LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 18.MAR.2001 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 18.MAR.2001 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language politics"

> From: Colin Wilson [lcwilson at starmail.com]
> Subject: LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 16.MAR.2001 (01) [E]
>
> At 10:37 16/03/01 -0800, Tom Mc Rae wrote:
>
> >This is a retrograde step as The BBC Scottish Home Service in the 1940's

> and
> >50's had many programmes in Scots dialect, they taught me a great deal
at
> >the time. Short stories and plays in Scots were regular features, best I

> >remember was a translation of Moliere's 'Tartuffe' titled 'A Richt Holy
> >Wullie'. There was even a language learning series 'The Guid
> Scots Tongue'
>
> >put On-Air along with the usual ones on French etc.
> >How did they manage to lose direction?
>
> I'm not sure but my best guess is that fifty or sixty years ago
> Scots was still in use, to some degree, among the middle classes
> in the major urban centres. Nowadays, of course, it isn't although
> there is still a Scots-speaking element in the middle class in
> some other areas, e.g here in the north-east.
>
> Anyone who wants to see how low the BBC has fallen, needs only
> to look at this URL where the anglified Scots spoken in Glasgow
> is parodied as "Nedspeak" ("hooligan-speak").

I would be inclined to blame the writers and actors rather than
the BBC as an organisation. These actors can obviously speak
some sort of Scots (we've even heard Aiberdeen-awa dialects on
the programme), what's stopping them from speaking good Scots?
I would suggest that they themselves choose not to.

In the 1970's or 80's there were a few TV plays in what I presume
must have been Scots (but since closed caption subtitling wasn't
available in those days I wasn't able to judge it for myself)
such as "Smeddum" and "The Steamie". Were they in good Scots?

I suspect the BBC's ability to have Scots read on radio in the
40's and 50's had a lot to do with the fact that writers were
actually writing stories and plays suitable for radio in a good,
natural Scots in those days, and these were being anthologised
by publishers. Thus the materials were readily available and
elocutionists confident in the proper reading of Scots from
anglicised texts were also easy to find.

One example of this sort of book is "Scots Story Recitations"
(1924), a collection of traditional Scots texts by the elocution
teacher A B Harley, brought together for the purpose of
encouraging people to develop their Scots elocution -
something unheard of in this day and age.

Another is "Pickles and Ploys", stories written by Marshall Bell.
Originally published by the Dunfermline Press (in the "Fife News",
I think) from 1920 onward. His flagship story "One Sunday
Afternoon" was broadcast by the BBC in 1931 (read by the
elocutionist George Summers) and then his stories collected and
printed in Edinburgh by the Dunedin press in 1932.

Similary, Joe Corrie &c.

If any activists were to challenge the BBC on this sort of thing,
I'd be quite happy to provide any of these or many other texts in
Scots copyedited into a form suited to the medium. And if they
can't find an elocutionist I'd be happy to read it for them!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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