Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Page 25
Dialect Research in Orkney and Shetland
after Jakobsen
J. Y. Mather
It has fallen to this present writer to follow after men of
the stature of Jakob Jakobsen and Hugh Marwick in the
academic study of the dialects of Orkney and Shetland.
This might be more than daunting, were it not that each
generation can claim to live in a climate of opinion not
wholly of its own choice or creation. Thus, when a new
investigator knows that he is simply an appointed field»
worker — a member of a team — for a detailed academic
project like the Linguistic Survey of Scotland, he can feel
supported by the creative thought not only of the Survey
itself, but of an interlocking series of Departments like
Phonetics, General Linguistics, and English Language,
within the University of Edinburgh.1)
*) The Linguistic Survey of Scotland is a research department in the
University, directed by Professors Angus Mclntosh (English Language),
Kenneth Jackson (Celtic) and David Abercrombie (Phonetics). It began
its work in 1950 and is in two sections, Lowland Scots and Gaelic. Its
Lowland Scots section has the task of investigating the dialects of Orkn-
ey and Shetland. Work on the lexis, in Scots, has been carried out by
two postal questionnaires which are now being edited for publication.
Phonological work is being done by fieldworkers. This article will touch
briefly on both of these aspects. There are, of course, others (grammar,
for instance), which still await detailed investigation.