CLIVE YOUNG'S UMIST SCOTS FAQ
G'day. This pirate copy dates from 1999 and was extracted from the Wayback Machine on 18-09-2002. I also corrected the absolute URLs and removed the JavaScript which Wayback Machine added to prevent piracy.
The home page is here.
There is also a Usenet post by Clive with the text from the original Keech newspaper review, here.
All attempts to contact Clive for permission, or to coax him into republishing his Scots web site, failed. Clive, if you read this... GET A WEB SITE! Sheesh...
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##\ # /## T H E S C O T S H A U N B U I K |
## SCOTS ## ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
##/ # \## Vairsion 1.1 Februar 1995 (c) Clive Young 1995. |
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COPIE-RICHT (The screiver assertin his moral richts an aw tha)
S: A huvna onie objections ti yes prentin out an yaisin the Haunbuik
fur yer ain lernin, but gin ye wiss ti adapt it in onie wey fur onie
ithir yiss, div lat me ken.
I:I've no objections to you printing out and using the handbook for
your own learning, but if you want to adapt it in any way for any other
use, do let me know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A'm richt behaudin ti Colin Wilson 'postin frae Glesga' fur aw his help
wi the gremmar an the wiedleit, the Aiberdeen Univairsitie Scots Leid
Quorum fur the buikie on gremmar, Scots Tung tha gied me the iadea, an
Jack Wilson 'postin frae California' tha correctit ma spellin in V 1.0.
INDEX (S - Scots, I - Inglish/English)
-----
1. Walcum (S/I)
2. Aften speirit quaistions/FAQ (I)
3. A Wee Historie o Scots (S)
4. Glossarie ti Section Three (S ti I)
5. Jottins on spellin / Notes on spelling (I)
6. Pronouncin Guidal / Pronunctiation Guide (I)
7. Innin ti Scots Gremmar /Introduction to Scots Grammar (I)
8. Wirdleit / Vocabulary (I ti S)
9. Lernin Scots / Learning Scots (I)
10. Buikleit / Booklist (I)
11. Bydes o Scots Interest Curns/
Addresses of Scots Interest Groups (I)
12. The Raicent Scots Waukenin/The Recent Scots Revival (I-NEW)
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1. WALCUM
------
Walcum ti Vairsion 1.1 o the Scots Haunbuik an FAQ. The ettle o the
Haunbuik is ti ack as a innin and cuttie guidal ti the Scots Leid, an
parteiclarlie the screivin o't. Scots is a skoush ti lern (fur a
Inglish speiker) bit thir's bin a lang-staunin want o basic lernin
guidals. Things _ar_ chyngin slaw an A'm shair we'll suin see mair
buiks an the lik cumin out. Atweinhauns I howp the Haunbuik'll gie
yez a wee haun ti stairt screivin yersels.
A'v ettllit ti byde weill inbye o modren devailopments in Scots an
hae yaisit stuffrie adaptit frae a nummer o buiks. Gin ye (a) fin it
yaisfou, (b) think A'v gaed agley in pairts (c) hae proponins ti mak
it better (d) or whitivver,lat me ken. Ma Email bydes is [email protected].
English
Welcome to Version 1.0 of the Scots Haunbuik and FAQ. The aim of the
Haunbuik is to act as an introduction and short guide to the Scots
Language, and especially the writing of it. Scots is very easy to
learn (for an English speaker) but there has been a longstanding lack
of basic learning materials. Things _are_ changing slowly and I'm sure
we'll see more books and the like coming out soon. Meanwhile I hope the
Haunbuik will give a bit of help to begin writing yourselves.
I've tried to stay well within modern developments in Scots and have
used material adapted from a number of books. If you (a) find it useful,
(b) think I'm off-beam in parts (c) have suggestions to improve it
(d) or whatever, let me know. My Email address is
[email protected].
2. AFTEN SPEIRIT QUAISTIONS/FAQ
----------------------------
(a) What is Scots?
-------------
Scots is a Germanic language derived from Anglo-Saxon, but influenced
by Norse, French, Gaelic and particularly English. It was for 300
years the official state language of Scotland and is still widely
spoken as an informal linguistic variety all over lowland Scotland.
It has a range of local forms and dialects, and despite being used
for literary purposes (especially poetry) for several centuries,
written forms for everyday purposes are only now being standardised.
Overseas readers should not confuse Scots with Gaelic, the other
indigenous Scottish language which is of Celtic origin. Gaelic was
once spoken over nearly all of mainland Scotland but is now largely
confined to the Western Isles of Scotland.
(b) Why do you say Scots is a language, not a dialect?
-------------------------------------------------
Although obviously closely related to English, Scots has a distinct
linguistic history (see Section 3) and in a reasonably pure form is
at least as different from English as Norwegian (Bokmal) is from
Danish or as Catalan is from Spanish. However, Norwegian and Catalan
are 'established' languages (they are taught in schools, have TV
stations, press etc) while Scots is not. Scots has therefore suffered
considerable erosion over the years to the point that modern Scottish
lowland speech is a sort of 'creole' of English and Scots. To make
things more complicated there are several dialects of Scots itself.
Currently Scots is only ever used for informal conversation (hence it
has a restricted vocabulary), English for everything else. In daily
usage, therefore, Scots speakers may find themselves switching
regularly between predominantly Scots to predominantly English
patterns of speech, often without thinking.
(c) Where is Scots spoken?
---------------------
All over Scotland apart from the Highlands and Western Islands where
Gaelic was the predominant language until the 19th Century. By this
time Scots had lost its national status, so Gaelic was replaced by
a Highland variety of English (an intersting dialect in itself).
In contrast when Gaelic died out in Ayrshire two centuries earlier
it was replaced by Scots, where it is strong to this day.There are
also still a few thousand Scots speakers in Ulster.
(d) Who speaks it?
-------------
Scots seems to be one of the most poorly studied varieties of
language in Europe, so the simple answer is that nobody knows.
Most lowland Scots (over 4.5 million people) will use elements of
Scots grammar, pronounce 'English' words as Scots ones (and often
use them in particularly Scots ways) and have a vocabulary of
distinct Scots words from a few hundred to several thousand,
depending on where they come from. In general, Scots tends to be at
its strongest in rural areas, although all four major Scottish
cities have distinctive Scots/English dialects. One common
distinction is made between the 'Braid' Scots of rural areas which
are closer to older literary forms and 'Laich' Scots of the urban population. However even the latter generally contain many Scots
grammar and vocabulary elements. There is an attempt to include a
question on Scots in the next Census, but the problem is defining it.
(e) Is Scots not a bit 'common' (low class)?
---------------------------
It is important to recognise that current Scots is a class-based
language. Scots forms occur more frequently among working class
speech, although in the North East there is a small Scots-speaking
middle class. Edinburgh, for example, once the linguistic heart of
Scots, now has a remarkably (and deliberately) anglicised middle
class. The middle classes of Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen on the
whole seem happier with Scots or 'local' usage, but it's clear that
much of the prejudice against Scots is still to some extent class-
based. The problem is that without formal status and awareness
(particularly among teachers), good Scots has often been mistaken
for 'bad' English (eg the use of Scots past forms such as gaed,
makkit, seed, ett), and mistakes in Scots have gone uncorrected.
(f) How many Scots words are there?
------------------------------
The Scots National Dictionary Association (SNDA) has about 50,000
on its computers, although the majority are archaic. The modern
Concise English-Scots Dictionary lists some 15,000 words and the
Scots Thesaurus over 20,000. Nevertheless, although Scots has a
finely-tuned vocabulary in many areas (the environment, rural life,
food and drink, character, emotions, social behaviour, informal
conversation etc) it is poorly developed in more formal registers
(styles) such as journalistic, literary, historic and technical
writing. At the moment such Scots writing as exists in these areas
tends to borrow heavily from English vocabulary to express the more
complex and subtle concepts required.
(g) What is echt Scots, plastic Scots and synthetic Scots?
-----------------------------------------------------
Scots and English form a linguistic continuum (ie they can be mixed
easily). Echt Scots is at the Scots end of the continuum where more distinctive Scots forms and vocabulary is used. In a spoken form this
is known as Braid Scots. However, few people use this full style
naturally (as they have had neither the education or liguistic
upbringing). People uncomfortable or ignorant of the processes of
linguistic change sometimes attack any use of Echt/Braid Scots (unless
by 80-year-old Buchan farmers) as somehow artificial, referring to
'plastic Scots' or 'cod Scots', forgetting that we happily use a
multitude of spoken and written English styles without comment and
regularly use dictionaries and thesauri to extend our vocabulary.
'Synthetic Scots' is associated with the Lallans movement stared in
the 1920s, an earlier attempt to extend the use of Scots for literary
purposes. It received exactly the same type of criticism 70 years ago,
showing that deep-seated prejudice is difficult to dislodge. As Lallans
writer Sidney Goodsir Smith commented:
We've come intil a gey queer time (gey = very)
Whan screivin Scots is near a crime (screivin = writing)
(h) How many dialects of Scots are there?
------------------------------------
According to the SNDA there are three mainland varieties, Central,
Northern, and Southern together with Island (Orkney and Shetland)
and Ulster dialects. All share a common core vocabulary and grammar,
but often differ widely in pronunctiation. In recent years there has
been an upsurge of interest in these local forms (especially the
Northern variety, Doric, which is perhaps the strongest). At the
moment it is hard to say whether such a focus on the local dialects
will revive interest in the national language or lead to further fragmentation.
(i) What is the current status of Scots?
-----------------------------------
None. No Scot has a right to speak Scots in any official or public
context, no right to have his or her children taught in Scots, there
virtually no TV or radio in Scots, no newspapers and only a few books
and magazines. Most Scots speakers are functionally illiterate in
their own language as Scots has been banned from all levels of
education for over a century. The growing interest in Scots as a
language therefore faces an uphill struggle against prejudice and
ignorance. There is no guarantee that this will succeed, but if it
does not Scots is likely to die out as a language early in the next
century.
(j) What is its future?
------------------
There are two possible futures for Scots: further degeneration until
it becomes a real dialect of English (by losing most or all of its
links with the historical language), or revival. Revival really means
elevation of Scots into an official or semi-official language, so-
called 'normalisation'. Normalisation involves four stages: selection
(of the dialect/s to be developed), codification (standardisation), elaboration (extending the vocabualry to handle new concepts and
contexts) and acceptance (encouraging people to use it). There are
many successful international examples of languages which have gone
through this process in comparatively recent times: Catalan, Gallego,
Swahili (in Tanzania), Maori, Hebrew. The task is not impossible and
already for Scots much progress has been made on the first two stages.
However further development (elaboration and acceptance) will require
a political will, flexibility, co-operation and, eventually, funding.
If Scots had a fraction of the monies used to support ballet, opera or
other such Scottish cultural activities, one would have more confidence.
Even Gaelic, Scotland's other beleagured indigenous tongue fares much
better in this context.
(k) Why bother with Scots, when English is a more useful language?
-------------------------------------------------------------
English is a world language of great beauty and power. But Scots is
_our_ language, providing a link with the past and enabling a
distinctly Scottish way of describing the world. When that is gone, it
is gone forever and we will have lost a major part of our identity.
From an international perspective, Scots is the nearest living relative
to English, it has many unique linguistic features, and has a literature
of world-wide cultural importance. No one is saying that English should
(or could) be removed from Scotland, rather that a better balance be
found between the languages. With about half of the world bilingual,
there is much evidence to suggest that a genuine bilingualism (as
opposed to the confused, unrecognised, half-hidden sort at the moment)
will enrich Scots people rather than impoverish them. Scots, and Scots
children in particular, have laboured too long under the impression
that the language of their family and friends is somehow 'wrong'.
(l) Why do you spell Scots like that?
--------------------------------
Scots is reasonably standardised, but at the moment there are still a
number of spelling variations to chose from. Each has advantages and
disadvantages. See Section 5 on spelling systems for more information.
(m) Why do you use Scots words I've never heard before?
--------------------------------------------------
In order to use Scots in a wider context the vocabulary has to be
extended. This can come form a number of sources. The most obvious
one is English, but too much can result in 'thin Scots'. A better
option is to use a composite vocabulary of words from different living
Scots dialects and possibly revived words (if recently lost). This can
be augmented by 'stretching' the meaning of familiar Scots words (ie
making specific meanings more generic). The last option is invention
(using words like 'flichtpairk' for airport or 'faurspeiker' for
telephone) but clearly this has to be treated with caution. However
there is nothing particularly unusual in a linguistic sense about
these processes. They occur all the time in all languages, as a quick
glance through some other newsgroups will quickly show. 'Newsgroup'
is as much an invention as 'Wittenscurn'!
3. A WEE HISTORIE O SCOTS
----------------------
[There's no English translation of this, but there is an
extensive glossary in Section 4, if you want to do your own!]
"Languages are the pedigree of nations" (Samuel Johnson)
(a) The makkin o Scotlan, the makkin o Scots
----------------------------------------
The kintra we nou ken as Scotlan his bin pairtit bi leid
fur mair nor twa thousant yeir. In the Roman Eild, the
Britons byded in the south o the kintra an thair leid wis
a forebeir o modren Welsh. Bit in the unvinkisht north
they spak Pictish, o whilk puckle is kent.
Whan the Romans quat, new invaders cam in, the Gaelic-
speikin Scotti frae Erlan in about AD five hunner an the
Angles frae Northumberlan tha spok a norlan kin o Anglo
Saxon. In 638 the hinner fangit the British dun o Din Eidyn
(nou Embro) an Lothian becam the hert o Anglo-Saxon
Scotlan. The first screivit evident o a Scots-lik leid is
a puckle wirds o Norlan Anglo-Saxon poetrie on a stane
corse in Ruthwell Kirk (Dumfries an Gallowa).
Jist afore echt hunner the Norsemen soupit throu Norlan
Inglan an Scotlan. Speikin a sib tung ti Anglo-Saxon,
their leid hud muckle mair effeck on the norlan nor the
southlan dialeks, sae furdor sheddin the twa.
Atweinhauns the Gaelic wis winnin forrit frae the wast.
In 843 the Kinricks o the Scots an the Picks wis jined
thegither bi Kenneth MacAlpine. Wi the better o haein a
screivit form (the first sic fowkleid in aw Europ), bi
1000 Gaelic hud absorbit Pictish ti be spoken ower the
hail of Scotlan sauf the Orkney an Shetlan Isles (tha
wis in Norse hauns), an Lothian, yet speikin the Norse an
Anglo Saxon mixter.
This wis the tap o the watter fur Gaelic. The kee ongaun
tha chynged the staunin o Anglo Saxon, nou cryed 'Inglis'
(an jist ti conflummix ye, Gaelic wis cryed Irisch!) wis
the incum o the Normans ti Inglan efter 1066. They brocht
wi them the new seistem o feudalism. The Scottish keings
Malcolm Canmore (1057-93) an his son David I (1124-53)
biggit this seistem in lallan Scotan wi the stairtin o '
burghs' - the mercat touns whaur maist o the treffick wis
in Inglish. Forby, monie Anglo-Normans cam ti Scotlan
aither in flicht frae Keing Wulliam or invitit. (Amang the
hinner wis the faimlies Bailliols, Bruces and Stewarts tha
wis ti pley sic a muckle pairt in Scotlan's historie.)
Efter the daith o the lest Gaelic keing, Alexander III, in
1286, the political mid o Scotlan wud muve ti the Inglish-
speikin lallans.
(b) Scots as a naitional leid
-------------------------
The naxt three-fower hunner yeirs wis ti see the flouerin
o 'Scots' as a naitional leid. In 1314 Bannockburn o course
makkit sicker the freedom o the kintra (fur a wee). In 1375
Barbour's Scots epic 'The Brus' cam out, in 1398 the Scottish
Parliament stairtit ti pit its laws in Scots (insteid o
Laitin). Doun south o course the Inglish wis growin an aw
throu the warks o Chaucer an ithers. Bit it hid chynged, nou
bein, a whein say, mair an Anglo-Frainch 'creole'. The by-
leid o the hame counties becam the offeicial naitional leid
thare efter about 1450.
The Scottish leid, wi its Lochlan colorin, wis nou different
eneuch to be cryed a saiprit tung an the by-leid aroun the
Forth suin becam the national leid o keing an cowmoner alik.
The makar Gavin Douglas (wha kent 'Inglish' Inglish weil)
wis aiblins the first kenspeckle screiver ti own the
unalikness an gie the tung its new nam. The makars Henryson,
Dunbar, Lyndsay an Douglas hisel aw played a pairt in makkin
Scots a heid European leid wi a warld-cless leiterature an
staunin. In a wey, this wis nou the tap o the watter fur
Scots, yaised in ilka aspeck o Scottish lyfe, a rael an hail
naitional leid. Frae nou on the Scots tung (an its speikers)
wid hae ti thole ane dunt efter anithir.
(c) A twa-leidit fowk
-----------------
The first dunt cam mair frae ill-luck nor ill-wull. In 1550
the Reformation yokit ti in Scotland. Thare wisna houanivvir
a hail owersett o the Guid Buik inti Scots an the Ingis hud
plentie Inglish vairsions ti haun, haein stertit thair ain
Reformation a whein airlier. Sae suin God wis speikin in
Inglish ti the Scots an Inglish stairtit ti be the leid o
philosophie, thocht an theologie, wi Scots bein yaised in
the houss, the wark an the howff.
[By-screive: In fack this is a gey cowmon happenin in maist
kintras. Hauf the fowk o the warld the day is twa-leidit an
awbodie his his o hur dialeck. Whaur thare twa (o mair) leids
o dialecks wi differin yisses an aften differin staunins in
the kintra, leinguists cry it 'diglossia'. The heuch kin is
fur releigion, lernin, wittens paipers, televeision, whilk
the 'laich' kin is maistly fur bletherin wi freins an
faimlie, seyin hou ye fin yersel etc. Nou afore ye think
ainlie puir dilecks is laich, in pairts o Italie an Hungaria
the warld-leid o Gairman is yet the 'laich' tung.]
(d) Scots efter the Union o the Crouns
----------------------------------
The nixt dunt ti Scots cam wi the Union o the Crouns in 1603
whan Keing James the Saxt gaed aff ti Lunnon, taein wi him
his leiteraie freins, his makars an muckle o the tap o
Scots societie. The Inglishin o Scotlan nou stairtit wi a
wull. Nou in yon tymes the Croun gied a muckle haun ti cultur.
Wi the court in Inglan, the makars yokit ti lernin Inglish, an
the Scottish Government, yet at hame, bacam mair an mair
Inglisht tae. Inglish wis nou the leid ti spik, no jist in the
Kirk, bit fur onie lad or lassie o pairts wissin ti git on.
(e) Scotlan losses its parliament
-----------------------------
Tha nixt an aiblins waurst dunt cam abou a hunner yeir ahint
wi the Union o the Parliaments in 1707, efter whilk aw the
offeicial screivins wud be in Inglish. The spekin leid, o
course, steyed Scots, or hauf an hauf. The heckle wis tha
Scots 'on the mak' suin foun tha the Inglish lauched at thair
speik an in the first eident o the kenspeckle Scottish
'creinge' ower-cless Scots ettled ti lern Inglish. Fur sic
fowk Braid Scots wis 'auld warld' an gleg Scottish screivers
hud their een on the mair muckle Inglish speikin mairket. Sae
the flouerin o Scottish Culture tha follaed the Union wis
maistlie cairriet on in Inglish. Scots becam seed as 'ill-
mouthit' Inglish an een kenspeckle fowk lik David Hume lernt
lang leits o Scotticisms ti jouk. (An this is no just in the
bygane, in raicent yeir mair nor ane warkin-cless Labour MP
hae gied aff ti 'elocution lessons' ti lern ti speik 'better').
(f) Burns
-----
Bit mair cannie Scots wisna taen in bi the farran fur
mim-mou'd Suddrone. In the 1720's Allan Ramsay prentit 'The
Gentle Shepherd' in Scots, follaed bi Fergusson an the big
yin hisel - Rabbie Burns (1759-96). Houanivver the diglossia
wis bi nou warkin weil an thair subjecks wis maistlie the
couthie an the humoursum. Een Burns seimed nou an than riven
atwein the twa leids, thou he aften yaised his twaleiditniss
ti wunnerfou effeck in his wark. In ane respeck, thou, Burns
did a fair bit o skaith wi the yiss o apostrophies in his
orthographie. Burns o course stairtit the tradeition tha
Scots wis best fur poetrie forby, an the yiss o Scots fur
screid (ordinar text) wis amest tint, thou it wis aften
yaised fur crack in buiks bi Scott an ithirs in the airlie
ninteint centurie. Thay gie a rerr insicht o the braid yiss
o Scots throu yon tymes.
(g) The 1872 Act
------------
Bit mair nor hunner yeir hid passit syne the Union, anithir
dunt fur the leid wis sharlie aucht! Alang it cam shair
eneuch wi the 1872 Education Act whilk set out the Inglish
language as the ainlie ane alloued ti be spak in Scottish
skuils. Een gin yer no a socialeist, it's herd no ti see
this as a cless weir in the clessruim. The bi nou weill-
Inglisht middle-cless representit bi the dominies ettlin ti
scour an skelp out warkin cless or fowk cultur frae the
heids o the puir skuilbairns.
(h) MacDiarmid
----------
In the 1920's thir stairtit a muvement agin sic cultural an
linguistic 'cleansin'. The 'Scottish Renaisance' wis inspirit
bi Hugh MacDiarmid, wha thocht Scots cud be biggit again inti
a hail leid. MacDiarmid's slogan (a Scots Gaelic wird bi the
wey) 'Dunbar - Nae Burns!' countered diglossia bi sayin Scots
cud be yaised fur onie subjeck, lik in the Gowden Eild o the
makars afore 1603. Houanivver McDairmid's sicht wisna hin-
luikin ava bit wis ruitit in the praisent an wis modrenist an
internaitionalist in its outluik. He devailopit the leiterarie
dialeck cried 'Synthetic Scots' (o bi his criticks, o whilk
thair wis monie, 'Plastic Scots') frae his ain speik an the
dictionar. Souter, Garioch, Young, Goodsir Smith wis aw hied
makars o the 'Lallans' skuill tha follaed. This tradeition
gaes on ti the day wi monie modren makars an playrichts
yaisin Scots in thair wark. In the 70's an 80's plays
frae fowk lik John McGrath an Liz Lochhead yaised Scots
dialog. Houanivver, his centurie fyow screivers hae adoptit
Scots fur screid wark, althou it's nae uncowmon ti see Scots
dialog. Ane aixeption wis Lewis Crassic Gibbon, tha yaised a
Scots/Iglish mix in the trilogie 'The Scots Quair' ti gran
effeck in tha he caucht the 'rhythm' o Scots.
(i) Scots in modren leitrature
--------------------------
Ae criticism o Scots novels is hou crack and screid ar for
ordinar screivit in inalik leids, lavin a waikniss or
pit-on at the hert o Scottish liteirature. Mair raicentlie a
puckle o modren Scots screivers sic as James Kelman (tha wun
the Booker Prize) an Irvine Welsh ('Trainspotting' bein ane o
the best sellin paiperback buiks in Scotland this yeir) hae
ettilt ti ainser thon bi yaisin maistlie (Laich) Scots text.
Thir lingueistic freedom gies the buiks undoutit pouer, bit
the subjecks ar yet fair restrictit ti the urban unnercless.
Mibbie our slogan nou cud be 'Dunbar - Nae Kelman'! (Ainlie
jokin, Jim.). Sae in poetrie an a wee bittie in theater an
buiks, ye cud say Scotland is in a wey awreddie twa-leidit
(or three-leidit, countin Gaelic), bit in aw ither aspecks o
Scottish cultur, Inglish is keing.
(j) Scots on televeision
--------------------
Leivin aside the odd adaptit theater play the ainlie tyme ye
heir Scots on TV is fur humor. Frae Parliamo Glasgow in the
60's throu Billy Connolly in the 70's an on ti Rab C Nesbitt
the nou, the mither tung his bin yaised ti raise a lauch. Nae
baud thing in itsel - thir a lang tradeition o humorsum yiss
o Scots - bit athout exemplars o ithir yisses the hechle is
it becums near imposseible ti think o yaisin Scots fur mair
sairious ettles. Interestinlie eneuch, A mind a Catalan bodie
sayin ti me that at first monie fowk cudna git yaised wi the
yiss o Catalan on TV fur wittens an the lik - it didna soun
'richt'. Ye cud jalouse the samen repone fur Scots!
In an interestin aixperiment in the airlie 80's BBC Scotlan
did an adaptation o 'The Scots Quair' bit wis hecklt frae
Scots an Inglish alik. The former thoucht (richt) the Scots
wis wattered doun fur the Inglish mairket, and the hinner cudna
unnerstaun it oniegate. The aixperiment hasna bin repeitit an
the actors near aw 'sairious' new series stellt in Scotlan (eg
Taggart) hae ti speik 'pan loaf' in case the pair Inglish ar a
bittie slaw on the uptak. Houanivver a wee brekthrou seimed ti
cum wi the screinin o Billy Kay's series 'Scots: The Mither
Tongue' bi BBC Scotlan in 1986 tha pit the case fur mair yiss
o Scots in aw pairts o Scottish lyfe. In maugre o a muckle
repone frae aw ower the kintra at the tyme, thir bin nae real
follae up in the nyne year syne (nae TV clesses fur exemplar).
(k) Scots: on the rocks or on the blocks?
------------------------------------
Houanivver Scots his bydit unco thrawn an maistlie acos
it alous fowk ti aixpress thaimsels an thair heft in a wey
Inglish jist canna (monie Scots wirds is gey unowersettable).
It is, o course, muckle shrunkelt syne Burns' tyme an his hid
by-ordinar 'interference' frae Inglish (aye the leid o pouer an
buik-lair).
The leid spoken in lallan Scotlan the day is a continuum
atwein dialecks o Scots, a whein o sindrie Scottish dialecks
o Inglish an standart Scottish Inglish itsel. This mixter-
maxter is happit wi an acsent tha reflecks the fack tha altho
monie Scots an Inglish wirds shair consonants, the vouels in
the twa tungs differ in a radical an gey unspaeable wey ie
Inglish wirds is aften spoken as if they wis Scots anes. We
hae monie o the swatches o a border patois wi speikers
'wheichin' takin a len an makkin up, shawin a jonick (gin ill-
kent) twaleiditniss. The border is tymelik no lanlik, bit the
iadea is muckle the samen (aixep tha Scots canna be
'vailidatit' - gien a staunin - sae maistlie losses out at
the hinneren). Aw this is o course haillie oral as thair yet
amest a hunner per cent illeiteracie in Scots (the 1872 ack
wisna chynged till 1991 an than ainlie a puckle).
Sae whit's the upcum o aw thir? Nae dout Scot his tint
muckle syne it wis the offeicial tung o Scotlan, bit yet
the spoken leid cud (mebbie ainlie jist) be cryed a leid.
Eneuch bydes ti form the founs o a new Scots, gin we wiss
it. Monie say we ainlie hauf a leid we'r ainlie hauf a fowk,
an gin we tyne Scots, we'll tyne oursels. The skaith his
aw cum frae Scottish fowk (we canna wyte the Inglish for
thir) an its haillie up ti us ti sort it. But, we'll hae ti
dae it suin. We hiv ainlie ti fin the wull an the smeddum.
4. GLOSSARIE TI SECTION THREE
--------------------------
(* means particular meaning in this context)
kintra-country, ken-know, pairt-divide, leid-language,
eild-age, byde-live, puckle-little, Erlan-Ireland, fang-
capture, dun-fort, screive-write, corse- cross, soup-sweep,
sib-related, shed-divide, atweinhauns-meanwhile, win
forrit-advance, kinrick-kingdom, haun-hand, tap o the
watter-high water mark, cry-call/name, ongaun-process,
bigg-build, lallan-lowland, forby- moreover, mid-centre,
sicker-safe, wee-short while*, by-leid-dialect, Lochlan-
Scandinavian, makar-poet, aiblins-perhaps, kenspeckle-well
known, heid*-major, staunin-status, thole*-withstand,
dunt-blow, yoke ti-start, howff-pub or other meeting place,
heuch-high, laich-low, blether-talk, Inglishin-
Anglicisation, lad o pairts-promising person, hechle-
problem, lauch-laugh, gleg-crafty, een-eyes, leit-list,
jouk-avoid, bygane-past, cannie-astute, Suddrone-perjorative
term for English, couthie-homely, skaith-harm, screid-prose,
tint-lost, crack-dialogue*, aucht-due*, weir-war, dominie-
schoolteacher, scour-clean vigourously, skelp-smack, bairn-
child, hin-backward*, pit-on-falseness, ettle-aim, wittens-
news, jalouse-guess, repone-respnse, pan loaf-Anglicised
form of speech, uptak-understanding, maugre-spite, thrawn-
obstinate, heft-environment, owersett-translate, by-ordinar-
extraordinary, lair-learning, happit-overlayed*, spae-
predict, swatch-feature, wheich-move rapidly, tak a len*-
borrow, jonick-genuine, tymelik-related to time, lanlik-
geographical, at the hinneren-in the long run, upcome-
outcome, foun-foundation, wyte-blame*, smeddum-determination,
resourcefulness and common sense (guid wird, eh?)
5. JOTTINS ON SPELLIN / NOTES ON SPELLING
--------------------------------------
(a) Introduction
------------
There are two issues in Scots spelling, how different it should be
from English, and which dialectical variant should be chosen. Neither
has reached a satisfactory conclusion yet with the result that every
writer uses his or her own written 'idiolect'. Nevertheless all is not
total anarchy. The Concise English-Scots Dictionary (CESD) is the '
bible' for vocabulary but it often gives alternative spellings and
itself has chosen a particular system. The one thing everyone agrees
on is that apostrophies (the Curse of Burns) should be avoided at all
costs (ie o', a' , o'er etc).
(b) How different should it be from English?
----------------------------------------
The argument is between those who want to make Scots more distinct from
English and those who want to keep it fairly similar. To the 'radicals'
orthography should reflect the fact that Scots has different historic
and linguistic roots and should also attempt to achieve a more phonetic
transliteration. The 'traditionalists' argue that many Scots words now
have established spellings (based on the English spelling system) which
are widely recognisable to the learner and moreover English spelling
rules are very familiar. Take the example of the English word 'house'.
Clearly it has a different pronunctiation in Scots, normally
represented as 'hoose'. However, the radicals argue that 'oo' is an
English import; 'ou' in Scots is _always_ pronounced 'oo', and the 'e'
is redundant anyway so the spelling should be should be 'hous' or
'houss'. Radicals go further by setting Scots phonetic spelling rules
such as 'ei' for any occurance of the sound represented by 'ee', 'ei',
'ie' etc in English and arguing that any borrowed or shared'English'
words should conform to these rules. Thus we have doar, aixerceize,
streit, leit etc. I tend to go for a fairly radical option (more than
the CESD, for example) for two reasons. Firstly, when you are writing
in Scots the (at first) odd spelling ensures that you keep _thinking_
in Scots. Secondly, Engish words used unchanged begin to look
distinctly out of place. Which reads better: 'Whit wid ye say's the
colour o thon door?' or 'Whit wid ye say's the color o thon doar?'.
(c) Dialect
-------
Despite the above, most Scots words have an uncontroversial spelling
and the CESD is an excellent guide: agley, blate, burn, dreich, ettle,
gallus, girn, kenspeckle, morn, nyaff, renaig, sark, speir, swither etc
etc. On the other hand a few vowels have distinct local sounds. Is it
'aa' or 'aw' (all) , 'pairk' or 'perk' (park)? It depends where you
come from. The way CESD hints is to pick a version eg 'puir' and accept
that people will pronounce it in different ways. Most written languages
work in this way, there's no reason for Scots to be different.
(d) Choosing a system
-----------------
The best idea is to pick an existing system you are reasonably
comfortable with (none is perfect) and try to use it consistently. The System I use is based on the AUSLQ (Aiberdeen Univaisitie Scots Leid
Quorum) booklet 'Innin ti the Scots Leid', which in turn is based on
Alasdair Allan's 'Scots Spellin: Ettlin efter the Quantum Lowp'
published in _English World Wide_, August 1995. It is comprehensive
(8 pages of rules) and reasonably consistent. The Scots Language
Society's 'Recommendations for Writers in Scots' is a useful
supplement, but is pretty conservative and surprisingly minimalist
(two sides of A4).
6. PRONOUNCIN GUIDAL / PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
---------------------------------------
"But I wouldn't know a single word to say
If I flattened all the vowels
And threw the 'R' away"
(The Proclaimers, 1987)
(a) General Note
------------
At the moment Scots lacks either a standard pronunction (there is
no Scots equivalent of English 'RP' or a standard orthography
(spelling system).
However there is a growing consensus on how Standard Scots should
be written and pronounced, and this guide attempts to bring the
common elements of modern systems together, but is a 'work in
progress' and by no means comprehensive.
(b) Single stressed vowels
----------------------
In Scots, words tend to be formed further back in the mouth than
in English. There is thus often less vocal distinction than in English,
and much variation between dialects, so this guide is approximate.
a - sounds like 'a' in English 'cat'
e - sounds like 'e' in English 'let'
i - sounds like 'i' in English 'hit' or 'u' in English 'hut'
o - sounds like 'o' in English 'cot' or 'oa' in English 'coat'
u - sounds like 'u' in English 'but'
(c) Single unstressed vowels
------------------------
A neutral sound as represented by the endings of English 'sugar' or
'butter'.
(d) Dipthongs (o/e here means o-constant-e)
---------
Dipthongs vary from dialect to dialect but are always given their
full value and never 'flattened'.
au, aw - Longer version of 'a' vowel or 'aw' sound in English 'awful'
depending on the dialect eg baw, cauld.
ae, ai, - Approximately like 'ay' in English 'play', but with more of
a/e, an 'e' sound eg dae, faither
In some areas also like ee in English 'feel'.
ei, ee, - Like 'ee' in feel eg frein, kee.
ea
oa, o/e - Like 'oa' in English 'coat'
'o' at the end of words has the same sound eg joco.
ou, u/e - Like 'oo' in English foot eg fou, stour, out.
ey, y/e - No real equivalent in English, sort of e as in get and i as in
English 'fine' fused into a dipthong eg gyte, pey, aye, gey.
ay, i/e - Like the vowel in English 'day' eg five, ay.
ow, owe - Like the vowel in English 'out' eg ower, lowp.
ui - Varies with dialect. 'Standard' is like French 'peu' or
German 'schoen'. But often like 'ay' sound in English 'play'
or 'ee' as in English 'feel' eg puir.
eu - Varies with dialect. 'Standard' is as vowel as in English
'you' eg neuk, teuchter (derogatory term for a country
person).
(e) Constonants
-----------
Mostly like English, but note the following important differences:
ch - Soft as in English 'cheese' at the beginning of words,
otherwise hard sound as in 'loch'. Soft 'ch' spelt 'tch'
in the middle of words eg ritch.
h - Always full value, rarely dropped eg hert, haver.
ng - As English 'sing' not English 'single' ie there is no
intrusive 'g' sound eg finger, ingin (English: onion)
r - Stronger than English, always full value after vowels,
(unlike RP English where it is common to 'throw the r away')
eg caur, fower. Often 'rolled' at the beginning of words.
t - Replacement by a glottal stop in middle and end of words
is a common and distinctive feature of Scots. Resisted
by some due to its association with 'bad English'.
wh - Pronounced 'hw' never 'w' as in English 'water' eg wheich.
Pronounced as 'f' in some areas.
7. INNIN TI SCOTS GREMMAR / INTRODUCTION TO SCOTS GRAMMAR
------------------------------------------------------
(a) Introduction
------------
A common root and many centuries of close contact between Scots and
English have ensured that the grammars of the two tongues are broadly
similar. This is good news for an (Engish speaking) learner, but care
still has to be taken as there are many traps for the unwary. The
grammar if Scots, like its orthography and vocabulary is still
somewhat fluid, so this section will only outline some of the main
points of difference with English. The information is 'byled doun'
from David Murison's 'The Guid Scots Tongue', AUSLQ's 'Innin ti the
Scots Leid' and some detective work with 'The Concise English-Scots
Dictionary'. Some 'grammatical' terminology has been inevitable to
give this section some structure, but I've tried to keep it to a
minimum and explain what the terms mean.
(b) Scots Verbs ('Doing' words)
-----------
Scots verbs have five forms:
> the root eg ken (when ti is added ie ti ken, this is the infinitive).
> the simple present tense, formed (in singular and plural) by adding
-s to the root eg kens.
> the simple past tense of regular verbs, formed by adding -it, t or
ed to the root eg kent.
> the past participle in regular verbs is the same as the simple past
tense eg kent.
> the present participle is formed by adding -in to the root eg kennin. (Except for gang/gae which has the irreguar form gaun eg Ar ye gaun ti the gemm the morn?)
(b.1) The present tense: verbs after a plural subject
Unlike English, there is no change in verbs following a plural
subject:
the gless wis clairtie, the glesses wis clairtie
the lassie aets a fush supper, the lassies aets fush suppers
However, many speakers use the English-like plural form (ie they drop
the -s), so this rule can be regarded as optional for the moment.
(b.2) The past tense of regular verbs
There are three classes of regular ('weak') Scots verbs the past tense
and past participle end in -t, -it or -ed depending on the verb ending.
Verbs ending with Past tense ending Examples
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-b, -d, -g, -it bigg, biggit,
-k, -p, -t, howk (dig), howkit
-te
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-ch, -f, -l, -le, -t ken, kent; birl, birlt;
-n, -r (sometimes), add apostrophhe after spier, spiert; lauch laucht
-s, -se (with s silent e-le bbecomes fash, fasht; hirple (limp),
sound), -sh, -ss, -ilt hirpilt
-th
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-e(except those -ed (displacees e) daur, daured; luive, luived,
above), -m, -ou, Add apostrophe for caw, cawed, cry, cried,
-r (sometimes), verbs ending -ee
-se (with z sound),
-w, -x, -y, -z,
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[frae AUSLQ (1995)]
(b.3) The past tenses of irregular verbs
As in all Anglo-Saxon languages, many common Scots verbs are irregular
(strong). There are considerable differences between Scots and English
in this respect. Verbs which are irregular in English may be regular
in their Scots equivalents: catch, catched; ken, kent; sell, sellt;
tell, tellt; while several verbs which are regular in English are
irregular in Scots. Here are the most common examples.
present past past participle English equivalent
------- ---- ---------------- ------------------
aet ett etten eat
be wis
(pl) wur bin be
bide bade bidden live (reside)
brek brak braken break
bring brocht brocht bring
cum cam/cummed cum/cummed come
dae did duin do
fecht focht focht(en) fight
fesh fuish fuishen fetch
fin fan fun find
gang/gae gaed gane go
gie gied/gien/gae gied/gaen give
git gat gotten get
greit grat grutten cry
hae hid/hed haen have
haud held hauden hold
lowp lowpit lowpen jump,leap
mak makkit/made makkit/made make
rin rin/run rin/run run
see seed/seen seed/seen see
sey sed sed say
sit sat sutten sit
speik spak spak/spoken speak
staun stuid stuiden stand
tak teuk/taen taen take
think thocht thocht think
wash wuish washen/wuishen wash
Note the unusual use of the past participle of aw (owe) in the
expression 'Wha's aucht this?' meaning 'Who does this belong to?'
(b.4) Forming the negative
Scots 'no' is used generally in the same ways as English 'not'
eg A'm no tha fou . 'Nae' carries out this function in the North East
dialect, otherwise 'nae' before nouns is the the equivalent to English
'no' eg Thir nae luck about the houss. Note however the auxilliary
verbs (see next section) have particular negative forms.
(b.5) Auxilliary Verbs (Be, have, will etc)
These are verbs used together with a main verb to expand meaning and
expression. Scots usage is almost the same as English, but the forms
are quite distinct.
'be' and 'hae' are the primary auxilliaries used to build compound
tenses, be is used to make the present and past progressive tenses and
hae the present and past perfect tenses
'dae' is the supporting auxilliary used for negatives, questions etc
'wull/will', 'maun' and 'micht' are the modal auxilliaries which form
the future and tenses which express uncertainty.
Auxilliary verbs have distinct negative forms in Scots and several
also have emphatic forms.
*Be* has eight different forms: be, am, ar(e), wis/wes, wur, bin
which correspond to the English cognates. As Scots has survived as a
spoken language, elision (missing out letters) is normal in many
auxilliary verbs (and indeed throughout the language) where there are
two adjacent vowels. The present tense of ti be is therefore:
A'm, ye'r, he/she/it's, we'r, ye'r, thay/thai'r
The negative of most auxilliaries is formed by adding -na, to the
unelided form: A'm, A amna; ye wis, ye wisna etc
Note that the English 'there is/are' is translated by 'thir'
eg thir yer tea.
*Hae* has the forms: hae, haes, haein, hid/hed, haen (see irregular
verb table) as well as the emphatic form hiv. A common alternative
elided form to A hae is A'v. Negatives: haena, hidna etc.
*Dae* has forms dae, dis, did, duin (see irregular verb table) as well
as the emphatic form div. Elided form of past -'d. Irregular negative
of dae is dinna, otherwise disna, didna.
*Modal Verbs* are used in a similar way to English, although wull/will
is generally used in place of English shall. It has the short form 'll
as in English. Negative forms wull, winna; maun, maunna; micht,
michtna, daur, daurna, neid, neidna (daur and neid not really modals).
*Can/Kin, cu(i)d, shu(i)d, wad/wuid/wid* are alternative spellings
depending on the dialect/spelling system but all have -na negative
eg canna, shuidna, cuidna. Wad has the elided form -'d.
(c) Scots Nouns ('Naming' words)
-----------
As English, with plurals in -(e)s. Scots irregulars: ee, een (eyes);
shae, shuin (shoes); wumman, weimen; cou, ky(e) (cows); yeir, yeir.
Posessives as in English with -'s or -s' or alternatively with o
eg the convener o the curn.
Scots compound nouns may be hyphenated to clarify meaning or
pronunctiation eg weik-en, post-caird.
The diminutive suffix -ie is commonly used to indicate smallness
as an alternative to the adjectives wee or smaw eg lass, lassie;
kist, kistie; cheit, cheitie; houss, houssie.
(d) Demonstratives (This, that etc)
--------------
Used to specify the distance or location of something in relation to
the speaker. This and tha are used as in English and Scots has two
extra forms to refer to things more distant. That one is
tha ane/yin/wan depending on dialect.
singular this lad tha lad thon lad yon lad
plural thir lads thae lads thon lads yon lads
Note the related: Heir/here (here), heirawa (hereabouts), thare
(there), thairawa (thereabouts), yonderabouts (there or thereabouts).
(e) Pronouns (Take the place of a noun)
--------
(e.1) Personal pronouns
Scots has both unemphatic forms and emphatic forms. The emphatic forms
are given in square brackets and often correspond to the English
equivalent.
*Subject* (nominative):
A [Ah/I], ye [you], he/she/it [he/she/hit],
we [we], ye [you], they [they]
In Glaswegian dialects ye has a very useful plural yez [youz]
eg Whit'r yez daein the nicht?
The familiar form of you - tou - survived on the mainland until this
century, but is now only used in Shetland in the form du.
*Object* (accusative):
me [me], ye [you], him/hir or hur/it [him/hir/hit],
us [hiz], ye [you], them [thaim]
*Posessive*:
ma [ma], yer [your], his/hir or hur/its [his/hir or hur/hits],
wur [our], yer [your], thair [thair]
Note that in Scots (as in French, for example) 'the' is often used
where English would use the possessive pronoun eg the wyfe, the
brither, the fit, the haun, to keip/loss the heid.
('The' is generally used more often in Scots than in English eg the
yeir (this year), awa ti the kirk, at the scuil, aff ti the jile, doun
the toun, up the stair, whit'v ye got in fur the denner?, She's guid
at the Inglish etc.)
*Indefinite pronoun*:
English 'one' is 'a bodie' eg Gin a bodie meit a bodie...
(e.2) Reflexive pronouns
himsel, hursel, thaimsel or -sels.
English 'alone' is translated as his/hur/thair etc lane.
(e.3) Relative pronouns
The relative pronoun (English which, who etc) is simply tha or at,
depending on the dialect. 'Scots wha hae' is a bit literary!
(e.4) Interrrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronouns are all different from English.
hou (how or why), wha (who), wham (whom), whan (when), whase (whose),
whaur (where), whatna (which), whit (what), whit wey (why)
(e.5) Indefinite pronouns
In Scots these are: a bodie (someone, somebody), naebodie (no one,
nobody), oniebodie (anyone, anybodie), awbodie (everyone, everybody),
sumhin/sumthin (something), naethin (nothing), oniethin (anything),
awthin (everything).
(f) Quantifiers (Give an idea of how many or how much)
-----------
Aw (all), a wheen o (some), onie (any), eneuch (enough), hauf (half),
baith (both) are used as in English. Baith and maist (see below) are
usually used with the eg the baith/maist o yiz.
Monie, mair, maist are the forms for countable nouns, muckle, mair,
maist for uncountable nouns. English 'few' is translated as
'nae monie', both fewer and less as 'less'. 'A few' is 'a whein',
'twa-three/three-fower' etc.
(g) Numbers (Cardinals are 1,2,3 etc; Ordinals 1st, 2nd 3rd etc)
-------
Cardinal numbers are all different to English in spelling and/or
pronunctiation - see separate list.
Ordinal numbers all end in -t ie first, saicant, thirt, fowert, fift,
saxt, seivent, ect/aucht, nint, tent. Add -t to the cardinal numbers
for subsequent forms.
Nixt/neist is used differently for days of the week. 'Seturday first'
is the equivalent of English next Saturday, while 'Seturday nixt' is
next Saturday but one.
Laist, referring to time, is used like English last (but 'last year'
is 'fernyeir'). When it refers to position, use hin(ner) or
hinnermaist.
(h) Distributives (Each and every)
-------------
Each and every are both usually translated as ilka, though there is a
form 'ivverie'.
Aither (either) and naither are used as in English.
Each one is ilk ane and each other is ilk ither.
(i) Adjectives (Describe nouns and pronouns)
----------
Scots often use -lik added to simple adjectives for English -ish
eg blecklik, doucelik
Comparatives are formed in the same way as English, by adding -er
or -est eg bonnie, bonnier, bonniest or using mair, the maist.
When there is a second part to the comparison, use nor eg tha laddie
is mair glaikit nor thon ane. Note irregulars; guid, better, best;
baud/ill, waur, warst; faur, forder, fordest.
(j) Adverbs (Describe how something happens)
-------
Most adverbs are formed by adding -lie to the end of the related
adjective eg slaw, slawlie; saft, saftlie. Some have an optional extra
-s: aiblins (perhaps), mebbies, geeylies (pretty much), brawlies.
However, when the adverb is positioned next to the verb, it takes the
same form as the adjective eg He cam in quaet athout oniebidie twiggin.
When more emphasis is needed, -lik(e) can be added eg Rin, quick-like!
Note the common adverb 'awa' which appears in several idioms
eg A'm awa (I am going), cum awa (come here), awa (wi ye)!
(expression of disbelief), awa (an) byle yer heid! (get lost!),
A'm fair awa wi the Haunbuik (happy/proud).
(k) Prepositions (Used to indicate movement, position, relation etc)
------------
Many can also be used as adverbs. Some of the most common are:
ablo(w) (below), about (about), abuin (above), aff (off), afore
(before, prior to), agin (against), ahint (behind), alang (along),
amang (among), aneith (beneath), anent (alongside, regarding), aroun
(around), as (as), aside (beside), at (at), athort (across), athout
(without), atwein (between), ayont (beyond), ben (within a house),
bi wey o (via), bi/be/by (by, past), doun (down), efter (after),
fornent (opposite), frae/fae (from), fur (for), furth (out of a town,
country etc), in (in), in aneith (under, underneath), in
maugre/spite o (despite), in o (inside), inby (within), inbye (inside
a building) , inti(l) (into), nar (near), o (of), on (on), onti (onto),
or (until), outbi (out-of-doors), outwi (outside), ower (over), roun
(round), syne (since), throu (through, during), ti(l) (to) , till
(till), tiward (toward), up (up), upon (upon), wantin (without), wi
(with), wi-in, (within).
Many of these can be used as compunds eg intil, inower (in), outower
(ouside), in o, aff o etc.
Use is broadly similar to English although there are some variations
eg think on (think about), merrit on/wi (married to), beilin at (angry
with), ower the windae (out of the window), in a praisent (as a
present), wyte on (wait for), cry on (call to), feart fur (afraid of),
mind o (remember), lippen ti (depend on), spier at (ask, request)
(l) Time (The last bit!)
----
Note the phrases: Fower o' clock, the back o fower, a quarter efter
fower, hauf past fower*, a quarter ti five. *Warning: In Scots 'hauf
fower' really means 3.30 (as in German), but nowadays it is usually
used (incorrectly, if you are a purist) to mean 4.30.
Twalours/nuin (midday) and midnicht (midnight) are supplemented by
weeours (early morning), keik o day (sunrise), morn(in)/forenuin
(morning), efternuin (afternoon), sundoun (sunset), gloamin (just
after sunset) eenin/fornicht (evening) and, of course, nicht (night).
8. WIRDLEIT / VOCABULARIE (Selectit maistlie frae CESD)
----------------------
S: About 700 o the maist cowmon wirds in _onie_ leid. A wisna reivin
jist kenspeckle Scots wirds. A yaise 'ou' nae 'oo', an 'ei' fur aw
'Inglis' ee, ei, ie, ea souns, bit it's yer chyce.
I: About 700 of the most common words in _any_ language. I wasn't just
looking for well-known Scots words. I use 'ou' not 'oo', and 'ie' for
all Inglish ee, ei, ie, ea sounds, but it's your choice.
Key: () alternative spelling
--- / alternative form
, synonyms
[] alternate Scots spelling of word with same pronunctiation
as English
# irregular (strong) verb in Scots
* same spelling as English, different pronuctiation in Scots
---------------------------------------------------------------------
a a
able (y)able
accept accep(t)
accident amshach
account acount
address bydes, address
aeroplane airieplane
after efter
afternoon efternuin
afraid feart
again [agane]
against agin
age [aidge], eild
ago syne
agree gree
air air
airport airieport, flichtpairk
all aw
allow allou, lat#, leive
almost amest
alone his/her/its etc lane
already awreddie
also an aw, forbye, as weil(l)
altogether awthegither
always aye
amaze dumfoun
among (a)mang
amuse, to divert
and an, and (emphatic)
angry bealin
animal baist
annoy, inconvenience fash
another anither
answer [anser]
any onie
anyone oniebodie
anywhere oniegate, oniewhaur
arrive arreive
art airt
as as
as well an aw, forbye
ask (enquire) speir
ask for ask fur
at at
at all an aw, ava
avoid jouk
away awa
awkward fykie
attention, pay tak tent
bad baud, ill
bad-tempered crabbit
bag poke
ball baw
bank baunk
bath [bauth]
bathe (eg in the sea) douk
be be#
beach stran, stron
beautiful bonnie
because (a)cause
become turn, git
bed bed, lee
beer [beir]
before afore
begin stairt, yoke ti
behind ahint
believe dout, beleive (sic), hae
below ablo(w)
beneath aneith
between atwein
bicycle byke
big muckle
bill lawin
black bleck
bloke, guy etc cheil
blue bew, blae
boat boat
bold, cheeky gallus
book buik
boot buit
born born (*)
bottle bottle (*)
boss, gaffer heid bummer
both baith
bottom boddam
box box(*), kistie
boy lad, laddie, loun
break brek, brak#
bridge brig
bright bricht
bring bring#, fess/fesh#
brother brither
brown broun
build bigg
building biggin
bus bus
business [bisness]
busy thrang
but bit, but (emphatic)
buy coff
cafe caff
call (eg phone) caw
call (name) cry
camera camera
can (be able) can/kin, dow
car caur
careful carefou, cannie
carry cairrie, humf (heavy)
card caird
cat cat, cheit
certain certent, sicker
chair cheir
change chynge
cheap chape
chemist droggist
cheque check
child bairn, wean
choice chyce, wale
church kirk
cigarette cigarette, fag
class cless
clean, to claen, thorow
clear clair
clever gleg, skeilie, smairt
climb sclim#, speil
clock nock, cloak
close, to steik
clothes claes
coat cot
cold cauld
collect, pick up uplift
colour color
come, to cum/come#
comfortable codgie, bien
complain girn
complete kemp
conspicuous kenspeckle
continue cairrie on, conteina
conversation crack, cantation
cook cuik, readie
corner cunyie, gushet, neuk
correct correck
cost chairge, stan
count count*
country kintra
cover, to hap, kivver
cry (weep), to greit#
cup cup, biccar
cut coll
damage daimish, skaith
dangerous unchancie
dare daur
dark derk, mirk
daughter dochter, lass
day day
dear (cost) [deir]
decide, to deceid
defend, to fen(d)
dentist dentist
depart, leave depairt, gang out*
descend gang doun
desire, to ettle efter, seik ti
dictionary dictionar
die, to dee
different unalik
dinner denner
direction airt
dirty clairtie/clortie
distance lenth
divide shed
do, to dae#
doctor doctor
dog dug, tyke
door [doar]
down doun
dress, to dress, busk
dress dress, outrig
drink drink (etc)
drop drap
dry hask
dreary dreich
during throu
duty, tax stent
dust, dirt stour
each, every ilka
early airlie
ear lug
eat aet#
empty tuim
end en(d)
engine ingine
engineer ingineir
English Inglish
enough eneuch
enter, to intil
entrance ingang, entrie, ingait
equal aqual
evening einin
evening (early) forenicht
everything awthing
everywhere aw roads, aw wey
excellent gran, rerr/rare
exceptional byordinar, walie
exchange chynge
excuse aixcaize/excaise
exercise aixerceize/exerceise
exit outgang
expensive [deir]
extremely geyan
eye ee (pl een)
face gizz
fall faw#
family faimlie
far faur
fast fest
fat fet, bowsie
father faither, fader
fault faut, wyte
feel fin masel
fetch fess/fesh#
few, a a whein, puckle, fyow
field pairk
fight fecht#
fill, to fou, prime
film film
find, to fin#
fine braw
finish feinish
fire [fyre]
fix (put) stell
fix (repair) sort
flight flicht
floor flair
flower flouer
fly flee
follow follae
food fuid, maet
fool, idiot cuif, gowk, eidjit, gomeral
foolish glaikit
foot f(u)it
football fitbaw
for fur
forget forget
free free
fresh caller
friend frein
fright fricht
from frae/fae
fruit fruit
full fou
fuss stushie
future, the oncome, further
game gemm
garage [gairidge]
garden gairden
get git#, fess/fesh#
gift gift, praisent
girl lass, lassie, quine
give gie#
glad gled
glasses glesses
glove gluive
go gang#
gold gowd
good guid, nae baud
grateful to thankfou ti
great gret, muckle
group curn
guess, reckon jalouse
hand haun
happen happen
happy blithe
harbour herbor
hard haird
hat hat, bunnet (etc)
have hae#
head hied, pow
healthy weil(l)
hear [heir]
heart h(a)ert
heavy hivvie
help help, gie a haun ti
here [heir]
hesitate swither
high heich
hight hicht
hill brae, ben
hit dunt, ding
hold haud
holiday holiday
home hame
hope howp
hospital hospital(*)
hot het
hotel hotel(*)
hour our
house hous(s)
how hou
hungry hungert, tuim
hunt, look for reive
hurry, to hie
husband (guid)man
if (condition) if
if (conjecture) gin
ill seik, nae weil(l)
immediately immedantlie, at yince, richt nou/awa
important important(*)
in in
industrious eident
industry industrie
information wittins
inside in o, inbye
insipid, dull fushionless
intelligent gleg, wyce
interesting interestin
jacket jaiket
jeans denams
jersey gansey
join jine
journey raik, vaidge
jump lowp#
just jist
keep kep
key kee
kind guidwilie, kin
king keing
kiss kiss
knife gullie, knyfe (k pronouncit)
know ken
lack, need want
lady leddie
lake loch
language leid
large muckle
last lest
late (delayed) ahint, (taiglt)
laugh lauch#
lawyer lawer
lazy person dow
learn [lern]
leave lave
left ker
lend len
less less
let lat
letter scrieve, scribe
lie lee
lie down lig
light licht
like lik
like, would fain
liquid bree
list leit
little wee, sma(w)
little, a a wee bit, a jot
live leive
live in byde#, stey, dwal
lively cantie
long lang
look luik, keik
look, peep, a keik
lorry larrie
lose tyne, loss
lost tint
loud fell, loud*
love luve
low laich
mad gyte
make mak
make (compel) gar
man man/mon, carl
manner mainner, wey
many monie
map cairt
market mercat, mart
match lunt
medicine feisick
meet meit in wi
meeting forgaithern, tryst
middle mid
might micht
minute meinit
mirror (seein/luikin)gless
Mister (Mr.) Maister
mistake mistak, mistent
Misses (Mrs) Maistress, Missus
modern modren
money siller
moon muin
more mair
morning morn, forenuin
most maist
mother mither
motorway micklegait, motorwey
mountain muntain, ben
mouth mou(th)*, gab(b)
move muve
move house flit
move rapidly wheich
much muckle, plentie, rowth o
museum [muiseum]
music [muisic]
must maun
name nem
near nar
neat snod, trig
necessary necessar
need [neid]
never nivver
new new
next nixt/neist
night nicht
no naw, nae, na
noise, sound soun
none nane
nonsense havers
nose neb
not no, nae
nothing naethin
now nou
now, just the nou
number nummer
obtain obtein, git#
of o
off aff
office [offiss]
often afen, aft
oil ile
old auld
old-fashioned auld-farrant
on on(*)
once yince, aince
only ainlie
open apen
opposite forenent, opposeit
or or
ordinary ordinar
other ither
other, the the tither
over ower
owe awe
package paircel
paper paiper
park pairk
part pairt
pass (ie give) rax
past, the bygane
path pad, gang
pay pey
pen pen
pencil pincil
people fowk
perhaps aiblins, mibbie
permit lat, leave
person bodie, sowl
persuade perswad
petrol petrol
photograph photie
picture picter
piece bit
place steid
play pley
please pleise
pleased joco
point pint
police(man) polis(man)
police station polis station
politician politeician
poor puir
possible posseible
post office post-[offiss]
postcard post-caird
pound (�) poun(d)*
pound (lb) punn
prefer lik better
prepare redd, graith
price price
private [praivat]
probable lik
problem, hassle hechle
profession profeision
programme program
promise hecht
pull pou, rugg
put pit#, stell
puzzled bambouzilt
quality qualitie
question spier, quaistion
quick swith
quiet quaet
rain rain (etc)
read reid
ready reddie
receive raiceive
reception raiception
red reid
refuse (to do) renaig
regret rue
reluctant sweir
remember mind
repeat rane
reply repone
report report
responsible responseible
rest, to rist
rest, the lave
restaurant restaurant
return retour, cum hame
rich ritch
ride (eg in a car) hurl
right richt
river river, watter
road gate, rod, causey
room ruim
room (bed) chaumer
round roun
rubbish bin bucket
run rin#
sad dowf, dowie
salt and pepper saut an spyce
same samen
save sauf
say sey
scheme, plan ploy
school scuil
sea [see], faem
seat sait
see see
seem seim
sell sell
send sen
serve ser
service onwatin
shake shak, shougle
shirt sark
shoe shae (pl sh(u)in)
shop shap
shopping messages
short cuttie, scrimp
show shaw
shower shour
shut steik
sick, unwell no weil(l)
sign seignal
silver siller
since syne
since then sinsyne
sing sing (etc)
sister sister
sit sit
sky lift
sleep [sleip]
slide skite
slow slaw
small sma(w), wee
snow snaw
so sae, tha (eg A wis tha wabbit)
soap saip
soft saft
some sum, a whein o (things)
sometimes whiles
somone a bodie
son sin
song sang
soon suin
sore sair
speak [speik]#
square squerr
squint, awry agley/agaly
stairs stair
stamp stamp
stand staun#
start stairt, yoke ti
station station
stay stey, byde#
steal pauchle
step stap
stop stap
stop moving deval
strange unco, unkent
street [streit], causey
stretch rax (yersel), streitch
strong strang
stubborn thrawn
student [stuident]
study studie
stuff gear, (ie material) graith
suddenly suddentlie
sullen dour
sun sun
sure shair
sweet hinnie, douce
swim soum#, sweim#
table buird
take tak#
talk, to speik, blether, crack, gab
talk nonsense, to haver
taste, to pree
taxi taxi
tea [tee]/tae
teach [lern], teach#
teacher [teitcher], dominie
tear rive
telephone telephone, faurspeiker
telephone, to caw
television televeision
tell tell
tidy trig
tidy up, to redd
than nor
thank you thenk ye
that tha, thon, yon
the the
theatre theater
them thaim
then than
then (eg and then I..) syne
there (is) thir
therefore syne
these thir
they they/thay/thai
thin shilpit
thing (t)hing
think dout, think#
thirst(y) drouth(ie)
those thae, thon, yon (yins)
this this
though thou
throw thraw
ticket ticket
time tyme
tip magg
tip over, to cowp
tired fauchelt, lowsed, wabbit
to ti, tae (emphatic), til (before vowel)
today the day
toilet lavvie, wattrie, cludgie
tolerate thole
tomorrow the morn/morra
tomorrow morning the morn's morn
too (as well) tae, an aw, forbye, as weil(l)
too much ower muckle
top tap
tourist towerist
towards athwart
towel touwel
town toun
traffic traffeck
trousers breiks, trousers*
try, aim ettle
turn (esp quickly) birl
ugly hackit, ugsum
unusual unco
up up
uproar, disturbance stramash, rammie
use (n)yiss, (v)yaise
very gey, verra, awfie, fair, richt
wait wyte
wake wauk
walk traivel, dauner
wall (ie of a buiding) waw
wall (ie on its own) dyke
want wiss, wint/wunt
warm warm*, beik
wash wash*#
water watter
wear weir
week [weik]
well weil(l)
well, as an aw
wet wat/weit
what whit
whatever whitivvir
when whan
where whaur
which? whit ane(s)?
which tha/at
white [whyte]
who wha
whole hale
why hou, whit wey
wide braid
wife guidwyfe, wumman
wind wun
window winda(e)
wise wyce
wish wiss
with wi
without athout
woman wumman (pl weimen)
wonder wunner
wonder, a ferlie
wood wuid
word wird
work wark#
world warld
worry, to fash yersel
worse waur
write screive
wrong wrang
year [yeir]/towmond
year, last fernyeir
yellow yella
yes ay
yesterday yestrein/yisterday
you ye, (pl) yes
young [yung]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WIRDLEIT APPENDIX
(a) Nummers, days o the weik etc
------------------------
Nummers
1 ane/wan/yin (ae - adjective)
2 twa
3 three
4 fower
5 five*
6 sax
7 seiven
8 echt/aucht
9 nyne
10 ten
11 aleiven
12 twal
13 thertein
14 fowertein/foretein
15 feiftein/fifteen
16 saxtein
17 seiventein
18 echteen/auchtein
19 nyntein
20 twintie
30 thertie
40 fowertie/fortie
50 fuftie/fiftie
60 saxtie
70 seiventie
80 echtie/auchtie
90 nyntie
100 a hunner
1000 a thousan
1M a mullion
(b) Days o the weik
---------------
Monanday/Monday
Tyseday/Tuesday
Wadensday/Wadensday
Thursday/Fursday
Fryday
Seturday
Sunday/Sawbath
(c) Moneths o the yeir
------------------
Januar, Februar, Mairch, Aprile/Averil, Mey, Juin,
Julie, August, September, October, November, December
(d) Saisons
-------
Ware, Simmer, Hairst, Wunter
9. LERNIN SCOTS / LEARNING SCOTS
-----------------------------
This Handbook is designed as a quick guide for people with a reasonable
familiarity with the spoken tongue. If you are in this position, the
more you write the quicker literacy will come. There is at least one
mailing list for Scots (email me for details) and plans for several Web
sites. Once you have confidence, the Usenet groups soc.culture.scottish
and scot.gen sometimes carry Scots traffic, but they can be critical
environments. If you are a complete beginner, GLEG from Scotsoun is
a good starting point and they also stock other prose and poetry tapes.
(See Sections 10 and 11). In either case build up your own vocabulary
lists and carefully read as much as you can. There are several Scots
language groups now springing up in Scotland to help conversation. Alas
grabbing the first Scotsman or woman you meet may not help you much.
Many Scots have a confused and sketchy knowledge of their language and
some are ambivalent. Don't be surprised by 'Whit ye lernin tha fur?'!
10. BUIKLEIT / BOOKLIST
-------------------
All the titles below, with one or two exceptions are in print.
(a) General
-------
Billy Kay (1993) Scots: The Mither Tongue, Alloway Publishing
(ISBN 0-907526)
Through his TV and radio work, and this inspirational and radical
examination of the history and current state of Scots, few have done
more to raise awareness and popularise the cause of the Scots language.
Anyone with an interest in Scots should read this book.
J Derrick McClure (1988) Why Scots Matters, The Saltire Society
(ISBN 0-85411-0039-9)
A concise and compelling argument, covering much the same ground as Kay.
J Derrick McClure et al (1980) The Scots Language: Planning for a
Modern Usage Ramsay head Press (ISBN unknown) Not in print
McClure and others suggests how revival might might be acheived, and
some of the problems.
David Murison (1977) The Guid Scots Tongue, The Mercat Press
(ISBN unknown)
A short, but surprisingly detailed, popular guide by an author who
knows his linguistics.
(b) Dictionaries
------------
Scottish National Dictionary Association (1991) The Concise Scots
Dictionary, Aberdeen University Press (ISBN 0-550-11850-0)
One volume Scots to English dictionary covering historical and current
usage.
Scottish National Dictionary Association (1993) The Concise
English-Scots Dictionary, Chambers (ISBN 0-550-11855-1)
Quite simply the 'Bible' for modern Scots writers. Essential. Buy it.
Steal it, if necessary.
Iseabail Macleod (1990) The Scots Thesaurus, Aberdeen University Press
(ISBN 0-08-036583-3)
Really more a thematic Scots-English dictionary than a thesaurus so of
less use as a tool than you might imagine. The English-Scots index is
a useful supplement to CESD, though, with a wider (ie more archaic)
coverage of 20,000 words.
(c) Word Lists and Dialect
----------------------
Collins Gem Scots Dictionary (1995) HarperCollins (ISBN 0-00-470486-X)
Informative new list of 2000 of the most commonly used distinct Scots
words and concepts. Most Lowland Scots might understand most of these
words.
Iseabail Macleod (1986) The Pocket Guide to Scots Words, Richard Drew
Publishing (ISBN 0-86267-160-4)
Useful booklet 'to help tourists and newcomers' which includes over 500
common Scots words and about the same in Gaelic. Also covers names and
place-name elements.
Michael Munro (1985) The Patter, Glasgow City Libraries
(ISBN 0-906169-09-7)
Enormously popular and oft-reprinted guide to Glasgow patois. Many of
Munro's 'local forms' (about half, I reckon) are basic Scots: ablow,
aipple, airieplane, aw, awfy, ayeways, all the way through to wummin,
wur, yin, yon, yous, but lots of original Glesga stuff included too.
Two other volumes were published, which may indicate something of
Glesga inventiveness (especially in terms of abuse).
(d) Learning Materials
------------------
Beginners will be suprised that after some 70 years of attempted
language revival, only now are some half-decent learning materials
emerging. A canna unnerstaun it aither.
AUSLQ (1995) Innin Ti the Scots Leid (no ISBN)
The Aiberden Univairsitie's Scots Leid Quorum's useful 44 page booklet.
Strong on spelling (I use most of their system) and grammar with some
useful vocabulary (the human body, clothes, family, the kitchen, time,
geography but alas runs out of steam on the phrases and wird leit.
Douglas Kynoch (1994) Teach Yourself Doric, Scottish Cultural Press
(with Cassette ISBN 1-898218-17-X)
A real oddity this one. Kynoch can't make up his mind whether he's
writing an 'entertainment' or a text book (but it does include tests,
lists of irregular verbs and so on). And where does Scots fit in? Most
of it is pure Scots but unfortunately peculiarities of North Eastern
vocabulary and pronunctiation are mixed in without comment so ye hae
tae caaa cannie. Popular, though.
Scots Language Society (1983) GLEG, Scotsoun Publications
Aimed mainly at weans, GLEG starts the user off with 200 'wee words'
and builds up through stories (of the Mune an the Puddock variety).
Good lists of vocab and phrases.
William Grant and James Main Dixon (1921) Manual of Modern Scots.
Not in print.
OK, a bit hard to find, but a mine of information if you do. A detailed
attempt to descibe a standard 'literary' Scots based on contemporary
East Central speech and (mainly) 19th Century literature. The wide
range of sources include 'Kailyard' writers (eg Barrie, Crockett,
Maclaren), Bell (see below), Burns, Scott and Stevenson as well as
local papers and 'reminicsences'. The manual is in 3 parts:
Phonetics (70pp), Grammar (120pp) and a Reader (with phonetic
transcripts).
Wilson, James (1915) Lowland Scotch. Not in print
Another one you won't find in your local John Menzies but worth
hunting down. Meticulous investigation of the speech of the Perthshire
village of Dunning (where I used to live!): pronunctiation, grammar,
wordlists, sayings, idioms, expressions. Legend has it this was the book
that inspired Hugh MacDiarmid to start screivin awa in Scots, and I'm
not surprised.
(e) Reading (prose only)
--------------------
From the 19th century Scott (eg Redguntlet) and Stevenson (eg Weir of
Heremiston), often used Scots dialogue and may be a good starting point
if you like that sort of thing. A lot of fine Scots is also buried in
the fairly dismal novels of the 'Kailyard School'. The eclectic list
below concentrates on a few recent works.
JJ Bell (1933, reprinted 1993) Wee Macgreegor/Wee Macgreegor Again,
Birlinn Ltd (ISBN 1-874744-09-2)
A personal favourite, read to me as a wee laddie by an enlightened
teacher. Returning many years later, I was surprised by the freshness
of the Scots. The stories, about a wee Glesga boy, were originally
published at the turn of the century by the Glasgow Evening Times.
Packed full of lively Braid Scots dialogue (with remarkably enlightened
spelling) and often quite funny, too.
William Lorimer (1983) The New Testament in Scots, Penguin Books
The longest prose work in modern Scots. OK, it arrived 350 years late
but it's a thing of beauty (eg Mary 'wis fund tae be wi bairn bi the
Halie Spirit') and a good story too, even if you do know the ending.
Neil R MacCallum and David Purves (eds, 1995) Mak it New, Mercat Press
(ISBN 1-873644-46-9) An anthology of 21 years of writing in Lallans the
magazine of the Scots Language Society. A good selection of traditional
prose and poetry and an excellent glossary.
James Robertson (ed, 1994) A Tongue in Yer Heid, B&W Publishing,
Edinburgh (ISBN 1-873631-35-9) Interesting collection of 28
contemporary short stories. Much wider range of styles than Mak it New,
including a contribition by Irvine Welsh (see below). In the
introduction Robertson makes a strong case for defining Scots as widely
as possible.
R. S. Silver (1995) The Hert o Scotland, Scottish Cultural Press
(ISBN 1-898218-12-9)
Silver's play about Robert the Bruce (in modern Scots) was written in
the 1950's but took 40 years to reach the stage where it was
rapturously received. This is a new edition.
Glenn Telfer (1995) William Wallace: A Scots Life, Argyll Publishing
(ISBN 1-874640-46-7)
Designed for younger readers and learners, a 92 pages entirely in
Scots. The Scots may be a bittie thin for purists, but looks like it
may be the first of a series, which must be good news.
Irvine Welsh (1993) Trainspotting, Minerva (ISBN 0-7493-9606-7)
It's Scots, Jim, but not as we know it. In fact, exactly as we know it.
Welsh's cauld Embro blast of demonic demotic gives a good idea of what
vernacular urban 'laich' Scots sounds like (nae aw tha bonnie, lots o
swearie wirds, lik). James Kelman's equivalent books in Glasgow
vernacular, eg How late it was, how late (1994, Minerva
ISBN 0-7493-9883-3) sound positively 'pan loaf' in comparison.
Trainspotting has been top of the bestseller lists in Scotland since it
came out in paperback, which says something about Scots. And of course
it has just come out as a film, much to the consternation of the Embro
Towerist Buird.
11. BYDES O SCOTS INTEREST CURNS/
ADDRESSES OF SCOTS INTEREST GROUPS
----------------------------------
AUSLQ (Aiberdeen Univairsitie Scots Leid Quorum)
Luthuli Houss, 50-53 College Bouns, Auld Aiberdeen, AB2 3DS
Their excellent booklet 'Innin ti the Scots Leid' is 2.50 pounds.
They are also supporting speakers' groups.
Association for Scottish Literary Studies
Department of English, University of Aberdeen, Auld Aiberdeen AB9 2UB
Publish academic journal 'Scottish Language' annually.
Scots Tung
Convener: Richard Heinsar, 58 Whitehill Avenue, Musselburgh Midlothian
Aims to get Scots used more in the press and media, learners groups etc
The Scots Language Society (SLS), The AK Bell Library, York Place, Perth
PH1 5EP. "Exists to promote Scots in literature, drama, the media,
education and in everyday usage". Publishes the twice-yearly Lallans the
magazine for writing in Scots, plus a newsletter in Scots. It holds an
annual conference and runs competitions encouraging both adults and
children to write in Scots. Ordinar membership currently 10 pounds.
Scots Language Resource Centre, Director: Stuart McHardy. Sandiman
Library, 16 Kinnoul St Perth PH1 5EN. Tel 01738 440199, Fax 01738 36364.
Very helpful information exchange supported by a wide range of academic
and public bodies. Gie thaim a caw.
Scotsoun
13 Ashton Road, Glasgow G12 8SP
Tapes of Scots and Gaelic, including GLEG for beginners - ask for a catalogue.
The Scots Speiker' Curn, Glesca. Moyener: Colin Wilson, 30 Barrington
Drive, Glesca G4 9DT or [email protected]. An informal group
seeking to develop their conversational Scots.
12. THE RAICENT SCOTS REWAUKENIN / THE RECENT SCOTS REVIVAL
-------------------------------------------------------
Last year, _Lallans_, the Scots Language Society's magazine for
writing in Scots, celebrated 21 years of publication with an
anthology entitled _Mak it New_. It joined a surprisingly large
number of Scots titles released in 1995. Lallans even complained:
'Mair an mair buiks is nou be-in publisht in Scots an the'r sair
want o space it review them aw'. While this is perhaps an
exaggeration, the number of Scots publications still being
relatively small, it does reflect a significant change in the
status of Scots since Lallans first started in 1973.
The early seventies saw the first mainstream expressions of
political nationalism in Scotland. Although the Scottish National
Party (SNP) has always been strangely weak on cultural matters (its
main arguments for autonomy being then, as now, focused on economics)
there was was discussion on the possible role of Scots and Gaelic
in the new parliament which was just round the corner. This debate
rumbled on through the seventies but was undermined by the poor
public image of Scots. It was hard to imagine the language of the
Sunday Post's Broons and TV's Parliamo Glasgow being employed in any
serious official context.
The 1979 devolution disaster at first seemed a body blow for all
aspects of Scottish culture but in fact turned out quite the opposite.
The clear political divide between Scotland and England and a growing
awareness of the value of indigenous cultures encouraged many Scottish artists to reject British cultural norms. In the early
eighties European plays (of Moliere, Goldini, etc) were translated
directly into Scots and many new works appeared in a variety of
dialects. Scots began to have a status.
Suddenly there seemed to be a market for Scots material. In 1983 the
_New Testament in Scots_ was an unexpected success and in 1985 the
initial 15,000 print run for the _Concise Dictionary of Scots_ sold out
within days. Books on local dialect, such as _The Patter_ were also best-
sellers. In 1986 Billy Kay's highly successful BBC Radio and TV series
_Scots: The Mither Tongue_ brought the whole issue to a wider audience.
It was becoming intolerable that Scots should remain shut out of
primary schools, especially as there was already recognition of other
non-English languages such as Gaelic, Cantonese, and Urdu. The major
breakthrough came in June 1991 when the Scottish Office Education
Department (SED) published is guidelines 'English Language 5-14'.
Suddenly a language whose use in schools had been actively discouraged
for a century received the official stamp of approval.
'The first tasks of schools are to enable pupils to be
confident and creative in this language...Scottish writing
and writing about Scotland should permeate the curriculum
and be introduced at an early stage, taking its place beside
English literature.'
By 1993, encouraged by the SED, every Scottish Education Authority
became involved in the Scottish Languages Project. One of the major
outcomes of the project, _The Kist_, an anthology of work in both
Scots and Gaelic with associated teaching materials, tapes and videos
is due to be published early this year. However, Dumfries and Galloway
Region, Grampian and Tayside have already been introducing Scots into
primary schools, the last reporting '..absolutely no resistance to
the resource material - in fact it has been a sell-out.' So Scottish
teachers and parents are slowly coming round to the view that the
ability to speak Scots is an enriching bilingualism, not an employment
barrier. In addition to reclaiming our own culture, 'having' Scots
allows a deeper understanding of language itself.
An important consequence of all this activity is that a number of
small publishing houses such as the Scottish Children's Press in
Aberdeen and Argyll Publishing are now producing material in Scots
for schools. And the integration of Scots is being pushed at all
levels of Scottish education. Glasgow University is increasing its
emphasis on Scots literature and is keen to teach it 'as a language
with its own vocabulary'. Edinburgh University is also setting up a
Scots Language degree. Alongside this official activity, the Aberdeen
Universitie Scots Leid Quorum is building a network of university-based Quorums.
Education is the insurance policy of the language, but equally
important is the parallel activity to encourage more use of Scots in
mainstream media. In 1993 the Perth-based Scottish Language
Resource Centre was set up to act as an information exchange and has
been 'overwhelmed by the response both at home and abroad'. Alongside
this significant development is the work of the lobbying organisations,
the long-established Scots Language Society was joined in 1994 by the
more irreverent Scots Tung campaign. Both encourage and support
speakers' groups.
In the last year Scots has appeared in a number of TV programs such
as Scottish Men, Scottish Voices and Cracking Stories, Grant's Whisky
used Scots in a series of adverts and even the beleaguered Scottish Conservative Party realised the power of Scots in their infamous advert 'Tartan Tax - Nae Jobs'.
However the battle is not won just yet. We have a long, long way to go
before Scots has any kind of equality with English and the idea of a
Catalan-style rebirth of Scots as an official language is some way off,
to say the least. Moreover, for many of those who like to think of
themselves as cultured metropolitans, Scots is still dogged in by its
association with a homespun tartanised subculture. As TV personality
and author Muriel Gray graphically put it in a Scotland on Sunday
interview bemoaning Scottish media mediocrity at the beginning of this
year, 'I mean, if I pick up a paper that actually has somebody speaking
in Scottish patois, my buttocks clench together so close you couldn't
get a credit card between them'.
It would be wrong to underestimate the strength of anti-Scots
prejudice despite the progress made in recent years. Indeed as Scots
becomes more visible and assertive we can expect a vociferous reaction
from many more 'anti-bodies'. But maybe the debilitating 'Scottish
Cringe' will not win this time. As Robbie Robertson, co-ordinator of
the Scottish Languages Project, rightly observes;
'There is a growing sense of Scottish identity, of what has
been lost, a feeling that things need not be as they are, that
the past is not irredeemable - and, significantly, this is a
feeling growing among the young.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------(c) Clive Young, 1995 Mind yer speik Email [email protected]