Scots (Scots Leid / Lallans)

Scots is a West Germanic language is spoken by about 1.5 million people in Scotland, and also Northern Ireland, where it is known as Ulster Scots or Ullans. Scots is descended from the language of the Angles who settled in northern Britain, in an area now known as Northumbria and southern Scotland, in the 5th century AD. The language was originally known as 'Inglis' and has been influenced by Gaelic, Norse, Latin, Dutch, Norman French, Standard French and English.

Scots at a glance Native names : Scots Leid / Lallans [skɔts leid; lo̜ːlən(d)z/ˈlɑːlənz;]

: Scots Leid / Lallans [skɔts leid; lo̜ːlən(d)z/ˈlɑːlənz;] Linguistic affliation : Indo-European, Germanic, West Germanic, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic, Scots

: Indo-European, Germanic, West Germanic, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic, Scots Number of speakers : c. 1.5 million

: c. 1.5 million Spoken in : Scotland and Northern Ireland

: Scotland and Northern Ireland First written : 11th century

: 11th century Writing system : Latin alphabets

: Latin alphabets Status: classified as a "traditional language" by the Scottish Government, and as a "regional or minorty language" under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

By the 14th century Scots was the main language of Scotland and was used in literature, education, government and in legal documents. This was the period when Scots literature began to take off and notable literary works include Barbour's Brus, Whyntoun's Kronykil and Blin Harry's Wallace.

From the 16th century English gradually began to replace Scots as the main written language in Scotland, although most people continued to speak Scots. After James VI of Scotland became James I of the United Kingdom in 1603, he stopped supporting Scots writers, and English became the language of government and polite society in Scotland.

Since the 1990s there has been limited use of Scots in education, the media and in literature. In 1983 a Scots translation of the New Testament was published and 1985 the saw the publication of the SNDA's Concise Scots Dictionary.

Scots is also known as braid Scots, Doric, Scotch or Lallans. Some people classify it as a dialect of English, and while it is closely related to English dialects spoken in Northumbria, it has had it's own literary tradition since the 14th century.

The UK government accepts Scots as a regional language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the Scottish Executive recognises and respects Scots (in all its forms) as a distinct language, and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English.

Scots alphabet

Notes

The last letter, usually referred to as yogh, still appears in Scots personal and place names, though is usually written Z z. This has lead to the spelling-based pronunciations of names like Menzies [ mɛnziz ] - should be [ mɪŋʌs ], Dalziel [ dɪjəɫ ] and Monzie [ mɔne ]

] - should be [ ], Dalziel [ ] and Monzie [ ] The names of the letters and these notes come from Chris Robinson of Scottish Language Dictionaries.

There is considerable variation in the way Scots is written and pronounced throughout Scotland and there is no standard spelling system. See: www.scots-online.org for more information.

Scots pronunciation

Notes

t can become a glottal stop [ʔ] between vowels or word finally

In northern dialects kn can be pronounced [kn] or [tn] and gn as[gn]

wh is pronounced [ʍ], or [xʍ] by older speakers. In northern dialects, such as in Aberdeen, it can be pronounced [f]

wr can be pronounced [vr] in northern dialects

Sample text in Scots

The Scots Leid Associe wis foondit in 1972 an ettles tae fordle Scots in leeteratur, drama, the media, eddication an in ilka day uiss. Akis Scots wis ance the state langage o Scotland, it's a vailid pairt o wir heirskip an the associe taks tent tae the fact that it shoud can tak its steid as a langage o Scotland, alang wi Gaelic an Inglis.

Translation

The Scots Language Society was founded in 1972 and exists to promote Scots in literature, drama, the media, education and in every day usage. Since Scots was once the state language of Scotland, it is a valid part of our heritage and the society recognises that it should be able to take its place as a language of Scotland, along with Gaelic and English.

Another sample text in Scots

Aa bodie sauls ar born free and scleff in mense an richts. Thai ar dotit wi wit and stickles and suid ack thither ane anither in a spírit o britherheid.

Text provided by Luke Swan

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Videos in and about Scots

If you find this difficult to understand, I have translated into English.

Information about Scots | Phrases | Numbers | Time | Family words | Learning materials

Links

Information about Scots

http://www.scots-online.org

http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/scots-info.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Scots

https://sites.google.com/site/scotsthreip/

http://mindyerlanguage.scot

Scots phrases

http://www.linguanaut.com/english_scots.htm

http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/goamins.htm

Scots Dictionaries

http://www.dsl.ac.uk

http://www.scots-online.org/dictionary/

Articles in Scots

http://www.thenational.scot/author/rab_wilson

Scotstext - a collection of poetry and other writing in Scots

http://www.scotstext.org

The Scots Language Centre

http://www.scotslanguage.com

The Scots Leid Associe / The Scots Language Society

http://www.lallans.co.uk

Scots Education Resources

http://www.scotseducation.co.uk

Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech

http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk

Scottish Language Dictionaries

http://www.sldl.org.uk

Itchy Coo - Braw Books for Bairns o Aw Ages

http://www.itchy-coo.com

Germanic languages

Afrikaans, Alsatian, Bavarian, Cimbrian, Danish, Dutch, Elfdalian, English, Faroese, Flemish, Frisian (North), Frisian (Saterland), Frisian (West), German, Gothic, Gottscheerish, Hunsrik, Icelandic, Limburgish, Low German, Luxembourgish, Mòcheno, Norn, Norwegian, Old English, Old Norse, Pennsylvania German, Ripuarian, Scots, Shetland(ic), Stellingwarfs, Swedish, Swiss German, Värmlandic, Wymysorys, Yiddish, Zeelandic

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Why not share this page:

report this ad

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com , Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.