Any online Scots courses?

[Chris Paton]

Hi Mary,

I misunderstood the reasons behind your post - I thought you were confusing Scots and Scots Gaelic, so many apologies (I know many people who have made that mistake!). The courses you outlined are most definitely for Gaelic courses - what I am trying to find, and hence the thread, is the online equivalent for Scots courses!

David's given some good pointers, but it amazes me that whilst there is a plethora of Gaelic courses, Scots can barely be found, other than in collections of Robert Burns poetry! Whilst Gaelic is actively being promoted in Scotland, and indeed revived, my impression is that Scots is being driven into tartan land, a twee oddity about Scotland. But it was a fully functioning language, and I would like to get to grips with it, so that rather than just rhyming off a wee bit about 'wee sleekit mousies' and the like, I can actually understand how to grammatically construct it into sentences and get a proper feel for how it was used. Although some people do speak in Scots today, it is usually through effort, as English has been so dominant through television, so I want to go back to basics and start with it from scratch!

Apologies again, and thanks for the Gaelic links!

Le gach deagh dhurachd,

Chris

[Chris Paton]

double post

[emanday]

Told you I get easily confused

Didnae read your post right, did I?

and its too early for a (Medicinal - just tae clear ma heid ye unnerstaun )

[Chris Paton]

It's NEVER too early for a wee drop of medicine in yer hand...! lol

Chris

[Davie]

Greetin's Chris,
Frae a kin' o sunny sou'side o' Glesga this efternin'.
Ye'll be lucky tae fin oany courses oan whit yer lookin' fawr.
Kiz they don't exist and yon Lallans, Doric an the rest o thaem ur only English wey Scots accents.
Ah'll see whit ah kin get ye frae Belfast Freens oan Ullans, as that is ootie ma ain sphere.
Nae bother speakin yer Mither tongue, ah dae it masel, only mine is Weegie.
Carl McDougall done a wee tv series oan this very subject.
Ah huv a copy oan DVD if ye cannie get it.
And several of Billy Kay's anaw, but ther' oan VHS.
Wan o' these days, ah'll get roon tae tranferrin' thaem.

An if ye waant tae see some Perthshire lingo written doon, get Wullie Souter's poems.
Again, ah huv several copies. If ye huve oany bother.
The only language ah know o spoken here, other than yon Teuchter wan is the Norn, an ah'm never too sure if North Ronaldsay is part o' Scotland anyhooo.
Davie

[Chris Paton]

Cheers Davie,

Thanks for the Willie Souter tip!

It would be interesting to see if there is an Ullans course - there's such an upsurge in interest in it just now, but the only people I know regularly publishing anything in it are the DUP, who issue their press releases bilingually! I think the reality is that for proper Ullans speech, the only two areas that still use it are Ballycastle and parts of Donegal. I think the use of it is exaggerated, as much as the use of Northern Irish Gaelic is. When I worked on BBC Scotland's Eorpa series, I remember one of the reporters trying to put together a piece that quoted from the Northern Irish 1991 census, which claimed that 10% of the population had some knowledge of the Irish language. This reporter wanted to use that as evidence to back up a point he wanted to make on Scots Gaelic. But what the reporter hadn't twigged was that the question asked if they had any knowledge of Irish, not if they were fluent speakers. A lot of those 10% were actually referring to the fact that they knew the words 'slainte', 'cead mile failte' and the IRA slogan 'Tiocfaidh ar La'...! Most couldn't string two words together - but how could they, it wasn't taught in the schools? I think the same applies today to Ullans really!!!

Cheers

Chris

[Davie]

Again Chris,
Have been onto Letterkenny.
Ma mate ther’ is guid oan the Erse.
Mind you, ah don’t think he knows it frae his elba hauf the time.
If this wiznie a serious post, ah wid be aff oan aboot Bonaparte noo.
Hughie says:
“Ullans is a load o’ Scottish shite* and you (a tad personal here I thought) should take it back, alang wey aw yer cronies that rabbit on about it”
He disnae kick wey the same fit as usyins here.

http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/

I am sure you know of the above site, but jist in case ye didnae, there are some guid wee stories oan it.

I have no idea what you would call the dialect the auld fermers’ aboot Letterkenny, Convoy and Stranorlar speak.
It is English, but not as we know it Jim.
I was not sure if they were at the wind up when I visited the first time, as I could only make out a few words during the conversation.
And that was only when I got up to go to the bar.
“Jameson’s will be grand son” was as clear as something that rings.

However Chris, you have to check out Willie Drennan’s “Wee Book”
I had never heard of it, and said so.
I thought Hughie would have offered to send us a copy, but he is a Coleraine supporter, so enough said ther’.




Awrabest
Davie

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shite

[DavidWW]

Kiz they don't exist and yon Lallans, Doric an the rest o thaem ur only English wey Scots accents.

No way, José , - Scottis, from which Lallans/Doric and the like are derived was a fully functioning language. like old English, derived from Middle German, but with with dashes of Scanwegian, Flemish, Erse and French; and already developing in a distinctly different direction from old English.

In the view of experts in the field of language development, had the unions of 1603 and 1707 not taken place, modern Scots English would bear a similar realtionship today to English English, as Norwegian does to Danish, - two very closely related languages but quite distinct, and not always easily mutually understandable.

David

[wini]

YE GODS AND LITTLE FISHES

Just as well we settled for one common language.
ah"d be loast wae youse lot

wini

[Davie]

Just as well we settled for one common language.
ah"d be loast wae youse lot

Guid wan Lass,
Noo perhaps somewan will tell us whit in the name o' the wee man wiz that lingo in?
"loast" "Ah'd" "wae" or "Youse"
Is that Lallans? or mibbie mer like Ullans, definitely no yon NE mince.
The Prods ower by in Ulster jist decided that they liked the sound o' Lallans, so they jist chinged the first two letters wey a U an an L and that is where Ullans come frae.

If Lallans, Doric or Ullans ur languages, who speaks thaem?
Let's huv a wee phrase in Lallans David.
or oany ither wans.
Whit dae the experts make o'
"It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht?"

Davie