Scots and Scottish Gaelic?

Will Scotland care?

Scots or Scottish Gaelic?

Scotland had and has traditionally been home to two languages:

The Celtic language of the Highlands and Islands- Scottish Gaelic.

The Germanic language of the Lowlands, and east of Scotland- Scots (Lallans).

Today we are going to talk about Scots.

Scots

Scots, which has no official status, is still spoken by about 20% of the Scottish population, mainly in the Lowlands.

It is also known in Ulster where it is known as Ulster Scots.

It has various names including:Lowland Scots, Lallans, Scots Leid, Braid

Scots, Doric, Teri, Buchan Claik.

Listening to Scots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cENbkHS3mnY

Scots

There is no real standard for Scots, so many local variations exist.

Because of its unofficial status, it is usually thought of as a dialect (series of dialects).

Mainly Aberdeen and the Borders.Some, however, prefer to think of Scots as

a language in its own right.

Attitudes towards Scots

The 2010 Scottish Government study of public attitudes towards the Scots language found that 64% of Scottish people ‘don’t really think of Scots as a language’.

Origins of Scots

Scots is an abbreviation for Scottis (ie Scottish). This term has only been used since the 15th century.

Before that the word used was Inglis (Scottis before the 15th century meant Scottish Gaelic!). Erse was also used to mean Scottish Gaelic.

Origins of Scots

Scots developed from Northumbrian Old English, a speech form that became established in southern Scotland after the 7th century. (SE Scotland).

Everywhere else used Scottish Gaelic, or Brythonic (Strathclyde).

By the 15th century this situation was completely reversed. Scots became the predominant language in the south of Scotland.

Scots

Early towns in Scotland favoured the spread of Scots. French which had been the language of the courts declined.

Between 1610-1690s some 200,000 Scots –speakers settled in Ulster (NE Ireland).

A more standardized form of English was also used in Scotland after 1707 (Act of Union).

Scots today

In Scotland today those who speak Scots are able to use it in a range of speech forms that includes ‘broad Scots’ and standardized English.

This is known as a diglossic situation. It can also be called ‘code-switching’.

The ‘colour’ of one’s language can cross many hybrids.

Scots Today

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between English-influenced Scots and Scots-influenced English.

This of course leads to disputes about whether Scots can be classed as a ‘language’ in its own right.

Scots Today

The government of the United Kingdom now accepts Scots as a regional language and has recognized it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The Scottish Executive (government) has made a similar declaration:

Scots Today

The Scottish Executive recognizes and respects Scots (in all its forms) as a distinct language and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English.

More later on the Scottish Government’s stance on Scots.

The ‘Northern British’ and their languages

Following the 1707 Act of Union, many Lowlander Scots considered themselves to be ‘Northern Britons’ rather than Scots.

This of course indicates that the Act of Union was instrumental in constructing a new identity for the peoples of the Britain (especially those in the Celtic regions!).

The ‘Northern British’ and their languages

Many of those who lived in Edinburgh and Glasgow did their best to rid themselves of Scots (the language). Not only in the spoken language but also in their written English.

Famous Scottish thinkers of the time like David Hume and Adam Smith went to great lengths to eradicate their Scottish ‘accents’.

The ‘Northern British’ and their languages

This was the beginning of the class distinction between who mainly spoke Scots and those who sought to speak a standardized form of English.

This was largely going to be true until the beginning of the 20th century.

Scots writing

Yet, Scots had been a medium for writing. Much of the best of this Scots writing derives from the 15th century (Royal Court in Edinburgh).

William Dunbar, Robert Henryson, Gavin Douglas, David Lyndsay.

William Dunbar c1465-c1530

He hes done petuously devour,The noble Chaucer, of makaris flour,The Monk of Bery, and Gower, all thre;Timor mortis conturbat me.

The gude Syr Hew of Eglintoun,And eik Heryot, and Wyntoun,He hes tane out of this cuntre;Timor mortis conturbat me

Scots writing

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuies Scots as a literary language saw a revival.

The name which especially comes to mind is that of Robert Burns (Burns Night etc).

His writing was a hybrid of Scots and English very often, no doubt partially reflecting the norms of his day (1759-1796)

Writing in Scots in the early 20th century

The novelist Sir Walter Scott also brought conversations in Scots into his work. 19th c.

In the 1920s there was a renaissance in the use of Scots, focussed especially on the poet Hugh MacDiarmid.

His most famous poem was ‘A Drunk Man Looks at a Thistle’ (1926).

This showed that Scots could be used for high literature.

Hugh MacDiarmid1892-1978

A Drunk Man Looks at a Thistle- first lines

I amna fou' sae muckle as tired - deid dune. It's gey and hard wark coupin' gless for gless Wi' Cruivie and Gilsanquhar and the like, And I'm no' juist as bauld as aince I wes.

Archaic and obscure words, to create an integrated Scots literary language.

Scots

http://www.scotslanguage.com/

http://www.mithertongue.co.uk/shop.php?view=page&page=67

Scots in the Twentieth century

Writing Scots waned by the 20th century (although it was still widely spoken).

In the 1930s children were physically punished for speaking ScotsThe Scottish Education Department in the

1940s stated that Scots was not the language of educated people.

The language itself went through important changes, especially in urban

centres.

Using Scots- Wir Ain Leid

Well into the 1950s, children were still punished for speaking their ‘mithertongue’.

During all of the 20th century there were small numbers of writers who employed Scots.

Translations, (1983 New Testament by William Laughton Lorimer).

Novels/Films (Transpotting by Irvine Welsh) Cyberpunk- But’n’Ben A-Go-Go (Matthew Fitt)

Scots in the Twentieth century

Successive generations have adopted more and more features from Standardized English.

In the opinion of some speakers, Scots was a form of ‘slang’.

More recently (post 2000), some changes have taken place in the attitudes of people to Scots. (pluralism in society).

Spoken Scots in the Media

http://scottishaffairs.org/backiss/pdfs/sa21/sa21_Cormack.pdf

Comedy Programmes (TV) Stand-up Comics (The Big Yin= Billy Connolly)

Drama programmes (TV)Interviews with members of the public

Billy Connolly

Connolly sometimes uses Scots freely in his routines.

He has also written plays in Scots, eg: An’ Me Wi’ A Bad Leg Tae.

Attitudes to Scots

What on earth are we Scots going to do about our 'mither tongue'? On the one hand, most of us would like to see the Scots tongue survive, and

strongly resent the idea that it's a 'low' form of speech fit only for comedians and servants. Yet on the other, we seem unable to stop

ourselves from laughing like idiots every time we hear a few words of Scots used in a public place, so strongly have we come to associate it

with the uncouth, the ill-educated, the infantile, and the unmentionable

Attitudes to Scots

It would not be difficult to find a way of speaking Scots which would become the central form of the language, and in fact this process has been happening with Gaelic as its media use has expanded.

Ie, a need for a ‘standard’

Attitude of the Scottish Government to Scots

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/03/18094509/2

March 2011See recommendations.

Scots in the 21st century

No education takes place through the medium of Scots (compare this with Scottish Gaelic), but Scots is now integrated into ‘English’ classes.

Scots can be studied at university level.Perceptions of the language.

Scots for school kids

http://www.scuilwab.org.uk/

Songs for children in Scots.

Hogmaney Song in Scots

http://www.scotslanguage.com/books/view/60/734