LL-L "Scots" 2002.02.28 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.FEB.2002 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: "Ian James Parsley" <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Scots" 2002.02.27 (04) [E]

Stan,

If I may sum up the broad Scots situation from my
(predominantly Irish) view.

Inevitably when we are on the verge of losing
something we begin to realize it and fight to save it.
I guess that's what started up the Scots language
'movement', at least in Scotland, in the early 70s.

The Scots language is severely underresearched. It is
difficult to talk of the present situation without
resorting to broad generalisms, many of which will
probably turn out to be incorrect.

Scots, like English, is descended from Anglo-Saxon,
but was the language of the Scottish State to 1603
before going into decline (at least administratively).
At this time, many Lowlands Scots for a variety of
reasons left for NE Ireland, where Scots also remains
to this day.

Generally, it is unusual to hear consistent 'Braid
Scots'. Scots words, idiom and grammar are usually
interspersed with more Standard English forms. This is
less the case in NE Scotland, where 'the Doric' is
still spoken very broadly. In the Central Belt and
further south the 'mix' is common - hence Sandy's
uncertaintly over what he was actually speaking at St
Andrew's. In Ireland the traditional grammar is
probably better maintained in Antrim than just about
anywhere else, phonologically the broadest dialects
are clearly Scots but vocabulary has declined as much
(although probably no further) as in southern
Scotland, and the 'border' with English is even more
uncertain. My own essay on the grammar of Ulster Scots
indicated that, in fact, Scots is *not* more
conservative than English (which is commonly claimed),
at least not grammatically. That's roughly the
situation, but it needs research badly.

In Northern Ireland the 'Ulster Scots movement', an
overall cultural thing, started really in the early to
mid 90s. Some people called it a 'response to Irish
Gaelic', as Irish Nationalists began to gain
confidence in their culture (Irish dancing, Gaelic
Games etc) and also seemed to have a language to
support it (Irish Gaelic).

In fact, many people will tell you that the Irish
Gaelic language movement has been an utter disaster.
Not only are there fewer Irish speakers now, but also
the standard of Irish is appalling - only yesterday a
Nationalist politician at a forum I was at decided to
use Irish as a political mark and, at the end of his
speech, said 'Go raibh maith agat'. The only problem
with that is that it is 'agat' is the *singular* form
- there were 100 of us present!

However, it appeared to some that this use of Irish,
designed in some ways to annoy Unionists and ram home
the apparent view that 'Unionists have no culture' and
in other ways to get big money from the Government,
had been successful. Some fancied a piece of the cake,
and decided to hit back with an 'Ulster-Scots cultural
movement' to try to match this 'success', complete
with its own language. Sadly this too has declined
into an absolute laughing stock, complete with a
bizarre and utterly inconsistent spelling system
combined with weird inventions of words and outlandish
claims concerning the heritage of the language, as the
linguistic side is led almost exclusively by
English-speaking non-linguists. Scots is used and
forced on people in the most inappropriate situations,
while basic requirements (like defining the thing!)
cannot be met. Native speakers are left to despair at
what is happening to their vernacular, and are even
more ashamed to use it than they were in the first
place. Meanwhile the activists go on demanding equal
funding with Irish while not even able to put the
funding they already have to good use. Of course, then
the politicians wade in and the whole issue becomes
polarized - like everything else in NI.

The situation is Scotland is perhaps not so bitter,
but nonetheless there are obvious similarities. Some
people see the funding granted to 'the Scottish Gaels'
and work out demands for Scots based on rather wild
estimates of native speakers. Again, an agreed
strategy is missing. Again, people blame Government.
And again, the movement is over politicized to be
realistically seen as truly inclusive. The only
difference is that Scots in Scotland hasn't even made
the strides in terms of funding that Ulster Scots has
made in the more politically charged atmosphere of the
'new' Northern Ireland.

Administratively, there is an 'Ulster-Scots Agency' in
Ireland, a cross-border body part of the 'North/South
Language Body' (the other half deals with Irish
Gaelic). It receives funding of around $2m annually,
75% from the UK, 25% from the Republic of Ireland. It
has an Executive and a politically appointed board of
eight (four from each side of the border). Strategies
for spending this money, however, remain uncertain.

There is also a cross-party group for Scots in the
Scottish Parliament. My understanding is, however,
that parties other than the Scottish Nationalists
often seem to take little interest in it.

There are also other partially or wholly
Government-funded institutions, more in Northern
Ireland than in Scotland.

I hope that is a fair start - no doubt our Scottish
correspondents will have a thing or two to say!

=====
------------------
Ian James Parsley
www.geocities.com/parsleyij
+44 (0)77 2095 1736
JOY - "Jesus, Others, You"

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Scots

Stan Levinson <stlev99 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I wonder if it would be a bother for some of you Scots
> experts to provide a brief, general summary outline of
> the linguistic situation in Scotland for those of us
> who are not well informed on this subject, yet still
> quite interested.

Hi, Stan!  Good to hear from you.  I'm sure our Scots-speaking and -engaged
friends on LL-L appreciate your interest.

In addition to the response from Ian (above) and any possible responses from
others, I strongly recommend reading some of the introductory information
about Scots that are on the Web.  We have a special page of links to such
sites*: http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/links_scots.htm

(* You can access the same type of links list for our other Lowlands languages
here: http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/lowlands-links.htm .)

In particular I recommend reading our own Andy Eagle's "Wir Ain Leid" (Our Own
Language) which you can access from Andy's index page:
http://www.scots-online.org/

I also recommend "Features - Scots Language" as a part of "Flag in the Wind":
http://www.electricscotland.com/si/features/scots/

For Shetlandic I recommend the introduction by our own John Magnum Tait:
http://www.geocities.com/jmtait/zet/

About Ulster Scots (Ullans) and also about Scots generally, our own Ian
Parsley (who was so kind as to respond above) offers a terrific introduction
here: http://www.geocities.com/parsleyij/ullans_intro.html

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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