Re: "Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite: The internet guide to Holyrood translated into 'Rab C Nesbitt' dialect"


"La N" <nilita2004NOSPAM@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:kQ%Lm.52172$Db2.36509@xxxxxxxxxxx
Robert Peffers wrote:
"La N" <nilita2004NOSPAM@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>


In the first place the language used in the Scottish Parliament
website bears on resemblance whatsoever to that of the fictional TV
character Rab C. Nisbet.
One is the old Scots language and the other is the Glaswegian version
of, "Scottish Standard English". Thus one is not English and the
other is very localised English Dialect with a lot of Scottish words
thrown in for good measure.

In the second place there are a great many more Scots speakers than a
couple of thousand.

Seeing as the author of the piece is unable to distinguish between
the two it is safe to consign it to the Uninformed Media category of
gutter press rubbish.

I love it when you guys debunk these kinds of articles ... you rarely let
me down ... :)

- nilita

The thing is, that to us, there is no doubt whatsoever that Rab C. Nesbitt
is speaking, "Weegie", and that is the language of Glasgow. Now there are
many Glaswegians who can, and do speak Lowland Scots, but "Weegie", is
unique to Glasgow and owes much more to English than it does to Scots. The
accent, too, is Glasgow's and not Scotland's.
One thing that seems strange to us is that outsiders don't seem to realise
that Lowland Scots has, within the language, local accents just as the
English language has. There is a great deal of difference between, say, a
West of England accent and a Yorkshire accent when both are speaking good
English. There are just as many differences between, say a Borders accent
and a Dundee, Perthshire or Aberdeenshire accent, that is, when these are
speaking either good English or good Lowland Scots. You must bear in mind
that language and accent are two different things and that there will also
be local words and perhaps even slang English or slang Scots expressions
being used.

Thus the author of the piece you posted obviously has no idea of what he is
talking about. Let me give you an example - I was born in the Lothians and
speak both English and Lowland Scots with a Lothians accent. I have now
lived most of my life in Fife where the locals speak both Scots and English
with a Fife accent. In fact when I first moved to Fife I could tell the
difference of accent between those from Kirkcaldy and those from
Dunfermline. After all those years, though, I don't notice the difference
now.
--

Auld Bob



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Leodhasach & Hearasch - Gaelic help please
    ... course our own traditional language is even more neglected than Gaelic is. ... who speak English soon get the gist of it. ... are as closely related to other lanagages as Scots is to Standard English. ... is someone who truly appreciates Scottish culture in that you won't find ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)
  • Re: The whole dialect business
    ... >>> But of course Scots has a very full and complex legal jargon. ... > made it either a language or a dialect. ... > "Defender" in this context is quite different from the English language word ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)
  • Re: The whole dialect business
    ... >>linguistic studies as a clear marker between Scots and English, ... >>Scots did not, as Scotland was never conquered by the Normans ... >>language in its own right. ... Dialect speakers always understand the Standard form (colloqueal Scots ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)
  • Re: "Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite: The internet guide to Holyrood translated into Rab
    ... >> In the first place the language used in the Scottish Parliament ... >> One is the old Scots language and the other is the Glaswegian version ... unique to Glasgow and owes much more to English than it does to Scots. ... West of England accent and a Yorkshire accent when both are speaking good ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)
  • Re: "Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite: The internet guide to Holyrood translated into Rab
    ... >> In the first place the language used in the Scottish Parliament ... >> One is the old Scots language and the other is the Glaswegian version ... unique to Glasgow and owes much more to English than it does to Scots. ... West of England accent and a Yorkshire accent when both are speaking good ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)