Oor language

[JonnoFife]

Scottish Language

One of the strongest claims a people can make to nationhood is that they have their own language. It has been said that a nation is a dialect with its own army. For a people whose political independence exists only in the past, a unique tongue used among themselves is both a cultural safe deposit box for the present and a potential rallying point for the future. Scotland is unlike other countries in this respect, since English, its present first language, is the native tongue of numerous other states around the world.

But Scots are right to seek assurance of their separate identity in their language, for Scottish English is unique, and very different from the English of England, America or Australia. There are two ways that varieties of the same language can differ. The first is in pronunciation: What kind of accent does a person have? The other is in dialect. What words, and what ways of forming sentences, are unlike those of other English speakers?

Scottish English and the English of England developed from the same medieval mixture of Anglo-Saxon and Norman French. Scottish English was well on the way to becoming a separate, standard form of speech--as different from that spoken in London as modern Norwegian is from modern Danish--when a dramatic political and religious upheaval swung it back into line with London English.

There is no such thing taught in Scotland's schools as a "correct" Scottish way of speaking or spelling. Scottish speech and writing are not taught at all in Scottish schools. On the one hand, most modern Scots have the desire and instinct to use at least some Scottish vocabulary and grammar. On the other hand, the TV, radio, movies and books from England and America tell them that to do so marks them as unfashionable or socially inferior.

Most native Scots retain a distinct accent. Although there are common elements, accents differ widely from region to region. The amount of dialect vocabulary and grammar used also varies according to upbringing. The wealthy, people who went to college and people in white-collar jobs tend to use English that is closer to that spoken in London.

Some Scottish words and expressions are used and understood across virtually the whole country. Among them are: dinnae, cannae, willnae (don't, can't, won't), wee (small), aye (yes), ken (know), greet (weep), kirk (church), breeks (pants), lassie (girl), bairn (child), flit (move from one home to another), bonny (pretty), chap (knock), and bide (stay).

Other phrases, though using internationally recognizable English words, reveal their Scottishness not just by accent but by grammar. Scots, for example, will say "Are you not going?" or "Are you no going?" rather than "Aren't you going?" And "I'm away to my bed," often replaces "I'm going to bed."

Beyond these well-used everyday words and expressions, every Scot has his or her extra Scottish vocabulary. In its heyday, the Scots tongue produced enough unique words to fill dictionaries as hefty as any Webster's, and many of these terms survive in one way or another. Scottish writers dip into the pool at will, enriching their English, often finding words for which there are no equivalents in any other language. Gloaming, for instance, means more than just "sunset"; it implies the whole light and atmosphere that envelops a landscape as the sun goes down. The speech of most older Scots is scattered with a selection of such expressions, and varying in degree from family to family, the younger generation follows suit.

There is a haphazard uncertainty about this passing-on process, which makes for awkward gaps in communication not just between the generations but in other relationships. Examples: A Scotswoman comes home from work one day and says, "I'm absolutely wabbit." Her friend will probably know wabbit means "exhausted," but may never have used the word before. A retiree complains to a young veterinarian about her cat: "He just sits there a' day, spanning his thrums." A perfectly normal way of saying "purring" to the elderly lady, but the veterinarian--who has lived in Scotland all his life--doesn't know what it means. A Scots schoolboy reads the first line of a poem: "She canna thole her dreams." He has never heard anybody use the Scots word thole, meaning "endure," and has to ask the teacher about it.

These daily crises in the survival of Scottish English are partly compensated for by the variety of dialect words and phrases that survive in the regions. Glaswegians, for instance, call children weans, not balms. People in the northeast say quine instead of lassie for "girl," and replace "how" and "what" with fa and fit. Dundonians, as the inhabitants of Dundee are called, don't say aye for "yes," but eh. Orkney and Shetland have a deep wellspring of dialect words from their Norse past: Faans is what Shetlanders call a snowdrift; haaf-fish and tang-fish are Orcadian for the two different species of seal that frequent their islands.

Until very recently, the use of the Scots language in public life and in school was frowned on. Ever since Scotland was joined to England, efforts have been made by well-intentioned teachers and pro-London writers to make Scottish speech conform more to the southern pattern. But in the past fifteen years a resurgence of nationalist feeling and a growing respect for writers who use Scots of any kind in their work has given Scottish English a fighting chance. Joy Hendry said in 1985, hailing the publication of a new Concise Scots Dictionary:
" Today, the position of the language couldn't be much worse in many ways, with fewer and fewer people actually speaking it in any reasonably pure form. . . . Yet survive it does.... Like predictions of the apocalypse, forecasts of the demise of Scots in X years have proved false; the beast refuses to die, though weakened by the blood-letting of centuries. ."

One of the pleasures of visiting Scotland is hearing the Scots speak their native language with their particular local accent. And you may learn lots of new words - to add to your vocabulary. " Ken whit I mean ?
Touring Scotland is best fer ye

[mell]

very informative, and very interesting, i am australian and totally agree that it is important that each culture keep ththeir language rather then conforming to how society wants you too, here in aus i find that the australian language is very lazy sounding, ie 'i'm gunna' rather then i am going to, saying the latter gets frowned upon by some people, but it is the aussie toungue.
I love scotland!!!! i unfortunatly have not had the experience of visiting your beautiful country yet, but it is a top priority on my list, i am currently dabbling in a bit of fiction writing, mingled with a few historical facts, and yep you guessed it , Scotland is the setting.
there is something about listening to scots talk, i tell ya i could listen all day long.... i also love listening to gaelic, sure french and italian are very poetic romantic sounds but scottish is far better, richer, heartier.......

[Lynne2003]

You forgot one very important question that confuses the life out of most non-scottish people How instead of Why. Like "how come yer no eating" as apposed to "why are you not eating"

[Hirta]

It is interesting to note the connection between language and politics - scottish nationalists often argue that 'scots' is a seperate language to english and therefore is an example of the differences between England and Scotland - and thereby a justification of independence. It's also interesting to note that nationalists will only point out (or even create) 'facts' that will aid their cause. Here's a good example - how many people know that Welsh is not a homogenous language but actually two distinct varieties (north and south, gogledd and du). These two dialects show about the same differences in construction, grammar etc as 'Scots' and English, and yet I have never heard a welsh nationalist (and believe me, there are a lot where I live!) argue that these are two seperate languages - simply because this would break the belief that the nation is homogenous, fundementally different from England and therefore worthy of independence. It seems the more nationalist a Scot, the firmer his/her belief in a distinct scots language, and yet where this nationalist feeling is absent 'scots' is downgraded to a dialect at best. Most peculiar.

[ANDY-J2]

I don't believe it can reasonably be argued nowadays that Scots and English are distinct tongues given the Anglicisation of Scots in recent years even although the EC does recognise it as a minority language-due to a request from the Westminster government who presumably didn't see the preservation of Scots as being linked to nationalism.I suppose there might be a very few people in rural areas who still speak a relatively pure form of Scots however they are diminishing in number.In the past it has been a seperate and distinct language however in spite of attempts to prevent its decline I think we need to be resigned to the fact that what the great majority of Scots will be speaking in the future will be Scots/English rather than Scots.

[Steaphan]

Originally posted by Hirta
It is interesting to note the connection between language and politics - scottish nationalists often argue that 'scots' is a seperate language to english and therefore is an example of the differences between England and Scotland - and thereby a justification of independence. It's also interesting to note that nationalists will only point out (or even create) 'facts' that will aid their cause. Here's a good example - how many people know that Welsh is not a homogenous language but actually two distinct varieties (north and south, gogledd and du). These two dialects show about the same differences in construction, grammar etc as 'Scots' and English, and yet I have never heard a welsh nationalist (and believe me, there are a lot where I live!) argue that these are two seperate languages - simply because this would break the belief that the nation is homogenous, fundementally different from England and therefore worthy of independence. It seems the more nationalist a Scot, the firmer his/her belief in a distinct scots language, and yet where this nationalist feeling is absent 'scots' is downgraded to a dialect at best. Most peculiar.

Well, Scots have no need to use our own particular brand of English as a marker of our national identity. Our identity is still very strong, and is made up of many factors, not just language - although language one of the most important factors.
What makes and has made Scotland distinct from England and Wales is the Gaelic language and Gaelic culture. It is not correct to say that Gaelic impact was minimal just because not many Scots speak the language now. To do so is to vastly underestimate the influence the Gaelic language has had on creating the Scottish nation, and to deny the truth about ourselves and our own identities.
However, that is not to say that Gaelic is being used to further the cause of political independenc. You would not find a Gaelic speaker who claims that Gaelic is peculiar only to Scotland..as it is not. In Europe you will find German speakers on the French side of the border with Germany and vice versa for French speakers. You will find German speakers in Italy, who see themselves as Italian, and French, German, Italian speakers who see themselves as Swiss.

My point is then, in response to Hirta:
Scottish Gaelic has however diverged and remained different enough from Irish Gaelic to be seen as a separate language, but GAelic speakers are Gaelic speakers, whether in Scotland or Ireland, so to claim, as Hirta does, that by wishing to preserve, strengthen and use Scots English and Scots Gaelic in our daily lives we are only trying to further the cause of political independence, is utter nonsense.

[Monco]

Originally posted by Steaphan
What makes and has made Scotland distinct from England and Wales is the Gaelic language and Gaelic culture. It is not correct to say that Gaelic impact was minimal just because not many Scots speak the language now. To do so is to vastly underestimate the influence the Gaelic language has had on creating the Scottish nation, and to deny the truth about ourselves and our own identities.

Perhaps less different from Wales, but I am not quite sure what you are getting at here. In Scotland Gaelic has been on a downward spiral for the better part of a half a millennium, and this is for a few different reasons. Firstly it has suffered from prejudice long before the thrones of Scotland and England were ever united. The adoption of Middle Scots as the language of officialdom in the 15th century was one factor. The early works of Scottish Literature - Barbours The Brus and Blin Harry's The Wallace - were written in Middle Scots also. And despite Gaelic being spoken by both Kings and the greatest scholars of the day, it was still referred to as "the language of the savages" by the lowland elite’s.

Moving on to the present day, and while what you say about Gaelics role in creating the Scottish nation may be true, it doesn't really help the language to survive. Both Latin and Anglo-Saxon are important linguistically to us, but its pretty damn difficult to get anyone apart from scholars to take an interest in it. The fact is that when languages cease to serve a purpose they will inevitably decline. It is true that in many European countries people are monolingual, and this is a good thing, you can never know too many languages. But we Scots are not good Europeans in that respect for we are mostly monoglots. And the fact that English is established as the worlds language can only make things more difficult.