Re: Grammar

["Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>]

Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>

I tried to send this earlier today, but it doesn't seem to have gotten 
through, so I'm trying again.  Apologies if it turns out to be a 
duplicate ...

Writes Master Malcolm in response to Eogan

> When one refers to the Scots language, usually what is meant
> is the language of Edinborough and the Mid-Lothian lowlands. This
> is the language of Bobby Burns and it is an English dialect or
> language. The language of the westen highland is called Gailic,
> or by hostile lowlanders, Irish. 

I was going to stay out of this whole thread (I have a dissertation to
write!) but I think I can inject a little history and maybe even clarity
here. 

Scots, Lallans, and Doric are all names given to the dialect of English
spoken in Scotland.  It is specifically a northeastern Scottish dialect. 
This Lowlands/Highlands business is all right, but not clear, in part
because even now we hang on to the idea of a north/south division of
Scotland, when the realities of geography make it more an east/west line. 
This north/south business got started in the Middle Ages, when a bad
mapmaker made it look as though Scotland was oriented at a right angle to
the rest of the island of Great Britain - i.e. it was turned sideways so
the Pentland peninsula was pointed nearly due east instead of
north/northeast as it really does.  In reality, from here in St Andrews
(Fife, Lowlands) I can head close to straight west and end up in Perth,
which is "highland" territory, or I can go north and eventually land
myself in Aberdeen, which is Northeastern "lowland" territory and where
the native speech is an absolutely impenetrable form of Lallans.  I can
also head south to Edinburgh and the Lothians, and even further to the
Borders and still hear a Lowland speech.  In fact, the northeastern
seacoast of Scotland is really the heartland of the Doric dialect, and
folk here are extremely proud of it.  But the moment I head west out of
Fife, even now, the language starts to change.  Instead of the genuine
*dialect* of English spoken here in the east, I start to hear an *accent*
on English.  Why?  Because I am moving into what was once the
Gaelic-speaking portion of the realm, and where English was introduced as
an established language, supplanting the existing tongue , and not
developed out of odd bits of Saxon, French, Flemish, Norse and Gaelic as
it was in the east (and in England). 

Going back to my thesis,
Alianora
who has a B.A. in English, an M.A. in Medieval and Byzantine Studies
(specialization in vernacular languages and literatures), is currently
working on a PhD in medieval Scottish history by editing a text in Middle
Scots, and is partial to maps. 

*****************************************************************************
Stephanie M. Thorson			|  SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
Dept. of Scottish History		|  Clan White Wing
University of St Andrews		|  Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion


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