Spaektionary

click here fir da full pdf (1.05MB, 207pp)

Aboot

Da database at da Spaektionary is biggit apün is maed up wi a corpus o da speech fae 20 oral history interviews by da Shetland Museum and Archives at wis døn idda 1980s an 1990s, released fir resaerch bi da kind permeession fae Dr. Brian Smith. Dis oral history corpus comes tae be 37.5 hours o speech (aboot 316,000 wirds). Da spaekers is fae different plaesses in Shetland, de'r 10 male an 10 female spaekers an d'ir aa 60 years aald or aalder at da time of recoardeen. Aa interviews wis transcribit bi Angus Johnson, at kindly released his transcriptions fir da øse ati dis project. Da database haes athin it entries pitten tagidder fae da follooin publications an aa:

Christie-Johnston, Alistair & Adaline Christie-Johnston. 2014. Shetland words. A dictionary of the Shetland dialect Lerwick: The Shetland Times.
Graham, John J. 2009. The Shetland dictionary. Lerwick: Shetland Times.
Shetland ForWirds. 2015. Mirds o Wirds. A Shetland dialect word book Lerwick: Shetland Times.
Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers. 2015. A legacy of Shetland lace Lerwick: Shetland Times.

We stress at aa entries inna dis database ir gotten streamlined orthographically accoardin tidda spelleen conventions detailed here.

It sud be nottit at dis isna a dictionary o wirds at's exclusive and unique til Shaetlan. Herdly ony wirds is. As is wint tae be da wye fir ony language, Shaetlan shares a lok o wirds an expressions wi idder languages, espeecially dem at's clossly relatit til Shaetlan, or dem at Shaetlan is haed closs contact wi. In fact, de'r nae spoken language kent o idda wirld at døsna share vocabulary wi some idder language. In nae wye døs dis mak ony parteeklar language hae less wirt. Nidder døs it mean at dis wirds is less relevant fir yun parteeklar languages.

Da immediate ancestors o Shaetlan is Scots an Norn. Norn is extinct, but it descended fae wast Aald Norse. Scots is a macro language wi twartree varieties at's fairly different fae een anidder. Dey come fae Northumbrian Aald English. Standirt English, on da idder haand, comes fae Mercian Aald English. So Scots isna (an is nivver bøn) a dialect o English ony mair as English is (or wis bøn) a dialect o Scots. Firbye dat, Shaetlan is haed an aafil lok o contact wi da Low Country Germanic languages (Low German an Dutch), an, fir da hindmaist twartree centuries, wi Standirt English. Aa dis languages is clossly relatit an dey hae a lok o seemilarities atween dem. Bit dey irna identical. An d'ir aa affectit whit laek Shaetlan is come tae be. Fir mair aboot da history o Shaetlan, see here.

Aft Aksed Questions

Da Spaektionary wis maed bi James Stewart and is maed up wi da lexical database maed aforehaand trowe da Shaetlan Project by I Hear Dee.

W'ir wint tae git questions laek dis eens:

Whit wye ir de English wirds inna da dictionary?

Da wirds i dis dictionary is da eens at can be fun idda Shaetlan dictionaries listit apø wir Aboot page, an in trowe da speech o da 20 Shetlanders idda Shetland Museum an Archives oral history interviews. Twartree wirds an dir spelleens will owerlap wi English, laek whin George Gear, Mary Manson, James Ritch, Harriet Sandison, etc spaeks aboot da sea, a ship, a parish, a piano, a pier, a ambulance, etc. But dey ir wirds fun in Shaetlan speech at ir gotten localised tae be øsed athin relevant Shaetlan speech, an so d'ir relevant fir da Shaetlan language.

Whit wye døen you spell English wirds da English wye?

Wirds laek plaess, airm, neest is Aald Scots wirds and so d'ir nae mair onnly fun in English as dey ir onnly fun in Scots. Dey wan intil da lexicon idda time o Aald English, an da varieties at cam fae Northumbrian Aald English, laek Scots, cam tae hae ee pronunciation an dey shaa dat, wharas da descendent of Mercian Aald English (i.e. English), cam tae hae anidder at's mair influenced wi Norman French (fir mair aboot da history o Shaetlan, see here).

Ultimately plaess, fir example, gings back til da Latin platea, at's da origin o da Swedish plats 'place' firbye, an da Norwegian plass 'place' an aa. Nae localised spelleen is mair richt as ony idder, bit athin da Shetland context da English spelleen is da fameeliar een, fur English is come tae be whit bairns is ey bøn lairned wi athin sküls fir da last 200 year. Hoosumivver, da English spelleen døsna shaa da Shaetlan pronunciation (or da history o da wird) at cam here wi Scots lang afore English did. In idder wirds, dis kind o wirds dunna “belang” til English ony mair as dey “belang” til Swedish, Norwegian or Scots. D'ir jüst localised spelleens at's relevant til Shetland. Eence Shaetlan comes tae be øsed as a medium o instruction in da sküls, da spelleens relevant til Shetland'll come tae feel as hame-aboot as ony idder. Fir mair aboot da principles ahint wir spelleen system, see here

Shaetlan haes datn a lok o variation, whit wye can dat be pitten across athin ee single spelleen system?

A group o islands laek Shetland is lippent tae hae linguistic variation. Hit wid be parteeklarly streinge if it didna (bit it's no da maist linguistically diverse plaess idda wirld, as some fokk maks it oot tae be noo an agein. Dat wid be Vanuatu, wi 138 mutually unintelligible languages, wi dir ain regional an social variation ati dem aa). Da maist impoartant thing aboot a spelleen system is at it døsna exactly transcribe da phonetics o speech, bit hit's a pragmatic wye o shaain whit's wint tae be da sam ower a speech community. In idder wirds, a spelleen system is ey a compromise an it nivver shaas da exact speech of ony ee single body. Dis means at a reader døsna hae tae ken da da wye a writer spaeks in oarder tae be able to mak oot da text: dis wye it alloos da text tae be understød aawye trowe da community. Dis is da caess wi English, at haes 77 varieties listit idda electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English (dis døsna hae in it da five varieties listit in English in Micronesia . Fir example, da International Dialects of English Archive haes mair as 1,600 voices fae 135 countries athin it. Yit aa dat voices gits da sam spelleen fir wirds laek water, light, rain, through, face, etc. Fir a mair in depth discussion aboot a spelleen system fir Shaetlan, see here.

Dis is a Scots wird, you can fin it aa ower da Scots spaekin plaesses, whit wye is it in a Shaetlan dictionary?

As seid abün at da tap o dis page, dis isna a dictionary o wirds or expressions at's unique or exclusive til Shaetlan alein, bit a representative dictionary o Shaetlan speech, includin aa da wirds an expressions shared ower da Scots spaekin plaesses.

Whit wye isn XXX included?

De could be twa reasons why you canna fin a parteeclar wird or expression athin Da Spaektionary:

(1) hit's spelt different fae yir first search attempt. Ee wye tae check dat is tae saerch fir da translation athin English.

(2) hit's no idda dictionary ava.

In dat caess w’ir raelly wantin you tae add it ti wir dictionary! Dis is whit da Spaektionary is aa aboot: tae keep biggin it up and makkin it better an mair comprehensive.

Wha is fundin dis?

Wis wirsels. We hae nae external or third pairty fundeen. W'ir døin dis i wir spare time. We dunna git ony peyment fir ony o wir ootpiteens.