The Fascinating Origins of the Scottish Accent

Patrick FooteofName Explain took a look at the origins of the very distinctive Scottish accent. While no land has a single accent, the varying degrees of English spoken in Scotland fall under the accent umbrella.

The accents spoken in this neck of the woods, the Scottish accent may very well be one of the most recognizable accents on the planet pretty much everyone has heard it and pretty much everyone has attempted to impersonate it with varying degreesof success

The accent is a combination of a now-extinct language of Pictish (Brittonic Celtic) with its replacement by Scottish Gaelic, plus Old English, Germanic Scots from the Middle Ages, Irish, and, of course, modern English.

Of course English played a huge role in Scotland, not only giving us Scottish English which is different to Scots, but also went on to become the most spoken language in the nation. All these languages from Gaelic to Scots to Norse to Irish can be put into two categories they're either a Celtic tongue or a Germanic tongue this seems to be the defining factor of the Scottish accent it is widely seen as being a unique hybrid of Celtic accent and Germanic accents primarily Gaelic and Scots... but with other influences too were these all came together to create that now more or less universally recognized Scottish accent which is beloved by so many around the world