Following a discussion on Facebook where Steve Byrne identified the requirement for an agreed learner’s register
In the absence of a fully-funded Scots Language Board who might better coordinate such pursuits, here follows a list of the top 200 most common wordforms in Scots, listed with the most common spelling in capitals, followed by less common and regional spellings. This is a descriptivist list, based on the 3 million word Corpus of 21st Century Scots Texts, please note it is NOT judging which is the “correct” or best spelling of each wordform, merely the most common or frequently used, that someone new to Scots might encounter in a broad overviews of Scots writing.
THE - the, tha, da, thi, i, e, ri
AN - an, and, n
A - a, an
TAE - tae, ti, to, ta
O - o, of, ae, ay
I - I, Ah, a
IN - in, i
IT - it, hid
FOR - for, fae, fur, fir, fer
WIS - wis, was, wes, wiz
YE - ye, you, yi, du, ya
THAT - that, dat
HE - he, e
ON - on, oan
WI - wi, wae, with, wiv
AT - at,
BUT - but, bit, bot
IS - is, bes
MA - ma, my, me
AS - as
HIS - his
AW - aw, aa, all, a, aal
SHE - she, shae, sheu
BE - be
OOT - oot, out, oat
WHIT - whit, fit, what,
SAID - said, seyed, seyd
THEY - they, dey, thay
THIS - this, dis, iss, ess
HER - her, hir, hur, er
UP - up
HAE - hae, hiv, have, huv
ME - me
NAE - nae, naw, no
NO - no, not
ABOOT - aboot, about
JIST - jist, juist, just, joost, jus, jis, cheust
LIKE - like, lik
YIN - yin, wan, ane, een, one
YER - yer, your
OR - or
WE - we
DAE - dae, dee, do, div
SAE - sae, so
DOON - doon, doun, down
WEE - wee, weer
IF - if, gin, gif
THEM - them, thaim, thim
HIM - him, im
HAD - had, hid
FRAE - frae, fae, from
BY - by, bi
NOO - noo, nou, now
WERE - were, wir, wur
WID - wid, wad, would, wud
WHEN - when, whan
THEIR - their, thair
OWER - ower, owre, over
SCOTS - Scots
MAIR - mair, more
THERE - there
GET - get, git
CAN - can, kin, cin
BACK - back,
DINNAE - dinnae, dinna, didnae, didna, dunna, didn't, dunnae
DAY - day
TIME - time
SEE - see
FOWK - fowk, folk, fock, fokk, fouk
GUID - guid, good, gweed, gid, gud
WEY - wey, wye, way, wae
RICHT, richt, right
WEEL - weel, well
BEEN - been
AWA - awa, away, awaa, awaw, aways, awiy
AFF - aff, off
ARE - are
KEN - ken, kenna, kenn
AE - ae
WILL - will, wull, wul
TILL - till, til, until
INTAE - intae, into
AYE - aye, always, ayewis
HOW - how, hoo, hou, foo
OOR - oor, our, wir
COULD - could, cud, cuid, coud, cwid
GOT - got, goat
AULD - auld, aul, old, owld, aald, aal
THEN - then
SOME - some, sum
TWA - twa, two
MAN - man, min
HERE - here
AFORE - afore, before, afoir, afor
LANG - lang, long, laang, loang
COME - come, cum, com
WHA - wha, who, whae
ITHER - ither, other, tither
AYE - aye, yes, ay
HAES - haes, has, hus
SAY - say, sey
GO - go, gang, gae
US - us
TAK - tak, take
CAM - cam, came, comed, cumed
EFTER - efter, after
NEVER - never, nivver, niver
HEID - heid, head
THINK - think, hink
NICHT - nicht, night, nite
MAK - mak, make
ITS - its
THOCHT - thocht, thought, thoucht
PIT - pit, put
AGAIN - again, agane, ageen, agaen, agen, agein
ONY - ony, any
GIE - gie, gee, give
AIN - ain, own
LOOK - look, leuk, luik, luk, lyeuk
CANNAE - cannae, canna, can’t, canno, canny, cunna
AIN - ain, own
HOOSE - hoose, house
DID - did
WHAUR - whaur, where
MUCKLE - muckle
THAN - than
HAME - hame, home, haim
THON - thon
GEY - gey, very, verra, gye
THING - thing, hing
EVEN - even, evin
STILL - still
FIRST - first
ONLY - only, anely, ainly, anerlie, anelie, oanly
SYNE - syne, since, syn
TELL - tell
SCOTLAND - Scotland, Scotlan
ANITHER - anither, another, anithir
BIG - big
SAYS - says, sez, seys
BAIRN - bairn
MICHT - micht, might
NEW - new
MIND - mind
MAIST - maist, most, maest
MADE - made, makit, meed
TELT - telt, tellt, told, teld, tolt
YEAR - year
BEIN - bein, being
LIFE - life, lif
SEEN - seen
THINGS - things, hings
NOR - nor
KENT - kent, kennt
EEN - een, eyes
THREE - three, thrie, threi
DOOR - door
WENT - went
LAST - last
WIDNAE - widnae, widna, winna, wadna, wouldnae, wudnae, wadnae, wuidnae, wuidna, woudnae, wudna, widni, widno
NEED - need
SIC - sic, such, sich
LICHT - licht, light
LOOKIN - lookin, leukin, luikin, looking, lukkin, lyeukin, luiking, lukking
LOOKED - looked, lookit, leukit, luikit, luiked, leuked, luked, lyeukit, lookit, lukkit, leukt, leukid
SAME - same
SCHOOL - school, schuil, schule, skweel, scuil, skuil, schul, schöl, schuul, scheul
DAEIN - daein, deein, daen, duin, doing, doin
ENOUGH - enough, eneuch, enuch, aneuch, enouch
HAUN - haun, haund, hand
GIED - gied, gave, geed
HAUF - hauf, half, haaf, hawf
MONY - mony, many, moany
KNOW - know
TOOK - took, tuik, teuk
WORD - word, wird, wurd
ILKA - ilka, ilk, ilkie, ilky, ilkae, ilke, ilkka
COULDNAE - couldnae, couldna, cuidnae, cuidna, cwidna, couldn’t, couldny, couldni, couldno
WATTER - watter, water, waater
COMIN - comin, coming, cumin, cuming
AINCE - aince, yince, wance, eence, once, ance, eince, yaince
EVERY - every, ivery, ivry, ivvery, iviry, ivvry
MUCH - much
MAUN - maun, must
USE - use, uise, yaise, eese, yiss, yase, yuise, aise, yaize, oese, uis
TOON - toon, toun, town
WHICH - which, whitna
MAKKIN - makkin, makin, making, makan
LIKES - likes, liks
YEARS - years
THESE - these, dese
TAEN - taen, taken
THAE - thae
SAYIN - sayin, saying, seyin
REID - reid, rid, red
SAW - saw, seed
COMES - comes, cums
HAUD - haud, hold, hauld
ABUIN - abuin, abune, abeen, above, abin, abön, abane, abain, aboon, abün, abinn, abeun, abun, abøn
AHINT - ahint, behind, ahind
It is a task for others to go through and select the preferred “Learner’s Register” choice of each spelling. Whilst some words only have one spelling variant (MUCH, YEAR, SAME, etc), some words have many spelling variants in circulation (ABUIN has fourteen variants, WOULDNAE has thirteen, SCHOOL has ten, LOOKED has twelve to choose from).
This is very much a first draft. There might be some secret minority spellings that I am yet to reach, huge secret societies of people writing in the Scots Language, but using an orthography that’s both unique and broadly understood.
Some more research is needed to figure out how certain verbs conjugate in a consistent manner (should WENT be listed with GAED? should KNOW be listed with KEN? Does YEAR need to be listed as its own plural along with YEARS), and also where there are substantial differences from standard English equivalents (for example the plurals of THEM and YOU - THEMS, YOUSE which don’t exist in standard English, and the vocative second person form YA). Also, DINNAE and all its variants aren’t direct transliterations of DIDN’T, DON’T and DOESN’T.
When reading English, do people read the words COUGH, TOUGH, THOUGH, THROUGH, BOUGHT, and throw the book down in disgust, “This isn’t the way I speak! Is the writer having a stroke?” Or do English readers just accept that some words are written a certain way, and everyone understands them.
I empathise with the writer who is trying to transcribe the way they speak in an accurate manner, but there are two million Scots readers out there, they’re clever enough to muddle through, but the writer must ask themselves “Do I really need to invent a new spelling?”
This list isn’t intended to tell people how they must write Scots, its merely to provide a bit of clarity as to which are the more common spellings and which are less common. Its not based on my personal opinion (which is 100% flawed and misguided), the list is based on the writings of about different 600 Modern Scots writers from all over the Scots speaking world. For more in depth statistics about each spelling, I would refer the reader to the Corpus of 21st Century Scots Texts concordance page, which counts how many writers in each dialect use each word.
https://chrisgilmour.co.uk/scots/concord.php?search=luikit
Personally I have no natural regional Scots dialect, I’m from Manchester. When writing in Scots, I’m inclined to use the most common spelling variant, but when that variant happens to be the same as the English equivalent, it becomes more of a judgement call, do I want to write more Scottishish? More Scotsy? To be honest, I usually do.
If I were from the North East of Scotland, and natively spoken the Doric variety, I might be inclined to use a Doric spelling instead of a central dialect spelling, but that would depend on who my expected readership would be. If I wanted the widest possible Scots readership, I’d pick the central spelling, if it were just Doric speakers and readers, or perhaps the character I was writing about was from the North East, I would use the Doric spelling.
Similarly for Orkney, Shetland and Ulster, depending on the circumstance I’d use their regional spellings.
There’s a deeper issue here. When I was young, and learning English at school, correct spellings was something that teacher thought was very important. My English essays would be riven with red ink, lists of correct spellings were regularly issued to be learnt. We might note that the English language was standardised with various dictionaries, Oxford, Chambers, Collins, long before universal schooling was introduced.
The teaching of the Scots language in schools is more relaxed. Statistically teachers are less literate in the Scots language than the rest of the population, they have less reading and writing ability than the average, even comparing Scots speaking teachers to Scots speaking non-teachers, so there is a laissez fair attitude to spellings, anything goes, no red ink.
In some respects, this is great for the kids, less stress, more liberty, but on the other hand its not so good for standardisation.
The very institution of “language standardisation” isn’t merely some academics and activists hammering out the “correct” spelling and hoping for universal adoption. The institution of standardisation is tens of thousands of teachers liberally applying red ink to their pupil’s work, nudging them to use the same spellings that other writers have used. It is broadcast media, TV and radio adopting one consistent register as the default. It is editors and subeditors at publishing houses and newspapers across the land, gently suggesting to their writers that more common spellings might be appropriate for the expected readership.
This latter group has been absent. Government documents, esteemed literary works, best-selling books written in Scots all embrace broad varieties of spellings. The whole industry of editing and spell-checking has taken the day off, gone away on their hols.
And well-read Scots speakers pick up the published documents and books, and wonder, “What is this garbage? "Why are these people inventing new words? Are they no embarrassed?”
Its somewhat understandable. There are only around 50 books written in Scots each year, about 2% of the total, most publishers don’t go anywhere near them. Despite there being roughly two million Scots readers, the entire Scots language editing industry is less than a dozen people, each with their own personal orthography. The editors mostly trust Scots writers to check their own spelling. To be fair, like in Education, people working in publishing, broadcasting and communications are statistically less literate in Scots than the rest of the population.
This two hundred entry wordlist is part of a larger frequency dictionary I’m compiling, I’ll do a more detailed SubStack article about it in due course. Based on my experience with A Scots Rhyming Dictionary, the Frequency Dictionary will probably be a free e-book PDF, unless Luath or Leckie&Leckie want to publish it properly.