LL-L "Language policies" 2002.09.08 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: "John M. Tait" <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language policies" 2002.09.05 (02) [E]

Ian wrate:

>Nonetheless, it would be interesting to define these parameters!

I think you would need to define different sets of parameters. For
example, you can get Scots which is natural and spontaneous, but which
is written by people whose own Scots is heavily Anglicised. Most
vernacular from cities of the Central Belt would come into this
category, I would imagine. There is therefore a distinction between
spontaneous and artificial language which is not the same as the
distinction between Scots and English. For example, a Scots speaker may
use words like 'much' and 'which' which I would argue are not Scots, but
they may be part of some speaker's natural speech. On the other hand,
someone else may use the word 'muckle' rather than 'much', but in a text
which is obviously artificial - eg: using phrases like 'Thare wis muckle
ti dae', which Scots speakers would not use.

It also depends what you mean by artificial. I would argue that any
written language could be called 'artificial' from an oral point of
view, because a written language is never exactly the same as someone
speaks, except in deliberate attempts to emulate speech in dialogue.
Thus Scots could have a written register which is not exactly the same
as spoken Scots, but would be based upon natural speech, though not
identical to it. The problem is that those who write Scots often just
put Scots words into English grammar - whether minimally, like
Robertson, or maximally, as some others do.

I would expect that, ultimately, in order to define parameters you would
need to write a grammar of the entire language.

John M. Tait.

http://www.wirhoose.co.uk

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From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at btinternet.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language policies" 2002.08.30 (12) [E]

At 23:57 30/08/02, Andy Eagle wrote:

>Now for some 'accessible modern German':
>
>I vas taking my daughter to ze kindergarten. As ve crossed the road I
>shouted achtung! jumping out ov ze vay as ze black audi sped past. Now
>zat
>vas a vorsprung durch technik!
>
>Of course it's German! Lexis: kindergarten, achtung, vorsprung durch
>technik. Pronunciation: vas, ze, ve, ov, vay, zat.
>
>I rest my case.

This is great. I'm going to print it out and memorise it.

The idea of "accessible modern Scots" blown apart.

*********************************************************************
 Colin Wilson                  the graip wis tint, the besom wis duin
                               the barra wadna row its lane
 writin fae Aiberdein,         an sicna soss it nivver wis seen
 the ile capital o Europe      lik the muckin o Geordie's byre
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