[meteorite-list] Scots

From: Peter Davidson <P.Davidson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:57:11 +0100
Message-ID: <D7171847AEFC6A4893D80C75E547E2711003F7_at_nmsmail02.nms2k.int>

Kevin, Greg, Sterling and others

As a Scot, who speaks Scots (or Lallans as it is sometimes referred to) I am aware of the debate surrounding the status of Scots vis-?-vis English. Is it a dialect of English, a variety of English or a separate language? As is normal in this sort of discussion, where you stand is often influenced by politics rather than linguistics.
The answer is net definitive in any way. Before the development of Standard English, there was a patchwork of dialects and languages across England and Scotland reflecting the different immigrations that took place after the departure of the Romans. Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Scandinavians all came in and settled in different parts of the island. The languages were all Germanic in origin, and may have been mutually intelligible to a greater or lesser degree, but led to a mosaic of local languages and speech. Scotland was no different in that the southern part was largely Anglic reflecting its partial incorporation into the Kingdom of Northumbria. Celtic languages were spoken in the South West, West and Highland. Norse was spoken in the far North and in Orkney and Shetland.
As Scotland and England developed began coalescing into distinct nations, a tendency towards a "standard" form of speech also began. With the English court based in London, a standard for of the language was derived from dialects and varieties of the South East. In Scotland, the court was based in Edinburgh so a different standard was developed. In effect English and Scots diverged at this point.
As time went on though, English came to have an increasing influence on Scottish speech until after the Union of 1707, the adoption of English became increasingly obvious as Scots was considered a mere dialect and therefore somehow lesser. This continues today where Scots is being eradicated by the prevalence of English, despite a lively and diverse literary culture.
This is very much a brief summary of the arguments, and has nothing to do with meteorites - many, many apologies.

Cheers

Peter Davidson
Curator of Minerals
 
National Museums Collection Centre
National Museums Scotland
242 West Granton Road
Edinburgh
EH5 1JA
Phone: +44 131 247 4283
p.davidson at nms.ac.uk
www.nms.ac.uk
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Kevin Forbes
Sent: 12 September 2009 20:14
To: List Meteorite
Subject: [meteorite-list] Scots


Even just the mere thought of contemplating this statement,

"Do you count Scots words as a dialect of English?"

to me seems, well, glaekit.

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Received on Mon 14 Sep 2009 06:57:11 AM PDT