Scottish Dialects

• The accents found in different regions of Scotland are directly related to the different dialects of spoken Scots, the traditional language of Lowland Scotland. Known dialects include Southern or Border Scots, the Scots of Edinburgh and the Lothians, the Scots of Perth and Fife, the Scots of Aberdeen, Caithness Scots and the form of Scots spoken in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. All these areas have not only distinct dialects but distinct accents as well.
  
  

The Edinburgh and Glasgow Accents

• The accent of Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland, is as familiar to people all over the world as the voice of James Bond. Famous actor Sean Connery is a native of Edinburgh and speaks with a distinctive Edinburgh accent. In this accent, the name of the city of Edinburgh is pronounced "Eh-din-barrah."
  
  Scotland's other major city is Glasgow. The Glasgow accent is considered less nasal-sounding than the Edinburgh accent. The actor who plays Pippin in "The Lord of the Rings" speaks with a Glasgow accent.
  
  

Highland, Shetland and Orkney Accents

• The Scottish Highlands were historically not Scots-speaking but Gaelic-speaking, with Celtic rather than Germanic roots. As a result, the accent of the Highlands sounds somewhat closer to an Irish accent rather than a Lowland Scots accent. The Shetland Islands were under the influence of Norway for a long period, and their accent still reflects a Norwegian influence. The speech of the Orkney islands also has a distinctive element. For instance, Orcadians still use a form of the archaic "thou."
  
  

The Northeast Accent

• The accent of the northeast regions of Scotland is also distinct. The dialect of this area is known as Doric, and it includes many regional words and expressions not found elsewhere in Scotland. In the Doric speech, the phrase "a two week long exploration of the tongue" would be rendered "a twa wikk lang splore o the tung."