https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Some Studies in the Glasgow Vernacul- Caroline Isobel Macafee Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Scottish Literature University of Glasgow September 1988 Caroline Macafee, 1988 ProQuest Number: 10999334 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10999334 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Dedicated to the memory of Scott William McAfee (1960-1981), 'Wee' Jeremy Norman (1949-1984) and Chi-Leung Wong (1950-1985). Acknowledgements Anyone undertaking a project on this scale incurs many debts, and when the research is based on fieldwork, it is no exaggeration to say that without the people who gave their time and help as informants, the entire project would have come to nothing. I would like to thank all of the people who allowed me to record their voices, including Lizzie, Betty, Jeannie, Annie, Nellie, Agnes, Chrissie, Jessie' and others at the bingo club in Queen Mary Street; Steven, Scott, Jason, Alan, Gary, ’Harry’, ’Ped’, ’Mainie’, two boys both called Craig, ’Jumbo’, ’Steelie’, three girls called Michele, two girls called Sharon, Carol-Ann, Maureen, Patsy, Frances, Rosemary, Theresa, Elizabeth and others at the Queen Mary Street youth club; Bella, Mary, May, Bob and others at the Dolphin Arts Centre pensioners' club; Paul, William and others at the Insect Zoo; James, Margaret, Catriona and others at the Dolphin Arts Centre Youth Theatre; Mary, Margaret, Marion, Rita, Ann, Senga, May, Jeannette, Maureen and others at the Savoy Street mothers’ group; Ann, Karen, Lesley, James, Tam, Bill (and his brother-in-law, Alan), Eileen and others at the Dennistoun Gingerbread group; Maggie, Barbara, Rosemary, Tina, Marina, Chrissie, Beenie, Pheemie, Willy, Billy, ’Ziggie’, Charlie and others in Barrowfield; Alf, Jen, Jim, John, Robert, Jimmy, Bobby, Tam and others in Dennistoun; Isa, Betty and Willy, Bill and Alice, Annie, John, 'Ozzie', ’Murdie’, Peter, Reg, Alex and others in Bridgeton; Helen, May, two ladies called Cathy, Bridget, Jack, Jim, John, Joseph, Robby and others at the pensioners' club in Orr Street. The late James Camochan gave me much useful information and many laughs. 1 would also like to thank school students in class 1A (in 1984-85) in John Street Secondary School. My thanks also to Miss Tait’s class at Queen Park Secondary School and Mr. Collins' and Mr. Drever’s classes at Albert Secondary School in 1984-85, who took part in the schools questionnaire, as well as others whose answers have not been used here. My thanks to the teachers who helped me, including Ann Tait, Miss Devine, Mr. Sheddon, Mr. Collins and David Drever. 1 am very grateful to Alex Hamilton, who suggested collecting lexical material from schoolchildren, and whose support gave me an entree to schools. I am particularly indebted to the community workers, voluntary workers, organisers and others who allowed me to intrude with my tape-recorder, helped me to find suitable people to record, and smoothed my path. Thanks to Sam Glass, Pam Harper, Esther Walsh, Graham Warwick, Wilma Williamson, Pratima Pershad, Mary Dawson, Rosemary Bell, Mary McCluskie, Mary Holmes and everyone who helped me. My thanks go also to the many people who helped me in various ways as the research developed, of whom 1 will mention only Elspeth King of the People's Palace, Mike Armstrong of the Planning Department of Glasgow District Council, and Sean Darner for the loan of private tape-recordings. My colleagues in the English Language and Scottish Literature Departments at the University of Glasgow were a source of support and intellectual stimulation over many years, and for this I thank them warmly. The students who studied with me gave me many insights, and 1 would particularly thank my long-suffering postgraduate students, Lindsay Hewitt and Mehmoud Ouanes. My thanks go to many fellow scholars, too numerous to mention by name, from whom 1 have learned and taken encouragement. I have benefited from the knowledge and generosity of many colleagues and fellow participants at conferences in the fields of dialectology, sociolinguistics and stylistics. The small group of scholars working on the Scots language have given.me the sense of working on a shared task, and I am particularly grateful to A. J. Aitken, Hans Speitel and John Kirk. 1 have enjoyed many challenging discussions with Paul Johnston. Iseabail Macleod has been a special source of encouragement, as her interest in the lexical aspects of the research pushed me on in this unfashionable direction. I would like to thank the University of Glasgow for a sabbatical in 1984-85 which made the fieldwork possible, and for voluntary severance in 198 7. My supervisors, Seumas Simpson and Rod Lyall, have given me exactly the right combination of freedom to develop ray work and careful scrutiny of the results, and 1 am most grateful to them both. Finally, I would call down blessings upon the heads of my brother, my ’Auntie Bell', and my mother. Contents Acknowledgements Summary Abbreviations and conventions Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Outline of the research 1 1.1.1 Urban dialectology 1 1.1.2 Qualitative methods 5 1.1.3 Dialect levelling 7 1.1.4 Uniformation 10 1.2 The making of an inner city 12 1.3 Irish and Scots elements in the population 18 1.4 Rough or respectable 22 1.5 The fieldwork area 27 1.5.1 Barrowfield 27 1.5.2 The Calton 29 1.5.3 Bridgeton 31 1.5.4 Dennistoun 32 1.6 The Glasgow dialect 33 1.6.1 West Central Scots 33 1.6.2 Glasgow dialect 34 1.7 Why Glasgow dialect matters 41 Chapter 2 Theory and methodology 58 2.1 Theory 58 2.1.1 Quantitative sociolinguistics 58 2.1.2 The dynamic model 61 2.1.3 The ’evaluation problem' 65 2.1.4 Codability 6 7 2.2 Methodology 71 2.2.1 Fieldwork 71 2.2.2 The questionnaire 7 7 2.2.3 Social status and other personal details 83 2.2.4 Recruitment of informants 84 2.2.5 'Linguistic insecurity' 90 2.2.6 Transciption and analysis 92 Chapter 3 Findings: Individual lexical items 105 3.1 Money 108 3.1.1 bob, ten bob, two bob 109 3.1.2 tanner 112 3.1.3 tishyroon, tishy 113 3.1.4 gelt 115 3.1.5 buckshee 116 2 Games and entertainment 118 3.2.1 hunch cuddy hunch 118 3.2.2 elastics/ Chinese ropes/ chinks 119 3.2.3 chickie mellie 122 3.2.4 ring bang skoosh 123 3.2.5 five stanes 124 3.2.6 keys/ baurlav 125 3.2.7 guisers/ Gloshins 127 3.2.8 kinderspeil 130 3.2.9 tossing school, toller 131 3.2.10 stookiedoll 136 3.2.11 stookie 13 7 3 Food , etc. 138 3.3.1 swedger/ swedgie 138 3.3.2 chinex 139 3.3.3 ginger/ ieggie 140 3.3.4 poky hat 142 3.3.5 sugarailie 143 3.3.6 pea leap 145 3.3.7 scratch/ spunk 145 4 Clothes 146 3.4.1 dolled up/ brammed up/ in your paraffin 146 3.4.2 peenie/ daidlie/ thibbet 149 5 Household 153 3.5.1 lirk 153 3.5.2 hippen 154 3.5.3 knock, waggity-wa 155 3.5.4brace 15 7 3.5.5 closet/ cludgie 158 3.5.6 midden/ midgie 161 3.5. 7 tackety ioack 164 3.5.8 tenement/ laun(d) 165 3.5.9 pen(d) 169 3.5.10 jawboax 170 3.5.11 well/ wall 173 3.5.12 syn(d) 176 6 General 177 3.6.1 bit, cane 17 7 3.6.2 the butts 178 3.6.3 fernietickles 179 3.6.4 take the spur 180 3.6.5 turn it up 183 3.6.6 dinghy 184 3.6.7 going out for cadgies 186 3.6.8 clock/ have a shuftie 187 3.6.9 beamer/ riddie/ brassie 190 3.6.10 mingin/ clingin/ gingin/ boggin/ bowfin/ honkin 193 3.6.11brill/ magic 198 3.6.12 gallus 200 3.6.13 get a jildi on 206 3 .7 People 207 3.7.1 balloon, sodv-heidit 207 3.7.2 minesweeper 210 3.7.3 bampot/ bamstick 211 3.7.4 chanty wrassler 214 3.