Highland English or Highland and Island English is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides. It is more strongly influenced by Gaelic than other forms of Scottish English.
Phonology
The more distinctive varieties of Highland English show the influence of Gaelic most clearly in pronunciation, but also in grammar. For example, voiceless stops are realised with preaspiration, that is as, and or, whereas voiced consonants tend to be de-voiced. Examples; that "whatever" becomes pronounced as "whateffer" and the English "j" as in "just" sound is often turned into a "tch" sound e.g. "chust". English may be realised as, giving "chisas". Some speakers insert a "sh" sound in English "rst" clusters, so that Eng. "first" gives "firsht". The lack of in Gaelic may have led to its realisation in Highland English as, as in .
Similarly, the svarabhakti that is used in some consonant combinations in Gaelic and Scots is sometimes used, so that "film" may be pronounced "fillum".
Many older speakers employ a very distinctive affirmative or backchannel item taken from Scottish Gaelic which involves an ingress of breath with clearly audible friction and whose function to indicate agreement with what a speaker has just said or is saying or to indicate continuing agreement or comprehension. This phenomenon has been termed by some "the Gaelic Gasp". This linguistic feature is not found in the other Gaelic languages, but is present in some Scandinavian languages.
H-dropping, not generally found in Scots or Scottish English dialects, has been reported to be a standard speech feature in the Black Isle, near Inverness.
Grammar
The grammatical influence of Gaelic syntax is most apparent with verbal constructions, as Scottish Gaelic uses the verb to be with the active participle of the verb to indicate a continuous action as in English, but also uses this construction for iterative meanings; therefore "I go to Stornoway on Mondays" becomes "I am going to Stornoway on Mondays". Occasionally older speakers use -ing constructions where Standard English would use a simple verb form, example "I'm seeing you!" meaning "I can see you!". The past tense in Highland English may use the verb to be followed by "after" followed by the participle: "I am after buying a newspaper" to mean "I have bought a newspaper", although this construction is more common in Irish English. Some speakers use the simple past in situations where standard English would require "have" plus verb constructions, for example "France? I was never there" rather than "I have never been there". The diminutive -ag is sometimes added to words and names, and is a direct lift from Gaelic, e.g. Johnag, Jeanag. It is still used in Caithness as well. A great variety of distinctive female names are formed using the -ina suffix appended to male names, examples: Murdina, Dolina, Calumina, Angusina, and Neilina.
Relationship to other languages
Discourse markers taken directly from Gaelic are used habitually by some speakers in English, such as ending a narrative with "Sin aad-s' e" or "Sin agad e", or ending a conversation with "Right, ma-thà" or "Okay ma-thà" meaning "then".
Vocabulary
A list of words that appear in Highland English, although these are sometimes shared with Scottish English in general, as well as Lowland Scots, and to other areas where Highlanders have emigrated in large numbers.
Aye - Meaning 'yes'
Blone - Meaning 'woman'- particularly in the Hebrides
Bodach - A Gaelic word for an old man.
Bothan - a hut, often an illegal drinking den.
Bourach - a mess, a muddle, from the Gaelic bùrach
Bothy - A mountain refuge.
Cailleach - A Gaelic word for an old woman.
Cèilidh - A 'Social gathering' or, more recently, a formal evening of traditional Scottish Social Dancing.
Clearances or more commonly The Clearances, referring to the Highland Clearances
Cove - a man or boy, mostly heard in Stornoway
Deoch-an-dorais, meaning a "drink at the door". Translated as "one for the road", i.e. "one more drink before you leave".
Fear an taighe an MC, Gaelic lit. "the man of the house"
Gàidhealtachd - A Gaelic term for Gaelic-speaking areas, sometimes extended to the Highlands in general
Glen - A valley, usually deep and narrow, from Gaelic gleann.
Inversneckie, a nickname for Inverness. Also "Sneck", "Shneck" or "The Shneck".
Jamp - Usually used in sentences instead of 'jumped'
Keesch- Usually used as an insult. Refers to faeces.
Kyle or Kyles - Straits from Gaelic Caol & Caolais. 'Kyle' is related to this meaning and is also the local name for the more specific Kyle of Lochalsh.
Teuchter - a derogatory term applied mainly to Northern Scots and Highlanders, but also to rural Scots in general. It is sometimes used ironically by the "teuchters" themselves.
White Settlers, or Incomers - a derogatory term for migrants to the Highlands and Islands, often from England, but also from elsewhere in the UK or Europe.
