The document discusses language and cultural identity in Scotland. It explores Scottish, English, and British cultural identities and examines the Scots language. The document notes that Scots has historically been considered a dialect of English but argues it is a distinct language with its own vocabulary and pronunciation rules. It provides examples of linguistic differences between Scots and English and discusses the ongoing recognition and preservation of Scots as a unique language.

1. Language and Cultural Identity

2.  What do you think of Scotland so far?
 What do you think about Scottish people?
Scotland Scots

3.  What do the following terms mean to you? Are they an
important part of who you are?
Danish Scandinavian European

4.  What do you think these terms mean?
 What do you think about Scottish cultural identity?
Scottish English British

6.  When shown in England, the first 15 minutes of the
Ken Loach film ‘Sweet Sixteen’ were subtitled to ease
the English audience into the language.
 How much could you understand? Why was it
difficult?

7.  Consider the following quotes:
 'It's as absurd to call Scots a dialect of English as it is to call
English a dialect of Scots.'
Norman MacCaig, poet (1910-96)
 ‘A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.’
Max Weinreich, linguist (1894-1969)
 ‘Scots is not one dialect but several. Put a man from Wick,
another from Aberdeen, a third from Perth, in a room with a
Fifer, a Glaswegian and a Borderer, and see if they all speak the
same dialect’
Dr Sheila Douglas, author and singer, 1994

8. 500 Angles establish Northumbria
1124 King David I of Scotland crowned
1494 First mention of ‘Scottis’
1603 James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
1611 Publication of the King James Bible
1707 The Act of Union
1786 Robert Burns publishes 'Kilmarnock Edition' of his poems
1872 Education Act ignores Scots
1999 Devolution
2001 Recognised as a language under the European Charter for
Regional and Minority Languages
2007 Scots included in Curriculum for Excellence

9.  Which versus witch
 The /x/ phoneme in loch
 The Scottish Vowel Length Rule (SVLR), grief (short)
and grieve (long), brood (short) and brewed (long)
 Scots vowels are unrounded in words like stone (stane)
and go (gae) and are not diphthongised in hoose and
roond because Scots vowels took a different direction
from the English ones during the Great Vowel Shift
(1350-1500).
 Scots modal verbs show several different nuances, can
or could + please rather than may.

10.  It is in the vocabulary that the difference between
Scots and English remains at its strongest.
 Every variety of Scots has its own words (from
many sources) that are not only absent from
English but might not even be found in any other
variety of Scots.

11.  Listen to the following poem by one of Scotland’s most
successful contemporary poets, Liz Lochhead (now
Scotland’s Makar)
 Kidsong/Bairnsang
 Try to pick up on the translations she gives of some
commonly used Scots words