Muckles and mickles

I'm not getting into an argument with anybody over whether Scots is a language. I think that argument is already won: Scots is a language in its own right, with quite a few dialects.

But I am interested to know why so many Scots are black-affronted at the very idea that Scots might be a language and prefer to think of it as the bastard offshoot of 'proper' English or a dialect or - worst of all - slang. People get so annoyed, in fact, that they feel the need to write to the newspapers condemning - for example - Matthew Fitt's contributions to the National newspaper.

I accept that language is power, but what power do these indignant souls get from telling those of us who speak Scots that we should stick to 'standard' English? Especially since standard English is itself a dialect.

Maybe it's our history: the Union did for Scots as the language of official life in Scotland. So many Scots were so anxious to do well in the new world of the United Kingdom, they dumped Scots, even when they were living and working in Scotland. Ambitious aristos starting sending their boys to schools in England and middle class imitation aristos sent their boys to imitation English schools in Edinburgh so they would acquire the right language, though we never quite gave up the accent. Listen to Malcolm Rifkind if you want to hear the true Embra middle class voice.

That left Scots as the language of the lower middle class and the working class, both rural and city dwellers. And it is an incredibly rich language. For example, in the west of Scotland, the regular traffic between us and the north and south of Ireland has brought linguistic richness to both areas.

But in schools, Scots was treated with the disdain handed out elsewhere in Scotland to Gaelic. It was not to be heard in the classroom, although it certainly was present in the playground and at home. My generation grew up bilingual: able to switch between English and Scots as required. I'm not sure that's still happening. Although I imagine Scots is still hanging on outside the cities, in Ayrshire, Fife and the north-east counties, in Glasgow it seems more and more to be about 'the banter,' a quaint set of stock phrases heard in the pub or on the bus.

Most of all, I think this is about self respect. South Africans don't think they speak bad English, although you can see the influence of Dutch on the language, and they fight to hold on to English in their schools as an equalising factor in education.

Gaelic has a similar problem with varieties of Gaelic: the Gaelic of the southern islands is quite different from northern Gaelic. Southern Gaelic is closer (though not much) to Irish Gaelic. But they all live together. Strength of numbers means that northern Gaelic is the language of education, TV and books, but nobody would tell people from Islay or Mull or Colonsay that they don't speak proper Gaelic.

On Facebook and in a host of blogs, there will be fights going on right now - because there always are - with one faction demanding we create a 'standard' Scots language and teach it in schools, while another group demands that we ignore anything produced in the Glasgow area because it is so debased it's not Scots. And so it will go on. And the Scots language will continue to die out because we can't agree how to support it.