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The dialect of North-East Scotland, one of the most distinctive and best preserved in the country, survives as both a proudly maintained mark of local identity and the vehicle for a remarkable regional literature. The present study, after placing the dialect in its historical, geographical and social context, discusses in some detail a selection of previous accounts of its distinctive characteristics of phonology and grammar, showing that its shibboleths have been well recognised, and have remained consistent, over a long period. Passages of recorded speech are then examined, with extensive use of phonetic transcription. Finally, a representative selection of written texts, dating from the eighteenth century to the present and illustrating a wide variety of styles and genres, are presented with detailed annotations. A full glossary is also included. This study clearly demonstrates both the individuality of the dialect and the richness of the local culture of which it is an integral part.
This study of the Scots language demonstrates how Scots still lives today as a distinctive medium of communication among European languages, and puts it into perspective as one of the great vehicles of literary tradition.
Among the topics treated in this collection are the status of Scots as a national language; the orthography of Scots; the actual and potential degree of standardisation of Scots; the debt of the vocabulary of Scots to Gaelic; the use of Scots in fictional dialogue; and the development of Scots as a poetic medium in the modern period. All fourteen articles, written and published between 1979 and 1988, have been extensively revised and updated. J. Derrick McClure is a senior lecturer in the English Department at Aberdeen University and a well-known authority on the history of Scots.
Among the topics treated in this collection are the status of Scots as a national language; the orthography of Scots; the actual and potential degree of standardisation of Scots; the debt of the vocabulary of Scots to Gaelic; the use of Scots in fictional dialogue; and the development of Scots as a poetic medium in the modern period. All fourteen articles, written and published between 1979 and 1988, have been extensively revised and updated. J. Derrick McClure is a senior lecturer in the English Department at Aberdeen University and a well-known authority on the history of Scots.
This is a comprehensive introduction to the study of older and present-day Scots language.
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This collection comprises 15 essays ranging from the social history of and attitudes towards Scots to the representation of Scottishness in literary language and to modern sociolinguistic work. The uniqueness of the historical and present-day linguistic situation in Scotland makes the volume of particular concern not only to Scotophiles, but also to linguists interested in bidialectalism, language planning, literary dialect, urban surveys, and language and education. The authors include linguistist Scotland, England, the United States, Scandinavia and Germany.
From medieval times to the major electronic projects of the 21st century, this book offers a unique account of Scottish and Gaelic dictionaries and glossaries while also spotlighting the Scottish contribution to English lexicography. Demonstrating the ways in which poets and scholars throughout the ages have approached the task of describing their languages, this fascinating history also discusses the influence their work had on popular notions regarding language.
The twentieth-century Scottish Renaissance saw a sudden and dramatic change in Scotland's literary landscape. Beginning in the 1920s, Scottish writers increasingly engaged with contemporary social and political issues, and with questions of national identity. An integral part of this development was the radically new literary status accorded to the Scots language. MacDiarmid's immediate predecessors had introduced modern themes and linguistic experimentation to Scots poetry; and though MacDiarmid is the unquestioned central figure in the great poetic revival, he rode a rising tide. He and the poets who paved the way for him represent the first wave of the Scottish Renaissance. The second wave contains the extraordinary company of poets who wrote under his direct inspiration. On any showing, the scale and quality of this movement is a phenomenon rarely paralleled in literary history. A Kist o Skinklan Things contains a selection of the best work from this great period.
Presenting Scots as a separate language in its own right, and conscious of its long history, the author of this guide to grammatical and idiomatic usage resists the notion that Scots is merely a dialect or defective version of English. He provides working examples in the hope that writers, teachers and speakers will gather confidence and bring the language into serious use for the people of Scotland in the 21st century.