Scotland Languages: Difference between revisions

Scotland Languages (view source)

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-== Scottish Gaelic ==
-Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic language of Scotland. It is closely related to [[Ireland Language and Languages|Irish]] and Manx, and more distantly to [[Wales Language and Languages|Welsh]], Cornish and Breton.
-The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 gives some degree of recognition to Scotland's Celtic language. However, unlike [[Wales Language and Languages|Welsh]], Scottish Gaelic has been written down far less frequently, and is not taught in many schools. The language is generally associated with the Highlands, but was historically spoken in most of the Lowlands as well. Many Lowland surnames and areas have Gaelic derivations, e.g. Dundee, Stranraer etc. It was not spoken in Orkney and Shetland
-Scottish Gaelic gives rise to many Scottish surnames, including any beginning with Mac or Mc, as well as names such as Campbell, Dewar, Menzies etc. Some of these were written down in English phonetics, e.g. MacDonald or McWhannel for MacDhomhnaill and/or were later translated e.g. Smith can translate Mac a' Ghobhainn, which is also anglicized as Gow or MacGowan. The old Scottish Gaelic naming system is extremely complex, and exists mainly in oral tradition.
-Many personal names such as Iain (John), Malcolm, Duncan, Fiona and Morag all ultimately derive from the language too. There are other, traditional, Gaelic names which have no direct equivalents in English: Oighrig, which is normally rendered as Euphemia (Effie) or Henrietta (Etta) (formerly also as Henny or even as Harriet), or, Diorbhal, which is "matched" with Dorothy, simply on the basis of a certain similarity in spelling; Gormul, for which there is nothing similar in English, and it is rendered as 'Gormelia' or even 'Dorothy'; Beathag, which is "matched" with Becky (&gt; Rebecca) and even Betsy, or Sophie.
-The most common class of Gaelic surnames are, of course, those beginning with ''mac'' (Gaelic for ''son''), such as ''MacGillEathain'' (MacLean). The female form is ''nic'' (Gaelic for ''daughter''), so Catherine MacPhee is properly called in Gaelic, ''Caitrìona Nic a' Phì''. [Strictly, "nic" is a contraction of the Gaelic phrase "nighean mhic", meaning "daughter of the son", thus Nic Dhomhnuill, really means "daughter of MacDonald" rather than "daughter of Donald".] Although there is a common misconception that "mac" means "son of", the "of" part actually comes from the genitive form of the patronymic that follows the prefix "Mac", e.g., in the case of MacNéill, Néill (of Neil) is the genitive form of Niall (Neil).
-Several colours give rise to common Scottish surnames: ''bàn'' (Bain – white), ''ruadh'' (Roy – red), ''dubh'' (Dow – black), ''donn'' (Dunn – brown), ''buidhe'' (Bowie – yellow).
 === Alphabet and pronunciation ===
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 :Amen.
-==Scots language==
-The Scots language is the language of the Scottish Lowlands, Caithness, and the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland). It is closely related to standard English, and there is a long running, heated debate as to whether it is a dialect or a language in its own right. It is not to be confused with Gaelic, although there has been some mutual influence.
-The Scots language goes by many different names. It is often called Broad/Braid Scots or Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Gaelic. In the north east especially, it is often referred to as Doric. In Buchan, it is known as the Claik, and in Glasgow as the Patter. In older writings it is often referred to as Scottis, or as Scotch, although the term "Scotch" is not liked by many Scots today.
-Many Scots words can be found in older documents, as it was written down more frequently than Gaelic. It is common for Scots to use the dimunitive, e.g. James frequently becomes Jamie, Robert becomes Rab or Rabbie etc. This is done more often than in standard English and is not frowned upon.
-Scots has no legal status, and there are no reliable figures for how many people speak it. However, it is much more common to hear it in Scotland than Gaelic. Due to its similarity with English, there is considerable debate as to what constitutes Scots as well.
-Spelling is not standardized now, and is often influenced by English. A notable difference from standard English is the guttural (velar fricative) in which the likes of "loch" and "nicht" would be pronounced as in German, rather than as "lock" or "nickt".
-Many Scots words survive in Scottish place names, e.g. street names such as wynd, vennel, close, pend, port (in the sense of gate), gate (in the sense of road), and in placenames such as howe (hollow), mains (important farm), burn (small river), brae (hill or slope) etc
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 There are three officially recognized languages spoken in Scotland <ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Scotland," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland#:~:text=Scotland%20has%20three%20officially%20recognised%20languages, accessed 18 May 2023.</ref>
 * '''English''' - a variety of English called '''Scottish Standard English'''. May have been influenced by Scots.
-* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language '''Scots'''] - per the 2011 census, 63% of the population have no skills in Scots.
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language '''Scots'''] - per the 2011 census, 63% of the population have no skills in Scots. [https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Scotland_Languages#:~:text=Details%20on%20Scots%20language ''Further information on Scots Language'']
-* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic '''Scottish Gaelic'''] - most spoken in the Western Isles by the majority of the population.
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic '''Scottish Gaelic'''] - most spoken in the Western Isles by the majority of the population. [https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Scotland_Languages#:~:text=Details%20on%20Scottish%20Gaelic ''Further information on Scottish Gaelic'']
 Other languages spoken include