As a professional Linguist I can say that the boundary between dialect and language is blurry and fraught with no small amount of controversy, esp. when it comes to the subject of cultural identity. Years ago I studied the Concise Scots Dictionary (1996?), and became enthralled by the rich history of Scots, and recently bought the 2nd expanded edition. I highly recommend it to the curious as well as the serious student.
The joke-not-a-joke among linguists and language enthusiasts is that a language is a dialect with an army. It's really interesting to look at Scots as a language, with its own vocabulary, rules, grammar, culture, and history-not as slang, not as a dialect, but as its own rich and fascinating living thing that deserves care and attention.
About 5 years ago now, the UN declared Scots as an indigenous language and officially diffused the arguments that it is a dialect. They have all of their argumentation available to the public. Scots is an official language. It started as a cant for international trade and then during the great vowel migration the speakers isolated from other English speakers. It does have elements of the various trade partners within its diction.
Speculation: The attitude that drives people to ridicule someone for speaking their indigenous language in Scotland is the same as the attitude that lead to forced separation of indigenous children and residential schools across North America. Kudos to those who are fighting to reconnect with, revive, and progress their cultural identity while it’s still possible.
My ancestry is Lithuanian. In the 1920s, my father was ridiculed for speaking Lithuanian in school. He never spoke it again. I've spent my life trying to re-acquire the heritage that is just as great (Lithuania was once an empire) as the English/French/Dutch bloodlines that also course through my veins. Once lost, a heritage is difficult to regain. Don't let that happen to yours! A dialect is NOT anathema.
When I was growing up, my grandmother, who grew up in Ayrshire in the 1890's, lived with us, and spoke English, basically, but with a lot of Scots thrown in. Recently I took a class in early English literature, where we were expected to read, for instance, Chaucer in the original. I was amazed at how much easier I found it because of my exposure to Scots as a child.
I'm no expert, but it sounds like people who call Scots a dialect are misusing or misunderstanding what a dialect is. It's like calling French a Spanish dialect or vice versa. They're two distinct languages with a Latin base, similar yet distinct enough to be their own language.
I’m from Sweden but i lived in Auld Reekie for a year and i loved the Scottish English and Scots so much so that i have adopted it to be my Second language instead of Queen’s English. I think for me as a Swede, Scottish is it’s own language because even if Swedes can understand Norwegian (it’s not far off) and Danish for example they are still their separate languages. So is Scots or Scottish English appart from Queen’s English. We wouldn’t call Norwegian ”Nowegian Swedish” for example. That’s just loonie tae me.
I have followed Shaun for quite a while and love to hear him speak. I look for opportunities to hear the Scots language used. The BBC series Chewin' the Fat will often challenge any non Scottish listener!
Chewing the fat is superb but I’d argue it’s Glaswegian Scots. There’s differences from that to say how it would’ve sounded had it been filmed in Edinburgh or up north in Aberdeen where Doric would’ve been used over Scots. If u watch the spin off Still Game with the Jack and Victor the Glaswegian is more apparent.
The online movement of Scots speakers is good fun. A similar thing is how Swiss German speakers like to write and sing in their dialect. (Swiss German can be very hard for people from faraway parts of Germany to understand.) I hope that there will be a genre of Scots rock to correspond to existing Swiss-German rock.
Being from argyll colony, at one time the most populated area of highland scots, it was spoken here until the late 1800’s and I hope to see it come back
So my understanding is that Scots is a Germanic language descendent from Anglo Saxon, like English. While it is very closely related to English, it evolved separately from English since the early Middle Ages. The closest analogy is Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. They are somewhat mutually ininteligible, but they are different languages. It’s not a slang version of English.
Last trip to Scotland I was sitting in the Kyle Hotel Bar in Kyle Lochalsh talking to two locals. Having been to Scotland many times I can "bend my ear" with many accents However.... one of the men, after a few drinks dropped his "english" and what could have been Russian/Greek/German/??? left me dizzy! They saw my confusion and just laughed.
I just don't understand why someone would demonize a language. I'd love to learn these Gaelic languages. For me it's part of my heritage and family history.
How would it be viewed if a Scots-descended American wanted to learn Scots to participate in the preservation of the language? I am an anthropologist and an American of Scots descent - so my curiosity and interest come two-fold.
Im Scottish, and I think it would be viewed really positively in Scotland. Though Im not sure where you would find about it outside of Scotland. There a some online sites dedicated to it. But to be honest its quite hard to find places that teach it, even in Scotland. It just one of those things, that people in Scotland are expected to learn from their parents or their environment. Not a lot of emphasis is placed on it at school. Infact children are taught to learn British Standard English at school, so that they can communicate easily with the rest of the UK and the world. As Sean says in the video, so that can get ahead in life.
Forget the Scots language i would say preserve and save the Gaelic language in what truly makes Scotland the definition of what makes a person Scottish and their outlook of life ect. That's my personal opinion as a non-Scotsman
I think Rocky has the wrong question he's asking. Even the title of the video is wrong. Scots isn't a dialect because it didn't evolve out of English. English and Scots both evolved at the same time from earlier languages. Then, historic events occurred that brought England and Scotland closer together, and English took over and continued evolving. Scots in a large part didn't progress much further in its evolution as a language and stayed closer to the earlier languages where both English and Scots had their roots.
Scots and English have the same lower Germanic origin. When English went through the great vowel shift around 1400 Scots and English split. English also incorporated a lot of foreign loan words while Scots did not
Love your video and agree with everything you said. I’m 73 and still feel sad that I was told to speak English and that was in 1965. I love rabbie burns and the Scot’s language looking back it seems like just another way to dominate a smaller nation through ridicule. ❤️👍 ps. The Scottish middle class are part of the problem with their snobbery.
Well as I've heard it said before the difference between a dialect and a language is that a language has an Army 🪖, so since Scotland is part of the UK and not on its own it's a dialect and not a language by that standard.
+USAKiltsOfficial *Broad Scots is a descendant language of Medieval English with Gaelic loanwords, last used often in the Norman Lowlands and the Borders (GBR).*
Scots and English are exactly the same age, historically. Both replaced Latin, French, Gaelic etc. The only difference is in England they took to English nationwide, whereas in Scotland it slowly moved north to south.
A lot of people in Scotland speak with a Scottish accent, obviously. This is called Scottish Standard English, and its used constantly in Scotland. This is the way Sean speaks in the video. These days, speaking real old Scots, the actual language, and not just a few Scots words or phrases, is quite getting quite rare. A lot of Scots understand more Scots, than they speak it. Broad or proper old Scots, would be hard for an English speaker, who is not from Scotland to understand. Then you have Gaelic. This is another completely different language that is from another language family altogether. Less than 1% of people in Scotland can speak it fluently these days.
In Scotland there’s Scots, Doric, Gaelic and English all recognised and all of which can be used for instance by SMPs and MPs when swearing into parliament Gaelic is taught in schools and books are published in Scots and Doric. It’s not unusual to find books printed in Dundonian and Glaswegian languages either. U can’t explain a Scottish accent without explaining where the person comes from up north u hear more Doric, Glasgow and Dundee people have their own languages Glaswegian and Dundonian respectively my local area has its own accent with is very geographical specific. Like many Scots if u move and travel around u pick up words and language and retain them and as we are a multicultural and diverse society we thrive on having accents from Chinese and Indian speakers so as a Scot I wouldn’t try and describe what we sound like.
@@laurameakin ? Yes I know all of that. I live in Scotland. Glaswegian and Dundonian arent languages, they are dialects. Im not sure what your point is?
Yeah, I kin what you mean. My fiance is Scottish and I've spent a lot of time there. You want tae read a scots book? Try the book version of Trainspotting. It IS a language. And Dorich is tough man. I'm also learning Ghàidhlig right now. Almost no one down where I stay when I'm there is a speaker. But, it like there's Business Scottish and then Scottish. You'll know which you're hearing when you hear it. One is doing to call you a dobber, the other won't you anything to your face. Think someone like Nicola Sturgeon. You won't hear her speaking scots. You won't hear her, but that doesn't mean she won't speak it. Try finding someone in Glasga to teach you what a Glasga kiss is. I don't have a problem with it all because I hear it all the time. What's wrong with embracing your language?
Look to Ireland. They brought back Irish Gaelic. It’s not spoken widely except in the west of Ireland (Gaeltacht) and in government. Scots will have to decide if the Irish were successful and if Scots should emulate them! Erin go Bragh!
All languages and histories should be preserved. I use lots of southern English at times. "Proper" speech has it's place. But so do other forms of language.
It's like Spanglish. It is a combination of Scots language and English. The root is the "ish" means sort of or not exactly. So, to me, Scottish is not exactly Scots or English, but a combination. Imo, Gaelic is the one true Language for Scots.
@@cecircinn2908 Only area where gaelic was never spoken was Shetland but even that is arguable. Also Pictish was already long time gone when Scots spread into northeast.
@@cecircinn2908 Orkney was Gaelic speaking area, there are ogham monuments. It’s true that Gaelic is not one true language of Scotland, but is far more important for Scottish Identity than Scots ever was, especially because its speaker could not decide if they are Scottish or just Northern English. Little advice, stop calling "Scots language" Scots and find another name for it because if you don’t ,the Neo-gaels are going to wipe your ass, figuratively speaking of course.
@@cecircinn2908 Buckquoy spindle-whorl is Old Gaelic not Pictish. Also you Anglo-Scots know that your ancestors sold Scotland to England, but you can't accept it.. Sorry, but your whole so called Scottish culture is based on cultural appropriation of Gaelic culture. check mate
@@Jubilo1 You are correct . I just looked it up and retract my first statement . " recently " however is over a century old ! I think the term " Scotch " falls into the historic category .
As a professional Linguist I can say that the boundary between dialect and language is blurry and fraught with no small amount of controversy, esp. when it comes to the subject of cultural identity.
Years ago I studied the Concise Scots Dictionary (1996?), and became enthralled by the rich history of Scots, and recently bought the 2nd expanded edition. I highly recommend it to the curious as well as the serious student.
The joke-not-a-joke among linguists and language enthusiasts is that a language is a dialect with an army. It's really interesting to look at Scots as a language, with its own vocabulary, rules, grammar, culture, and history-not as slang, not as a dialect, but as its own rich and fascinating living thing that deserves care and attention.
About 5 years ago now, the UN declared Scots as an indigenous language and officially diffused the arguments that it is a dialect. They have all of their argumentation available to the public. Scots is an official language. It started as a cant for international trade and then during the great vowel migration the speakers isolated from other English speakers. It does have elements of the various trade partners within its diction.
Speculation: The attitude that drives people to ridicule someone for speaking their indigenous language in Scotland is the same as the attitude that lead to forced separation of indigenous children and residential schools across North America. Kudos to those who are fighting to reconnect with, revive, and progress their cultural identity while it’s still possible.
My ancestry is Lithuanian. In the 1920s, my father was ridiculed for speaking Lithuanian in school. He never spoke it again. I've spent my life trying to re-acquire the heritage that is just as great (Lithuania was once an empire) as the English/French/Dutch bloodlines that also course through my veins. Once lost, a heritage is difficult to regain. Don't let that happen to yours! A dialect is NOT anathema.
When I was growing up, my grandmother, who grew up in Ayrshire in the 1890's, lived with us, and spoke English, basically, but with a lot of Scots thrown in. Recently I took a class in early English literature, where we were expected to read, for instance, Chaucer in the original. I was amazed at how much easier I found it because of my exposure to Scots as a child.
I'm no expert, but it sounds like people who call Scots a dialect are misusing or misunderstanding what a dialect is. It's like calling French a Spanish dialect or vice versa. They're two distinct languages with a Latin base, similar yet distinct enough to be their own language.
I’m from Sweden but i lived in Auld Reekie for a year and i loved the Scottish English and Scots so much so that i have adopted it to be my Second language instead of Queen’s English.
I think for me as a Swede, Scottish is it’s own language because even if Swedes can understand Norwegian (it’s not far off) and Danish for example they are still their separate languages. So is Scots or Scottish English appart from Queen’s English.
We wouldn’t call Norwegian ”Nowegian Swedish” for example. That’s just loonie tae me.
I have followed Shaun for quite a while and love to hear him speak. I look for opportunities to hear the Scots language used. The BBC series Chewin' the Fat will often challenge any non Scottish listener!
Chewing the fat is superb but I’d argue it’s Glaswegian Scots. There’s differences from that to say how it would’ve sounded had it been filmed in Edinburgh or up north in Aberdeen where Doric would’ve been used over Scots. If u watch the spin off Still Game with the Jack and Victor the Glaswegian is more apparent.
The online movement of Scots speakers is good fun. A similar thing is how Swiss German speakers like to write and sing in their dialect. (Swiss German can be very hard for people from faraway parts of Germany to understand.) I hope that there will be a genre of Scots rock to correspond to existing Swiss-German rock.
Get Shaun on a call with one of his mates and let us hear them talk to each on the video. Please, it would be so great!
If you know where I can learn Scots online, please let me know. I'd love to learn it.
Being from argyll colony, at one time the most populated area of highland scots, it was spoken here until the late 1800’s and I hope to see it come back
You probably meant Gaelic, right?
@@Motofanable yes thats what I mean
So my understanding is that Scots is a Germanic language descendent from Anglo Saxon, like English. While it is very closely related to English, it evolved separately from English since the early Middle Ages. The closest analogy is Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. They are somewhat mutually ininteligible, but they are different languages. It’s not a slang version of English.
Last trip to Scotland I was sitting in the Kyle Hotel Bar in Kyle Lochalsh talking to two locals. Having been to Scotland many times I can "bend my ear" with many accents However.... one of the men, after a few drinks dropped his "english" and what could have been Russian/Greek/German/??? left me dizzy! They saw my confusion and just laughed.
I just don't understand why someone would demonize a language. I'd love to learn these Gaelic languages. For me it's part of my heritage and family history.
Scots is a Germanic language
How would it be viewed if a Scots-descended American wanted to learn Scots to participate in the preservation of the language? I am an anthropologist and an American of Scots descent - so my curiosity and interest come two-fold.
Emerge yourself in those from Isle of Skye!😊
A great endeavor!Do it
Im Scottish, and I think it would be viewed really positively in Scotland. Though Im not sure where you would find about it outside of Scotland. There a some online sites dedicated to it. But to be honest its quite hard to find places that teach it, even in Scotland. It just one of those things, that people in Scotland are expected to learn from their parents or their environment. Not a lot of emphasis is placed on it at school. Infact children are taught to learn British Standard English at school, so that they can communicate easily with the rest of the UK and the world. As Sean says in the video, so that can get ahead in life.
Absolutely do it. I learned Polish as an adult in immersion. And now I'm learning Silesian as an adult. Similar dynamic as English and Broad Scots.
I highly recommend the gruffolo in dundonian! It’s also available in Scot’s and Doric buy the three! The Broons are also a good starting point.
A culture dies with its language.
is there a webpage or app or something to learn scots? im having a hard time finding a source to learn from. i want to learn. im here in the US
Forget the Scots language i would say preserve and save the Gaelic language in what truly makes Scotland the definition of what makes a person Scottish and their outlook of life ect. That's my personal opinion as a non-Scotsman
I think Rocky has the wrong question he's asking. Even the title of the video is wrong. Scots isn't a dialect because it didn't evolve out of English. English and Scots both evolved at the same time from earlier languages. Then, historic events occurred that brought England and Scotland closer together, and English took over and continued evolving. Scots in a large part didn't progress much further in its evolution as a language and stayed closer to the earlier languages where both English and Scots had their roots.
Scots and English have the same lower Germanic origin. When English went through the great vowel shift around 1400 Scots and English split. English also incorporated a lot of foreign loan words while Scots did not
The split was earlier than the GVS.
What is the tartan you see from the angle shot of Shawn?
It looks like Clan Paterson
Love your video and agree with everything you said. I’m 73 and still feel sad that I was told to speak English and that was in 1965. I love rabbie burns and the Scot’s language looking back it seems like just another way to dominate a smaller nation through ridicule. ❤️👍 ps. The Scottish middle class are part of the problem with their snobbery.
I was hoping to learn Scotts on Duolingo, but they only had Gaelic, so I'm leading that. It's kicking my butt.
Well as I've heard it said before the difference between a dialect and a language is that a language has an Army 🪖, so since Scotland is part of the UK and not on its own it's a dialect and not a language by that standard.
💪🏴
+USAKiltsOfficial *Broad Scots is a descendant language of Medieval English with Gaelic loanwords, last used often in the Norman Lowlands and the Borders (GBR).*
Scots and English are exactly the same age, historically. Both replaced Latin, French, Gaelic etc. The only difference is in England they took to English nationwide, whereas in Scotland it slowly moved north to south.
A lot of people in Scotland speak with a Scottish accent, obviously. This is called Scottish Standard English, and its used constantly in Scotland. This is the way Sean speaks in the video. These days, speaking real old Scots, the actual language, and not just a few Scots words or phrases, is quite getting quite rare. A lot of Scots understand more Scots, than they speak it. Broad or proper old Scots, would be hard for an English speaker, who is not from Scotland to understand. Then you have Gaelic. This is another completely different language that is from another language family altogether. Less than 1% of people in Scotland can speak it fluently these days.
In Scotland there’s Scots, Doric, Gaelic and English all recognised and all of which can be used for instance by SMPs and MPs when swearing into parliament Gaelic is taught in schools and books are published in Scots and Doric. It’s not unusual to find books printed in Dundonian and Glaswegian languages either. U can’t explain a Scottish accent without explaining where the person comes from up north u hear more Doric, Glasgow and Dundee people have their own languages Glaswegian and Dundonian respectively my local area has its own accent with is very geographical specific. Like many Scots if u move and travel around u pick up words and language and retain them and as we are a multicultural and diverse society we thrive on having accents from Chinese and Indian speakers so as a Scot I wouldn’t try and describe what we sound like.
@@laurameakin ? Yes I know all of that. I live in Scotland. Glaswegian and Dundonian arent languages, they are dialects. Im not sure what your point is?
Not true, Robert Burns could and did write in Scots & English, sometimes in the same poem. Check Tam O’Shanter, for example.
Let Scots be Scots, and the Cornish be Cornish ! Dydh Da : )
Both are Celts
I'd say that most working class people like myself, in a standard convo, speak 60% English and 40% scots, usually in the same sentences 😂😂
Never happened in my school, must depend on where you come from I suppose
Yeah, I kin what you mean. My fiance is Scottish and I've spent a lot of time there. You want tae read a scots book? Try the book version of Trainspotting. It IS a language. And Dorich is tough man. I'm also learning Ghàidhlig right now. Almost no one down where I stay when I'm there is a speaker. But, it like there's Business Scottish and then Scottish. You'll know which you're hearing when you hear it. One is doing to call you a dobber, the other won't you anything to your face. Think someone like Nicola Sturgeon. You won't hear her speaking scots. You won't hear her, but that doesn't mean she won't speak it. Try finding someone in Glasga to teach you what a Glasga kiss is. I don't have a problem with it all because I hear it all the time. What's wrong with embracing your language?
Look to Ireland. They brought back Irish Gaelic. It’s not spoken widely except in the west of Ireland (Gaeltacht) and in government. Scots will have to decide if the Irish were successful and if Scots should emulate them! Erin go Bragh!
All languages and histories should be preserved. I use lots of southern English at times. "Proper" speech has it's place. But so do other forms of language.
It's like Spanglish. It is a combination of Scots language and English. The root is the "ish" means sort of or not exactly. So, to me, Scottish is not exactly Scots or English, but a combination. Imo, Gaelic is the one true Language for Scots.
@@cecircinn2908 Only area where gaelic was never spoken was Shetland but even that is arguable. Also Pictish was already long time gone when Scots spread into northeast.
@@cecircinn2908 Orkney was Gaelic speaking area, there are ogham monuments.
It’s true that Gaelic is not one true language of Scotland, but is far more important for Scottish Identity than Scots ever was, especially because its speaker could not decide if they are Scottish or just Northern English. Little advice, stop calling "Scots language" Scots and find another name for it because if you don’t ,the Neo-gaels are going to wipe your ass, figuratively speaking of course.
@@cecircinn2908 Buckquoy spindle-whorl is Old Gaelic not Pictish. Also you Anglo-Scots know that your ancestors sold Scotland to England, but you can't accept it..
Sorry, but your whole so called Scottish culture is based on cultural appropriation of Gaelic culture. check mate
@@cecircinn2908 Jesus, you really are brainwashed by Scottish national myth, I cannot blame you.
Use an be proud of your language, the American indians were punished for using their language
Scotch accent is interesting but meanwhile a billion Chinese speak English.
Scotch ? It should be Scots . Scotch is a drink .
It's Scots and it's a language
@@rickmoore3730 Until just recently, all refrence to Scots folk in literature , media, etc. called them Scotch.
@@Jubilo1 You are correct . I just looked it up and retract my first statement . " recently " however is over a century old ! I think the term " Scotch " falls into the historic category .
@@rickmoore3730 What good fellow your are ! As a Victorian wannabe, I say "Scotch."
Cringey.
The scottish language is gaelic, godelic. Muntir Alba 🏴