Should Scots Be A Dead Language In The 21st Century?
Isn’t Scots just English with extra steps?
In 2020, you might remember a scandal broke; almost half of the articles on Scots-language Wikipedia had been written by an American teenager.
Not only that, but he was a teenager to whom Scots was not a native language.
People argued this was actually destructive. The editor’s work was shoddy, and an inaccurate reflection of the Scots language. Apparently, this left the wiki as a whole in a bit of a howk.
It was one of the most out-of-left-field news stories to grace my news feed in an incredibly strange year[1]. As far as I’m aware, from a cursory Google, this Wikipedia drama has fizzled out, but the ramifications still echo.
So, what now?
The defence of the kid who poured hours into (mis)translating 45% of the Wiki amounted to : no one else was doing it.
How was he supposed to know it was often inaccurate?
I do agree that there’s a level of earnestness that should be appreciated in what he did. Given that editing Wikipedia is a voluntary role, I think there’s an element of heart-was-in-the-right-place grace to give.
Yet, if you’re really passionate about translating into Scots, there are fantastic resources out there to help. You don’t need to guess.
And – to simply translate a sentence in Standard English into Scots word-by-word is a cardinal sin!
The good thing to come out of this, however, is that it got people talking about Scots again – however briefly.
Scots has some fierce protectors who have really come to the fore in recent years. It’s really brilliant to see more and more people raising the profile for what is one of Scotland’s official languages.[2]
But who even uses the language?
Everyone in Scotland is familiar with Scots to some degree. You either hear it or speak it casually every single day without thinking about it.
Finally, at university I made friends from outside of Scotland. I soon realised that some of my turns-of-phrase weren’t common-place.
It can be an uphill battle to get people to understand that Scots is a language in its own right; also why some people are so protective of it; as evidenced by the Wikipedia scandal.
What about Gaelic?
To understand the importance of Scots, I think it’s important to mention that Scots and Gaelic aren’t the same thing.
Scots is the gaun fer messages, feelin fair scunnert, yer bum’s oot the windae. Whilst my Gaelic is of the Duolingo variety, it’s things like Slàinte, tapadh leat, a charaid.
For someone unfamiliar, it can seem totally incomprehensible – like most foreign languages that use a whole different alphabet and rules.
Scots comes from the same linguistic root as English, unlike Gaelic, which is a Celtic language, from the same root as Irish. (Irish Gaeilge isn’t the same as Scottish Gaelic.)
There’s no denying that Gaelic is a language in its own right. I love that it is preserved and taught. But that’s a different story for another time.
But back to the point.
As Scots comes from the same root as Old English and today’s Standard English, some argue Scots isn’t a language. It’s just an accent, a dialect or slang.
That’s just not true.
Whilst many people use Scots speckled throughout sentences in English, the fact is that many Scots words do not have a direct translation into English. More importantly, it has its own distinct syntax and rules.
There’re variations and no ‘official’ written version, but it is a complete language.
So why is it important? Why should we still maintain it in 2021? Isn’t it obsolete?
I argue to answer this question you need to look back over Scottish history. Popular media loves to reduce Scotland to a romantic Jacobite Scotland vs England. Always, noble savages north of the border are invariably tortured by dastardly English.
There’s absolute merit to this; check out the long and chequered history of the British Isles.
But let’s not ignore that some of the figures at the forefront of the Enlightenment were Scots.
Educated thinkers such as Adam Smith, father of the production line, David Hume, a pre-eminent philosopher . . .
How about the man who wrote the lyrics to British favourite Rule, Britannia? Yes, that patriotic ditty was based on a work byJames Thomson, a Scot.
Why overlook such Scots in favour of rebellious heroes like William Wallace, Rob Roy, and so on? For our literary heroes, we get Rabbie Burns and Walter Scott, who were unabashedly Scottish in their approaches.
But that’s just it. The earlier figures were not unabashedly Scottish.
When Scotland and England signed the 1707 Act of Union, London opened up to a whole new audience of people.
Given that London was a social and economic centre, Scots flocked there in droves.
However, they quickly found they were not always welcome.
Many of this new Anglo-Scots diaspora adopted new Anglicised names, and adjusted their language to fit in with London society.
Anti-Scot propaganda was in full force. Pamphlets scaremongering about the new Union were produced both sides of the border.
Many of this new literary Anglo-Scots diaspora toned down their accents, adopted new Anglicised names, and adjusted their language to fit in with established London society. Anti-Scot propaganda was in full force, and posters and pamphlets scaremongering about this new Union were produced both sides of the border.
That’s before the Jacobite rebellion even began.
The Jacobite cause is more complex than being Scots vs English. What is certainly true is that after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, highlanders were disproportionately victimised by the government
To be overtly Scottish was criminal. The government banned plaids and tartans via Suppression Acts.
Later, Robert Burns and Walter Scott were heralds of a revival of Scottish culture. They delved deep into its bardic history to create works that were undeniably Scottish and remain incredibly influential even today.
So, Scots is important. Much like the dialects scattered across England, it is an assurance of identity, full of history and local character.
But Scots is more than just a dialect.
Scots is the remainder of a now-lost language – Old Scots. If you read a medieval Scottish text beside an Old English one, you’ll see that there’s a large difference.
The Dictionary of the Scots language expresses the academic distinction far more accurately than I can. Simply put – there’re more ‘Scots’ words found that don’t exist in English than any dialect. It has its own verbs, its own syntax – and it has its own literature.
I think the Enlightenment proves my point here best. Intelligent, educated Scots rejected parts of their identity to please a society that deemed it unacceptable.
So, is it worth protecting Scots in 2021?
Nowadays, to use Scots is, to some degree, intrinsically political. It’s part of the decades-long reclamation of an identity belittled and mocked.
The thing is – you don’t have to be Scottish to learn how to read or write in Scots. If we’re arguing that it is in fact a language, then it stands to reason that anyone can learn it.
I don’t think it should be an issue that someone from North Carolina was responsible for writing such a large amount of Wikipedia pages. I do think that you need to really learn how it’s used properly!
The more people from all countries who know and appreciate Scots – the bigger an ‘up-yours’ it is to the old dead dudes who didn’t like it!
[1]Brooks, Libby and Alex Hern, “Shock an aw: US teenager wrote huge slice of Scots Wikipedia”, The Guardian, ), Accessed 01/01/2021
[2] Ferguson, Brian, “Profile of Scots language has prospered in pandemic thanks to social media stars”, The Scotsman, Accessed 01/01/2021
