Vowel Length in Scottish English

English has a rule that vowels are longer before voiced consonants than before voiceless ones. In word pairs such as cab/cap and seed/seat, the vowel of the first word in each pair is longer than in the second. However, this is not the case in Scottish English. In Scottish English, the vowel length is the same in each word.

Scottish English has a length distinction in certain cases. The Scottish Voice Lengthening Rule explains that the vowels lengthen in words with morpheme boundaries. In most varieties of English, the words raise/rays and road/rowed are pronounced the same. However, in Scottish English they are not. The words rays and rowed have longer vowels. The reason is that they have morpheme boundaries.

The words rays and rowed have two morphemes. The first word consists of a noun and plural suffix. It can be analyzed as ray + s. The second consists of a verb and simple past suffix, and it can be analyzed as row + ed. Since they can be divided into separate morphemes, the vowels of the root are long. In the words raise and road, there are no separate morphemes, and as a result, the vowels are short.

Vowel length in Scottish English is different from vowel length in other varieties of English. It does not apply in words such as cab and seed, but does in words such as rays and rowed. In Scottish English, the rules of vowel lengthening are different than in other varieties of English.