The Position of Ulster Scots
by Michael Montgomery, University of South Carolina
By the end of the 16th century Lowland Scots had begun to lose its distinctiveness at the expense of English, especially in writing. By the end of the 17th century written Scots had more or less disappeared in both Scotland and Ulster, only to take life anew shortly thereafter in 'vernacular revivals' in the writing of poetry. Among the gentry and middle classes spoken Scots declined gradually, but among the bulk of the population, especially in rural areas, vernacular Scots remains distinct from its English counterpart (both in Scotland and in Ulster) in its pronunciation, core vocabulary, and many elements of grammar. At present it has no role in public or institutional life. For all these reasons its status is less clear-cut than in centuries past. Scottish scholars are divided on whether or not they consider Lowland Scots to be a 'language'. While not a 'fully-fledged' one, it seems to be 'much more than a dialect'. Its antiquity, characteristic vocabulary, literary traditions, and other features make it not parallel, for instance, to Yorkshire English or West Country English. Scots stands in a different relation to English from any unambiguous dialect of English. It has ancient and distinct dialects of its own, such as the 'Doric' of northeastern Scotland; several of these are used in local literature today. It has been compiled into the ten-volume Scottish National Dictionary and the twelve-volume Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, whose titles leave little doubt how lexicographers have viewed the status of Scots.
Bringing their speech, tens of thousands of Lowland Scots came to Ulster in the first third of the 17th century, establishing a rural heartland that has now had a stable community of speakers for four centuries. Ulster Scots developed complex relations with Irish and with English, being almost from the beginning superimposed by the latter, which became the language of urban life, education, commerce, government, social institutions, and writing and which relegated Ulster Scots (as well as Irish) to the countryside and the home.
Ulster Scots is foremost a spoken, not a written, variety and since the early 1700s any literature written in it has been grounded in speech. The most famous period of literary expression lasted from the 1780's through the mid-19th century and involved the 'Weaver' poets, an informal school of popular versifiers whose exponents were linen weavers by trade, many of whom saw themselves as community spokesmen. James Orr (1770-1816), perhaps the most notable of them, became known as the 'Bard of Ballycarry'.
In sum, Ulster Scots is recognized by scholars as a historic spoken variety, derived from Lowland Scots but used in rural Ulster in the home and community for hundreds of years. Within its territory it varies geographically and socially and overlaps with English. Because of domination from English, it now has low prestige and is declining in use and distinctiveness. But while Ulster Scots in real-world terms is inferior to English in many ways, to say that it is a 'dialect' simply because it is not a 'fully-fledged language' is both inaccurate and misguided.
A useful 'middle ground' between the two extremes that recognizes historical realities in Europe has been staked out by the European Bureau of Lesser-Used Languages, an agency of the Council of Europe that has fostered public education and awareness of 'regional' or 'minority' languages. Under its 1992 Charter (now signed and ratified by the United Kingdom government), the Council of Europe agreed that ' ... the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe's cultural wealth and traditions'. EBLUL's approach represents an excellent one for evaluating varieties like Ulster Scots having a close genetic relationship with a dominant language of power, literacy, and nationhood. |
