouring off of someone

ootay u:ʔə out of

37

perr pɛɾ poor

pish pɪʃ, peʃ urine, to urinate

polis pɔ:lɪs the police

plukey, plukey-faced, pluki pimply, spotty

puff paf a life

pus pas a face (derogatory)

sair se:r sore

sap, sappy sæp, sæpi weak-willed, characterless

(person)

scran skran (scraps of ) food

(keep) shoatie ʃɔ:ʔi to keep a lookout

skag skæg heroin

skint skeŋt broke, penniless

specky speki wearing glasses

sub sab to borrow money to

someone

suss sas suspect, realize (v)

swedge swed͡ʒə a physical fight

tattie taʔɪə potato

(not give a) toss tos do not care

us ʌs me, talking about oneself

visage viˈza:ʒə a face

windae windi a window

yonk(s) joŋks some time (ago)

38

CONCLUSION

The aim of the thesis has been to recognize and analyse the language use and

how is it conveyed by Irvine Welsh in Trainspotting.

Prior to the analysis itself, the status of languages spoken in Scotland is

investigated, while Scots was found to be a language rather than a dialect or a sub-

standard variety of English, since it has dialects of its own. Scots also does have its

historical background, a period of flourishing, decay and currently undergoing a

renaissance, supported and enforced by scholars and writers, such as the activist Billy

Kay.

The switching in both speech and narrative happen constantly throughout the

book and mainly as far as speech is concerned quite regularly according to certain

circumstances. The analysis has been carried out by firstly locating seven most

prominent instances of either code-switching or style-drifting between Scots and

English. Secondly, the excerpts of conversations are observed and the changes and

adjustments of the speakers explained. Lastly, the vocabulary marking the inclination

towards Scots is pointed out and translated to English to avoid ambiguity.

The analysis has shown that the main protagonist Mark Renton is consciously

and deliberately using his ability to switch to Standard Scottish English to his advantage

to get out of unwanted situations, to make others understand what he is saying, or to

mock them.

Other characters such as Spud, however, lack this sort of ability with their

language or do not care enough about their conversational partners to do so, like in the

case of Begbie, who gets angry when his colloquial Scots speech is not understood.

These changes are conveyed through the orthography of the words, either Scots

or English, suggesting their pronunciations. The text in Scots often reflects how Welsh

39

was taught the language’s local Edinburgh form, since the spelling does not always

correspond with the entries in Dictionary of Scots Language, which does not mean he is

wrong, it means that perhaps he was taught different written variables of the words,

while the pronunciation remained the same.

Among other prominent examples of the orthography mentioned above, is the

inner dialogue of Sickboy and Sean Connery, mocking Connery’s pronunciation of s as

sh. Other instances include the passages where the characters are singing and the

orthography precisely mimics the pronunciation of the words sung.

The effect of the language use is that the conversation seems more natural and

believable. It has also been which is what makes the reading experience more enjoyable

and makes Trainspotting an important piece of contemporary literature employing

Scots.

Working on the thesis has been a challenging but also exhilarating, and by all

means enriching experience. Enriching in a sense that it has shown the author the

immense possibilities of language use, as well as it has provided her with brand new

knowledge of and deepened the interest in the specifically Scottish languages, their

richness, and complicated status and history.

40

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ENGLISH RÉSUMÉ

The thesis aims to analyse the use of language in Irvine Welsh’s novel

Trainspotting.

To establish the general viewpoint, the terms dialect, accent and Standard

English are dealt with, along with presenting the historical context. Since the novel

takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland, the three languages spoken there are investigated

and once again their historical development described, with a special focus on Scots, the

native tongue of Scotland, which is often deemed to be a dialect. However, it has its

own varieties, history and orthography, that is dealt with as well in the analysis. The

current status and state of the unofficial languages of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic and

Scots) are presented as well.

The analysis itself focuses on the switching between Standard Scottish English

and Scots under certain circumstances, demonstrated on a selection of six situations

where the main characters interact with others. The reasons behind the adjustment of the

speech of the characters are presented, along with studying Welsh’s own orthography of

Scots words. The analysis also deals with the question to what extent the way in which

the words are spelled suggests how they should be pronounced. This specially devised

orthography is observed as Welsh’s tool for characterizing his characters.

CZECH RÉSUMÉ

Cílem této bakalářské práce je analyzovat použití jazyka v novele Irvina

Welshe Trainspotting.

Pro stanovení celkového úhlu pohledu jsou nejprve definovány termíny jako

akcent, dialekt a standardní angličtina, a dále se nastiňuje historický kontext. Vzhledem

k umístění děje do skotského Edinburghu se zkoumá trojice jazyků, kterými se ve

Skotsku hovoří, opět spolu s jejich historickým vývojem. Práce se ale především

zaměřuje na skotštinu, národní skotský jazyk, který se často považuje za dialekt. Má

však své vlastní dialekty, historii a pravopis, které se také podrobují analýze. Též je

popsána současná pozice neoficiálních skotských jazyků (skotská gaelština a skotština).

Analýza samotná se zaměřuje na „přepínání“ mezi standardní skotskou

angličtinou a skotštinou za určitých podmínek, což je demonstrováno na šesti

vybraných situacích, kde hlavní postavy komunikují s vedlejšími. Jsou představeny

důvody, proč postavy svůj jazyk takto přizpůsobují. Předmětem výzkumu je i zvláštní

Welshův pravopis, kterým do jisté zkoumané míry vyjadřuje výslovnost svých postav a

tím je charakterizuje.