LL-L "Orthography" 2002.10.31 (11) [E/S]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Daniel Prohaska <daniel at ryan-prohaska.com>
Subject: LL-L "spelling" 2002.10.30 (12) [E/S/LS]

Dear Scots Lowlanders,

Are there any attemps made in Scotland to reform Scots spelling? It is
my impression that Scots spelling is very inconsistent (as is English)
and that the Middle Scots orthographic practises are only partially
retained whereas English-based trasliterations similar to English
dialect orthographies are often intermingled with the older Scots forms.
Do Scots speakers with the ability to write Scots feel their
orthographical traditions to be separate from Standard English in
Scotland, or are there attemps to reintegrate older spellings and bring
back what has been replaced by English dialect orthography ( I
specifically mean the <oo>-spellings; or are they felt to be Scots?).
Have there been attempts to "start from scratch" and invent an entirely
new Scots orthography based on phonological analasys, or supra dialectal
forms?

Yours, Dan

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Orthography"

> From: John M. Tait <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
> Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2002.10.27 (04) [S]
>
> Coorse I suppose the logical spellin o auld _wald_ wad be _waud_, follaein
> the common orthographic practice o writin 'u' for vocalised 'l' -

Ay, that's no a bad idea.

> bawbee-flingin maiter. Coorse, I ken ye'r spaekin aboot yer ain practics
> here - hou ye sinder the English an Scots in spellin.

That's richt, it wis a anecdote!

A'v been thinkin on giein up on the "A" spellin for a guid
while nou. Apairt fae the fack that it's soondit different
in different airts (it's written "Eh" in a Dundee dialeck
beuk A'v got), it's no aesy tae write - A keep forgettin
tae capitalise it and whan it's in wee letters it's haurd
tae nottice it's a mistak wi the wey it leuks juist like
the indefinite airticle.

> >Hivin sayed aa this, baith ma spellins an Colin's is aa fanklt
> >wi English orthographic 'principles', an sae ye can haurly expeck
> >conseestency onywey! A ken fine nouadays hou tae heyst masel oot
> >this historic boggie, but A'v got it on guid authority that naebody
> >wad want tae read ma Scots if A did!
>
> This is no necessarily true. Ye coud mak up a consistent spellin for Scots
> foondit on English orthography - for example, consonant-dooblin rules - as

It is sut true. The'r nae richt rules in English orthography,
juist derivations o what's the maist uizual wey tae write
things. This is how A'v got 'principles' in quotes abuin. Can
ye set doun the consonant-dooblin rule in sic a wey as it's
vera near aye richt?

> French an ither anes, like 'touch'). Sae ye'v ti recognise thaim
> as sindrie
> systems - an morphological spellins the likes o '-na' an '-fu' as
> anither.

How hiv ye tae? The'r'd be naething wrang wi writin 'tutch'
"staishin" an siclike ayont the auld excuise that fowk wadna
like it.

> whiles wonder whit Scots spellin wad be like gin it wis spelt efter the
> spellin rules o the Latin an Greek loanwords - wi nae, or little,
> consonant
> dooblin, for example. I ken ye'v cleckit sic a system yersel
> afore nou, but
> wad it be different gin the ettle wis ti haud the Latinate an Greek word i
> the same system? Wad it be possible?
>
> Haith - I'v likely stertit ye aff again....!

A dinna see hou this can be duin at aa. The Romans an Greeks
atween them didna hae eneuch vouels for us, sae the'r nae
precedents for the digraphs we'd need.

A daur say it's aesy eneuch tae simplify English/Scots spellin
dramatically wi the conseestent application o ane or twa rules.
Gin ye juist sayed "nae magic E, nae dooblt vowels" like A did
in thon system o mines, ye'd be hauf roads tae reddin the hale
midden!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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