Consonants – some additional remarks

Consonants that are alveolar in English English, e.g. /d/, /t/, /n/, are generally dental in Shetland accents and /ʃ/ , too, is fronted. /l/ is clear. In fact, the articulatory setting in Shetland speech is generally fronted, as shown by some palatograms made for the project investigating the Scandinavian element in Shetland dialect.

In restricted areas (Whalsay and Out Skerries in Shetland, North Ronaldsay in Orkney), /k/ and /g/ before front vowels are palatalized/affricated: cake , skerries . During my fieldwork in Whalsay in the early 1980s, a lady told me that unless her grandchildren pronounced cake in the proper “Whalsa” way, they would not get a piece! Some recent data collections suggest that this feature is now recessive.