Scottish Dialects in Novels
"Och aye." "Nae bother." "Ye dinna ken." Readers of Scottish historical novels can't avoid coming across Scottish accents - whether they like them or not. A well-balanced accent gives readers the experience of 'hearing' the characters, their speech a sign of heritage, upbringing and culture. Sometimes, different accents are used to denote regional differences. This is more in line with the reality of the day, I believe, but quite difficult to achieve. Modern Scots still have different dialects, east from west and north from south. What's 'ye' for some, is 'yoo' for others, and even the odd 'ya' appears in places. So how does a writer get a right balance? It's a tricky one. As a (non-Scottish) resident in Scotland I have an issue with the over-use of dialects in fiction. Hints of a lilt are fine, but the continuous use of dialects - especially in characters from different corners of the country using the same spe...