SCOTTISH
Listening samples
Oral posture
Oral posture refers to a dialect or accent's "home base" in terms of articulatory settings - specifically the jaw, the lips, the tongue, the cheeks, and the velum (soft palate).
LIPS
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Lip corners will often have the sensation of being pinned
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Lip rounding/trumpeting on vowels in the FOOT, GOOSE, MOUTH, GOAT, LOT/CLOTH lexical sets
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Lips will slightly retract on FACE and KIT vowels
JAW
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The jaw is fairly raised - you can think about it being about a 1/4 open
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It tends to open more on BATH and TRAP vowels
TONGUE and SOFT PALATE
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Active tongue tip, which contributes to the tapped R sound
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The back of the tongue is also active, retracting often for the velarized /L/ sound
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The soft palate is also quite raised in this accent, especially in the PRICE and GOAT lexical sets.
pronunciation
Vowels
Words like FACE → [ e ]
A long, pure, close front single vowel. Front of tongue arches and the jaw remains fairly closed as you produce this sound.
There's a kind of personal redemption for for Jake and Max
I've made some seriously wonderful friends,
Words like FOOT/GOOSE → [ ʉ ]
The FOOT and GOOSE lexical sets are merged. To achieve this sound, think about making the GOOSE sound, but arch the middle of the tongue up towards the hard palate. Keep the lip corners pinned and slightly trumpet the lips.
But a good actor’s a good actor
cast and crew effort
Words like BATH/TRAP → [ a ]
This is a close front vowel. Think about cupping the front of the tongue (an image of a blueberry resting on the front of your tongue can be helpful) and opening the jaw as you make this vowel sound.
grafted like a madman, trying to make this work,
It says so much with so little about Max's attitude to that whole thing
Words like MOUTH → [ ʌʉ ]
This diphthong goes from a back unrounded STRUT vowel to a rounded close central vowel. Think about pinning the lip corners and slightly trumpeting the lips.
he slows his inner engine right down.
whereas television sometimes has to knock you out
Words like KIT → [ e̞ ]
KIT is a more open vowel, sounding closer to the DRESS vowel. You can perform this vowel sound with slight lip corner retraction.
It says so much with so little
I think he was kind of exercising, you know, aspects of himself,
WORDS LIKE GOAT → [ o̝ ]
This is a single back, very rounded vowel, that almost approaches GOOSE territory.
you know, because everybody really believed in the show, from the word go,
I think that was a stroke of genius. It says so much with so little
Words like LOT/CLOTH → [ ɔ ]
The LOT/CLOTH lexical sets are merged into a back, rounded, single vowel sound.
it's been one of the most special jobs of my life you know,
but still stayed in Scotland until I went to college and then finished college drama college acting school
WORDS LIKE PRICE → [ ʌi ]
The onset of this diphthong begins with a STRUT vowel and the coda moves towards a FLEECE vowel. There is no lip rounding in this sound, and it is helpful to keep the jaw raised.
everybody was really excited to be working on it
it's kind of nicer to have the time to spend on the way that a story develops via character
CONSONANTS
RHOTICITY
Medial and final /R/s are often tapped or trilled. More often than not, /R/ in an initial position of a word is retroflexed. Whether or not an R is tapped or retroflexed is variable! Here are a few examples:
R in initial position:
there's kind of moral redemption, I suppose
R in final position
it's just a blessing to be surrounded by such an amazing bunch of actors, you know
NORTH/FORCE
I sent him a message after I'd finished watching episode four
START
You actually take part in the contract by by going to the cinema
Consonant Clusters
because the scripts were so good
/WH/ → /HW/
Sometimes words spelled with /WH/ are pronounced as /HW/
doing something on the way pick something up, which, and this is reflected in his costume
Velarized /L/
/L/’s at the beginnings of words and syllables are velarized, meaning you want to think about retracting the tongue towards the soft palate.
which is what Leslie's done so brilliantly, is that it comes from left field
GLOTTALIZATION OF /T/
Sometimes if the letter /T/ follows a vowel, the Scottish speaker will insert a glottal stop instead.
everybody was really excited to be working on it
Max's attitude
PROSODY
FEATURE 1 - RISE DROP/SLUMP
Rise in pitch, followed by a sudden drop or slump in pitch.
FEATURE 2 - PLATEAUS
Sometimes speakers will plateau at certain pitches.
