The Scottish vowel length rule, also known as Aitken's law after Professor A.J. Aitken, who formulated it, describes how vowel length in Scots, Scottish English, and to some extent Mid Ulster English, is conditioned by environment.
Read more about Scottish Vowel Length Rule: Phonemes, Vowel Length, History
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“We’ll never know the worth of water till the well go dry.”
—18th-century Scottish proverb, collected in James Kelly, Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, no. 351 (1721)
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
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“At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
Of thieves and murderers: there I him espied
Who straight, Your suit is granted,said, and died.”
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