LL-L: "Mutual comprehension" 17.JUL.2000 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 17.JUL.2000 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Mutual comprehension"

> From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
> Subject: Mutual comprehension

> I could imagine a Scots speaker modifying his/her speech similarly if
> he/she were asked to try an English-Scots conversation with a non-Scot,
> unless, of course, he/she were bent on proving that Scots is nothing like

> English.

Yes, it's perfectly normal for my relatives in Scotland to be visited
by Australians, Canadians, Americans & English, and while many of the
Australians and Canadians are expats who still speak perfect Scots, it
sometimes amazes me how easy it is for Scots and English speakers to
communicate. All the Scots speakers I know can speak a sort of English,
and as well as modifying their speech they sometimes provide translations
of words they're particularly aware of as Scots but too "English" to use
in the first instance, eg, "Ay- yes," or "A ken- A know." You'll note that
many Scots speakers would never take it as far as saying "I" instead of
"A"!

As well, the English speakers also quickly become accustomed to
everyday Scots.

Because of this, most Scots speakers who've never been out of the
country for any great length of time don't seem to realise how different
Scots
and English really are. When I went to university (in Scotland) I'd no
trouble communicating with English students, though I felt uncomfortable
with
the language. Then when I moved down to (English-speaking) Wales I soon
discovered that people down there had difficulty understanding much of
my idiom and pronunciation, even though I'd learned to avoid purely Scots
words. It would seem that at university the English students quickly
become accustomed to Scots speakers' attempts at English, and this
facilitates
communication.

There's no doubt at all that if I speak my own natural Scots in front
of the English/Welsh down here, however, that comprehension is near zero.
I've
tried this with readings from Lorimer's New Testament, Burns
recitations and songs, and speaking ordinary Scots when larking about. You
can also
repeat everyday Scots phrases like "Whare oo gaun?" "A didna ken that," &c
as
often as you like for them and they just can't get it. But of course they
would soon get used to it if they were surrounded by it as our visitors
are.

My mother and I were once walking through a suburb of a Welsh town in
an English-speaking area and my mother heard a woman and her two daughters
behind us conversing thusly:

Girl:  "Listen, mum, they're German."
Woman: "No, no, dear, they're Dutch."

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
  Things in this subloonary warld bein far frae
perfeck, 'No that bad' is the maist that mortal
man can venture tae say while here ablo.
             - Catherine P. Slater, 'Marget Pow'

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