Delimiting Ulster Scots

A treatment of Ulster Scots must start with differentiating between conservative Ulster Scots (braid, i.e. broad, Ulster Scots, which has its base in rural areas of Ulster) and more standard forms which are spoken chiefly in urban centres, parallel to the established distinction in Scotland between Lowland Scots and Scottish Standard English (Harris 1984: 119). An essential feature of standard Ulster Scots is that most words with non-standard Scots vowel values have re-allocated values which are nearer to those in general Ulster English. The following list illustrates vowel values and some consonantal features which are indicative of conservative Ulster Scots; the yardstick of reference is Older Scots (Older Scots), up to 1700, i.e. before the emigration to Ulster began.

The shifts of vowel values in Ulster Scots when compared to southern British English have led to a re-alignment of vowel space. This can best be indicated diagrammatically as follows. The first shift one should note is that of Middle English /o:/ to a front vowel, with or without rounding, i.e. Older Scots  . In Ulster Scots this vowel appears as /I/.