Shetland

The Shetland dialect shares much with other branches of Scots, though the legacy of Norn, which died about 1800, is obvious still in place names, vocabulary, expressions and pronunciation.
One of the most distinctive features is the second person singular pronoun: friends, equals and family members are likely to be addressed as 'du' instead of 'you'. (The plural form is 'you'.) After 'du' comes the same part of a verb as would appear after 'he': e.g.:
Du is daft if du believes him!
The objective form is 'dee' e.g.:
I dunna laek dee.
Inanimate objects are often called 'he' or 'she/sh�'. E.g.:
I lost dat book, or maybe Mam dumpit him.
Da new car? Sh�'s a lock faster. (Sh� is a local pronunciation.)
Some Shetland vowel sounds are common in Scandinavia, the most obvious being �. There are differences in pronunciation throughout the isles, mainly with vowels. The distinctive short ae sound as in 'paet' and 'spaek' etc is found in all areas. Another noticeable Shetland-wide feature is the tendency to use 'd' or 't' in place of English 'th', e.g.:
this dis
that dat
there dere

thin tin
thick tick
thrive trive
When talking about the past, it is common practice to use the verb 'to be':
'Is du heard?' 'Yes, I'm heard'.
When using English, we say 'Shetland dialect' or just 'the dialect'. 'Shetlandic' is an English word, acceptable when speaking or writing English. But, for dialect speakers among dialect speakers, the word is 'Shetland' (pronounced 'Shaetlan'). The name of the speech and the name of the islands are the same.
Shetland dialect today is alive and in daily use. It belongs, for example, in the world of tankers, ferries and aquaculture: in the firths, steep-sided inlets, high rocks in the sea, sunken rocks, rough water where currents collide, the edge of a cliff, the edge of the water, high tide, seaweed. Gales and gusts of wind blow round our windmills, thick mist stops the planes, the occasional white-out blocks roads. We all do our weekend shopping, try not to throw litter, and hope to avoid viruses or undefined 'bugs'. And as for people: good-looking, starved-looking, very nice, quite prim and particular, or downright weak and poorly - there's quite a lot to say! Radio Shetland features dialect, the public flocks to dialect plays, concerts and poetry readings, and the 'Shetland ForWirds' committee, recently established in response to public pressure, aims to promote the continued use of 'Shaetlan' as a lively spoken tongue.

To learn more about the history and background of both Norwegian and Scots please follow this link to John Magnus Tait's website: http://www.wirhoose.co.uk/