The Scots Language (or Dialect?!)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Langfocus channel, and my name is Paul today's topic is the Scots Language Scots is a language spoken in Scotland; one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. Right off the bat It's important to point out that there are essentially three different languages in Scotland: Scottish English, Scots, and Gaelic. Gaelic is a Celtic language that is only distantly related to English and Scots as an Indo-European language. Scots and Scottish English on the other hand are closely related to each other, though they're not the same thing Scottish English is for the most part standard English But spoken with a Scottish accent. Scots, on the other hand is distinct, having diverged from a dialect of Middle English and having features that differ from English. Some people consider Scots to be a separate language While others consider it to be a historical dialect of English just like the historical dialects found in England But we'll get into that a little bit later. According to the 2011 Scottish census, just over 1.5 million people speak Scots; around 30% of the Scottish population. History The roots of scots lie in Northumbrian Old English; one of several Old English dialects Northumbrian Old English was being spoken by the seventh century in the Anglo-Saxon, Kingdom of Northumbria which was located in Northeastern England and part of the Scottish lowlands. The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in the year 843 with the unification of the Pictish people and Gaelic speaking Scots, but English-speaking northumbrian lands were not yet part of the kingdom when the northern part of Northumbria finally became part of Scotland in the 11th century, Gaelic became the prestige language of the area, but [English] remained the most widely spoken language the variety of English spoken there may have been Significantly influenced by norse because the southern part of Northumbria along with much of Northern and Eastern England had been under Danish control, and its English dialects had been influenced by Norse, and Scandinavian settlers were also present beyond the border of that area, as well. In the 12th and 13th centuries during the Middle English period, the borough system of administrative division led to the spread of English further to Scotland. Borås were autonomous urban communities where traders merchants and craftsmen could live and do [business] in exchange for paying taxes on their earnings The boroughs were ruled by Nobles who answered to the king they attracted economic migrants from other parts of scotland including Gallic speaking areas from England especially from areas that had been under danish Control where norse influence dialects were spoken and from farther away places like Flanders [freesias] and scandinavia English became the common language of the borough's but the multilingual environment created by the economic migrants had an influence on the language so as English became more widespread in scotland because of the borough's it also, began to diverge from Northumbrian middle English other influences were latin because of its role as the ecclesiastical language and the language of laws and record-keeping and [norman-French] because of the influence of King David the first who had close ties with Norman England the Divergent variety of Middle English that grew out of these influences is now referred to as early [scot] But at the time it continued to be referred to as English until the end of the 15th [century] in the 14th and [15th] centuries English replaced garlic in much [of] the Lowlands as well as replacing French as the administrative language as well as replacing latin as the language of records and law Another thing that happened in the 15th century was that the orkney islands and the Shetland Islands came under Scottish rule Scandinavian settlers had been living on these islands since the [ninth] century and spoke a language called [norn] that derived from old norse But Scott speaking settlers began to move there and the prestige language became scots From this contact new dialects of scots would develop with more norse influence than other forms of scots these dialects are Shetland scots and Arcadian scots or orkney By this point scots had become fairly Distinct from English as spoken in England one thing that set them apart was that the Southern English dialect of London was becoming the standard In England whereas scots had more in common with the Northern dialects another thing that set them apart was the great vowel shift the Great vowel shift took place between the years 1350 and 1600 more or less and caused vowels of English to be pronounced differently this also affected scots Although the specific chain were different and some vowels that changed in English remained Unchanged in scots for example in Middle English the letters o you Represented the sound boom in Southern English and thus in Standard English this sound shifted to ow But in scots it remained unchanged so today in standard English you say mouse, but in scots you say moose, no [alumnus] and a brown cow in English is a broom coup in scots who knew [bru] [gu] The great vowel shift took place at about the same time that English orthography was becoming Standardized so that English spelling often reflected earlier Middle English pronunciation and it still does today scots on the other hand was written more freely to reflect the way it was really pronounced an extensive body of scots literature was written in the 15th and 16th centuries But towards the end of that time period As english was growing in prestige Scots was increasingly being written using a combination of scots and English spelling's when King James six of scotland became the unified Monarch of England and Ireland in 1603 and began to rule from London the influence of English continued to grow with the Scottish upper classes Adapting and Anglo sizing their speech and writing. This is what ultimately led to the development of Scottish Standard English Scots was still widely spoken by the common people [but] with the full union of England and scotland in 1707 it became even more discouraged and frowned upon But the marginalization of scots caused a rebound later that century with the scots literary revival, led by poets such as Allan ramsay Later Robert burns widely considered the National Poet of scotland wrote in a combination of vernacular scots and Scottish English Scots language literature declined once again in the nineteenth century, but experienced revivals again in the 20th century Poet Hugh macdiarmid attempted to create a standard form of literary scots based on a combination of different scots varieties later in the 20th century novels narrated in Scots vernacular began to appear scots a language or a dialect of English Whether scots is a separate language or a dialect can be a difficult question to answer especially [because] these days Many people use both of them in combination with each other today There's a diglossic Situation in which people in the Scott speaking areas can freely code switch between scots and standard English and combine them together in varying degrees [depending] on the situation So think about that for a second you have scots And then you have standard English which are very closely related to begin with and people slide back and forth between the two of them Stopping anywhere along the continuum that suits the situation in this kind of diglossic situation It's easy to perceive both varieties as registers of a single [language] to perceive scots as a vernacular form of English But some people still see scots as a language in its own right and they typically point to the body of scots literature from over The centuries which remains divergent from the conventions of [standard] English as it developed. There's no universal standard for [determining] What's a language, and what's a dialect the classic quote is a language is a dialect with an army and a navy well scots Began without an army then it got one then it lost it and maybe it will have one again in the future but the very least we can say is that when scots vernacular is spoken in isolation without Using standard English it is fairly Distinct. So what is scots like well? It's a lot like English, but the main difference is [in] the way It's pronounced especially the vowels of course there are many different accents of English But scots has distinct pronunciation of its own and unlike English scots is written and spelled to reflect the sounds of the spoken [language] So when you read scots the differences become more obvious [scots] also uses its own words and Expressions that are not a part of English though some people may pepper their speech with scots words for effect when they're speaking mainly scottish English let's look at a few examples of everyday speech in scots the Pronunciation and the spelling depends on the local variety but these examples are from era sure in the Scottish Lowlands Here's a sentence meaning the children caught some insects in the garden [the] [barrens] caught some beasties in the garden right [away] You'll probably notice [that] there are some non English spelling's like some and Garden Which is distinct in? [pronunciation] from Garden the first [vowel] is different and also noticed that the d is pronounced as a glottal stop But it's often pronounced that way in my [canadian] dialect of English as well We'd normally say garden, not garden when speaking naturally you'll probably notice a couple of diff words here as well There's [bairns] instead of children This word is not exclusively scots But is also used in some English dialects of Northern England then we have beasties instead of insects This is an endearing form of the word beast which can be used to refer to small animals or insects Here's a sentence meaning I went to the shop with my little brother and sister. I went to the shop We may [weave] rather and sister. You're the first thing to notice is I went this clearly isn't the definite article off because it's followed by a verb this is actually the first person singular Personal Pronoun like I in standard English next notice teh meaning [-] this can be pronounced teh on its own but here it's reduced to sound like [-] just [like] it would normally be reduced in an English sentence like this as In I went to the shop we can hear the full vowel sound in this word way which means with here Ma means my [wie] means little this word is founded standard English in certain fixed phrases like a wee bit or the wee hours of the night But it's originally a scots word and in scots as well as Scottish English It's very common notice the spelling of this word breather which means brother obviously [the] difference Here is just a difference in the vowel, and that was very like this in various English dialects as well, but in scots They're actually spelled differently here in is a reduced form of end the pronunciation of end is often reduced in English, too But it would never be spelled like this except maybe in a comic book or something like that here's a sentence meaning I can't go to the party tonight because I've got a lot to do I Can you go to the parity tonight because I've got a lot today? Again, we see our meaning. I hear [ken] a means can't or cannot and here's [teh] again notice the equivalent word for party which is [pear] eat the first vowel sound is different and the t is pronounced like a glottal stop not pair t but Pair e Here notice that tonight is the night in scots? Which I find quite interesting because in some other languages like Hebrew and arabic you say the night or the day [coz] is a contraction of because this is something [that] occurs in various dialects of English including mine But it would only be written like [that] in an informal context of is like I've in English and to do is today here's a sentence meaning I don't want to go to work today because I haven't got much energy I Didn t. Want to go to work today because [I] have me got much energy. Here's [Aa] again I guess I should have used sentences with some different pronouns. [oh] Well, here's the word for don't da remember that Kant was Kenny So this ending seems to be the pattern for negative contractions here We have t again and here the word for work is written the way it sounds [I] think [this] is a clear case [of] the great vowel shift causing a difference between the spelling and the sound in English here We see that today is the day similar to the night that we saw before here's cuz again and here's another negative Contraction haven't is his name? All of those examples were everyday modern examples, but let's look at something a little [more] literary and traditional This is an excerpt from a poem by the Scottish Poet Robert burns Who's often said to be scotland's national Poet the poem is called [Tam-O-Shanter]? Which was written in 1790 by [the] way [Tam]? [O'shanter] is also. What we call these Scottish caps these caps are named after the hero and Burns's poem well here we go when Chaplin bellies leave the Street and [Routinely] [Burrs] [Leber's] meat as Market days are waiting late and folk begin to tack the gate While we [set] bruising at the nappy getting through an unco happy we think knee and the land [scots] [mail] the mosses water slaps and styles That lie between as an ahem where sits [our] [silkie] [seldom] Gathered in her brows like [gathering] storms nuts in her ass to keep it one In the first line Chapman Billie's means peddlers or traveling salespeople in the second line ruthie means thirsty Nabors is equivalent to neighbors in the third line. There are no differences But to clarify the meaning wearing late means getting late in the fourth line tack the gate means to take the road home Or I suppose to head home So in lines one to four burns is creating the image of people finishing work and going home in The fifth line boozing means boozing or drinking alcohol Neppy means liquor or ale I guess at is used here in the same way you might say sipping at your drink in The sixth line we have food which comes from the French word foo meaning crazy, so get in foo means getting crazy or getting drunk Uncle means very it comes from the old English word uncouth meaning unknown or unusual So I guess we could say that uncle happy means unusually happy if we [want] to dig into its etymology in The seventh line. We see a different way of forming the negative rather than DNa. Think it's sink nay I think this is a poetic literary form the same way you might write think not in English rather than don't think Liang means long and Ascot smile is a unit of measurement like a mile So this sentence says something like we're not thinking about the long walk home in the eighth line losses means Marshes slaps mean steps [styles] means styles as in steps that lead you over a fence or a wall and in the ninth line hem means home So in line five to nine burns is creating the image of people getting drunk and not thinking about their journey home in the ninth Line we have a different spelling for where and dame means wife Lines 10 and 11 are the same and English and it's got in the tenth line There's the phrase gathering her brows I imagine her eyebrows are close together because she's scowling making an angry face in the eleventh line Nursing her wrath to keep it warm means that she is intentionally keeping herself angry because she's planning to scold her husband So in lines 10 to 13 burns is creating the image of an angry wife Sitting at home waiting for a confrontation with her husband as soon as he gets home So in that poem we saw a little more of a literary style of scots again It's very much [like] English, but it has its own unique pronunciation spelling and vocabulary and in the earlier examples We saw some unique word forms and contractions do differences like that makes scots a separate language from English According to a survey conducted by the Scottish government 64% of Scottish people either slightly or strongly agree that wot's is not a language It's just a way of speaking and that includes 58% of the people who speak scots most frequently so even some scot speakers Don't really think of it as a language and that brings me to the question of the day for speakers of scots do you think of scots as a language or as a dialect or register of English and also to what extent do you use scots and For everyone else how similar or different dis cots in English seem to you leave your comments down below? Be sure to follow leng focus on Facebook Twitter and Instagram And as always I would like to say thank you to all of my amazing patreon supporters Especially these magnificent people right here on the screen for their monthly pledges. Thank you for watching and have a nice day

Channel: Langfocus

Views: 1,263,326

Rating: 4.9301329 out of 5

Keywords: language study, polyglot, foreign language, travel, phrases, linguist, linguistics, pronunciation, vocabulary, scots, scots leid, lallans, doric, shetland scots, orkney, scotland, dialect or language, scottish english, middle english, northumbria, scottish history, history of scotland, germanic language, English dialects, gaelic, norse, uk, united kingdom, england, lowlands

Id: 8X5zX3yVoiQ

Length: 16min 33sec (993 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 11 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

deleted ^{What is this?}

[u/TeoKajLibroj]

I know it's an unpopular opinion on this sub, but I don't think Scots is a language. It seems to me like just a phoentical writing of the Scottish accent with some regional words. It's interesting that even most Scots speakers don't consider it a language.

[u/stebrepar]

I'd been wondering for some time where Paul was from to have such a wide ranging consciousness of languages, and whether English was his native language. So now we know. :)