LL-L "Grammar" 2001.10.16 (02) [S]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 16.OCT.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Grammar"

> From: Andy Eagle <Andy.Eagle at t-online.de>
> Subject: "Grammar" [S]
>
> whit fowk wis creeticisin aboot McDiarmids 'Synthetic' Scots. Gaun bi
> the puckle Burns texts uised here - it leuks awfu like Burns whiles
> likit tae be 'synthetic'.

Ay, A should say that the raeson maist o ma examples wis fae Burns is that
Burns is a sicht mair kittle than the rest o them tae sort. He seems tae hae
a faur braider range o diction than maist, an uizes it aa gey intelligent,
sae altho maist folk's stuff can be sortit nae bather, A finnd masel haein
tae gae a bit tentier wi Burns. Ae thing A'v noticed is that tho Fergusson
an maist the ither anes'll uize a English wird richt in the middle o Scots
juist for tae git A rhyme, whan Burns daes this he tends tae mak the hale
line English, no juist the wird at the end, an what's mair he seems tae
manage it at juist sic a place as this kin o diction wirks fine. Leuk at
this verse, for example:

I gaed a waefu gate yestreen,
      A gate, I fear, I'll dearly rue;
I gat my daith frae twa sweet een,
      Twa lovely een o bonnie blue.
'TWAS NOT HER GOLDEN RINGLETS BRIGHT,
      Her lips like roses wat wi dew,
Her heaving bosom lily-white;
      It was her een sae bonnie blue.

- fae "The Blue-Ee'd Lassie".

It seems tae me that chaingin the bright here wad kin o waste the diction as
weel as the rhyme.

> 'What if' is a muckle quaisten. Whit if the Guid Beuk haed been pitten
> ower intae aulder Scots? Whit if the union o crouns an pairlaments
> haedna come tae pass? Suld we be wrytand mychty mykkil mydil Scottis?

A think maist like if the Bible wis pitten ower intae Aulder Scots, the
sitiation wad be the same as in English - the poets micht uize its langage
for effeck, but the fowk wad juist gae on spaekin their ain Scots.

As for the Union, Middle Scots wis shuirly awa bi thon? An what wey dis folk
think on Middle Scots as "michty" or "muckle"? It seems tae me tae be mair
English-like than modern Scots tradition, an if it seems "muckle", it's
juist wi the wey the Makars ay teuk len-wirds fae ither langages tae bouk it
up a bittie!

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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