We're a' Jock Tamson's Bairns

I have been asked many times throughout my life where I am come from because as the person asking politely points out 'your accent is not one that I recognise'. This has been the case nearly all my adult life, as I don't have an accent that points to any of the influences that have been apart of my life such as where I was born or where I spent my childhood.

Often in Scotland an accent is seen as part of your identity almost as much as where you were born. To me I have never found any disadvantages in life because of my accent however  I do know people whose accents sadly have had a direct impact on an outcome in certain circumstances. That got me wondering about the wee ones accent and what that would mean for her.

The wee one is now becoming quite vocal and is finding her way around several new words each day. Some of those words are as you would expect, and others are words that you might expect to come later as they are a lot harder to pronounce, and therefore you might think the wee one, who up until now has made little effort in the talking department might try and avoid.
However like all things she starts she gives it her all and the more she gets right on the talking front the louder she seems to get!!

The one thing that is becoming apparent as the wee ones vocabulary increases is her accent, it is a very mixed bag of an accent at that, so where did this mixed bag come from, a mixed bag that goes from a hint of slightly posh to pure old Scots with an occasional American slant thrown in just to throw you off the scent!!

I have to take some of the responsibility here and will willingly put my hands up when it comes to having a confusing accent, I was born in Dumfries which is strongly connected to the lallands dialect, however when I was young we moved to Fort William, now Fort William  has a very mixed accent one that has Aberdonian, Glaswegian and several other dialects mixed in with the traditional soft accent of the Gael! After that I have travelled all over Scotland for short stays and now live on the East Coast which has its own words for nearly everything, encased in a strong scots dialect!

 

Now that is just me and the wee one is subjected to a large extended family, take the ASBO gardener aka papa for example he has what you would call a broad Scots tongue, this comes into its own during the Burns Supper season as he is the only one in our household that can read the poems as they should be read!
The law enforcer aka The chief prosecutor aka the wife has a Fort William accent laced with an Island twang that comes to the fore when she is laying down the law- these Islanders can become very scary when they get going!
Then we have my two children, firstly the wee ones mum aka master chef, she has inherited all our accents with a strong addition of the east coast thrown in, this scenario equally applies to the eighteen year old aka my son, but like all teenagers he has found a new way to say some words as if to show the oldies that times have changed and the new generation is in town!

So taking all that and the rest of the family that come from the four corners of Scotland it is no wonder the wee one is finding her feet as far as her accent is concerned. However putting all the parts of the family accents together still did not explain some of the wee anomalies in the wee ones use of certain words.
Like all children nowadays there is an element of telly in their lives, not only that but some of the games and toys that are apart of every wee ones toy box, are equipped with voices, these are not all high tec toys, nowadays it seems that everyday normal toys such as dolls have to talk back to you and let you know what they are needing!!! Listening to those toys and some of the cartoons that the wee one particularly enjoys gave me the final piece of the accent jigsaw!

So there we have it the wee ones accent is being influenced by elements from the Islands, the Borders, the East and West Coast of Scotland, and then a smattering from several countries world wide that come to her via the telly cartoon networks including the USA and Mexico!
What will this mean to the wee one, will she be asked the question I have been asked all my life and how will she react and what would her answer be?
These questions will all be answered in the future by her. However if were to answer on her behalf it would be this, I am an International Scot with a rich and diverse background that makes me who I am today! After all  "We're a' Jock Tamson's Bairns"!!!