Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Page 32

40 Dialect Research in Orkney and Shetland after Jakobsen
mic inventories, but by noting differences in distribution.
The case of stressed vowel t has already been given as
an exemplification of the difference between the dialects of
North Ronaldsay and Deerness. But this particular struc*
tural position will not, inevitably, be the best for all de=
monstrable purposes. It was, of course, used exclusively by
Mr. Catford to demonstrate the theory that a 12*vowel
system may have been current for 16th century metropolitan
Scots, and transplanted to Shetland at the time of Scots
settlement. In fact, the dialects of Shetland are all — except
Fair Isle — of such 12=vowel systems. Those of Orkney
vary, both in inventory and in distribution, but 12=>voweI
systems exist there too. These will be examined presently,
but some other structural positions will also be noticed,
namely, stressed vowels before 1 (where, in certain circum*
stances, this consonant becomes noticeably palatalised).1)
This position, in fact, will demonstrate most clearly the
internal divisions just referred to, and by using distrií
butional criteria.
The case of Fair Isle (an lDvowel system) can be
examined by setting out two or three other Shetland sy«
stems in tabular form:
') The consonants d and n might also have been used here, where
the same phenomena might have followed. For the sake of brevity
only 1 will be tabulated. The palatalisation is, of course, not found in
Scots mainland dialects and must be assumed to be of Norse origin.