Is Scots a language in its own right or a dialect of English?

star_gazer

A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic Dec 05 10, 8:10 PM

bigponder

Actually, Scots and Scottish Gaelic are two very different animals. Scots is not a Celtic language (or dialect) and is a form of English generally spoken by the non-Gaelic Lowlanders, while the Highlanders and islanders mostly spoke Gaelic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language Dec 05 10, 8:42 PM

author

Yes, you are right. From your reference: "Consequently, Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, but with its own distinct dialects.[2] Alternatively Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish." I guess you can't say whether it is a language in its own right, then. Dec 05 10, 9:13 PM

author

There are, of course, arguments for and against. Here are some arguments that Scots is a language in its own right. Arguments put forward by those who argue that Scots is a language are: Scots has at least five dialect groups and some of these are further subdivided. The dialects of Scots are, with their differing pronunciation, grammar, lexis and accents, mutually intelligible to Scots speakers. Many speakers of English dialects often find (broad) Scots dialects unintelligible. Scots has an extensive literature reaching back at least 600 years, latterly without a fully standardised written form, perhaps due to hardly any education taking place through the medium of Scots. Even so, Scots grammars have been published over the years so codification or Ausbau isn't completely lacking there. Most people consider Scotland to be a nation, and not a peripheral region of Britain/England. Scots is also officially recognised. http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/lang.htm Dec 05 10, 9:54 PM

author

It is also argued (see the last reference) that Scots is as different from English as Norwegian is from Danish and Czech from Slovak. All of these are considered languages of their own. Dec 05 10, 9:59 PM