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Scots (or Lallans, meaning 'Lowlands'), often Lowland Scots
to distinguish it from the Gaelic of the Highlands, is used in
Scotland, as well as parts of Northern Ireland and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or Ullans but by speakers simply
as "Scotch" or "Scots". On the whole, Scots descends from the Northumbrian (Inglis)
form of Anglo-Saxon, albeit with influence from Norse via the Vikings,
Dutch and Low Saxon
through trade with, and immigration from, the low countries, and Romance via ecclesiastical and legal Latin, Anglo-Norman and later Parisian French owing to the Auld Alliance. Scots also
has loan words resulting from contact with Scottish Gaelic, a
Celtic language (the tongue of the ancient Scots introduced from Ireland about 500 AD), distinct from Scots
and still spoken by some in the Highlands and islands to the west. Loan words from Scottish Gaelic are mainly for geographical
and cultural features, such as clan and loch ('lake'). Like any living language, Scots has changed to some extent
over the years, though it has arguably remained closer to its Anglo-Saxon
roots than English. Many Scots words have become part of English: flit, 'to move home', greed, eerie,
cuddle, clan, stob, 'a post'.
Status
Whether the varieties of Scots are dialects of English or constitute a separate language in their own
right is often disputed. Before the Union (1707), when England
joined Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great
Britain, there is ample evidence that Scots was widely held to be a language other than English [1] (http://www.scots-online.org/airticles/eurlang.htm).
The British government now accepts Scots as a regional
language and has recognised it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Evidence for its
existence as a separate language lies in the extensive body of Scots literature and independent, if somewhat fluid, orthographic conventions; in the existence of several Scots dialects; in the
substantial lexical, grammatical, and phonological differences from other Anglian varieties and in its former use as the official language of the original Scottish Parliament.
Since Scotland retained distinct political, legal, and religious systems after the Union, many Scots terms passed into Scottish English. For instance, libel and slander, separate in English law, are bundled together as
defamation in Scots law.
Since the Union, perceptional and language change (see below) have resulted in Scots being regarded as a group of English
dialects or at best a group of dialects closely related to English. There is no institutionalised standard literary form. During
the second half of the 20th century, enthusiasts developed regularised cross-dialect forms following on some
historical orthographic conventions, but these have had little impact. When Scots is written, local loyalties usually prevail,
and the written form is usually Standard English adapted to represent the local pronunciation.
No education takes place through the medium of Scots, though English lessons may cover it superficially. This is often not
much more than reading some Scots literature and observing local dialect. Much of the material used is often little more than
Standard English disguised as Scots. One example of the educational establishment's approach to Scots is "Write a poem in
Scots. (It is important not to be worried about spelling in this – write as you hear the sounds in your head.)"
[2] (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/specialfocus/scots/ideas/index.asp) whereas guidelines for
English require teaching pupils to be "writing fluently and legibly with accurate spelling and punctuation." [3] (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/htmlunrevisedguidelines/Pages/englang/main/elng1003.htm)
revealing the institutionalised disregard for the idea of treating Scots as a language on par with English. Scots can also be
studied at university level. Nowhere in the education system is the objective to produce people able to read, write, and speak
Scots as an autonomous alternative to English, thus confirming its de facto status as a series of local dialects of
English.
The use of Scots in the media is scant and is usually reserved for niches where local dialect is deemed acceptable, e.g.
comedy, Burns Night, or representations of traditions and times gone by.
Serious use for news, encyclopaedias, documentaries, etc. rarely occurs in Scots, although the Scottish Parliament website offers some information in it.
It is often held that had Scotland remained independent Scots would have remained and been regarded as a separate language
from English. This has happened in Spain and Portugal where two independent countries developed standardised languages. Portuguese
originating from a common Galician-Portuguese language, which itself originated from a common Ibero-Romance language shared with Castilian Spanish. On the other hand a situation similar to that of Swiss German and High German
might have occurred. Equally the present situation might have occurred where the social elites and upwardly mobile adopted
Standard English causing institutional language shift. A model of
Language revival to which many enthusiasts aspire, is that of the
Catalan language in areas spanning parts of Spain, France, Andorra
and Italy, particularly as regards the situation of Catalan in Catalonia
itself.
Language Change
After the union of Scotland and England the issue of language became topical and foremost was the question of whether Scottish
people should speak English or Scots. Gaelic was never considered an
option; at the time it was mostly relegated to the Highlands and Islands. Scots became considered to have a substratal relationship to English as opposed to an adstratal relationship or put another way Scots became heteronomous and not autonomous
to English.
On one hand well-off Scots took to learning English through such activities as those of the Irishman Thomas Sheridan (father
of Richard Sheridan) who in 1761 gave a series of lectures on English elocution. Charging a guinea at a time (about £65 in today's money), they
were attended by over 300 men and he was made a freeman of the City of Edinburgh.
On the other hand the education system also became increasingly geared to teaching English though this was initially impaired
by the teachers' and students' lack of knowledge of English pronunciation through lack of contact with English speakers. Aspects
of English grammar and lexis could be
accessed through printed texts. By the 1840s the Scottish Education Department's language policy was that Scots had no value "...it is not the language of
'educated' people anywhere, and could not be described as a suitable medium of education or culture". Students of course
reverted back to Scots outside the classroom but the reversion was not complete. What occurred and has been occurring ever since
is a process of language suicide whereby successive generations
have adopted more and more features from English, a process that has accelerated rapidly since wide-spread access to mass media in English and increased population mobility became available after the
Second World War. It has recently taken on the nature of
whole-scale language shift . These processes are often erroneously
referred to as language change, convergence or merger.
A rather more positive take on this is that rather than reject English culture the Scots mastered and conquered it, becoming
bilingual and writing some of the greatest works of the time such as Adam Smith's Wealth of
Nations in what was still a foreign language. However, most younger Scots today see a Scottish accent, that is, Scottish English, as a
sufficient marker of their Scottishness and are generally not interested in retaining bilingualism in a language they consider
old fashioned, parochial, or simply uncool. Residual features of Scots (often regarded as slang) in the speech of the young urban working class are often derogatorily referred to as Ned speak.
Literature
Among the earliest Scots literature is Barbour's Brus (fourteenth
century). Whyntoun's Kronykil and Blind Harry's Wallace (fifteenth century)
From the thirteenth century much literature based around the Royal Court in Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews was produced by writers such as
Henryson, Dunbar, Douglas and Lyndsay.
After the seventeenth century, anglicisation increased, though Scots was still spoken by the vast majority of the population.
At the time, many of the oral ballads from the borders and the North
East were written down. Writers of the period were Sempill, Lady Wardlaw and Lady Grizel Baillie.
In the eighteenth century, writers such as Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns and
Scott continued to use Scots. Scott introduced vernacular dialogue
to his novels.
Following their example, such well-known authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, William Alexander, George MacDonald and J.M. Barrie also wrote in Scots
or used it in dialogue.
In the early twentieth century, a renaissance in the use of Scots occurred, its most vocal figure being Hugh MacDiarmid. Other contemporaries were Douglas Young, Sidney Goodsir
Smith, Robert Garioch and Robert McLellan. However, the revival was largely limited to verse and other literature.
In 1983 W.L. Lorimer's magnificent translation of the New Testament from the original Greek was published.
Highly anglicised Scots is often used in contemporary fiction, for example, the Edinburgh dialect of Scots in Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (later made into a movie of the same name, though with language allegedly anglicised even more to
make it suitable for an international audience).
But'n'Ben A-Go-Go by Matthew
Fitt is a cyberpunk novel written entirely in what Wir Ain Leid (http://www.scots-online.org/grammar) (Our Own Language) calls "General Scots". Like all
cyberpunk work, it contains imaginative neologisms.
Dialects
There are at least five Scots dialects:
- Northern Scots, spoken north of Dundee, often split into North Northern, Mid Northern—also known as North East Scots
and affectionately referred to as "the Doric"—and South
Northern.
- Central Scots, spoken from Fife and Perthshire to the Lothians and Wigtownshire, often split into North East and South East
Central, West Central and South West Central Scots.
- South Scots, spoken in the border areas.
- Insular Scots, spoken in the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands
- Ulster Scots, spoken by the descendants of Scottish
settlers as well as those of Irish descent in Northern Ireland and
County Donegal in the Irish Republic, and sometimes described by the neologism
"Ullans", a conflation of "Ulster" and "Lallans".
As well as the main dialects, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow have local
variations on an anglicised form of Central Scots. In Aberdeen, Mid Northern Scots is spoken.
Pronunciation
Many writers now strictly avoid apostrophes where they supposedly represent "missing" English letters. Such letters were never
actually missing in Scots. For example, in the twelfth century, Barbour spelt the Scots equivalent of 'taken' as tane.
Since there has been no k in the word for over 700 years, representing its omission with an apostrophe seems pointless.
The current spelling is usually taen. The following is more a guide for readers. How the spellings are applied in practice
is beyond the scope of such a short description. Phonetics are in IPA.
Consonants
Most consonants are usually pronounced much as in English but:
- c:
/k/ or
/s/, much as in English.
- ch:
/x/, also gh. Medial 'cht' may be
/ð/ in Northern dialects. loch (Lake), nicht (night), dochter (daughter), dreich (dreary),
etc.
- ch: word initial or where it follows 'r'
/tʃ/. airch (arch), mairch (march), etc.
- gn:
/n/. In Northern dialects
/gn/ may occur.
- kn:
/n/. In Northern dialects
/kn/ or
/tn/ may occur. knap (talk), knee, knowe (knoll), etc.
- ng: is always
/ŋ/.
- nch: usually
/nʃ/. brainch (branch), dunch (push), etc.
- r:
/r/ or
/ɹ/ is always pronounced.
- s or se:
/s/ or
/z/.
- t: may be a glottal stop between vowels or word final. In Ulster dentalised pronunciations may also occur, also for
'd'.
- th:
/ð/ or
/θ/ much as is English. Initial 'th' in thing, think and thank, etc. may be
/h/.
- wh: usually
/ʍ/, older
/xʍ/. Northern dialects also have
/f/.
- wr:
/wr/ more often
/r/ but may be
/vr/ in Northern dialects. wrack (wreck), wrang (wrong),write, wrocht (worked), etc.
- z:
/jɪ/ or
/ŋ/, may occur in some words as a substitute for the older yogh (
ʒ). eg. brulzie (broil), gaberlunzie (a beggar) and the name Menzies, etc.
Silent letters
- The word final 'd' in nd and ld: but often pronounced in derived forms. Sometimes simply 'n' and 'l' or 'n''
and 'l''. auld (old), haund (hand), etc.
- 't' in medial cht: ('ch' =
/x/) and st and before final en. fochten (fought), thristle (thistle) also 't' in aften
(often), etc.
- 't' in word final ct and pt but often pronounced in derived forms. respect, accept, etc.
Vowels
In Scots, vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scots vowel length rule. Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scots English are
generally spelled as in English. Other words may be spelled the same but differ in pronunciation, eg. aunt, swap,
want and wash with
/a/, bull, full v. and pull with
/ʌ/, bind, find and wind v., etc. with
/ɪ/.
- The unstressed vowel
/ə/ may be represented by any vowel letter.
- a: usually
/a/ but in south west and Ulster dialects often
/ɑ/. Note final a in awa (away), twa (two) and wha (who) may also be
/ɑ/ or
ɔ/ or
/e/ depending on dialect.
- au, aw and sometimes a, a' or aa:
/ɑː/ or
/ɔː/ in Southern, Central and Ulster dialects but
/aː/ in Northern dialects. The cluster 'auld' may also be
/ʌul/ in Ulster. aw (all), cauld (cold), braw (handsome), faw (fall), snaw (snow),
etc.
- ae, ai, a(consonant)e:
/e/. Often
/ɛ/ before
/r/. In Northern dialects the vowel in the cluster -'ane' is often
/i/. brae (slope), saip (soap), hale (whole), hure (whore), ane (one), ance
(once), bane (bone), etc.
- ea, ei, ie:
/iː/ or
/eː/ depending on dialect.
/ɛ/ may occur before
/r/. Root final this may be
/əi/ in Southern dialects. In the far north
/əi/ may occur. deid (dead), heid (head), meat (food), clear, speir (enquire),
sea, etc.
- ee, e(Consonant)e:
/iː/. Root final this may be
/əi/ in Southern dialects. ee (eye), een (eyes), steek (shut), here, etc.
- e:
/ɛ/. bed, het (heated), yett (gate), etc.
- eu:
/(j)u/ or
/(j)ʌ/ depending on dialect. Sometimes erroneously 'oo', 'u(consonant)e', 'u' or 'ui'. beuk (book),
ceuk (cook), eneuch (enough), leuk (look), teuk (took), etc.
- ew:
/ju/. In Northern dialects a root final 'ew' may be
/jʌu/. few, new, etc.
- i:
/ɪ/, but often varies between
/ɪ/ and
/ʌ/ especially after 'w' and 'wh'.
/æ/ also occurs in Ulster before voiceless consonants. big, fit (foot), wid (wood), etc.
- i(consonant)e, y(consonant)e, ey:
/əi/ or
/aɪ/. 'ay' is usually
/e/ but
/əi/ in ay (yes) and aye (always). In Dundee it is noticeably
/ɛ/.
- o:
/ɔ/ but often
/o/.
- oa:
/o/.
- ow, owe, seldom ou:
/ʌu/. Before 'k' vocalisation to
/o/ may occur especially in western and Ulster dialects. bowe (bow), howe (hollow), knowe (knoll),
yowe (ewe), etc.
- ou, oo, u(consonant)e:
/u/. Root final
/ʌu/ may occur in Southern dialects. cou (cow), broun (brown), hoose (house), moose
(mouse) etc.
- u:
/ʌ/. but, cut, etc.
- ui, also u(consonant)e, oo:
/ø/ in conservative dialects. In parts of Fife, Dundee and north Antrim
/e/. In Northern dialects usually
/i/ but
/wi/ after
/g/ and
/k/ and also
/u/ before
/r/ in some areas eg. fuird (ford). Mid Down and Donegal dialects have
/i/. In central and north Down dialects
/ɪ/ when short and
/e/ when long. buird (board), buit (boot), cuit (ankle), fluir (floor), guid (good),
schuil (school), etc. In central dialects uise v. and uiss n. (use) are
[jeːz] and
[jɪs].
Suffixes
- Negative na:
/ɑ/, /ɪ/ or
/e/ depending on dialect. Also 'nae' or 'y' eg. canna (can't), dinna (don't) and maunna
(mustn't).
- fu (ful):
/u/, /ɪ/, /ɑ/ or
/e/ depending on dialect. Also 'fu'', 'fie', 'fy', 'fae' and 'fa'.
- The word ending ae:
/ɑ/, /ɪ/ or
/e/ depending on dialect. Also 'a', 'ow' or 'y' eg. arrae (arrow), barrae (barrow) and windae
(window), etc.
Some grammar features
Not all of these are exclusive to Scots and may also occur in other Anglic
varieties.
Nouns
Nouns usually form their plural in –(e)s but some irregular plurals occur: ee/een
(eye/eyes), cauf/caur (calf/calves), horse/horse (horse/horses), cou/kye (cow/cows),
shae/shuin (shoe/shoes). Nouns of measure and quantity unchanged in the plural fower fit (four feet), twa
mile (two miles), five pund (five pounds), three hunderwecht (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include
laifs (loaves), shelfs (shelves) and wifes (wives), etc.
Diminutives
Diminutives in –ie, burnie small burn (brook), feardie/feartie (frightened person,
coward), gamie (gamekeeper), kiltie (kilted soldier), postie (postman), wifie (woman), rhodie
(rhododendron), and also in -ock, bittock (little bit), playock (toy, plaything), sourock (sorrel)
and Northern –ag, bairnag (little) bairn (child), Cheordag (Geordie), -ockie,
hooseockie (small house), wifeockie (little woman), both influenced by the Scottish Gaelic diminutive -ag
(-óg in Irish Gaelic).
Modal verbs
The modal verbs mey (may), ocht tae (ought to), and sall (shall), aren't usually used in Scots but occur
in anglicised literary Scots. Can, shoud (should), and will are the preferred Scots forms. Scots employs
double modal constructions He'll no can come the day (He won't be able to come today), A micht coud come the morn
(I may be able to come tomorrow), A uised tae coud dae it, but no nou (I could do it once, but not now).
Present tense of verbs
The present tense of verbs ends in –s in all persons and numbers except when a single personal pronoun is next to
the verb, Thay say he's ower wee, Thaim that says he's ower wee, Thir lassies says he's ower wee (They say
he's too small), etc. Thay're comin an aw but Five o thaim's comin, The lassies? Thay've went but Ma
brakes haes went. Thaim that comes first is serred first (Those who come first are served first). The trees growes
green in simmer (The trees grow green in summer).
Wis 'was' may replace war 'were', but not conversely: You war/wis thare.
Past tense of verbs
The regular past form of the verb is –(i)t or –(e)d, according to the preceding
consonant or vowel hurtit, skelpit (smacked), Mendit, kent/kenned (knew/known),
cleant/cleaned, scrieved (scribbled), telt/tauld (told), dee'd (died). Some verbs have
distinctive forms greet/grat/grutten (weep/wept), fesh/fuish/fuishen (fetch/fetched),
lauch/leuch/lauchen (laugh/laughed), gae/gaed/gane (go/went/gone),
gie/gied/gien (give/gave/given), pit/pat/pitten (put/put/put/),
git/gat/gotten (got/got/got).
Word order
Scots prefers the word order He turnt oot the licht to He turned the light out and Gie me it to Give
it to me.
Certain verbs are often used progressively He wis thinkin he wad tell her, He wis wantin tae tell her.
Verbs of motion may dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion A'm awa tae ma bed, That's me awa
hame, A'll intae the hoose an see him.
Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers ending in –t seicont, fowert, fift, saxt—(second, fourth,
fifth, sixth) etc. first, Thrid/third—(first, third).
Adverbs
Adverbs are usually of the same form as the verb root or adjective especially after verbs. Haein a real guid day
(Having a really good day). She's gey fauchelt (She's awfully tired).
Adverbs are also formed with –s, -lies, lins, gate(s)and wey(s)
–wey, whiles (at times), mebbes (perhaps), brawlies (splendidly), geylies (pretty well),
aiblins (perhaps), airselins (backwards), hauflins (partly), hidlins (secretly), maistlins
(almost), awgates (always, everywhere), ilkagate (everywhere), onygate (anyhow), ilkawey
(everywhere), onywey(s) (anyhow, anywhere), endweys (straight ahead), whit wey (how, why).
Subordinate clauses
Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by an and expressing surprise or indignation She haed tae walk the hale lenth o the
road an her sieven month pregnant, He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg (and me with my sore leg).
Negation
Negation occurs by using the adverb no, in the North East nae, as in A'm no comin (I'm not coming), or by
using the suffix –na (pronunciation depending on dialect), as in A dinna ken (I don't know), Thay canna
come (They can't come), We coudna hae telt him (We couldn't have told him), and A hivna seen her (I haven't
seen her). The usage with no is preferred to that with –na with contractable auxiliary verbs like
–ll for will, or in yes no questions with any auxiliary He'll no come and Did he no come?
Relative pronoun
The relative pronoun is that ('at is an alternative form borrowed from Norse but can also be arrived at by
contraction) for all persons and numbers, but may be left out Thare's no mony fowk (that) leeves in that
glen (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms wha, wham, whase 'who, whom,
whose', and the older whilk 'which' are literary affectations; whilk is only used after a statement He said he'd
tint it, whilk wis no whit we wantit tae hear. The possessive is formed by adding 's or by using an appropriate
pronoun The wifie that's hoose gat burnt, the wumman that her dochter gat mairit; the men that thair boat wis
tint.
A third adjective/adverb yon/yonder, thon/thonder indicating something at some distance D'ye
see yon/thon hoose ower yonder/thonder? Also thae (those) and thir (these), the plurals of
this and that.
In Northern Scots this and that are also used where "these" and "those" would be in Standard English.
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