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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-family: Arial;">===============================================<br>
<b>L O W L A N D S - L - 03 April 2010 - Volume 03</b><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
<a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com">lowlands.list@gmail.com</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Andy Eagle</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gi"> </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="go"><<a href="mailto:andy@scots-online.org">andy@scots-online.org</a>></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"</span><br style="">
<br style="">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">John wrote:<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Andy Wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Nevertheless,
Itchy Coo seem to be very successful at what they are doing and have likely
done more to get young people interested in Scots than anybody else recently.
No mean feat considering the objections that are often raised when the words
Scots, school and classroom occur in the same sentence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Well, maybe. I
have come across anecdotal tales of how Itchy Coo personnel can 'engage a
class' of primary kids. But you could engage a class of primary kids by taking
them outside to throw snowballs. Is there any evidence that the influence lasts
beyond the 'engagement' stage?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">The acid test is first what happens when they reach the teenage
stage, and second, whether they pass it on to their own kids. As far as I can
see, at the teenage stage, Scots forms in speech are 'tribal,' identified with
that particular tribe known as 'neds' and eschewed by others who do not belong
to that tribe. In the high school here, speaking Doric - although anyone might have
done so - seemed to be particularly associated with 'footballers', the point
being that if you weren't a 'footballer' you were more likely to have English-speaking
friends and speak more English. My kids are now in their early twenties, and
although most of their friends are from the North East - often from the small
towns and villages which were until recently the bedrock of Doric - they always
speak English to each other because that's what their social group does.
Secondly, parents in general are not going to pass on something which is
regarded as disreputable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>
Perhaps teenagers wish to identify more with popular Anglo-American culture
such as rock music in general, popular television and cinema etc. and speaking
English allies them with that. Something which is particularly easy to do since
the education system is geared to do exactly that.<br>
<br>
Scots, or what's left of it, certainly in urban areas, now tends to be spoken
by the 'working class'. As you say, referring some young 'working class' people
as 'neds' is now common. They are more likely to express their youth culture
through the use of what Scots they still have. Perhaps because their culture is
thought to be less sophisticated than the 'alternative' or 'indie' influenced
rock and goth etc. culture of middle class, more academically orientated youth
which is generally expressed through English. Perhaps as a consequence the more
Scots speech of the 'neds' is then considered unsophisticated too, and then
referred to as 'ned speak' <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/chewinthefat/neds/neducation.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/chewinthefat/neds/neducation.shtml</a>,
something then to be avoided if one does not want to be associated with the
'unsophisticated', further fueling the cycle that marginalises the use of Scots
in general. Will 'sophisticated' teenagers who prefer English in the in-group,
but grew up speaking Scots revert back to it once they have passed their
teenage years when they no longer feel it necessary to identify with what they
see as the sophisticated in-group? Or will they remain English speakers who've
put their unsophisticated past behind them?<br>
<br>
That perhaps depends on changing such perceptions of Scots as being somehow
less sophisticated. Something that's not likely to happen soon since some
involved in promoting Scots, as you say, seem to think that the language should
stay at a less than disreputable level.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">most Scots
don't have a concept of 'Scots' at all, and simply react against people
speaking in a down-town or inappropriate manner. This view has been reinforced
by the postmodern era in education where the traditional teaching of Scots
verse - usually Burns -<br>
all but disappeared in the 60s or 70s, with the result that the succeeding<br>
generations are mostly completely unaware of it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>
Perhaps that's the result of most educational decision makers no longer being
Scots speakers themselves. Scots verse or literature of any kind is no longer
part of their culture so its not something that would occur to them to teach.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Another example
of the same process may be the 'Dunna Chuck Bruck' sign, which was once common
in Shetland, but is now gone. This obviously reflected<br>
a desire to assert local identity which has since been superseded. On<br>
Shetlink, the following exchange took place (posted by Ghostrider).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Public displays of Scots are
perhaps only acceptable if they fulfil at least one of the following
requirements.<br>
<br>
1. It has to be humourous<br>
2. It has to rhyme<br>
3. Best if both 1 and 2<br>
<br>
'Dunna Chuck Bruck' is a perfect example, it fulfils 1 by fulfilling 2. I bet
if a purely transactional and wholly Shetland phrase for 'Please don't litter'
was used it would have met with derision. Non Shetland and non standard English
or informal chuck likely having been chosen because of its humourous
connotations and because it rhymes with bruck.<br>
<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Andy</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
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