AMONG the publications that the Scottish Book Trust, a charity funded in part by the Scottish government, sent to bairns last year was “Katie’s Moose: A Keek-a-boo Book for Wee Folk.” In this tale, Katie hunts for a menagerie of beasties, locating a pig “ahint the chair, daein a jig” and a “broon bear” whose “airm looks gey sair.” The Scots language, long derided as bad English with a thick accent or merely a northern dialect, now enjoys the backing of the state.

In 2011 the Scottish census asked for the first time whether people spoke Scots. Some 1.5m said yes. The true number may be higher, reckons Christine Robinson of the Scottish Language Dictionaries, a research centre, since not all Scots speakers describe themselves as such. Defining it is tricky. A study by the Scottish government in 2010 found that 64% of adults did not think of Scots as a language, “more just a way of speaking.”

Boosters point out that Scots has been officially recognised since the British government ratified the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages in 2001. And Scots has its own distinct history, grammar and lexicon. But it is not standardised: Ulster Scots, spoken in Northern Ireland, is among the varieties. As part of a project to translate “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” into as many languages as possible, eight versions are being produced in Scots.

Speakers of Scottish Gaelic, who number just 58,000, have received more attention: money has been lavished on radio stations, schools and bilingual road signs. But politicians in the devolved Scottish Parliament are now encouraging Scots too. The government is setting up a network of Scots co-ordinators to help teachers. Children are no longer scolded for using Scots at school, according to Michael Hance of the Scots Language Centre. “Studying Scotland”, a new online education resource, will “ettle tae place Scots on an equal fittin wi the ither Scottish elements o the curriculum”. The first “Scots Toun” prize will soon be awarded to the place judged to have encouraged Scots most vigorously.

All this sits a little oddly with modern Scottish nationalism, which is civic and inclusive rather than cultural and ethnic. Those who want independence for Scotland tend to argue that the country would be richer alone, not purer. But James Robertson of Itchy Coo, which publishes “Katie’s Moose” and 44 other Scots children’s books, argues that the renewed interest in Scottish culture, literature and language has pushed the politics of independence, not the other way round. If nothing else, a Scots revival would be something to fall back on if, as still seems likely, the independence vote this September is lost.