The Great English Vowel Shift refers to a series of changes in the pronunciation of English vowels. However, in Scots the vowels were not affected the same as in English. Two differences were with the back vowels [u] and [o]. The vowel [u] remained unaffected and did not diphthongize to [aʊ] and the vowel [o] first became the front rounded [ø] and later the vowel [e].
In Scots the following words have the vowel sound [u]:
about
brown
cow
down
house
how
mouse
now
round
sour
In Scots the following words have the vowel sound [e]:
bone
broad
drove
home
no
oak
rope
soap
stone
whole
Many Scots words with [u] and [e] are similar to words in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Compare the following:
brown brun (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
house hus (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
how hur {Swedish)
mouse mus (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
round rund (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
bone ben (Danish/Swedish) bein (Norwegian)
home hem (Swedish) hjem (Danish/Norwegian)
no nej (Danish/Swedish) nei (Norwegian)
rope rep (Swedish) reb (Danish)
stone sten (Danish/Swedish) stein (Norwegian)
The Great English Vowel Shift did not change the vowels of Scots to the same extent as in English. The high back vowel did not change and the mid back vowel became the mid front vowel [e]. The result is that many words in Scots are pronounced similarly to words in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.
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