ABSTRACT
The main aim of this book is to provide an accessible and comprehensive overview of the most conservative, regionally diversified form of the Shetland dialect, one of the most distinctive traditional dialects and best examples of a relic speech variety remaining in Britain. Chapter 8 states the main conclusions and insights emerging from the previous chapters. Following the discussion in Chapter 2 of Shetland’s language and society, and the summary of the methodology and fieldwork in Chapter 3, Chapter 4 provides an overview of lexical and grammatical features. Chapter 5 presents a detailed account of Shetland phonology along with a framework for vowel variation. Chapter 6 presents the first regional acoustic survey of vowel systems conducted in Shetland. Chapter 7 similarly provides a definitive regional acoustic survey of vowel and consonant duration, unveiling results generally consistent with a northward spread of the Norn-to-Scots shift across Shetland. Suggestions for further research are offered, including issues of pan-Shetlandic levelling of regional differences, and the purported shift from Scots to SSE in the main town of Lerwick.
