LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 17.JAN.2000 (05) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 17.JAN.2000 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Language politics

The recent discussion about Scots in Northern Ireland and the status of
Scots in Scotland reminded me that a few years ago a feature film about
teenagers in Northern Ireland was shown on TV with sub-titles for the
obvious reason that the dialogue was extremely difficult for an outsider to
understand.  There were protests that this denigrated the people of Ulster
by implying that they don't speak "proper English" like the rest of us.
Presumably if it had been acknowledged that they were speaking a variant of
"Scots" then subtitling, at least for the English audience, would have been
politically OK.

I find it interesting that Scottish accents and modes of speech have become
much more acceptable on national TV here in recent years. The generalised
Scottish "burr" used to be all that one heard but now both presenters and
characters in commercials often use pronunciations which for me verge on the
incomprehensible, depending as they do on very little lip movement and
constriction of the throat. (This is a clumsy attempt to describe, not a
value judgement.) I should like to be able to pin these accents down to
geographical areas. I heard one such presenter say today that she was
brought up in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, but I don't know whether her
accent still reflects this. It would be so convenient - and interesting - if
someone could publish a list of the best-known Scottish public figures with
their linguistic affiliations.

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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