LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.17 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 17 March 2010 - Volume 01
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From: jmtait <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.16 (07) [AF-EN]

 Mark Dreyer wrote:
>
> John, your letter on the living tongue of the Shetland Isles was the
> saddest thing I have read in a long time. Forgive me that I clothe my
> distress in black mockery. What is this undead thing you speak that you will
> not name? Is it a cadaver that lean & hungry linguists in stained robes must
> call back with Dark Art to give tongue from half-forgotten grimoires or
> forbidden books? Or else is it a babe new-born, nurtured in a creed outworn,
> babbling its wants uncaring of scholars' dainty sensibilities, only so long
> as it is heard!
>


Hi Mark,

I haven't replied to your post bit by bit because I think what I would say
will come out in my replies to other posts, and I would just be repeating
myself - which I do only too often. I trust you understand that the comments
re: Shetland Dialect are not my own but reflect criticisms I have received -
sarcasm being another of my failings!

 ....
>
> Â
> By the way, what is a Sheltie?
>

The word 'Sheltie' usually refers to a Shetland Pony, and perhaps a Shetland
Sheepdog.

John M. Tait.

----------

From: jmtait <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
 Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.15 (06) [EN]


 Ron wrote:
>
> From: R. F. Hahn <<mailto: sassisch at yahoo.com>sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Language varieties
>
> John,
>
> The posting in which I addressed you as "Jim" is archived here: <
> http://tinyurl.com/yarlwh7>http://tinyurl.com/yarlwh7
>
> Thank you very much indeed for responding so promptly and thoroughly to my
> inquiry about the status of Sh ... uh ... dialect.
>
> My head is still reeling. I'm not yet sure which is to blame for me having
> a very hard time wrapping my head around the goings-on: my aging mind or the
> apparent bizarreness of the story. It seems even more bizarre than people
> under French-speaking hegemony having been conditioned to call patois every
> indigenous non-French language variety under French-speaking hegemony, but
> at least there you get away with specifying them as things like patois
> normand or patois alsacien when you are in a different location. (And it is
> similar with idioma in Spanish-dominated areas.)
>
> So it seems to me that Shetland's popular concensus is that what people
> like you and I used to call "Shetlandic" does not officially exist, and that
> it is verboten to specify "dialect" even in terms of location so as to
> deprive it of any modicum of legitimacy. I assume that as a result "dialect"
> will cease to exist (apprently this being the intent). As they say, "that's
> one for the record." (Might this be how the Norn language became extinct?)
> Will Shelanders in, say, a hundred years ask (in English of course), "Why,
> oh, why did our ancestral language disappear?" and the answer will be
> "People decided it didn't exist."
>
> Yeah, what to do ... I appreciate the position this puts you in. I as a
> true outsider, however, have Narrenfreiheit (German for "fool's liberty") on
> my side. While I do not wish to offend anyone, I wonder if I should bow my
> head to this ... uh ... whatdoyoucallit. The only problem is that I do not
> want to embarrass you, John, since you are the author of our "dialect" bits.
> If you don't mind, I will consult you about this off the List.
>
> In the meantime, for practical and sentimental reasons, I took the liberty
> of downloading the zipped version of your former site Wirhoose (<
> http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wirhoose/but/>
> http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wirhoose/but/).
>

Ron - what I'm most annoyed about is that my post came over full of control
codes! No wonder you couldn't get your head round it. I think this must be
something to do with pasting in from Word? Is there anything I can do about
this? I'm going to try posting plain text and see how that works.

It would in fact be quite acceptable to refer to Whadycallit (Shadyacallit?)
as (The) Shetland Dialect, or Whalsa Dialect, or whatever. In fact, in an
article I wrote some time ago, I commented:

"...to avoid the derisive reaction  that status words like “language” and
“Shetlandic” elicit from the Shetland media, I will use the interactive
phrase (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect). Readers may omit or include
bracketed words and letters as they choose." (Actually, since Michael
Everson has now replied to my posting as well, I will post this entire
article unless it turns out to be too long.)

I don't know if anyone picked up on the sarcasm. However, as you will
appreciate, it's not easy to say or write "The Shetland Dialect" every time
you refer to something, so it tends to be reduced to 'dialect.'  So
referring to it as Shetland Dialect on Lowlands-L would be OK, although use
of it to translate expository text in the introduction to Lowlands-L would
not, this being outside of the acceptable pericope of dialect

The intention, BTW, certainly isn't that the entity in question will die out
- at least, not on the part of ShetlandForWirds, who are actively trying to
promote 'dialect' and whose e-mailings I was quoting. In fact, they said
recently that someone - not the Intangible Cultural Heritage people I don't
think - perhaps the Scots Language Centre? - was intending to cite them as
an example of good practice. On the other hand, it is equally the case that,
under this approach, the entity in question will cease to exist. So no, it's
not the intention, but it is the consequence - although of course the
aforesaid ShetlandForWirds pay no attention when I point this out.

The principle effect of the 'dialect' emphasis is, of course, that (because
a dialect must be a dialect of something) ShetlandForWirds, in regarding it
as a dialect of Scots, have adopted the prevailing Scottish approach, the
principle proponents of which are opposed to any of the means (orthography,
etc) which have been responsible for any documented language revival that I
know of - whether from 'cold storage' like Cornish or Hebrew, or in
enhancing an existing language, such as Catalan or Welsh.

I think I have already commented on this list that I once received a rather
angry letter from a friend in Shetland requesting that I cease and desist
(not the words actually used) from criticising the well-known Scottish
writer James Robertson on my website and elsewhere. The comment I had
criticised was as follows:

'One argument against a standardisation of Scots spelling is that one of the
language's very strengths lies in its flexibility and its
less-than-respectable status: writers turn to it because it offers a refuge
for linguistic individualism, anarchism, nomadism and hedonism... William
McIlvanney has spoken of Scots as being like English in its underwear,
stripped of all pretensions, and in some respects this is very apt.'

It would appear that I had been identified by Matthew Fitt, one of
Robertson’s friends who had visited Shetland, as ‘the man who disagrees with
James,’ and in the event of Robertson visiting Shetland I had become a
diplomatic liability. This was another of the (many) reasons I removed my
website from easy public scrutiny.

Actually, as has been pointed out elsewhere by Tom Morton, author of the
'jarringly jargonistic' comment, dialect cannot die out, because whatever
Shetlanders speak at any given time is de facto 'Shetland Dialect', even if
it is indistinguishable from standard English.

Coincidentally, as I speak a controversy has erupted on the Shetland forum
Shetlink about this very question>

http://www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9569

It appears that an American linguist living in Ireland, as bemused by this
state of affairs as you are, Ron, has set up a poll to gauge what people
think the Shetland tongue is/should be called. (Edit: before posting this I
discovered that the linguist in question in Michael Everson, who is a member
of Lowlands-L) Particularly interesting is this comment:

"Were any book on offer having "Translated into Shetlandic" on the cover,
while it might not stop me from buying it, it would certainly strongly
discourage me from doing so, on no other grounds than if the translator was
happy for their work to be put on sale with a description of that particular
wording on the cover, I would have serious doubts of their knowledge and
understanding of the language, and the contents wouldn't be of any
particularly worthwhile quality."

Another indication of why I took down my website, and of why I am seriously
considering withdrawing my "Guid Unkens efter Mark - Mark's Gospel in
Shetlandic" from general sale. This might seem childishly self-pitying, but
after a decade of comments like this I'm afraid I have run out of steam.

Another noteworthy fact is that the term 'Shetlandic' is widely regarded as
'political' whereas 'dialect' and comments such as the one by Tom Morton
(previous posting) apparently are not. It is another reflection of the
'cringe factor' in Shetland that the word 'Shetlandic' can have such a
negative connotation, whereas any amount of people can comment that the
tongue is unwriteable, untranslateable, or whatever, without anyone batting
an eyelid.

Incidentally, it should be understood that these apparently negative
comments come from some of the few people in Shetland who are actually
interested in the subject.

The entire question is quite involved, and I'm actually toying with the
idea, now that I've abandoned the original Wirhoose website, of putting up
some papers, including the aforesaid article, to document the demise of the
entity (or perhaps it should be non-entity) in question.  (Another idea I'm
toying with, now that the real Shetland tongue is obviously irretrievably
moribund, is developing it into a conlang spelt with Welsh conventions
(which I find suit its phonological requirements particularly well) and
calling it Shelsh.)

John Magnus Tait.

----------

From: jmtait <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
 Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.16 (04) [EN]

This article by me - included here because I have referred to it in other
posts - was originally published in Shetland Life, July 2007, in an issue
focussing on Shetland identity.

John M. Tait.


Shetland Identity and (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect).

About ten years ago, I was asked to take part in a consultation process for
the University of the Highlands and Islands on linguistic and cultural
identity. This was an unfortunate accident. Rather than contacting the Arts
Trust as he probably should have done, the convener of the working group
asked John Goodlad if he knew anyone who could represent Shetland language
issues in the UHI alongside Gaelic. Because I had just written two articles
for the New Shetlander in my native tongue (a short-lived experiment, as the
third was cancelled when the Grahams gave up the editorship) John suggested
that I join the UHI working group.

Here I am already running into difficulties. I have been forced to use the
phrase "language issues" in connection with Shetland. However, almost anyone
will tell you that Shetland does not have language issues because it does
not have a language but a dialect. Rather like saying that you don't have
dog issues because the animal that bit you wasn't a dog, it was a Pekingese.
So to avoid the derisive reaction  that status words like "language" and
"Shetlandic" elicit from the Shetland media, I will use the interactive
phrase (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect). Readers may omit or include
bracketed words and letters as they choose.

Though initially reluctant, I attended the UHI working group, which
consisted mostly of Gaels, and helped to write a policy for the UHI on
linguistic and cultural identity. Much of the emphasis of the policy was on
local ownership of local culture and what I inadvisedly called "language".
In the event, however, the effort was delegated to Orkney college who
drafted in academics from Edinburgh. The policy was made short shrift of,
and my former work with a Scots spelling committee made the object of
derision in conversation in the bar. It had also become clear that, from a
Shetland point of view, the UHI was a poisoned chalice.

Discouraged by this, I even more reluctantly agreed to speak at the dialect
conference, Dialect '04. Here I was surprised when the first speaker, Brian
Smith, used some of my writing from the UHI as a "perfect example" - not of
writing in (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect), but of what Willie
Thompson had described as a "horrible abortion". The phrase which elicited
this comment was "ta lay up ... a university". Brian commented "You maybe
lay up a sock, or a collection of riddles, but you never, ever lay up a
university."

The implications of this are clear. "Dialect" is seen as an inflexible
medium where expressions like "lay up" are fossilised in certain
once-familiar phrases, mostly connected with activities of the past. If you
try to adapt any of these words or expressions to modern life, you are
creating an "abortion." Ironic, considering that Dialect '04 was subtitled
"the development of the Shetland dialect."

If Brian and Willie had spent less time with their beards stuck in books and
more listening to "Coonty men", they might have heard the bucket of a digger
referred to humorously as the "neb" and the mouth of a pipe as the "truinie"
- exactly the sort of development that led to Latin testa, an earthenware
pot, becoming the modern French tête, head. Even without leaving the
library, they might have noticed that all our abstract English words - which
Willie considers "dialect" to be incapable of expressing - refer originally
to simple things. The Latin comprehend, for example, means basically to
grasp - or "yock a had o", as your friendly neighbourhood abortionist might
say.

Abstract concepts are expressed either by metaphorically extending meaning
in this way, or by borrowing from another language - such as Latin - that
has already done so. The only reason (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect)
cannot do either is because, being consigned to the Cinderella category of
"dialect", it is not allowed to. If it extends it is an "abortion", and if
it borrows it is no longer "dialect."

This is exactly the attitude of the Aald Yarl in my fable of Sheltie Prattle
1. It is not easy to see any conclusion to it other than extinction - which
is perhaps why Brian maintains, contrary to the evidence of his and everyone
else's elementary senses, that (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect) isn't
dying out. I suspect that the real situation is better described by Andrew
Watt's comment at the same conference: that dialect in Shetland is now
something that "a few people in school still speak and are generally made
fun of for doing so." His own more positive view Andrew attributed to
growing up in Africa.

The main point of the paper I gave at Dialect '04 was that the native tongue
used to be called "Shaetlan", with the phrase "The Shetland Dialect" being
necessary only when speaking or writing English 2. Now, however, it is
increasingly referred to just as "dialect" -  rather as you might talk about
"the wife" rather than using her name. I argued that this reflects a change
in attitude in Shetland society, from seeing the native tongue as a
particular entity connected with Shetland identity, to seeing it simply as
non-standard speech. I also argued that, in popular (as opposed to academic)
usage, the unqualified word "dialect" implies a form of speech which has no
identity or definition; can't be consolidated, taught or promoted; is
fundamentally characterised by illiteracy; and is so vague a concept that it
can't even be said to die out.

The conference in fact agreed - or at least, somebody suggested and nobody
disagreed - to use the word "Shaetlan" (though they would have spelt it
Shetlan.) However, when I return to Shetland, I notice that my friends who
are engaged in promoting (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect) still, and
perhaps increasingly, refer to it simply as "dialect".

Andrew Watt's fresh viewpoint and immunity from Scottish prejudices enabled
him to see another obvious point - that "standardisation of spelling and
grammar for the whole Shetland dialect would have to take place before it
could be properly taught." Faroese professor Jóhan Hendrik Poulsen had
already explained how a common orthography, rather than killing off dialect
variation as Scottish literary dogma teaches, actually enables the various
Faroese dialects to flourish. He also explained that this depended on using
a cross-dialect spelling rather than allowing one local dialect, such as the
one around Tórshavn, to be seen as a default standard. Following the
conference, I submitted some thoughts on Shetland spelling to the new
dialect group. Fortunately perhaps, this has escaped the opprobrium earned
by my Scots spelling involvement by being ignored entirely.

So what does all this have to do with Shetland identity? Isn't it just an
embarrassing, self-pitying diatribe (or pleepsit roed*, as I would call it
if I wasn't afraid that somebody would use it as a bad example) by a
misguided sad old expatriate purist prescriptionist fart?

Certainly Shetland popular opinion would seem to suggest so. Typical
comments from people who knew I was interested in (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic)))
(D/dialect) have been: "Hit's deein oot, an hit's laekly a guid thing"; "If
you teach it dat'll kill it aff" and "Weel, I'm no sayin I'm wantin it ta
dee oot, bit..." Many people find only the dialect of their own immediate
area acceptable, and object far more if their children pick up
pronunciations from other parts of Shetland than if they speak only standard
English. Some still object to the use of dialect on Radio Shetland, but
nobody seems to object to SIBC which, I am told, has a non-dialect policy.
Overall, the message is clear. Whether we are better off without it or not,
it's not something we want to make an unseemly fuss about. In the UHI, I
argued for local ownership of Shetland culture, and if this is what
Shetlanders want I have no right to object.

Perhaps it is precisely the idea of Shetland identity which has become
unacceptable. In the UHI, one staff member described the cultural and
linguistic identity effort as "Balkanisation". This is echoed in the "Save
us from dialect fascists" comment elicited by the Arts Trust literature
report. And in the most recent New Shetlander, Jim Mainland writes a story
where Shetland ForWirds, starting off as a "moaderit bunch", is infiltrated
by extremists who create a Shetland-speaking police state where "knappin" is
forbidden. The existing monolithic linguistic culture is so ingrained, and
its prejudices so immune from critical examination, that any attempt to
promote a smaller one can be represented as being at one remove from
Mussolini.

At any rate, the embarrassment - sometimes barely disguised anger - which
surrounds the idea of promoting (The) (Sh(a)etlan(d(ic))) (D/dialect) is
often palpable. Perhaps increasing use of the unqualified category word
"dialect" is an attempt to avoid this reaction by acknowledging its
inferiority. As the wicked sisters in Sheltie Prattle[j1] say, we call her
Di-a-Lack because she has a lack. What will we call it when even "dialect"
doesn't seem subservient enough? "Slang", perhaps, would be regarded as
cooler by young people. But I don't think we'll have to worry about that.

Perhaps if Shaetlan had been given a kirsen strood* and called by name at
some point in the relatively recent past, then what now manifests itself as
embarrassment would have become enthusiasm. But we will never know. As it
is, without the focus of either a written or cultural identity, it is
difficult to see why Shetlanders in general should want to be associated
with anything as vague and nameless as "dialect" any more than we should
take an interest in stamp collecting or crochet.

As for this sad old fart, he's moving with the times. I've taken up flight
simulation.


*1
pleepsit roed - self-pitying nonsense
*2
kirsen strood - decent suit of clothes

[j1] - the fable Sheltie Prattle is on my former, now downloadable website.

John M. Tait.


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