Do you speak Scots?
Check out this very interesting site about people who speak Scots. (Many thanks to Carol at My Outlander Purgatory for the link!)
I haven't had time to explore much of it yet, but I like listening to all the various Scots accents from different parts of the country. I have to admit, most of my exposure to Scottish speakers has been from listening to Davina Porter's recordings of the OUTLANDER audiobooks. And I really don't know anything at all about Scots expressions (spoken or written) except what I've read in Diana Gabaldon's books.
For what it's worth, Diana has said that the answer to the question, "Is Scots a separate language, or a dialect?" depends on who you talk to. <g> From the FAQ on her web site:
If any of you are from Scotland, I'd be interested to know what you think -- both about the site I linked to above, and about the fact that the next Scottish census will apparently be counting Scots-speakers.
I haven't had time to explore much of it yet, but I like listening to all the various Scots accents from different parts of the country. I have to admit, most of my exposure to Scottish speakers has been from listening to Davina Porter's recordings of the OUTLANDER audiobooks. And I really don't know anything at all about Scots expressions (spoken or written) except what I've read in Diana Gabaldon's books.
For what it's worth, Diana has said that the answer to the question, "Is Scots a separate language, or a dialect?" depends on who you talk to. <g> From the FAQ on her web site:
Scots is (more or less) English, but has quite a number of specific words and idioms not found in standard English, and also has its own peculiarly idiosyncratic sentence structures, which you notice if you start paying close attention.
If any of you are from Scotland, I'd be interested to know what you think -- both about the site I linked to above, and about the fact that the next Scottish census will apparently be counting Scots-speakers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_an_army_and_navy
Well, Scotty WAS known to say "my poor wee bairns" a lot. <g> Maybe nobody speaks Scots anymore by the 23rd century?
Karen (a longtime fan of the original ST)
Karen
Karen