LL-L "Language use" 2004.05.01 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 01.MAY.2004 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language use

Sharing time ...  About one hour ago, in the men's clothing section of a
department store, I had a linguistic encounter that may be of interest to my
Scots-speaking and -learning friends on the List.

However, before I get to the actual story, let me mention that the chatty
checkout person, who was the one that helped trigger the encounter, revealed
that she was from Mombasa, Kenya.  Upon my prompting she said that her
native language is indeed Swahili, and that there are many native Swahili
speakers especially in the metropolitan areas of Mombasa and Nairobi, though
nowhere nearly as many as there are in coastal Tanzania.  She did add,
though, that most people that use Swahili in Kenya, where it is official
next to English, are not native speakers.  I am mentioning this as a
postscript to my recent response to what our friend Mark Dreyer said.

At one point the next (and only) customer got involved in the conversation,
a guy thirty-something, an avid football (= soccer) player and coach round
town.  It turned out that he was from Glasgow, Scotland, though it wasn't
terribly obvious at first, apparently due to him having lived outside
Scotland for quite some time and, as he later added, having made a real
effort to suppress his "accent" because in the US (unlike Australia, where
he lived prior to this) most people cannot cope even with a moderate
Scottish "accent."  I took this as an opportunity to put a few theoretical
things into practice.  Although I had been told (by our own Colin Wilson on
the List and in his textbook) that this wasn't the correct terminology, I
first asked him if he spoke "Scots."  He just stared at me.  So I said I
meant _braid Scots_ (pronouncing it [bre:d sko.ts], with an apical /r/).  He
looked surprised, and with a much more noticeable Scottish "accent" (perhaps
triggered by my pronunciation) he answered that, no, he didn't know any
Gaelic.   I don't remember the exact wording I used.  At any rate --
thinking I wouldn't see the guy again anyway -- I mustered my "best" Scots,
mercifully briefly, to explain what I meant.  He was taken aback, perhaps a
bit amused, and asked in Scots -- which I understood perfectly well, if I
had spent time in Scotland, and he explained that he hadn't imagined that
any non-British person would know about Scots, and that's why he had thought
I meant Gaelic.   He also sounded a bit apologetic about Scots and referred
to it as a sub-standard speech form.  It turned out that I was his bringer
of the news that (1) Scots has been officially recognized and (2) there are
even non-Scottish people that are interested in it and in learning it.  He
thought it was amazing.

So there you have it, my first non-electronic Scots encounter.

I wonder if our Scottish friends think that his reaction was predictable.

By the way, I followed Colin's advice by making sure that none of what I
said and the way I said it could be construed as mockery.  I think this is
good advice for all such occasions, not only Scots ones.  It's especially
important in cases of languages with image problems.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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