THE SHETLANDIC ALPHABET
The Shetlandic alphabet used on this website is based loosely on the Old Icelandic alphabet, with additions from other sources. As such, it differs considerably from the English alphabet.
Some general differences from English spelling
There is no Q or X, except in Latinate technical terms like quadrilateral and exfoliate
hwyn, queen, ekstri, extra.
There are no doubled consonants
bǫtel, bottle, ad, add, simer, summer, rǫder, rudder
There are no silent final Es
hæm, home, rǫp, rope, sjór, shore, hǽt, hate
There are four additional characters - Æ, Ǫ, Ø, Ð
hæm, home, rǫp, rope, gød, good, mǽð, maggot
The acute diacritic is used, mainly to show long vowels
fát, fault, hǽt, hate, dór, door, rúg, heap
Two-letter vowel spellings are used only for double vowel sounds (diphthongs)
faiv, five, fein, fine, høid, hide, rǫid, unruly, low, flame
Additional Characters
Ǫ ǫ - is pronounced like the ‘o’ in English ‘pot’
Ø ø - is pronounced like ‘ø’ in Norwegian and Danish, or ‘ö’ in German and Swedish
Æ æ - is pronounced variously. Before voiceless consonants (e.g. p, t, k), it is pronounced rather like I in English bit, hip, but does not rhyme with I in Shetlandic. Before voiced consonants (e.g. b, d, g) it has different regional pronunciations.
Ð ð - is pronounced as ‘d’ in some regional accents, and as the ‘th’ in ‘the’ in others, e.g. bǿð (booth), mýð (landmark).
Other vowels are pronounced differently from their usual pronunciation in English.
O is pronounced like the ‘o’ in ‘love’, ‘honey’, but with more rounded lips than in English.
U is pronounced like the ‘u’ in ‘full’, ‘push’, or the ‘oo’ in ‘foot.’
Y is pronounced as ‘ee’, e.g. ryk, ‘reek’, smoke.
Diacritics
The acute is used mainly to mark long vowels. Compare:
bak - back
bák - balk, beam
hæt - heat
hǽt - hate
bot - living room
bót - boat
nyp - swede (veg)
nýb - nap
lup - loop
úb - whimper
gød - good
rǿð - talk nonsense
Since vowels are almost always long at the end of words, the acute can be omitted from frequent words like pronouns and preposition, and so distinguish e.g. tæ (to) from tǽ (tea).
E and I have no long sounds, so the acute does not show a long vowel. It can be used to mark the ‘ee’ pronunciation of unstressed I - e.g. spyrít. In words of Latin or Greek origin, it shows that these letters are pronounced as ‘ee’, whether long or short, e.g. rhésus, sérum, abílity.
Other diacritics can also be used to show less important features. These are not part of the alphabet, but may be used occasionally or in word lists.
The grave, as on the ǫ in grǫ̀f (rough, coarse) emphasises a vowel. This may be:
To show an unusual stress, as the final stress in avà, at all.
To show a lengthened open vowel, as in grǫ̀f (coarse), glès (glass).
To emphasise differences from English pronunciation, e.g. wànt, wàter.
The soft sign. Many Shetlandic vowels have a ‘hard’ pronunciation, which occurs mostly before voiceless consonants such as P, T and K, and a ‘soft’ pronunciation, which occurs mostly before voiced consonants such as B, D and G. The trema ( ̈ ) ‘Umlaut,’ or soft sign shows that the vowel is pronounced with its ‘soft’ sound, as in bäd as opposed to bat.
The double acute and grave. The trema can be combined with the acute and grave to show long or lengthened soft vowels, as in swa̋bi (greater black-backed gull) and bǫ̏di (person).
Of these, only the acute is of crucial importance, because it can distinguish between different words (technically, it shows phonological differences.) The others are automatic to Shetlandic speakers, and need not be shown in writing.
Digraphs
Double letters, or digraphs such as AI and EI - occasionally trigraphs such as AIE - are used to represent double sounds or diphthongs, as in faiv, five, lein, line, høid, hide, rǫid, unruly, sjow, chew, and faier, fire. I is replaced by J at the end of words, e.g. aj, I, baj, buy, ej, always, hej, hay, fǫj, festival. Note, however, that EJ has a different pronunciation from EI. Some consonant combinations such as CH and SJ denote single sounds.
THE ALPHABET
Conventions and Abbreviations
The following conventions and abbreviations are used:
Eng - English in general.
SSE - Scottish Standard English, or standard English as pronounced in Scotland.
RP - Received Pronunciation - ‘posh or ‘BBC’ English.
id - the same (used of words almost identical to English)
The alphabet as shown below includes vowel and consonant digraphs such as EI and DJ. They are given in approximately the English alphabetical order, rather than with the extra characters at the end as in Scandinavian alphabets.
Pronunciations are in inverted commas, and are approximate - a rough guide - as the intention is to give audio examples in accompanying videos rather than resort to phonetic script and detailed technical descriptions. Individual letters are in capitals, Shetlandic words in bold, and other words used as examples in italics.
The example words are taken both from words which are identical to or closely cognate with English - such as bat, mak - and those which are not - such as hap, plag - as these all conform to the same underlying sound system.
Since the soft mark ( ̈ ) - e.g. bäd, kläg - is not part of the alphabet, it is not used in the examples. The differences between hard and soft pronunciations are much more noticable in some districts than in others.
Alphabet in Detail
A
Hard - bat (bat), hap (shawl), mak (make, knit)
As in SSE (Scottish Standard English) ‘hat’
Soft - bad (bad), sab (soak), plag (garment)
as in RP (Received Pronunciation) ‘hat’ or Danish ‘han’ (he).
Unstressed - afór (before), da (the), fjilska (merriment), kudna (couldn’t)
Like the ‘e’ in Eng. ‘the’
Á
Hard - fát (fault), hwáp (curlew), bák (baulk, beam)
Like short a, but longer.
Soft - frád (fraud), lábir (belabour, thrash), pjág (work drudgily)
like soft ä, but longer.
In some districts (e.g. North Isles, Cunningsburgh) Á is pronounced ‘aw’, as in Eng. ‘awful.’
Before LD, Á is pronounced as ‘ow’ in certain words and accents, so áld (old) as ‘owld,’ káld (cold) as ‘cowld.’ These can be in free variation with the ‘ah’ or ‘aw’ pronunciations - i.e. the same speaker may use either.
Æ
Hard - æt (eat), pæt (peat), tæp (tape), læk (like)
almost like the I in English ‘pit.’
Soft - æg (egg), hæd (head), læm (crockery)
In a few districts - Burra, South Dunrossness - soft Æ has a distinct pronounciation, like the a in SSE ‘rate.’
In Mainland type dialects, it is pronounced like soft E below.
In North Isles type dialects, it is pronounced ‘ee,’ the same as Y below.
Ǽ
Hard - hǽt (hate), gǽp (gape), lǽk (leak)
Like short Æ, but longer and slightly diphthongised. Like the ‘ai’ in SSE ‘fair.’
In some districts - e.g. Yell - pronounced like a longer version of the ‘e’ in Eng. ‘set’.
In Whalsay and Fair Isle, pronounced as an ‘oi’ or ‘uy’ sound.
Soft - sǽð (saithe), kǽb (rowing block), drǽg (dredge)
Like a longer version of soft Æ. In some accents, a long 'ee' sound.
AI / AJ - faiv (five), faier (fire), kaj (cattle) aj (I)
Like the ‘i’ in Eng. ‘fire’
B - bæt (beat), buk (book), bjǫk (retch), nýb (nap)
As in English
C - calumny (id), incubate (id), cerebral (id)
As a standalone letter, used mainly in Latin and Greek words which retain their English spellings, such as calumny, cerebral and incubate. Pronounced as in the English word.
CH - lǫch (lake), brǫch (pictish fort), anjǫch (enough), pech (pant)
The sound in Scots loch.
CJ - cjýs (cheese), cjǫb (job), witcj (witch), brǫcj (brooch)
Like ‘ch’ in English cheese
D - dorts (the huff), del (delve), nýd (sprain, strain)
As in English.
DJ
At the beginning of a word, ‘dy’ or like Eng. ‘j’ depending on accent.
djuk (duck), djúb (the deep)
After the beginning of a word, like Eng. ‘j’
bodjet (budget), modjik (midge)
Ð, ð - mǽð (maggot), mýð (landmark), bǿð (booth)
Like ‘d’, or the ‘th’ in Eng. ‘this’ depending on accent.
E
Hard - elt (defile), set (set), kep (catch, intercept), sek (sack)
As in English ‘set’
Soft - eb (ebb), led (led), neb (beak), hen (hen)
In most accents, a diphthong, like the a in RP ‘lane,’ or the ‘ey’ in Scots ‘gey.’
In some districts, notably Cunningsburgh, like the ‘a’ in SSE ‘rate.’
In Whalsay, like the 'ai' in Scots and Scottish English 'hair.'
In most accents, E is pronounced as ‘ey’ before HT, so feht (fight) as ‘feyht’ or ‘feyt.’
É - Jhésus (Jesus), rhésus, sérum
The acute here shows that written E is pronounced ‘ee’.
EI - fein (fine), streind (characteristic), veild (vile)
As ‘i’ in SSE ‘fine.’
EJ - hej (hay), ej (always), Mej (May)
Like ‘ey’ in Scots ‘gey,’ or ‘a-e’ in RP ‘lane.’
F - føl (fool), fjárm (fawn, ingratiate), haf (ocean)
As English.
G - ganfer (apparition), dag (light drizzle), glof (frighten), gryst (spell)
As a standalone letter, normally has the sound of G in English ‘go,’ rather than the sound in ‘gin.’ But in Whalsay is often pronounced as ‘dy’ before front vowels.
GH - Ghórgj, Ghórdi (George) - alternative to G or CJ in a few proper names.
GJ - gjó (cleft in a cliff), gjil (head of a valley), pægj (page), gægj (gauge)
At the beginning of a word, as ‘gy’ - but in Whalsay often as ‘dy.’ At the end of a word, like the English ‘j’ sound.
H - haf (ocean), hágles (relentless), hǫk (dig)
As English
HT - leiht (light), tǫht (thought), feht (fight)
Pronounced in some districts like CH in Scots ‘nicht’ (i.e. similar to CH in ‘loch,’ but in the roof of the mouth) in some as a lighter version of the same sound, and in some accents omitted entirely. In most accents, Ǫ before H is pronounced as ‘ow,’ and E is pronounced as ‘ey,’ so tǫht as ‘towht’ or ‘towt,’ feht as ‘feyht’ or ‘feyt.’
HW - hwár (where), hwin (when), hwyn (queen)
As ‘wh’ in Scots and SSE. In some districts, particularly in the West of Shetland, HW is pronounced like ‘kw’.
I
Hard - pit (put), lip (lip), pik (knock)
Similar to the e in English ‘the’
Soft - in (in), lid (lid), lib (castrate), rig (backbone)
As in Eng. ‘lid, sin’
Unstressed - muti (tiny), úri (eerie), spyrit (spirit), mórning (morning)
An unstressed ‘ee’ sound. Can be spelt Í when non-final - spyrít, mórníng
Í - abílity (id), prodígious (id), affínity (id)
Shows that I is pronounced as ‘ee,’ especially in technical vocabulary derived from Greek and Latin which retain the English spelling.
IU - tiuk (took), biuk (book), liuch (laughed)
Like ‘yoo’ or ‘oo’ depending on accent.
J - jǫk (grasp), jasp (lively), jakel (molar), baj (buy), ej (always)
The English ‘y’ sound, as in most Germanic languages.
JH - Jhésus (Jesus), Jhǫn (John), Jhøn (June - month)
The sound of ‘ch’ in English. Used instead of CJ in a few proper names of Hebrew or Latin origin.
K - kat (cat), kep (catch, intercept), mak (make)
As in English. In Whalsay, often as ‘ty’ before front vowels.
KJ - kjil (kiln), kjób (bribe), kjoker (revive)
As ‘ky’, but in Whalsay often as ‘ty.’
L - las (girl), lamalæg (lame), bal (throw), pál (brace the feet)
L has both a ‘clear’ sound - sometimes known as the ‘Highland L’ in Scotland, although Gaelic in fact has three L sounds - and a ‘dark’ sound, like the sound in Scots and Scottish English. The ‘clear’ sound typically comes after front vowels such as Y and E, and after the soft allophones of other vowels such as I and A. As these are automatic to native speakers, and vary a lot according to accent, they are not differentiated in spelling.
M - mak (make), múr (snow heavily), løm (dish, vessel)
As in English.
N - Nórn (the Norn language), neb (beak), bæn (bone)
As in English.
NG - sang (song), pinger (small haddock), singl (single)
The sound of ‘ng’ in English ‘sing’ (not like the sound of ‘ng’ in English ‘longer’ which is spelt ngg, e.g. pængga, money)
Ǫ
Hard Ǫ - pǫt (pot), rǫp (rope), hǫk (dig)
Like the o in ‘pot’
Soft Ǫ̈ - ǫn (on), lǫd (load), rǫb (rob)
Further forward in the mouth than hard Ǫ - similar to o in French bonne.
ǪI - rǫid (unruly), fǫj (festival), cjǫj (joy)
Like ‘oi’ in Eng. ‘point’
O
Hard - bot (living end of a cottage), kop (cup), mok (muck, manure)
As in Eng. ‘love,’ ‘cover,’ or ‘u’ in ‘gut,’ but further forward in the mouth and often with rounded lips.
Soft - kod (cud), gob (lather), log (lug, ear
Similar to German ‘ö.’ In some accents, scarely distinguishable from Ø before voiced consonants.
Ó
Hard - ór (oar), bót (boat), dóp (dope), strók (stroke)
A long diphthongised ‘oh’ sound
Soft - óg (crawl), afród (dissuade), kjób (bribe), kóg (to crane the neck)
Typically less diphthongised than Ó (There is little difference in many accents)
OW - howl (howl), dow (wither), sjow (chew)
Like ‘ow’ in Eng. ‘howl’
Ø - øn (oppressive heat), gød (good), føl (fool), møn (moon)
Like Norwegian and Danish ø, German and Swedish ö, In the West of Shetland, this vowel is often closer, /y/, more like German ü or Swedish y.
Ǿ - rǿð (talk nonsense), pǿr (poor, emaciated), brǿl (bellow)
Like Ø above, but longer
ØI - grøint (grunt as a pig), pøint (point), bøj (boy)
Ø + I. Closer than ‘oi’ in Eng. ‘point’
P - pirm (cotton reel), palúvios (dead drunk), pjág (work hard), hap (shawl)
As in English
PH - phénol (id), aphorism (id), physiotherapy (id)
As in English. Mostly in words of Greek origin.
Q - quadrilateral (id), equestrian (id), quintessential (id)
As in English. Mostly in long words of Latin origin. Normally replaced by HW in less technical words such as hwyn, queen, and hwysten, question.
R - røl (colt), rybald (scoundrel), pir (breath of wind)
Usually a single tapped R, as in Spanish pero rather than perro.
S - saft (soft), sid (oat husk), las (girl)
A in English.
SJ - sjúr (shower), sjø, (she), sjǿr (sure), pusj (push)
As English ‘sh’ in ‘shower.’
T - tin (thin), tjǫch (tough), fát (fault)
As in English, but usually with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth.
TH - bǽth (both), greth (urine), muth (mouth)
Always like the sound of ‘th’ in English ‘thin’ (not like the sound of ‘th’ in English ‘the’).
U - ut (out), hup (hope), rum (room), murit (shade of brown)
Like ‘oo’ in ‘foot.’
Ú - úb (whimper), púr (pour, power), stúr (dust)
A longer ‘oo’ sound.
V - veind (skill), varg (irksome work), prýv (taste, test)
As in English.
W - wal (well), wirset (wool, worsted), wænglet (unsteady)
As in English. Also silent in e.g. wrǫht (worked)
X - exfoliate (id), x-ray (id), extrapolate (id)
As in English. Mostly in words of Latin origin.
Y - myt (meet), ryp (bleed profusely), ryk (smoke), dryd (dread, fear)
like ‘ee’ in ‘feet’
Ý - mýð (landmark), rýb (corrugation), pýg (glimmer), nýr (near, kidney)
A longer ‘ee’ sound
Z - zebra (id), cjaz (jazz), fiz (fizz)
Mostly in close English cognates.