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It seems to me a little bit contradictory that modern Scots is often not considered a language but rather a dialect, when at the same time it supposedly is so d

It seems to me a little bit contradictory that modern Scots is often not considered a language but rather a dialect, when at the same time it supposedly is so different from English that merely translating the words with English grammar intact does it a great injustice. As far as I can tell, the grammatical differences are very minor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Scots#Grammar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Scots#Grammar Seems more like somebody is upset that no true Scotsman is the chief contributor to Scots Wikipedia. Either the true Scotsmen must be finding that this guy has done an adequate job, or they can blame themselves for not correcting it.

eyeinthepyramid 6y ago
Part of the problem that Scots faces is that there are actually 3 Scottish languages: Scottish Gaelic, Scots, and Scottish English. Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish, Scots is a descendant of Old English, and Scottish English is a dialect of standard British English. People often conflate Scots with Scottish English.
andrewzah 6y ago
What English are you referring to? The variety [0] known as American English? Black American English? New Zealand English? I don't speak Scots, but it looks like it has some notable differences, enough to be considered a dialect, but not enough to be considered a different language outright. Also, the line between a "language" and a "dialect" isn't as clear cut as one might initially think, and it tends to involve politics. I recommend listening to this [2] episode of Lexicon Valley about it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect [2]: https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley/2019/08/john-mcwhorter-on-language-versus-dialect https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley/2019/08/john-mcwho...

eyeinthepyramid 6y ago

Part of the problem that Scots faces is that there are actually 3 Scottish languages: Scottish Gaelic, Scots, and Scottish English. Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish, Scots is a descendant of Old English, and Scottish English is a dialect of standard British English. People often conflate Scots with Scottish English.

andrewzah 6y ago

What English are you referring to? The variety [0] known as American English? Black American English? New Zealand English? I don't speak Scots, but it looks like it has some notable differences, enough to be considered a dialect, but not enough to be considered a different language outright. Also, the line between a "language" and a "dialect" isn't as clear cut as one might initially think, and it tends to involve politics. I recommend listening to this [2] episode of Lexicon Valley about it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect [2]: https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley/2019/08/john-mcwhorter-on-language-versus-dialect https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley/2019/08/john-mcwho...