New books: Modern Scots grammar

[890003149593]

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Modern Scots
ALEXANDER BERGS
University of Duesseldorf

This book is intended as a concise and up-to-date introduction to Modern Scots,
much in the vein of the classical, but now somewhat outdated textbooks by Grant
& Main-Dixon (1921) and Wilson (1926). Scots is often regarded as one end of a
dialect continuum that has English Standard English at the opposite end and
Scottish Standard English somewhere in the middle. There do seem to be
(sociolinguistic) reasons, though, for treating Modern Scots as an independent
language system, rather than as a dialect of English. Nevertheless, Modern Scots
lives in close contact with English and is (linguistically and ideologically)
strongly influenced by it, so that there is (still) an eminent danger of erosion
and loss, despite Scots being increasingly used in literature and the media (as,
for example, in Irvine Welsh's 'Trainspotting'). Outside literature, Modern
Scots can be most frequently heard in Glasgow, parts of the Scottish Borders,
and Aberdeenshire.
This study starts off with a brief sketch of the history of Scots and its
present geo- and sociolinguistic situation. Further chapters deal with the
phonology and orthography of Scots, its morphology, syntax, and lexicon.
Furthermore, it offers a brief introduction into features of stylistic variation
and discourse management in Scots. Throughout the text a large number of
examples from both literature and real life Scots are given. Three short sample
texts, a list of internet resources and a comprehensive bibliography conclude
this volume.

ISBN 3 89586 513 3.
Languages of the World/ Materials 242.
Ca. 70 pp. USD 32.50 / EUR 27.50 / # 19.90.


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