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I'm not a linguist, but Scots sounds less like a language than a creole (a mix of languages which span essential terms), or even a pidgin dialect (an incomplete

I'm not a linguist, but Scots sounds less like a language than a creole (a mix of languages which span essential terms), or even a pidgin dialect (an incomplete mix, requiring phrases or a third language to replace missing concepts). The article doesn't say explicitly, but I imagine Scots varies geographically, with the mix reflecting contribution from local tongues (English, Gaelic, French, Pict, etc).

Marazan 8y ago
Yes, there isn't (in my view) such a thing as a singular 'Scots'. The 'Scots language' is effectively a 20th century invention by early century poets like Hugh MacDiarmid. They created a pan-Scottish 'Literary Scots' combining language and grammar from across the country. It's beautiful literary work but it is an artifice, not a reflection of a language actually spoken. The language of the Scottish Borders is a very different thing from the language of the Highlands from the language of a Dundonian.
- raesene9 8y ago
  +1 From my experience you're absolutely correct. This idea that Glasgwegians speak the same "language" as Dundonians or Aberdonians or (heaven help us) Edinbuggers, is just weird. We don't. There's lots of local accents and phrases and words, but not some "scots language" that we start speaking when foreigners aren't around :)
  - GordonS 8y ago
    Aberdonian here. Yep, doric is very different from dialects elsewhere. I married a girl from Edinburgh, and after more than 10 years we're still discovering new words from each others areas!
falsedan 8y ago
The “native” inhabitants of Scotland spoke Brythonic and Pictish (both Celtish languages); since then, the Gaels (who were also Celts), Romans, Norse, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans arrived from various directions and displaced them utterly. Scots arose from Old English and diverged from Middle English a scant few hundred years ago, when travel and the printing press made it easy for new terms to disseminate and usage to remain reasonable homogenous. There are some touches of these previous languages present in some dialects, like Shetland and Orkney using peedie/peerie (derived from Norn) where standard Scots uses wee.
rntz 8y ago
I think it's fair to debate whether the difference between Scots and English is between two languages or two dialects, but Scots is definitely neither a pidgin nor a creole. Pidgins are highly simplified proto-languages that emerge to smooth communication between people with no languages in common. Scots is not highly simplified - it's about as complex as English; they share most but not all of their grammar. Creoles are full languages which arise _suddenly_, generally within a few generations, from a mixture of two or more parent languages. Pidgins often develop into creoles when children grow up speaking them. Scots and English certainly bear influences from many language families, but these influences occurred over many centuries, not a few generations. Scots does vary geographically, having dialects of its own (just like English), but this isn't unusual.
dboreham 8y ago
Except it's as old as English, so by that definition English may as well be pidgin Scots.

Marazan 8y ago

Yes, there isn't (in my view) such a thing as a singular 'Scots'. The 'Scots language' is effectively a 20th century invention by early century poets like Hugh MacDiarmid. They created a pan-Scottish 'Literary Scots' combining language and grammar from across the country. It's beautiful literary work but it is an artifice, not a reflection of a language actually spoken. The language of the Scottish Borders is a very different thing from the language of the Highlands from the language of a Dundonian.

raesene9 8y ago
+1 From my experience you're absolutely correct. This idea that Glasgwegians speak the same "language" as Dundonians or Aberdonians or (heaven help us) Edinbuggers, is just weird. We don't. There's lots of local accents and phrases and words, but not some "scots language" that we start speaking when foreigners aren't around :)
- GordonS 8y ago
  Aberdonian here. Yep, doric is very different from dialects elsewhere. I married a girl from Edinburgh, and after more than 10 years we're still discovering new words from each others areas!

falsedan 8y ago

The “native” inhabitants of Scotland spoke Brythonic and Pictish (both Celtish languages); since then, the Gaels (who were also Celts), Romans, Norse, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans arrived from various directions and displaced them utterly. Scots arose from Old English and diverged from Middle English a scant few hundred years ago, when travel and the printing press made it easy for new terms to disseminate and usage to remain reasonable homogenous. There are some touches of these previous languages present in some dialects, like Shetland and Orkney using peedie/peerie (derived from Norn) where standard Scots uses wee.

rntz 8y ago

I think it's fair to debate whether the difference between Scots and English is between two languages or two dialects, but Scots is definitely neither a pidgin nor a creole. Pidgins are highly simplified proto-languages that emerge to smooth communication between people with no languages in common. Scots is not highly simplified - it's about as complex as English; they share most but not all of their grammar. Creoles are full languages which arise _suddenly_, generally within a few generations, from a mixture of two or more parent languages. Pidgins often develop into creoles when children grow up speaking them. Scots and English certainly bear influences from many language families, but these influences occurred over many centuries, not a few generations. Scots does vary geographically, having dialects of its own (just like English), but this isn't unusual.

dboreham 8y ago

Except it's as old as English, so by that definition English may as well be pidgin Scots.