1.6 Representation of the 'Yogh' or 'y' sound

The 'y-' sound in Ulster-Scots was once represented by the letter 'yogh', firstly as 3 and then z in historical documents (see section 1.2). It is represented only rarely in this way in modern writing, apart from its use in place names and surnames. The sound, however, remains in the spoken language, sometimes being represented as 'y' in a similar way to the way 'y' is used in the beginning of some English words such as 'year' and 'yellow'.

'Yoghing' after the consonants 'm', 'n', 'd', 't', 'l','c' and 'g'

The English pronunciation of certain words like 'new', 'tune' and 'Duke' include the 'y-' sound after the consonants 't', 'n' and 'd'. This, of course, also applies in Ulster-Scots, but it extends here to words like neuk ('nook'), teuch ('tough') and deuck ('duck'). While some writers have revived the Older Scots letter 'yogh' in modern Ulster-Scots (and this includes ze and zeir for 'you' and 'year' etc), the existing spelling conventions of 'neu-' or 'new-', 'deu-' or 'dew-' and 'teu-' are adequate in most cases. Similarly, when the consonant 'f' is 'yoghed' in Ulster-Scots, a 'feu-' spelling is often sufficient, eg feuggie ('left-handed').

The word tulzie ('dispute', 'quarrel'), pronounced [tul-yeh], is found in an early Donegal Ulster-Scots poem of 1720: "To redd the Royal tulzie sets thy muse", while over a century later (in 1846) Robert Huddleston of Moneyreagh in county Down penned the line: "Or else the tulzie gangs mair t'ugh".

The consonant 'l' can be followed by a 'yogh' sound (and by the letter z) in certain Older Scots words such as tulzie, culzie ('welcome') and the north Antrim forms of caylie - caylzie ('ceildhe', 'visit'). Some writers use 'y' in these circumstances, but it is not always clear that a 'yogh' sound is intended. For example, the surname Bailzie is pronounced [bail-ye], while the placename Bally is pronounced [bel-ey]. In these cases, where an -ly- spelling might be misleading, the -lz- spelling is used in this book. Words like 'include', 'influence', 'cruel' or 'local' which can be pronounced [inclyude], [inflyuance], [cruyel] and [lok-yal] are spelt with a 'y' rather than 'z': ( cruyel* and locyal* ).

However, some writers also prefer to represent the ('y') yogh sound in words like feuggie, teuch or eneuch by using a 'j' or a 'y'; fjuggy, tjugh, enyuch. Indeed, a considerable number of Ulster-Scots words are best spelt with the consonant followed by a 'y'. Examples include:

flyue	-	flu
flyute	-	flute
glyue	-	glue
myooly	-	chilblainey
myoother	-	millers portion of meal
myowt	-	whisper, small sound
nyaff	-	a perky wee nuisance
nyim	-	a tiny piece
nyir	-	a nuisance
nyirm	-	whinge
nyirps	-	annoyance
nyitter	-	complain
nyuch	-	steal (in some areas this is pronounced to rhyme with English 'tuck', and slightly differently from neuk - a 'nook or hiding-place', which rhymes with English 'took')

In this book, a 'nue-' type spelling is used rather than 'ny-', except where a subsequent vowel cannot be avoided, or where confusion with another English word might result. For example, neuk, not *nyook; speuch, not *spyooch; nyuck, not *neuock; feuggie. not *fyoogy; and nyirp not *neuirp. The English word 'hook' is not *huik or *huk in Ulster-Scots, but is pronounced [hyuk] and is spelt here heuk. Similarly 'book', 'shook', 'took', and 'look' were written as beuk, sheuk, teuk and leuk by many Ulster-Scots poets of 200 years ago (in addition to heuk for 'hook').

Words beginning with a hard 'g' or 'c', and followed by a rounded [a] or [o] vowel sound such as 'cart', 'garden' 'cat' often have their initial consonants 'yoghed' in Ulster-Scots to give cairt [kyaert], gairden [gyaerdin] and cát [kyawt]. It should be noted, however, that this particular feature is more characteristic of Ulster-English dialects in mid and south Ulster, where it is more clearly and more frequently pronounced. Some Ulster-Scots writers have written words such as 'cat' and 'car' as kat and kar, not simply to 'make a difference' with English, but to suggest the 'kya' pronunciation. Some words actually spelt with a 'k', such as kepp ('kept') or kennel may also display the 'kya' sound in speech, as may similarly voiced words beginning with sc- and sk-.

'Yoghing' vowels at the start of words

When certain words begin with a vowel letter they are spelt y- if they are pronounced with an initial y- sound in Scots and Ulster-Scots. For example, 'ewe' and 'use' are yowe and yuise. These words have a 'y' sound at the beginning in English too, of course, as do words such as 'you', 'your', 'year' (ye,yer,yeir).

Some other words which do not begin with a 'y-' in English, and which do not have a 'yogh' sound at the start in English, are nevertheless modified in traditional Ulster-Scots. So 'ale' occurs as yill in some Ulster-Scots poems, and in earlier documents 'earl' becomes yirl or yerl. More familiarly, 'earth' becomes yirth or yird. Some Scots and Ulster-Scots words which are not shared with English are also modified in the same way. 'Eagle', which is earn in Scots, can also be yirn or yearn; ae, which is the adjectival form of 'one' or 'a single' is often yae; 'one', otherwise, has become yin in Ulster-Scots (although the 'standard' Scots form is ane), and 'once' is yinst (see section 2.7).

The words thon ('that') and thonder or thonner ('over there') are used interchangeably with yon and yonner.

The use of a 'y' sound in front of an initial vowel is even more widespread in the spoken language than the written conventions used in this book suggest. However, the pronunciation of such words depends on the context of the word in speech, and is not consistent. When words like Ulstèr, hòspittal, ootbye etc are preceded in speech by another vowel sound they are 'yoghed' and the initial vowels are not sounded glottally' as would be the case in English. For example tha hale o Ulstèr ('the whole of Ulster') is pronounced [tha hail a -yullster], and hè aye cums oot o tha hòspittal is pronounced [ee yaye cums oot a tha yoshpi'le]. However, when these words are voiced singly, when they begin a sentence, or when they are preceded by a consonant at the end of the previous word in a sentence, then the 'yoghing' of the initial vowel does not occur. It must be remembered that these 'rules' govern the spoken language only, and are not represented orthographically. However, this point will help the reader understand why o ('of'') is pronounced variably as [o], [a] and [e] in Ulster-Scots speech, and that there would be no difference in speech between "Tha yin abain tha yirth" and "Tha ane abain tha earth."

Loss of 'l' after 'b', 'p' and 'f'

Some words which begin with the consonants 'bl', 'pl' or 'fl', and are then followed by an [ou] vowel sound, are pronounced without the 'l' sound, and in its place a 'yogh' sound is added. Thus 'blue' becomes blyue or bue; ploo ('plough') becomes plyeu or peu; and 'flu' becomes flyue.