Dialects and Accents of Scotland
The archive provides:
In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).
The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages, Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage), and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings), may be accessed from the menu bar to your right.
To access IDEA's sound files and documents, you will need an mp3 player, and Acrobat Reader, available free from Acrobat Reader.
If you are interested in specific information about Scotland, please go to Yahoo's website at dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/United_Kingdom/Scotland/
For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here
please go to
Other Dialect Services
Dialect Samples
To properly play a sound sample, you may first need to save it to your own computer. To do so, right-click on the desired sample and save it. A high-speed connection to the internet may allow you to play the file simply by clicking it.| Sound Sample | Basic Information | Text Files |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland One | Female, middle-class, Dundee, 20's | Scotland One |
| Scotland Two | Male, farmer, middle-aged, broad Orkney accent | Scotland Two Transcription |
| Scotland Three | Female, student, Ayrshire, near Glasgow | Scotland Three |
| Scotland Four | White female, born 1980, raised in Fife, student | Scotland Four Transcription |
| Scotland Five | Female, student, born 1982, raised in Edinburgh | Scotland Five |
| Scotland Six | White female, drama student, twenties, middle-class, educated Edinburgh | Scotland Six |
| Scotland Seven | Female, drama student, born 1979, Wick | Scotland Seven |
| Scotland Eight | White male, born 1979, Elgin, student | Scotland Eight |
| Scotland Nine | Male, student, born 1967, born and raised in Johnstone, Renfrewshire | Scotland Nine |
| Scotland Ten | Female, student, born 1979, born and raised in Glasgow | Scotland Ten |
| Scotland Eleven | White male, born 1980, raised Ayrshire, student | Scotland Eleven |
| Scotland Twelve | Male, student, born 1980 Dumfries and Calloway, raised in New Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway | Scotland Twelve |
| Scotland Thirteen | Male, student, born 1980, born and raised on the Isle of Skye | Scotland Thirteen Transcription |
| Scotland Fourteen | Male, student, born 1983, born and raised Torry, Aberdeen | Scotland Fourteen |
| Scotland Fifteen | female, singing teacher, born 1955, born and raised Lanarckshire | Scotland Fifteen |
| Scotland Sixteen | actress, born 1983 and raised in Edinburgh, Cambridge educated | Scotland Sixteen |
| Scotland Seventeen | white male student, born 1988, raised Kirkintilloch | Scotland Seventeen |