In sociolinguistics , a variety , also known as a lect or an isolect , is a specific form of a language or language cluster . This may include languages , dialects , registers , styles , or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety . The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language , which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect , which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard. Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard ( vernacular ) varieties as equally complex, valid, and full-fledged forms of language. Lect avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.
70-681: Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster , from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition , whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from English , largely from the colloquial register . This process of language contact or dialectisation under English has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English, and increased population mobility became available after
140-542: A short leet is a list of selected job applicants, and a remit is a detailed job description. Provost is used for "mayor" and procurator fiscal for "public prosecutor". Often, lexical differences between Scottish English and Southern Standard English are simply differences in the distribution of shared lexis, such as stay for "live" (as in: where do you stay? ). The progressive verb forms are used rather more frequently than in other varieties of standard English, for example with some stative verbs ( I'm wanting
210-402: A standard variety , some lect that is selected and promoted prescriptively by either quasi-legal authorities or other social institutions, such as schools or media. Standard varieties are accorded more sociolinguistic prestige than other, nonstandard lects and are generally thought of as "correct" by speakers of the language. Since the selection is an arbitrary standard , standard forms are
280-596: A consensus view of writers in Scots at the time, following several years of debate and consultation involving Alexander Scott , Adam Jack Aitken , David Murison, Alastair Mackie and others. A developed version of the Style Sheet, it is based on the old spellings of the Makars but seeks to preserve the familiar appearance of written Scots. It includes all of the Style Sheet's suggestions, but recommends that writers return to
350-442: A drink ). The future progressive frequently implies an assumption ( You'll be coming from Glasgow? ). In some areas perfect aspect of a verb is indicated using "be" as auxiliary with the preposition "after" and the present participle: for example "He is after going" instead of "He has gone" (this construction is borrowed from Scottish Gaelic ). The definite article tends to be used more frequently in phrases such as I've got
420-663: A free-for-all with the traditional model disparaged but no popular replacement", leading to more spelling variation, not less. The Scots language has had a long history of being devalued and marginalized in the Scottish education system . Due to the Anglicisation of Scotland and the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 , the education system required that every child learn English. This caused Scots to become forgotten about in main education and considered slang. As of 2022, it
490-510: A language characterized by its own phonological , syntactic , and lexical properties." A variety spoken in a particular region is called a regional dialect (regiolect, geolect ); some regional varieties are called regionalects or topolects, especially to discuss varieties of Chinese . In addition, there are varieties associated with particular ethnic groups (sometimes called ethnolects ), socioeconomic classes (sometimes called sociolects ), or other social or cultural groups. Dialectology
560-638: A list of over 2500 common Scots words spelt on the basis of the SLS Recommendations. Purves has also published dozens of poems using the spellings. In 2000 the Scots Spelling Committee report was published in Lallans. Shortly after publication Caroline Macafee criticised some aspects of that, and some previous spelling suggestions, as "demolishing the kind-of-a standardisation that already existed where Scots spelling had become
630-709: A meeting of the Makar's Club in Edinburgh in 1947, where the Scots Style Sheet was approved. J. K.Annand, Douglas Young, Robert Garioch, A.D. Mackie, Alexander Scott, Tom Scott and Sydney Goodsir Smith all followed the recommendations in the Style Sheet to some extent. Some of its suggestions are as follows: In 1985, the Scots Language Society (SLS) published a set of spelling guidelines called "Recommendations for Writers in Scots". They represent
700-803: A real guid day (Having a really good day). She's awfu fauchelt (She's awfully tired). Adverbs are also formed with - s , - lies , lins , gate ( s )and wey(s) -wey , whiles (at times), mebbes (perhaps), brawlies (splendidly), geylies (pretty well), aiblins (perhaps), airselins (backwards), hauflins (partly), hidlins (secretly), maistlins (almost), awgates (always, everywhere), ilkagate (everywhere), onygate (anyhow), ilkawey (everywhere), onywey (anyhow, anywhere), endweys (straight ahead), whit wey (how, why). Ordinal numbers end mostly in t : seicont , fowert , fift , saxt — (second, fourth, fifth, sixth) etc., but note also first , thrid / third — (first, third). Ae /eː/ , /jeː/
770-677: A small shop can become a wee shoppie . These diminutives are particularly common among the older generations and when talking to children. The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is distinctive of Scottish, Northern English and Northern Irish English . "Why not?" is often rendered as "How no?". There is a range of (often anglicised) legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots, e.g. depute /ˈdɛpjut/ for deputy , proven /ˈproːvən/ for proved (standard in American English), interdict for '"injunction", and sheriff-substitute for "acting sheriff". In Scottish education
SECTION 10
#1732764882122840-425: A specific community". More recently, sociolinguists have adopted the concept of the community of practice , a group of people who develop shared knowledge and shared norms of interaction, as the social group within which dialects develop and change. Sociolinguists Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet explain: "Some communities of practice may develop more distinctive ways of speaking than others. Thus, it
910-612: Is a body as in A body can niver bide wi a body's sel (One can never live by oneself). In the North East, the 'wh' in the above words is pronounced /f/ . Scots prefers the word order He turnt oot the licht to 'He turned the light out' and Gie's it ( Give us it ) to 'Give it to me'. Certain verbs are often used progressively He wis thinkin he wad tell her , He wis wantin tae tell her . Verbs of motion may be dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion A'm awa tae ma bed, That's me awa hame, A'll intae
980-512: Is 'silent'. Many verbs have ( strong or irregular ) forms which are distinctive from Standard English (two forms connected with ~ means that they are variants): The present participle and gerund in are now usually /ən/ but may still be differentiated /ən/ and /in/ in Southern Scots and, /ən/ and /ɪn/ North Northern Scots. Adverbs are usually of the same form as the verb root or adjective especially after verbs. Haein
1050-520: Is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English ( SSE ). Scottish Standard English may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools". IETF language tag for "Scottish Standard English" is en-scotland. In addition to distinct pronunciation, grammar and expressions, Scottish English has distinctive vocabulary, particularly pertaining to Scottish institutions such as
1120-568: Is deemed a vulnerable language. In 2012, the Scottish Government released a policy approach that highlights their aim to provide opportunities for children to learn languages other than their mother tongues. And in 2014, there was a dictionary app developed to help aid students in their learning of the Scots language. The Curriculum for Excellence is the national curriculum for schools in Scotland, for students from aged 3–18. It
1190-428: Is defined as "the language use typical of an individual person". An individual's idiolect may be affected by contact with various regional or social dialects, professional registers and, in the case of multilinguals , various languages. For scholars who view language from the perspective of linguistic competence , essentially the knowledge of language and grammar that exists in the mind of an individual language user,
1260-422: Is described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots . By the end of the 19th century, Scots spelling "was in a state of confusion as a result of hundreds of years of piecemeal borrowing from English". Some writers created their own spelling systems to represent their own dialects, rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots. The variety referred to as 'synthetic Scots' or Lallans shows
1330-619: Is general social acceptance that gives us a workable arbitrary standard, not any inherent superiority of the characteristics it specifies." Sociolinguists generally recognize the standard variety of a language as one of the dialects of that language. In some cases, an authoritative regulatory body , such as the Académie Française , maintains and codifies the usage norms for a standard variety. More often, though, standards are understood in an implicit, practice-based way. Writing about Standard English, John Algeo suggests that
1400-695: Is preferred to that with - na with contractable auxiliary verbs like - ll for will , or in yes/no questions with any auxiliary He'll no come and Did he no come? The present tense of verbs adhere to the Northern Subject Rule whereby verbs end in - s in all persons and numbers except when a single personal pronoun is next to the verb, Thay say he's ower wee , Thaim that says he's ower wee , Thir lassies says he's ower wee (They say he's too small), etc. Thay're comin an aw but Five o thaim's comin , The lassies? Thay'v went but Ma brakes haes went . Thaim that comes first
1470-401: Is serred first (Those who come first are served first). The trees growes green in the simmer (The trees grow green in summer). Wis 'was' may replace war 'were', but not conversely: You war/wis thare . The regular past form of the weak or regular verbs is -it , -t or -ed , according to the preceding consonant or vowel: The -ed ending may be written -'d if the e
SECTION 20
#17327648821221540-843: Is slightly different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic substratum . Similarly, the English spoken in the North-East of Scotland tends to follow the phonology and grammar of Doric . Although pronunciation features vary among speakers (depending on region and social status), there are a number of phonological aspects characteristic of Scottish English: Scotticisms are idioms or expressions that are characteristic of Scots , especially when used in English. They are more likely to occur in spoken than written language. The use of Scottish English, as well as of Scots and of Gaelic in Scotland, were documented over
1610-459: Is the study of dialects and their geographic or social distribution. Traditionally, dialectologists study the variety of language used within a particular speech community , a group of people who share a set of norms or conventions for language use. In order to sidestep the vexing problem of distinguishing dialect from language , some linguists have been using the term communalect – defined as "a neutral term for any speech tradition tied to
1680-419: Is used as an adjective before a noun such as : The Ae Hoose (The One House), Ae laddie an twa lassies (One boy and two girls). Ane is pronounced variously, depending on dialect, /en/ , /jɪn/ in many Central and Southern varieties, /in/ in some Northern and Insular varieties, and /wan/ , often written yin , een and wan in dialect writing. The impersonal form of 'one'
1750-647: Is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder. The older second person singular possessive thy ( [ðai] ), and thee ( [ði] , Shetland [diː] along with thine ( s ) [dəin(z)] ) still survive to some extent where thoo remains in use. See T–V distinction . The relative pronoun is that ( ' at is an alternative form borrowed from Norse but can also be arrived at by contraction) for all persons and numbers, but may be left out Thare's no mony fowk (that) bides in that glen (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms wha, wham, whase 'who, whom, whose', and
1820-477: Is within communities of practice that linguistic influence may spread within and among speech communities." The words dialect and accent are often used synonymously in everyday speech, but linguists define the two terms differently. Accent generally refers to differences in pronunciation , especially those that are associated with geographic or social differences, whereas dialect refers to differences in grammar and vocabulary as well. Many languages have
1890-570: The burr , which is not a Scots realisation. The greater part of the valley of the Esk and the whole of Liddesdale have been considered to be northern English dialects by some, Scots by others. From the nineteenth century onwards influence from the South through education and increased mobility have caused Scots features to retreat northwards so that for all practical purposes the political and linguistic boundaries may be considered to coincide. As well as
1960-493: The Church of Scotland , local government and the education and legal systems. Scottish Standard English is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum , with focused broad Scots at the other. Scottish English may be influenced to varying degrees by Scots. Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as different registers depending on social circumstances. Some speakers code switch clearly from one to
2030-613: The Kailyard school like Ian Maclaren also wrote in Scots or used it in dialogue, as did George Douglas Brown whose writing is regarded as a useful corrective to the more roseate presentations of the kailyard school. Variety (linguistics) Variation at the level of the lexicon , such as slang and argot , is often considered in relation to particular styles or levels of formality (also called registers ), but such uses are sometimes discussed as varieties as well. O'Grady et al. define dialect : "A regional or social variety of
2100-568: The Scottish Vowel Length Rule . Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scottish English are generally spelled as in English. Other words may be spelt the same but differ in pronunciation, for example: aunt , swap , want and wash with /a/ , bull , full v. and pull with /ʌ/ , bind , find and wind v., etc. with /ɪ/ . As of 2022, there is no official standard orthography for modern Scots, but most words have generally accepted spellings. During
2170-641: The Second World War . It has recently taken on the nature of wholesale language shift towards Scottish English , sometimes also termed language change , convergence or merger. By the end of the twentieth century, Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland. Residual features of Scots are often simply regarded today as slang , especially by people from outwith Scotland, but even by many Scots. The varieties of Modern Scots are generally divided into five dialect groups: The southern extent of Scots may be identified by
Modern Scots - Misplaced Pages Continue
2240-516: The apologetic apostrophe , to mark "missing" English letters. For example, the older Scots spelling taen / tane (meaning "taken") became ta'en ; even though the word had not been written or pronounced with a "k" for hundreds of years. 18th–19th century Scots drew on the King James Bible and was heavily influenced by the conventions of Augustan English poetry . All of this "had the unfortunate effect of suggesting that Broad Scots
2310-403: The "correct" varieties only in the sense that they are tacitly valued by higher socio-economic strata and promoted by public influencers on matters of language use , such as writers, publishers, critics, language teachers, and self-appointed language guardians. As Ralph Harold Fasold puts it, "The standard language may not even be the best possible constellation of linguistic features available. It
2380-547: The 15th and 16th centuries, when Scots was a state language, the Makars had a loose spelling system separate from that of English. However, by the beginning of the 18th century, Scots was beginning to be regarded "as a rustic dialect of English, rather than a national language". Scots poet Allan Ramsay "embarked on large-scale anglicisation of Scots spelling". Successors of Ramsay—such as Robert Fergusson , Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott —tended to follow his spelling ideas, and
2450-641: The 20th century by the Linguistic Survey of Scotland at the University of Edinburgh . Scotticisms are generally divided into two types: covert Scotticisms, which generally go unnoticed as being particularly Scottish by those using them, and overt Scotticisms, usually used for stylistic effect, with those using them aware of their Scottish nature. Scottish English has inherited a number of lexical items from Scots, which are less common in other forms of standard English. General items are wee ,
2520-737: The British Isles), oatcake (now widespread in the UK), tablet , rone (roof gutter), teuchter , ned , numpty (witless person; now more common in the rest of the UK) and landward (rural); It's your shot for "It's your turn"; and the once notorious but now obsolete tawse . The diminutive ending "-ie" is added to nouns to indicate smallness, as in laddie and lassie for a young boy and young girl. Other examples are peirie (child's wooden spinning top) and sweetie (piece of confectionery ). The ending can be added to many words instinctively, e.g. bairn (see above) can become bairnie ,
2590-557: The Scots word for small (also common in Canadian English , New Zealand English and Hiberno-English probably under Scottish influence); wean or bairn for child (the latter from Common Germanic, cf modern Swedish , Norwegian , Danish , Icelandic , Faroese barn , West Frisian bern and also used in Northern English dialects ); bonnie for pretty, attractive, (or good looking, handsome, as in
2660-559: The Scottish Gaelic diminutive - ag (- óg in Irish Gaelic). The eighteenth century Scots revival was initiated by writers such as Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson , and later continued by writers such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott . Scott introduced vernacular dialogue to his novels. Other well-known authors like Robert Louis Stevenson , William Alexander, George MacDonald , J. M. Barrie and other members of
2730-461: The adverb no , in the North East nae , as in A'm no comin (I'm not coming), A'll no learn ye (I will not teach you), or by using the suffix - na sometimes spelled nae (pronounced variously /ə/ , /ɪ/ or /e/ depending on dialect), as in A dinna ken (I don't know), Thay canna come (They can't come), We coudna hae telt him (We couldn't have told him), and A hivna seen her (I haven't seen her). The usage with no
2800-737: The case of Bonnie Prince Charlie ); braw for fine; muckle for big; spail or skelf for splinter (cf. spall ); snib for bolt; pinkie for little finger; janitor for school caretaker (these last two are also standard in American English ); outwith , meaning 'outside of'; cowp for tip or spill; fankle for a tangled mess; kirk for 'church' (from the same root in Old English but with parallels in other Germanic languages, e.g. Old Norse kirkja , Dutch kerk ). Examples of culturally specific items are Hogmanay , caber , haggis , bothy , scone (also used elsewhere in
2870-625: The church, educational and legal structures remained separate. This leads to important professional distinctions in the definitions of some words and terms. There are therefore words with precise definitions in Scottish English which are either not used in English English or have a different definition. The speech of the middle classes in Scotland tends to conform to the grammatical norms of the written standard, particularly in situations that are regarded as formal. Highland English
Modern Scots - Misplaced Pages Continue
2940-488: The cold/the flu , he's at the school , I'm away to the kirk . Speakers often use prepositions differently. The compound preposition off of is often used ( Take that off of the table ). Scots commonly say I was waiting on you (meaning "waiting for you"), which means something quite different in Standard English. In colloquial speech shall and ought are scarce, must is marginal for obligation and may
3010-701: The course of a communicative event as the relationship between speakers changes, or different social facts become relevant. Speakers may shift styles, as their perception of an event in progress changes. Consider the following telephone call to the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC . Caller: ¿Es la embajada de Cuba? ( Is this the Cuban embassy? ) Receptionist: Sí. Dígame. ( Yes, may I help you? ) Caller: Es Rosa. ( It's Rosa. ) Receptionist: ¡Ah Rosa! ¿Cóma anda eso? ( Oh, Rosa! How's it going? ) At first,
3080-466: The following sentence as an example of a nonstandard dialect that is used with the technical register of physical geography: There was two eskers what we saw in them U-shaped valleys. Most speakers command a range of registers, which they use in different situations. The choice of register is affected by the setting and topic of speech, as well as the relationship that exists between the speakers. The appropriate form of language may also change during
3150-404: The general trend throughout the 18th and 19th centuries was to adopt further spellings from English, as it was the only accessible standard. Although descended from the Scots of the Makars, 18th–19th century Scots abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings for standard English ones; although from the rhymes it was clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended. Writers also began using
3220-402: The greatest linguistic hobbies of the past century". Most proposals entailed regularising the use of established 18th–19th century conventions and avoiding the 'apologetic apostrophe'. Other proposals sought to undo the influence of standard English conventions on Scots spelling, by reviving Middle Scots conventions or introducing new ones. A step towards standardizing Scots spelling was taken at
3290-457: The history of Scottish English. Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms, hypercorrections and spelling pronunciations . (See the section on phonology below.) Convention traces the influence of the English of England upon Scots to the 16th-century Reformation and to the introduction of printing . Printing arrived in London in 1476, but the first printing press
3360-1050: The hoose an see him . Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by an (and) express surprise or indignation. She haed tae walk the hale lenth o the road an her seiven month pregnant (She had to walk the whole length of the road—and she seven months pregnant). He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg (He told me to run—and me with my sore leg). Diminutives in - ie , burnie small burn (stream), feardie/feartie (frightened person, coward), gamie (gamekeeper), kiltie (kilted soldier), postie (postman), wifie (woman, also used in Geordie dialect), rhodie (rhododendron), and also in - ock , bittock (little bit), playock (toy, plaything), sourock (sorrel) and Northern – ag , bairnag (little), bairn (child, common in Geordie dialect), Cheordag (Geordie), - ockie , hooseockie (small house), wifeockie (little woman), both influenced by
3430-520: The idiolect, is a way of referring to the specific knowledge. For scholars who regard language as a shared social practice, the idiolect is more like a dialect with a speech community of one individual. Scottish English Scottish English ( Scottish Gaelic : Beurla Albannach ) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland . The transregional, standardised variety
3500-800: The indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: the hairst ('autumn'), the Wadensday ('Wednesday'), awa tae the kirk ("off to church"), the nou ("at the moment"), the day (today), the haingles ('influenza'), the Laitin ('Latin'), The deuk ett the bit breid ("The duck ate a piece of bread"), the wife ("my wife") etc. Nouns usually form their plural in -(e)s but some irregular plurals occur: ee / een ('eye'/'eyes'), cauf / caur ('calf'/'calves'), horse / horse ('horse'/'horses'), cou / kye ('cow'/'cows'), shae / shuin ('shoe'/'shoes'). Nouns of measure and quantity are unchanged in
3570-521: The language and style of their verse to the tastes of the English market". To this event McClure attributes "the sudden and total eclipse of Scots as a literary language". The continuing absence of a Scots translation of the Bible meant that the translation of King James into English was used in worship in both countries. The Acts of Union 1707 amalgamated the Scottish and English Parliaments. However
SECTION 50
#17327648821223640-417: The main dialects, Edinburgh , Dundee and Glasgow (see Glasgow patter ) have local variations on an Anglicised form of Central Scots. In Aberdeen , Mid Northern Scots is spoken by a minority. Due to their being roughly near the border between the two dialects, places like Dundee and Perth can contain elements and influences of both Northern and Central Scots. Vowel length is usually conditioned by
3710-426: The marked influence of Standard English in grammar and spelling. During the 20th century, with spoken Scots and knowledge of the literary tradition waning, phonetic (often humorous) spellings became more common. In the second half of the 20th century a number of spelling reform proposals were presented. Commenting on this, John Corbett (2003: 260) writes that "devising a normative orthography for Scots has been one of
3780-673: The men that thair boat wis tint (the men whose boat was lost). A third adjective/adverb yon/yonder , thon/thonder indicating something at some distance D'ye see yon/thon hoose ower yonder/thonder? Also thae (those) and thir (these), the plurals of that and this respectively. In Northern Scots this and that are also used where "these" and "those" would be in Standard English. The modal verbs mey (may), ocht tae/ocht ti (ought to), and sall ( shall ), are no longer used much in Scots but occurred historically and are still found in anglicised literary Scots. Can , shoud (should), and will are
3850-562: The mid 19th century in most of lowland Scotland. It has since been replaced by ye/you in most areas except in Insular Scots where thee ( [ðiː] , Shetland [diː] ) is also used, in North Northern Scots and in some Southern Scots varieties. Thoo is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular ye or you
3920-763: The more traditional -aw , rather than -aa . Some of its other suggestions are as follows: The SLS Recommendations says "it is desirable that there should be traditional precedents for the spellings employed and [...] writers aspiring to use Scots should not invent new spellings off the cuff". It prefers a number of more phonetic spellings that were commonly used by medieval Makars, such as: ar (are), byd, tym, wyf (bide, time, wife), cum, sum (come, some), eftir (after), evin (even), evir (ever), heir, neir (here, near), hir (her), ir (are), im (am), littil (little), sal (shall) speik (speak), thay (they), thaim (them), thair (their), thare (there), yit (yet), wad (would), war (were), wes (was), wul (will). David Purves's book A Scots Grammar has
3990-756: The mouth of the north Esk in north Cumbria , crossing Cumbria and skirting the foot of the Cheviots before reaching the east coast at Bamburgh some 12 miles north of Alnwick . The Scots [ x ] –English [∅] / [ f ] cognate group ( micht - might , eneuch - enough , etc.) can be found in a small portion of north Cumbria with the southern limit stretching from Bewcastle to Longtown and Gretna . The Scots pronunciation of wh as [ ʍ ] becomes English [ w ] south of Carlisle but remains in Northumberland , but Northumberland realises r as [ ʁ ] , often called
4060-454: The older whilk 'which' are literary affectations; whilk is only used after a statement He said he'd tint it, whilk wis no whit we wantit tae hear (he said he'd lost it, which is not what we wanted to hear). The possessive is formed by adding ' s or by using an appropriate pronoun The wifie that's hoose gat burnt (the woman whose house was burnt), the wumman that her dochter gat mairit (the woman whose daughter got married);
4130-579: The other while others style shift in a less predictable and more fluctuating manner. Generally, there is a shift to Scottish English in formal situations or with individuals of a higher social status. Scottish English resulted from language contact between Scots and the Standard English of England after the 17th century. The resulting shifts to English usage by Scots-speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken for mergers by linguists unfamiliar with
4200-408: The plural: fower fit ("four feet"), twa mile ("two miles"), five pund (five pounds), three hunderwecht (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include laifs (loaves), leafs (leaves), shelfs (shelves) and wifes (wives). The second person singular nominative thoo ( [ðuː] , Southern Scots [ðʌu] , Shetland dialect [duː] ) survived in colloquial speech until
4270-517: The preferred Scots forms. Scots employs double modal constructions He'll no can come the day (He won't be able to come today), A micht coud come the morn (I may be able to come tomorrow), A uised tae coud dae it, but no nou (I used to be able to do it, but not now). Do -support can be found in Modern Scots syntax, but is variable in frequency, and is likely to be a result of influence from English syntax. Negation occurs by using
SECTION 60
#17327648821224340-402: The prestigious literary conventions described above. Other spelling variants may be encountered in written Scots. Not all of the following features are exclusive to Scots and may also occur in some varieties of English. The is used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades and occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of
4410-476: The range of a number of pronunciation features which set Scots apart from neighbouring English dialects. Like many languages across borders there is a dialect continuum between Scots and the Northumbrian dialect , both descending from early northern Middle English . The Scots pronunciation of come [kʌm] contrasts with [kʊm] in Northern English . The Scots realisation [kʌm] reaches as far south as
4480-418: The receptionist uses a relatively formal register, as befits her professional role. After the caller identifies herself, the receptionist recognizes that she is speaking to a friend, and she shifts to an informal register of colloquial Cuban Spanish . The shift is similar to metaphorical code-switching , but since it involves styles or registers, it is considered an example of style-shifting. An idiolect
4550-566: The standard variety "is simply what English speakers agree to regard as good". A register (sometimes called a style ) is a variety of language used in a particular social setting. Settings may be defined in terms of greater or lesser formality, or in terms of socially recognized events, such as baby talk , which is used in many western cultures to talk to small children or as a joking register used in teasing or playing The Dozens . There are also registers associated with particular professions or interest groups; jargon refers specifically to
4620-446: The use of the language in everyday conversations and help re-appropriate it as a traditional . Along with the introduction of Scots learning in Scottish classrooms, publishing companies have translated popular books into Scots. Itchy Coo has issued Scots editions of Harry Potter , and The Gruffalo , and by doing this they have made Scots more accessible to children, teachers, and families. The spellings used below are those based on
4690-489: The vocabulary associated with such registers. Unlike dialects, which are used by particular speech communities and associated with geographical settings or social groupings, registers are associated with particular communicative situations, purposes, or levels of formality, and can constitute divisions within a single regional lect or standardized variety. Dialect and register may thus be thought of as different dimensions of linguistic variation . For example, Trudgill suggests
4760-480: Was implemented in Scotland in 2010 and the initiative aimed to provide support for the incorporation of the Scots language learning in classrooms in Scotland. There is still hesitancy in acknowledging Scots as a 'proper' language in Scotland, and many believe that it should not be taught in schools. Individuals are starting to understand the cultural impact that learning Scots has on young people, and want to encourage
4830-406: Was not a separate language system, but rather a divergent or inferior form of English". This 'Scots of the book' or Standard Scots lacked neither "authority nor author". It was used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster, by writers such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Murray , David Herbison , James Orr , James Hogg and William Laidlaw among others. It
4900-540: Was not introduced to Scotland for another 30 years. Texts such as the Geneva Bible , printed in English, were widely distributed in Scotland in order to spread Protestant doctrine. King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603. Since England was the larger and richer of the two Kingdoms, James moved his court to London in England. The poets of the court therefore moved south and "began adapting
#121878