Walcome
It’s the consait o Scots Tung that a guid Scots tung in yer heid’s nae guid if yer mooth’s ower blate tae yaise it.
In 2005 BBC Scotland threapit, “Scots is not generally used in formal script-writing, reflecting the reality that speakers of Scots (with very few exceptions) choose not to use the language in formal contexts.”
This consait is whiles uphaudit bi oorsels whan, as kythed some years syne, an SLS delegation gaed tae ane o the TV offices in Glesca tae speir mair Scots in the programs. The TV director met thaim at reception an speirt if the forgaitherin shuid be conductit in Scots or English for it wis aw the same tae him. The SLS forspeaker wis reportit tae hiv reponed that it wad hiv tae be in English for he haed his ain professional reputation tae think o.
The maist important thing that aw Scots language upsteerers haes tae lairn is that it’s nae yuiss ettlin tae perswad ither fowk tae stert speakin Scots an yaisin it as an ilka-day form o communication if we dinnae lead bi exemplar an yaise the language oorsels, an that means no juist in private but in public as weel.
If it’s guid eneuch tae upsteer for, it’s shuirly guid eneuch tae yaise.
Dinnae listen tae lees
Ye micht hiv been telt bi yer teacher an bi ithers that whit ye speak is juist a local slang or e’en an ill-moothit kinna English but it’s no. It’s Scots aw richt! For ower a century, oor politicians haes gart the Scottish education system tae doon-cry the Scots language an cairry oot a dileebrit act o linguistic cleansin for thair ain political ettles.
There mony kinds o Scots that lippins maistly on whaur ye bide an they’re aw dialecks o Scots. Nane o thaim is dialecks o English.
Aboot twa thirds o the words in a guid Scots text is Scots words that the English language shares. Baith thae languages acquired thae words maistly aboot the same time an baith languages haes an equal richt tae yaise thaim an tae cry thaim thair ain.
Spellins
When readin the spellins in this wabsite, try tae get yaised tae pronouncin thaim the wey ye wad normally say thaim yersel in conversation. For exemplar, the word “wha” wad maist like be pronounced “whaw” in west an sooth-west central Scots but in east-central it wad be pronounced “whae” an in the nor-east it wad be pronounced “fa”.
In the same wey, the word “ane” wad be pronounced “ane”, “yin” an “een”, dependin on whit dialeck o Scots ye’re maist acquent wi. In ither words, dinnae chynge the wey ye speak tae suit the spellins but adapt yer pronunciation o thae spellins tae suit the wey ye speak.
