30.964, Confs: Lexicography/Scotland

The LINGUIST List linguist at listserv.linguistlist.org
Thu Feb 28 23:59:56 EST 2019


LINGUIST List: Vol-30-964. Thu Feb 28 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.964, Confs: Lexicography/Scotland

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Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 23:59:24
From: Robert Millar [r.millar at abdn.ac.uk]
Subject: Scots Words and Phrases in the Contemporary World: Back to the Future

 
Scots Words and Phrases in the Contemporary World: Back to the Future 

Date: 08-Apr-2019 - 08-Apr-2019 
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom 
Contact: Robert Millar 
Contact Email: r.millar at abdn.ac.uk 

Linguistic Field(s): Lexicography 

Subject Language(s): Scots (sco)

Meeting Description: 

The use of lexis in Scots-speaking areas is changing, probably irrevocably.
Words and phrases used in occupations no longer prevalent are dying out while
other lexical items, once common, are also fading into disuse. Ferfochan
‘stressed out in a depressing manner’, for instance, once commonly used across
the Scots-speaking world, is now unlikely to be known by many under the age of
40. It is vital, therefore, that a scholarly understanding of contemporary use
and disuse of Scots lexis be developed as a matter of some urgency. To do
this, we need to produce a baseline of use in the last hundred years and,
wherever possible, in the recent past and present as well. From this a project
concerned with testing contemporary use and knowledge of specifically Scots
vocabulary can be developed.

Scots is blessed in having two major lexical resources, the online Dictionary
of the Scots Language and the Scots section of the Linguistic Atlas of
Scotland (itself based on the Linguistic Survey of Scotland, carried out in
the 1950s). These major endeavours (the former ongoing in its data collection)
are inevitably partial and perhaps rather more focussed on past or rural usage
than what is found in urbanised and rapidly changing environments. We know,
too, that other records of use are scattered across Scotland and Ulster. Some
of these are scholarly corpora designed for the study of features such as
syntax or phonology; there are also many printed or online collections dealing
with regional or localised usage; we are also aware of the existence of data
collected in the recent past by groups and individuals which have never been
published. We do not, however, possess a full sense of what these collections
contain and how they could be brought together to produce a true sense of the
state of knowledge and use of Scots words and phrases in the recent past and
present.

Scots Words and Phrases in the Contemporary World: Back to the Future is a
two-day colloquium to be held at the University of Edinburgh on 8-9 April
2019, the International Year of Indigenous Languages. Its goal is to stimulate
the collation of a ‘master collection’ of evidential sources of lexical use
and knowledge in the recent past and present to feed ongoing projects,
including the Dictionary of the Scots Language, new ventures, such as the
proposed Linguistic Survey of Scots, and the wider interests of the public at
large. The colloquium will incorporate:

- An invited paper from Stefan Dollinger, Chief Editor of The Dictionary of
Canadianisms on Historical Principles, on data collection methodology;

- Position papers and structured discussions on survey goals, methods, and
practicalities.

We invite all interested parties in Scotland, Ulster and beyond to join us.
Those with experience of lexis collection or who have studied such data for
Scots are especially welcome.
 






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