LL-L "Orthography" 2003.02.26 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 26.FEB.2003 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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From: Ian James Parsley <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: Orthography

Sandy,

Well, in my view one of the markers of a competent
Scots writer is that they use a consistent system -
rather than making up each spelling as they go along.

So for the English 'hall', the two most common Scots
spellings are 'haa' and 'haw'. Either seems perfectly
authentic and pandialectal. Likewise, for English
'fall', Scots has 'faa' or 'faw'.

My point is that if a Scots writer chooses 'faa', they
should also choose 'haa'. If they choose 'haw', they
should choose 'haa'. The point is that in all dialects
the sound is the same, and of the same etymological
reason.

It would be inconsistent - and to my mind the marker
of an incompetent Scots writer - to write 'haa' and
then 'faw'. I reckon this is a fairly clear-cut case.
I would also suggest there is a fairly even split
between '-aa' and '-aw', and this may be one of the
'options' allowed in any future 'standard'.

There are other cases which seem less clear-cut. For
example, many perfectly competent Scots writers choose
to write 'haud' but 'auld' - this strikes me as
inconsistent too. Perhaps, however, there are some
dialects that I've not heard where these are
pronounced differently. But such is the difficulty in
creating or agreeing any standard, of course.

Best wishes,

=====
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Ian James Parsley
www.ianjamesparsley.net
+44 (0)77 2095 1736
JOY - "Jesus, Others, You"

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