Language and Cultural Identity

Scottish Literature

What do you think of Scotland so far?What do you think about Scottish people?

First Impressions?

Scotland Scots

What do the following terms mean to you? Are they an important part of who you are?

Your Cultural Identity

Danish Scandinavian European

What do you think these terms mean?What do you think about Scottish cultural

identity?

Scottish Cultural Identity

Scottish English British

Do you know any Scottish Words?

When shown in England, the first 15 minutes of the Ken Loach film ‘Sweet Sixteen’ were subtitled to ease the English audience into the language.

How much could you understand? Why was it difficult?

Sweet Sixteen

Consider the following quotes:

'It's as absurd to call Scots a dialect of English as it is to call English a dialect of Scots.' Norman MacCaig, poet (1910-96)

‘A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.’Max Weinreich, linguist (1894-1969)

‘Scots is not one dialect but several. Put a man from Wick, another from Aberdeen, a third from Perth, in a room with a Fifer, a Glaswegian and a Borderer, and see if they all speak the same dialect’

Dr Sheila Douglas, author and singer, 1994

Is Scots a language?

 500 Angles establish Northumbria1124 King David I of Scotland crowned1494 First mention of ‘Scottis’1603 James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England1611 Publication of the King James Bible1707 The Act of Union1786 Robert Burns publishes 'Kilmarnock Edition' of his poems1872 Education Act ignores Scots1999 Devolution2001 Recognised as a language under the European Charter for

Regional and Minority Languages 2007 Scots included in Curriculum for Excellence

Timeline

Which versus witch The /x/ phoneme in lochThe Scottish Vowel Length Rule (SVLR), grief

(short) and grieve (long), brood (short) and brewed (long)

Scots vowels are unrounded in words like stone (stane) and go (gae) and are not diphthongised in hoose and roond because Scots vowels took a different direction from the English ones during the Great Vowel Shift (1350-1500). 

Scots modal verbs show several different nuances, can or could + please rather than may.

Differences between Scots and English

It is in the vocabulary that the difference between Scots and English remains at its strongest.

Every variety of Scots has its own words (from many sources) that are not only absent from English but might not even be found in any other variety of Scots.

Vocabulary

Listen to the following poem by one of Scotland’s most successful contemporary poets, Liz Lochhead (now Scotland’s Makar)

Kidsong/Bairnsang

Try to pick up on the translations she gives of some commonly used Scots words

Liz Lochead: Kidsong/Bairnsang