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I'm a Scot and as a child was brought up, until around ten years old, in rural north east Scotland. The local tongue around those parts was heavily influenced b

I'm a Scot and as a child was brought up, until around ten years old, in rural north east Scotland. The local tongue around those parts was heavily influenced by Doric [0] (this was the 1970's - we didn't see many "incomers" :) ). When our family moved to the central belt (Perthshire) no-one in primary school could fully understand half the things I said. I had to learn how to "speak properly" as one fairly unpleasant head teacher put it. My north east accent and pronunciation is but a long lost memory, though I do still have an interest in the "Scots Language" [1][2], or "Mither Tongue" [3] as it's affectionately known. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) [1]: http://www.lallans.co.uk/ http://www.lallans.co.uk/ [2]: http://www.scotslanguage.com/ http://www.scotslanguage.com/ [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer)

panglott 11y ago
Scots is an amazing language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU Though it seems like Scots is so overwhelmed by British Standard English to exist more on a creole continuum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum
- teh_klev 11y ago
  The woman in that video, as you've probably noticed, is speaking Shetlandic. What's strange is that I've found that folks from the Borders sound very similar, especially from around Hawick, Kelso and Galashiels, yet they're ~400 miles apart and over the sea.
  - jccooper 11y ago
    In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats) at that point. Before good roads and (especially) mechanized transport the sea was not an obstacle, it was an opportunity.

panglott 11y ago

Scots is an amazing language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU Though it seems like Scots is so overwhelmed by British Standard English to exist more on a creole continuum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum

teh_klev 11y ago
The woman in that video, as you've probably noticed, is speaking Shetlandic. What's strange is that I've found that folks from the Borders sound very similar, especially from around Hawick, Kelso and Galashiels, yet they're ~400 miles apart and over the sea.
- jccooper 11y ago
  In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats) at that point. Before good roads and (especially) mechanized transport the sea was not an obstacle, it was an opportunity.