The Doric

[unaspenser]

I'd actually say that Doric and Scots are either

1) Dialects of English

or

2) Pidgin languages derived from English, Gaelic, Norse languages, etc.

The definition I'd always been given was that dialects are mutually intelligible (i.e. an American can go to Scotland and understand what Scots are saying)... I think it's pretty convincingly a seperate language with Doric... I know there are Doric words I wouldn't get at all if I hadn't been told what they mean.

[slohairt]

Here's a good resource: http://www.scots-online.org/

[Old Hippie]

I found this quite by accident one day while working at the section of my dissertation that discusses various Scottish identities:

Wilson, L. (2002). Luath Scots Language Learner: An Introduction to Contemporary Spoken Scots. Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited.

Though the intent is a bit tongue-in-cheek -- looking forward to the day when travelers to some parts of Scotland might need to learn a bit of the local language -- the book is a serious attempt at building skills in a fairly generic form of Scots. It's also intended to raise a bit of awareness of the issues of language preservation in an increasingly mono-lingual world.

:ootd:

[gilmore]

I'd actually say that Doric and Scots are either

1) Dialects of English

or

2) Pidgin languages derived from English, Gaelic, Norse languages, etc.

The definition I'd always been given was that dialects are mutually intelligible (i.e. an American can go to Scotland and understand what Scots are saying)... I think it's pretty convincingly a seperate language with Doric... I know there are Doric words I wouldn't get at all if I hadn't been told what they mean.

Some say that English is a dialect of Scots....and they are as correct as those who hold vice versa.

Both Lallans and the language called English derive from one brought to those shores by the same peoples at the same time. For a good if brief summary or the development of Scots, see http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/

[gilmore]

http://www.scotsindependent.org/feat...cots/index.htm is one of my favorite online resources of Scots. For a chuckle or two, click on Scot Wit.