MORNINGSIDE AND KELVINSIDE

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MORNINGSIDE AND KELVINSIDE. Accents of English in Scotland, named after middle-class districts of EDINBURGH and GLASGOW; in effect one accent, generally regarded as an affected, hypercorrect imitation of RP. In popular and literary caricatures since the 1940s, it is identified with two shibboleths in particular: a raised realization of the short, front vowel /a/, frequently represented as e, as in ‘ectually’ for actually; a single, narrowed realization of the SCOTTISH ENGLISH diphthongs in five, time (‘faive’, ‘taime’). The features come together in ‘Eh'm quate well aware of the fect’ (Mrs M'Cotton, in Helen W. Pryde's McFlannels United, 1949). The names are also used by speakers of the vernacular for any ‘anglified’ variety of ScoE, especially the near-RP speech of lawyers, architects, and other professional people. Compare KENSINGTON. See AFFECTATION, ANGLIFY.