Aitken's Law

Aitken's Law, named after Professor A.J. Aitken, who formulated it, describes how the timbre length of vowels in Scots and Scottish English is conditioned by position in the word. The rule affects all vowels in the core dialects of Scots, while in outlying dialects it does not apply to some vowels.

(Phonetic values in IPA)

• [ambi], [j], [crowd], [sing] and [a] They're usually short.
• [e], [i], [o], [u] and [ø] are usually long:
  • in syllables accentuated [v], [ð], [z], [ cheering] and [r].
  • before vowel and
  • before morphism limit.
• [GRUNTS], [ and []] are usually long in most of the dialects.
• The diptongo [ambii] usually appears around short vowels and [both] of long vowels, as described above.