ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 provides and overview of lexical and grammatical features of the Shetland dialect. The vocabulary section contains a discussion of semantic fields particularly rich in local lexis. The main historical input sources to the local lexis are reviewed including Celtic, Old Norse and Norn, Low German, Dutch, and French. An overview is provided of available resources for further information on the lexis of the Shetland dialect, including locally produced treatises and studies that have hitherto received little attention. The chapter also offers an overview of the grammatical features of the Shetland dialect, structured by grammatical class. Examples, which are provided from a range of sources, were additionally tested on native speakers of the dialect.
