Scotland Languages & Literature - by Liz Niven, 11 Sept 06 Samuel Johnson said, 'I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the.

Scotland

Languages & Literature

- by Liz Niven, 11 Sept 06

Samuel Johnson said, 'I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the

pedigree of nations.'

About me STRAVAIGIN

Like fitprintsin peat bog,

we've left wir mark.

Even the moon cairries the stamp

o a Borders man.Strang arms reach roon the

globesing Auld Lang Syne,

an the warld wears a kilt.Nane the waur forrit.

A warp an weft o trevellers.Wha's like us?Fit prints like?

• Educated at educated Glasgow University

• With a strong interest in Scots language in education

• a poet, having published work in most major Scottish magazines, as well as four solo collections

Scotland speaks Scots, Gaelic & English as well as many non-

indigenous languages.Around 50,000 people speak Gaelic

Between 1.5 & 3million speak a form of Scots

Gaelic is a Celtic Language

Scots is a Germanic language from the same roots as English: Scots has been influenced by: Norse, Dutch, French, Latin

What is Scots?Scots is an Indo-European language descended from a northern form

of Anglo-Saxon.

By the seventh century AD, this Germanic branch of the language had reached the south-east of what is now Scotland and by the eleventh century AD was firmly established across central and

southern Scotland.

In addition to such Anglo-Saxon vocabulary as bairns, thrawn, bide and byre, strong Scandinavian, French and Dutch influences can still be heard in words such as lass, lug, lowse, braw, douce, fash, scone

and redd respectively. Latin remains in, for example, janitor and dux; Irish and Scots Gaelic have provided further lexical items such

as bens, glens and straths. Thus, as with the English language, contact with other countries and the legacy of loan words from several nations have contributed to the formation of the Scots

language.

Standard ScotsMuch written Scots was produced in the late fourteenth-century court of James IV

by the King's commissioned poets and dramatists, and by the early sixteenth

century Scots was developing as an all-purpose national language. This was the

nearest point at which Scots came to adopting a written

standard, accepted, on equal terms, with other European languages.

Difficult times for the Scots Language

1560 Geneva Bible translated into English

1603 Union of the Crowns

1707 Union of the Parliaments

Kirk, Crown, Court.

Dialect Map of Scotland

The Dropout by Tom LeonardScrimpt nscript furryi

urryi grateful

No wan bit

speylt useless yi urr

twistid izza coarkscrew

cawz rowz inan empty hoose

yir faithir nivirid yoor chance

pick n choozyir joab

a steady pey

well jist take a lookit yirsell

naithur wurk nur wahnt

aw aye

yir clivir

damn clivir

but yi huvny a clue whut yir dayn

this is me – nae money nae teeth

nae nothing 

it aw slips awaylike a drunk dream –

ach! 

Wid ye lookitThe state ae it –

Me in ma new jaiket! 

Alan Spence in Glasgow Zen

Hairst (Shetlandic)

Da day is doo-grey an

still; hit’s lik

a sowl. Da bonxie’s class

is waek as haands.

Da hairst laeves faa

an deepen ta mold.

Makkin up is near.

From the original Finland-Swedish of Gosta Agren, through an English translation by David McDuff into Shetlandic by Christine De Luca

The Bonnie Broukit BairnMars is braw in crammasy

Venus in a green silk goun,

The auld mune shaks her gowden feathers,

Their starry talk’s a wheen o blethers,

Nane for thee a thochtie sparin,

Earth, thou bonnie broukit bairn.

- But greet, an in your tears ye’ll droun

The haill clanjamfrie!

By Hugh MacDiarmid

 The Scots/Scottish English

ContinuumFor many Scots people, their language is a mixture of English and Scots. Sometimes

they use Scots words or grammatical forms or both. Some people speak a very broad

Scots

Sometimes confusion!

Away for the messages

Comfy?

Come oan, get aff!

Aye right!

Phonology:• pronounciation 

• Orthography:

• writer's choice of spelling

 Vocabulary

specific word choice

• contemporary , archaic, Lallans

• anent, forbye, outwith,

• Overt

• Covert: messages, pinkie, where do you stay?

Grammar

• verb forms, negative verb endings: cannae, disnae, shoudlnae

• strong use of definite articles & pronouns: my cooker, the flu, my bed

• preposition ending sentences (but) • plurals (three year) • singular verb with plural noun (thae apples wis mingin)

discourse markers- an that, so he did, ye know, kenmair nor , ower much

Idioms

Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye.

That’ll pit yer gas at a peep.

Lang may yer lum reek

European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages

Education

Scottish Writers:writing in broader Scots

• (deceased) Bruce, Fergusson, Dunbar, Burns, MacDiarmid,

• (contemporary)Sheena Blackhall, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Kathleen Jamie, Janet Paisley, Liz Niven, Don Paterson, James Robertson, Matthew Fitt, Christine De Luca, Edwin Morgan, Anne Donovan, Suyhal Saadi, Alan Bissett, Des Dillon

Scottish Writers in English & Scottish English

Alan Spence, Alastair Reid, Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh, Andrew O

Hagan, Andrew Greig, Anne MacLeod, Margaret Elphinstone, Ron

Butlin, Alexander McCall Smith, A.L.Kennedy, John Burnside, Carol

Ann Duffy, Janice Galloway

Recommended authors and readings• Jamie, Kathleen Poet

Publications: Jizzen (Picador, 1999)The Queen of Sheba(Bloodaxe, 1995) Findings

• Don Paterson, writer, musician, poetry editorNil Nil (Faber & Faber, 1993) God's Gift to Women (Faber & Faber ) , 1997) The Eyes (Faber & Faber, 1999) 101 Sonnets (Faber & Faber, 1999) Landing Light

• Alan Spence, Glasgow-born novelist, poet, playwright, short story writerIts Colours they are fine(Phoenix, 1977)The Magic Flute(Phoenix, 1990)Sailmaker(Hodder, 1984)Stone Garden(Phoenix, 1995)Way to go(Phoenix, 1998)Seasons of the Heart(Canongate, 2000)Glasgow Zen

• James Robertson, bookseller for seven years, Has published two books of short stories, two poetry collections, one novel and various other works.Joseph Knight (Fourth Estate, 2003)The Fanatic (Fourth Estate, 2000) The Ragged Man's Complaint (B&W Publishing, 1993) Sound-Shadow (B&W Publishing, 1995)

Continued..• Louise Welsh: internationally award winning The Cutting Room sold into eighteen

languages.Publications The Cutting Room (Canongate Books, 2002)Tamburlaine Must Die(Canongate Books, 2004) The Bullet Trick (2006)

• Ron Butlin: has won several Scottish Arts Council Book Awards and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and been translated into over ten languages. Most recently the French translation of his novel The Sound of My Voice was awarded the Prix MillePages 2004 and Prix Lucioles 2005

• Anne DonovanPublications Buddha Da (Canongate, 2003) Hieroglyphics and Other Stories (Canongate, 2001, 2004)

• Andrew Greig: A full-time writer of novels and poetry.Publications: The Order of the Day(Bloodaxe, 1990)Western Swing(Bloodaxe, 1995)Electric Brae(Canongate, 1996)The Return of John MacNab(Hodder Headline, 1996)When They Lay Bare(Faber and Faber, 1999)That Summer(Faber and Faber, 2000)This Light, This Light (2006)Preferred Lies (2006)

Resources for Scottish WritingAssociation of Scottish Literary Studies, Glasgow University

Scots Language Resource Centre,

Scottish Book Trust,www.scottishbooktrust.com

Scottish Poetry Library, www.spl.org.uk

www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk

STELLA & STARN at Glasgow University

www.scotsdictionaries.org.uk

Corbett, John (1997) Language and Scottish Literature, EU P

Kay, Billy Scots the Mither Tongue, Alloway Publishing

McClure, J.Derrick Why Scots Matters, Edinburgh: Saltire Society

Niven, L.The Scots Language in Education in Scotland, Netherlands: Mercator-Education:European Network for Regional or Minority

Languages and Education

Niven, L & Jackson, R (eds.)(1998) Scots Language its Place in Education, Watergaw www.lizniven.com