EARLIER this week, the writer and broadcaster Billy Kay – who has been tireless in his efforts to promote the Scots language – delivered the Scottish Parliament's "Time for Reflection" message, and addressed the chamber in Scots.
The "Time for Reflection" message is not a political statement, and Billy's beautiful and mellifluous speech was not party political. It raised the topic of the Scots language and its importance in Scotland's cultural landscape.
The Scots language is the heritage and cultural property of all Scots, irrespective of their views on independence. Scots boasts a rich literature, including the poetry of Burns and MacDiarmid, and the majestic prose of Lorimer's Scots translation of the New Testament, in which, in the Temptation on the Mount, Jesus speaks in Scots but the Devil speaks in English. Despite generations of official neglect and at times outright oppression, more than 1.5 million people in Scotland reported themselves as Scots speakers in the 2011 census.
Linguists, such as the late Professor AJ Aitken, one of the foremost specialists on the Scots language, are in no doubt that Scots stands apart from the general run of "English dialects".
However, because Scots is not a standardised language and it was not widely taught in schools until very recently, there remains a widespread view in Scotland that Scots is simply "slang" or at best a mere dialect of English just like Geordie or Cockney.
The phonology of Scots is markedly divergent, Scots has a wealth of distinct vocabulary, and Scots also differs from English in some important grammatical and syntactic ways. Crucially for the claim of Scots to the status of language, there are different registers of Scots. There is such a thing as formal literary Scots, and there is even – or rather was, at one time – legal Scots. The formal and literary register of Cockney or Geordie is simply standard English.
Also crucial for the status of Scots as a language, it has its own local dialects. All these dialects – Ayrshire Scots, Aberdeenshire Doric, etc – have the same basic phonological and grammatical systems and form a coherent and clearly delineated linguistic grouping which can be sharply distinguished from any English regional dialect.
Watch as @billykayscot delivers a beautiful Scots speech to the Scottish Parliament.
— The National (@ScotNational) April 26, 2022
'A nation whaur naebody’s excludit and awbody kens they belang – shuirly, dear Members o the Scottish Pairliament, thon’s weel worth bein yersel for' 👏 pic.twitter.com/rVkmA6NcqV
Billy Kay's speech was warmly received by most, but sadly the reaction of a minority on social media – most of whom identified themselves as anti-SNP – proved that the Scottish cultural cringe is sadly still very much alive and sick.
In order to clarify things for the British nationalist frothers who attacked Billy Kay for the temerity of using Scots in a formal setting: the recognition of the status of Scots as a language has nothing to do with the SNP. It was the British Government of Tony Blair that ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2001 and gave official recognition to the Scots language as well as Gaelic, Welsh, Manx and Cornish and Irish and Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland.
As far as any measures to promote or foster the Scots or Gaelic languages are concerned, the Scottish Government is merely acting as the agent for the British Government in fulfilling Britain's international treaty obligations in Scotland. You'd think Unionists would be happy that Holyrood was doing what Westminster expects of it, but not, apparently, when it comes to Scots or Gaelic.
One Twitter user called Jamie with British flags in his bio – because, you know, he hates nationalism – tweeted that Billy's speech was embarrassing to watch and that he could only manage 30 seconds of it before switching off. I'd say he couldnae thole it, but that's Scots and dangerously separatist. I understand, Jamie: it must be really painful to watch someone who has a level of erudition and intellect that you could never dream of attaining.
It never fails to amuse just how willing those who suffer from terminal cringe are to not only display their ignorance for all to see, but that they are convinced that their ignorance is a virtue. It's not the Scots language which is embarrassing. It's them.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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