LL-L: "Language contacts" LOWLANDS-L, 25.FEB.2001 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 25.FEB.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language contacts"

> From: Colin Wilson [lcwilson at starmail.com]
> Subject: LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 22.FEB.2001 (03) [E]
>
> I do remember reading of a study a couple of years ago where it was
> shown that the speech of children in some areas of Glasgow was
> being affected by London English. This really would have to be
> caused by the TV, as those children's direct personal contact with
> London English would be minimal.

There are a few constants to be borne in mind here.

One is that very few people pick up any significant amount of
usage without meeting someone in person who speaks that way.
This is because passive and active vocabularies are separated
- it takes a conscious effort to keep moving words from ones
passive to ones active vocabulary and so change ones speech
patterns - or, for that matter, across the written/spoken word
barrier. (And as an aside, it's worth stopping to think for a
moment about why it's almost impossible to get Scots speakers
to improve their Scots vocabulary - someone has to go first,
and this is a role that's normally taken by teachers or parents.
If teachers only use English and parents don't correct their
children's Scots, then the language starts to die.)

Anyway, this is why language isn't transmitted through a passive
medium like TV. If it were, then surely British women of all ages
would be speaking a mixture of Cockney, Manky and Scouse by now?
Linguistic maps show language change occurring along trunk roads
and railways, hence cities taking up on the permanent changes
more quickly than country areas.

The exception is youth slang, where younger people deliberately
pick up expressions from the TV and certain types of film and use
them with their peers to show that they're up-to-date. This sort
of language tends to be transient, however. For example, the
resuscitated "cool" of modern youth doesn't mean the same thing
as it did in the sixties. The craze for "dudespeak" that was rife
amongst British youth only five years ago has vanished, being
replaced by such expressions as "chilled", "tops banana" &c.

One thing worth noting, though, is that some new trends such as
email and newsgroups do excercise active vocabulary, but there's
still the written/spoken word barrier to protect native speech.

> I wonder if Sandy, or anyone, can suggest an explanation for how
> "cheers" has largely displaced "thanks" in colloquial usage, even
> here in northern Scotland.

I don't think I've heard it in my part of Scotland - certainly
I never use it myself. It's possible that people have become
used to using this word through picking it up in drinking
routines.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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