1. Languages & Literature - by Liz Niven, 11 Sept 06
Scotland
Languages & Literature - by Liz Niven, 11 Sept 06
Samuel Johnson said, 'I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.'

2. About me Educated at educated Glasgow University
STRAVAIGIN
Like fitprints in peat bog, we've left wir mark.
Even the moon cairries the stamp o a Borders man. Strang arms reach roon the globe sing Auld Lang Syne, an the warld wears a kilt. Nane the waur forrit.
A warp an weft o trevellers. Wha's like us? Fit prints like?
Educated at educated Glasgow University
With a strong interest in Scots language in education
a poet, having published work in most major Scottish magazines, as well as four solo collections

3. Scotland speaks Scots, Gaelic & English as well as many non-indigenous languages.
Around 50,000 people speak Gaelic
Between 1.5 & 3million speak a form of Scots

4. Gaelic is a Celtic Language
Scots is a Germanic language from the same roots as English: Scots has been influenced by: Norse, Dutch, French, Latin

5. What is Scots?
Scots is an Indo-European language descended from a northern form of Anglo-Saxon.
By the seventh century AD, this Germanic branch of the language had reached the south-east of what is now Scotland and by the eleventh century AD was firmly established across central and southern Scotland.
In addition to such Anglo-Saxon vocabulary as bairns, thrawn, bide and byre, strong Scandinavian, French and Dutch influences can still be heard in words such as lass, lug, lowse, braw, douce, fash, scone and redd respectively. Latin remains in, for example, janitor and dux; Irish and Scots Gaelic have provided further lexical items such as bens, glens and straths. Thus, as with the English language, contact with other countries and the legacy of loan words from several nations have contributed to the formation of the Scots language.

6. standard, accepted, on equal terms, with other European languages.
Standard Scots
Much written Scots was produced in the late fourteenth-century court of James IV by the King's commissioned poets and dramatists, and by the early sixteenth century Scots was developing as an all-purpose national language. This was the nearest point at which Scots came to adopting a written
standard, accepted, on equal terms, with other European languages.

7. Difficult times for the Scots Language
1560 Geneva Bible translated into English
1603 Union of the Crowns
1707 Union of the Parliaments
Kirk, Crown, Court.

8. Dialect Map of Scotland

9. The Dropout by Tom Leonard
Scrimpt nscript furryi
urryi grateful
No wan bit
speylt useless yi urr
twistid izza coarkscrew
cawz rowz inan empty hoose
yir faithir nivirid yoor chance
pick n choozyir joab
a steady pey
well jist take a lookit yirsell
naithur wurk nur wahnt
aw aye
yir clivir
damn clivir
but yi huvny a clue whut yir dayn

10. this is me – nae money nae teeth nae nothing   it aw slips away like a drunk dream – ach!   Wid ye lookit The state ae it – Me in ma new jaiket!   Alan Spence in Glasgow Zen

11. Hairst (Shetlandic) Da day is doo-grey an still; hit’s lik
a sowl. Da bonxie’s class
is waek as haands.
Da hairst laeves faa
an deepen ta mold.
Makkin up is near.
From the original Finland-Swedish of Gosta Agren, through an English translation by David McDuff into Shetlandic by Christine De Luca

12. The Bonnie Broukit Bairn
Mars is braw in crammasy
Venus in a green silk goun,
The auld mune shaks her gowden feathers,
Their starry talk’s a wheen o blethers,
Nane for thee a thochtie sparin,
Earth, thou bonnie broukit bairn.
- But greet, an in your tears ye’ll droun
The haill clanjamfrie!
By Hugh MacDiarmid

13. The Scots/Scottish English Continuum
For many Scots people, their language is a mixture of English and Scots. Sometimes they use Scots words or grammatical forms or both. Some people speak a very broad Scots

14. Away for the messages Comfy? Come oan, get aff! Aye right!
Sometimes confusion!
Away for the messages
Comfy?
Come oan, get aff!
Aye right!

17. writer's choice of spelling
Phonology:
pronounciation 
Orthography:
writer's choice of spelling

18. Vocabulary specific word choice
contemporary , archaic, Lallans
anent, forbye, outwith,
Overt
Covert: messages, pinkie, where do you stay?

19. Grammar verb forms, negative verb endings: cannae, disnae, shoudlnae
strong use of definite articles & pronouns: my cooker, the flu, my bed
preposition ending sentences (but)
plurals (three year)
singular verb with plural noun (thae apples wis mingin) discourse markers- an that, so he did, ye know, ken mair nor , ower much

20. Idioms Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye. That’ll pit yer gas at a peep.
Lang may yer lum reek

21. European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages

22. Education

23. Scottish Writers:writing in broader Scots
(deceased) Bruce, Fergusson, Dunbar, Burns, MacDiarmid,
(contemporary)Sheena Blackhall, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Kathleen Jamie, Janet Paisley, Liz Niven, Don Paterson, James Robertson, Matthew Fitt, Christine De Luca, Edwin Morgan, Anne Donovan, Suyhal Saadi, Alan Bissett, Des Dillon

24. Scottish Writers in English & Scottish English
Alan Spence, Alastair Reid, Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh, Andrew O Hagan, Andrew Greig, Anne MacLeod, Margaret Elphinstone, Ron Butlin, Alexander McCall Smith, A.L.Kennedy, John Burnside, Carol Ann Duffy, Janice Galloway

25. Recommended authors and readings
Jamie, Kathleen Poet Publications: Jizzen (Picador, 1999)The Queen of Sheba(Bloodaxe, 1995) Findings
Don Paterson, writer, musician, poetry editor Nil Nil (Faber & Faber, 1993) God's Gift to Women (Faber & Faber ) , 1997) The Eyes (Faber & Faber, 1999) 101 Sonnets (Faber & Faber, 1999) Landing Light
Alan Spence, Glasgow-born novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer Its Colours they are fine(Phoenix, 1977)The Magic Flute(Phoenix, 1990)Sailmaker(Hodder, 1984)Stone Garden(Phoenix, 1995)Way to go(Phoenix, 1998)Seasons of the Heart(Canongate, 2000)Glasgow Zen
James Robertson, bookseller for seven years, Has published two books of short stories, two poetry collections, one novel and various other works. Joseph Knight (Fourth Estate, 2003)The Fanatic (Fourth Estate, 2000) The Ragged Man's Complaint (B&W Publishing, 1993) Sound-Shadow (B&W Publishing, 1995)

26. Continued..
Louise Welsh: internationally award winning The Cutting Room sold into eighteen languages. Publications The Cutting Room (Canongate Books, 2002)Tamburlaine Must Die (Canongate Books, 2004) The Bullet Trick (2006)
Ron Butlin: has won several Scottish Arts Council Book Awards and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and been translated into over ten languages. Most recently the French translation of his novel The Sound of My Voice was awarded the Prix MillePages 2004 and Prix Lucioles 2005
Anne Donovan Publications Buddha Da (Canongate, 2003) Hieroglyphics and Other Stories (Canongate, 2001, 2004)
Andrew Greig: A full-time writer of novels and poetry. Publications: The Order of the Day(Bloodaxe, 1990)Western Swing(Bloodaxe, 1995)Electric Brae(Canongate, 1996)The Return of John MacNab(Hodder Headline, 1996)When They Lay Bare(Faber and Faber, 1999)That Summer(Faber and Faber, 2000)This Light, This Light (2006)Preferred Lies (2006)

27. Resources for Scottish Writing
Association of Scottish Literary Studies, Glasgow University
Scots Language Resource Centre,
Scottish Book Trust,
Scottish Poetry Library,
STELLA & STARN at Glasgow University
Corbett, John (1997) Language and Scottish Literature, EU P
Kay, Billy Scots the Mither Tongue, Alloway Publishing
McClure, J.Derrick Why Scots Matters, Edinburgh: Saltire Society
Niven, L.The Scots Language in Education in Scotland, Netherlands: Mercator-Education:European Network for Regional or Minority Languages and Education
Niven, L & Jackson, R (eds.)(1998) Scots Language its Place in Education, Watergaw