<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2">===============================================<br><b>L O W L A N D S - L - 15 March 2010 - Volume 06</b><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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===============================================<br></font></div><font size="2"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="ik"></span><span class="gD" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">jmtait</span> <span class="go"><<a href="mailto:jmtait@wirhoose.co.uk">jmtait@wirhoose.co.uk</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI">LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.15 (01) [EN]<br><br></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Ron wrote:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="im">John (Tait), <br><br>
My apologies for calling you “Jim” this morning. I wasn”t totally
awake.<br><br>
You wrote today under “Grammar”:<br><br>
What I used to call “Shetlandic” - in the sense of a common perception
of
the Shetland dialects - can now be definitively said not to exist.
<br><br></div>
I know that you have discussed this in installments before, John. But I
wonder if you could summarize for us why “Shetlandic” does not exist and
how we should now label the dialects of the Shetland and Orkney Islands
in light of this. If I understood you correctly, I ask why now
“Shetlaen”
(the native name) instead of what seems to be the English equivalent:
“Shetlandic”.<br><br>
</i></font>
<font size="2"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I”ve looked for the post where you called me “Jim” and can”t find
it!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Actually “Shaetlan” is off bounds as well, in my opinion! The entity, or
rather non-entity, in question is not now permitted to have a name at
all!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
The reason I say that “Shetlandic” does not exist is because that term
is
not accepted, and indeed is actively resented, by most people in
Shetland, including many of those who see themselves as proponents of
“dialect”. As both the term “Shetlandic” and its native term “Shaetlan”,
have fallen out of favour, being replaced by the unqualified term
“dialect”, I think it is fair to say that the concept they embodied
(that
is, a concept of the Shetland tongue as a whole and in contradistinction
to other forms of speech) does not exist, because the loss of the terms
suggests that that concept no longer exists in the apprehension of
Shetlanders.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
A fairly typical comment by a well-known Scottish broadcaster living in
Shetland is as follows:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
“How much of a gesture is Shetlandic, to give the varying forms of
dialect a jarringly jargonistic name? It will never be a consistent set
of grammatical rules and pronunciation. It is not and never has been,
though there have been various attempts to control it, to render it in
some kind of set form.”</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
This clearly states the position of the established Shetland/Scots
Anglophone hegemony - that “dialect” is simply “varying forms”, and that
any suggestion that it might have a distinctive grammar or pronunciation
is the attempts of purists and prescriptionists - such as myself - “ to
control, and by implication, stifle it. (This is more or less an echo of
the views of the most prominent proponents of Scots, although they
continue to use the term “Scots.”) Linguistically this is, of course,
nonsense; but as mythology it serves the purpose of making certain that
the speech forms of Shetland can never rise to a level which would
threaten the total and absolute domination of standard English - which,
of course, is the area of competence of Scottish broadcasters living in
Shetland.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
And a comment from the Shetlink forum:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
“I also despise people calling the dialect “Shetlandic”. I don”t know
why, I just don”t like that word. One of my flatmates is from Turriff
and
told me she”d heard someplace that this was the “proper” word for it -
to
which I replied that no one I know refers to the dialect with this
term.”</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Because of comments such as these - and in case it was my website which
misled the flatmate in question - I have not only stopped using the
term,
but have removed my website with this - and all its other - offensive
content.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
I should explain that the late John J. Graham (regarded as the “doyen”
of
Shetland dialect promotion) used both “Shetland dialect” and
“Shetlandic”
in his writings on the subject. But public opinion has clearly rejected
the term Shetlandic, with its connotations of status and identity, in
favour of the umbrella term “dialect” (now often used without any
qualification such as “Shetland dialect” or even “the dialect”.) So I
often see or hear simply “talking dialect.” Of course, you don”t hear
anyone referring to the use of standard English as “talking language.”
English has a name and identity, “dialect” does not.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
The term “dialect” has also taken over substantially in speech from the
native term “Shaetlan.” Interestingly, at a dialect conference I
attended
in 2004, the only speaker I can recollect using the term “Shaetlan”,
apart from myself, was a young incomer from England who had learned to
speak it very well. She had obviously picked up the term as used by
native speakers, and had not picked up on the fact that it was now
(apparently) politically incorrect to refer to it as anything other than
“dialect”. I have even heard people say “Sh-dialect” - ie, starting to
say “Shaetlan” and then altering to “dialect” in mid-word.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
ShetlandForWirds, the dialect promotion group, use the unqualified term
“dialect” in their communications, eg:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- We previously agreed to give a prize for the best dialect performance
at this year”s Schools Music Festival to be held 8-12 March</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- X explained that some time ago Visit Shetland had approached SFW with a
view to producing items with dialect texts</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- X will update the Action Plan for the dialect project
accordingly.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- Most heritage centres have shops and would probably be pleased to
stock
dialect items</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- The web address will be either </span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="http://shetlanddialect.org.uk/" target="_blank">shetlanddialect.org.uk</a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> or
shetlanddialect.co.uk...the fact that X is a dialect speaker is a big
advantage.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
- X is scheduled to hold an evening class this winter on Writing for
Bairns in Dialect, suitable for 8-14 year olds</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
With regard to the general apprehension of “dialect” as a written
medium,
the following comments were made by a well-known public figure (native
“dialect” speaker and PhD in a literary subject) recently in the
Shetland
Times, with regard to why Shetland has never produced a prominent
novelist (Orkney has produced two, and one prominent poet.)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
“And it is not really suitable for writing, the Shetland
dialect....writers in dialect irritate. X can make it readable, by some
magic, but most add unjustifiable emphasis and archaisms, and in any
case, English is our written tongue, the one we are trained to
read.”</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
With this comment, the writer was dismissing by implication a number of
highly regarded (not only in Shetland) Shetland dialect writers -
unless,
that is, they were also possessed of the “some sort of magic” which
enables dialect writing and which is out of the reach of ordinary
irritating mortals, or were exempted owing to being dead. The fact that
there were no replies to this in the letters page next week, and the
only
article in reply concentrated only on the literary aspect and scarcely
mentioned “dialect”, demonstrates how widely this view of written
dialect
is tacitly accepted in Shetland.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
This illustrates the value of the unqualified term “dialect” to the
mouthpieces of the prevailing Anglophone hegemony. Because it is
“dialect” and not “language” it can be exempted from all the
characteristics of “language”. Not only does it have no grammar, but if a
writer in it is found to be irritating, this is attributed to the medium
rather than the writer, because “dialect” is per se unsuitable for
writing. And if someone is found who does not irritate, then, as this
cannot be attributed to competence because written competence in a
medium
which is not suitable for writing would be a contradiction in terms, it
must be attributed to “magic.”</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
As, then, the terms “Shetlandic” and “Shaetlan” are offensive to the
perception of Shetland society, as reflected in the unchallenged
comments
of its intelligentsia, I take the view that these terms, and the
offensive concepts they embody, can fairly be said not to
exist.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Ron wrote further:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></font><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="im"><font size="2"><br><i>By the way, I have been made aware of two people having translated
the
Wren story
(<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/english.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/english.php</a>)
into Shetl... dialects: <br>
<a href="http://www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=73610#73610" target="_blank">http://www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=73610#73610<br><br>
</a>I have long wished for at least one version is Shetl... (preferably
accompanied by audio). To see these posted without being included in or
collection
(<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/</a>)
is highly frustrating to me. I wish people would “donate” them to the
“source”, even if they wish to do so anonymously. (I would keep anyone”s
name confidential if requested.) This has happened before. Someone
posted
a Jersey Norman version for another forum and never responded when one
of
us asked them to share it with us. Of course it”s their prerogative to
use our story and not to share their own versions, but it”s highly
frustrating to me, as you can probably imagine.<br><br>
</i></font>
</div><font size="2"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I must say “mea culpa” here, because I am the DePooperit on
the forum
who made one of the translations. However, I made this off the cuff and
deliberately have not offered it to Lowlands-L for the same reason that I
have removed my website. As an expatriate Shetlander, I have no right to
misrepresent the views of resident (or other) Shetlanders by presenting
material on the internet which appears to give “dialect” written status,
and which Shetland society as a whole is therefore likely to find
offensive. At the dialect conference I attended, the first speaker (the
Shetland archivist, himself a Shetlander) used some of my writing as a
bad example, describing it as a “horrible abortion” because of its use
of
the term “lay up” (make, establish) outside of the fossilised phrases he
(probably as an archivist) had encountered it in, as referring to (1)
socks, and (2) riddles. More recently, a clergyman who has translated
parts of the Bible into “dialect” from English has commented that
“translating Greek and Hebrew into Shetland dialect doesn”t really
work.”
As the owner of a former website using the jarringly jargonistic term
“Shetlandic”, and contained irritating writing in that unwriteable
medium
including unworkable translation from Greek and the odd abortion here
and
there, I have taken the hint.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
As to how the dialects of Shetland should now be labelled on Lowlands-L,
I am afraid I have no idea. The only safe avenue, it seems to me, is not
to mention them at all.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
(BTW - In the most recent e-mailing from ShetlandForWirds I noticed with
some amusement the following item:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
“Intangible Cultural Heritage</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
X hed met Y fae da Napier University national project on “Intangible
Cultural Heritage” an agreed ta send her some information on da dialect
an Shetland ForWirds fur her website.”)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><span>From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>>
</span></font></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><span>Subject: </span><span>Language varieties<br><br>John,<br><br>The posting in which I addressed you as "Jim" is archived here: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yarlwh7">http://tinyurl.com/yarlwh7</a><br>
<br></span></font></p><p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2">Thank you very much indeed for responding so promptly and thoroughly to my inquiry about the status of Sh ... uh ... dialect.<br>
<br>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<font size="2"><font size="2"></font> <i>patois</i></font> every indigenous non-French language variety <font size="2">under French-speaking hegemony</font>, but at least there you get away with specifying them as things like <i>patois normand</i> or <i>patois alsacien</i> when you are in a different location. (And it is similar with <i>idioma </i>in Spanish-dominated areas.)<br>
<br>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 <i>verboten </i>to specify "dialect" even in terms of location so as to deprive it of any modicum of legitimacy. <font size="2">I assume that as a result "dialect" will cease to exist (apprently
this being the intent). </font> 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."<br>
<br>Yeah, what to do ... I appreciate the position this puts you in. I as a true outsider, however, have <i>Narrenfreiheit</i> (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.<br>
<br>In the meantime, for practical and sentimental reasons, I took the liberty of downloading the zipped version of your former site Wirhoose (<a href="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wirhoose/but/">http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wirhoose/but/</a>).<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br>Seattle, USA<br></font></p><font size="2"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></font><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2">===================================================<br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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