    >> MIND AN PRENT YAISIN COURIER OR A SEIMILAR STELLT FONT   <<
    >> REMEMBER TO PRINT USING COURIER OR A SIMILAR FIXED FONT  <<

\ \#####/ /----------------------------------------------------------
#\ \###/ /#                                                          |
##\  #  /##           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.     |
#/ /###\ \#                                                          |
/ /#####\ \-----------------------------------------------------------

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)
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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 clive.young@umist.ac.uk.  

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 
clive.young@umist.ac.uk.



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 apostrophe after  spier, spiert; lauch laucht 
-s, -se (with s      silent e-le becomes   fash, fasht; hirple (limp), 
sound), -sh, -ss,    -ilt                  hirpilt
-th
----------------------------------------------------------------------	 	
-e(except those      -ed (displaces 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, geylies (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 colinwi@post.almac.co.uk. An informal group 
seeking to develop their conversational Scots.


12. THE RAICENT SCOTS REWAUKENIN / THE RECENT SCOTS REVIVAL
    -------------------------------------------------------

Last year, _Lallans_, the <b>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 clive.young@umist.ac.uk
