Scots and the Census: Pairt twa

Posted by Duncan

2011 merks the first time that wir tung haes been gied a place i the naitional census.  It is a muckle step forrit i the fecht tae furder the Scots tung, an tae mak siccar its richtfou place i Scots public life.  For ower lang the leid haes been pit out o sicht by the hie heid-yins, an it haes been left tae commitit activists tae wark wantin the needfou information o the nummers, distribution an language-skills o the Scots-speakin fowk.  It wis wark wi yin haun tied ahint wir back.  Onie ettles tae revitalise a strauchlin leid maun gang forrit wi a shair knawledge o  hou monie speakers there is, whaur they bydes, hou auld they is, hou aften they yaise the leid, pattrens o yaisage an sae on.  No aw this can be kent frae the census, but it is a guid tool for airtin us alang the richt gates for the best weys tae promote the leid.  Despite the leimitations o census feigures, this represents a braw advance on whit we haed tae wark wi afore.

  An no, o course, afore time.  It’s nou ten year efter the failure tae include a Scots speir i the 2001 census, twal year syne the refoundin o wir Pairlament, an mair nor a hunner year syne speirs anent Welsh an Gaelic wis first includit.  A lot haes been tynt i thon time.  Sae much sae, that sum fowk awreidy speaks o Scots as gin it wis deid (it’s been a lang time dee’in, o course - fowk stairtit sayin this at the hinnerend o the seiventeent century, gin no afore).  But Scots isna deid, an though we canna say but that it faces a sair fecht for its future, the founds haes been pit doun that we can bigg on.  The raicent report o the Meinisterial Warkin Group haes pyntit out the wey that the biggin micht gae on.  The current want o siller, o course, wull mak awthing the hairder, but thon ainlie maks it aw the mair important that we fecht hairder an mak wir case louder an clearer.

  Maist relevant tae the current census is daein whit we can tae mak siccar that the figures gaithert gies as accurate a pictur as possible o the state o Scots the day.  We aw ken the problems the Scots muivment haes haed i the past wi fowk no kenning whit is meant by the wurd “Scots” (“Is that the same thing as Gaelic?”  “I dinna speak Scots, hen, I jist speak Inglish/ slang/ Doric [delete as applicable]” etc.).  It micht be that the census gies a lawer nummer o Scots speakers nor there actually is acuase o this confusion.  This is a problem, an it’s up tae us tae dae wir pairt wi helpin fowk ken whit Scots is an whedder they speak it or no – an at this pynt I maun say that, temptin though it micht be, convincing fowk that dinna speak Scots tae pit doun that they dae micht leuk guid on oweraw nummers, but micht mak ictu’in the feigures tae revitalisation wark problematic.

  Yin wey ye can help fowk that’s no shair about whit Scots is an whedder or no they speak it is tae pynt thaim i the wey o www.ayecan.com  This wabsite haes been pit thegither by the Scots Language Centre an the General Register Office for Scotland, an haes guid information an ensaumples o written an spoken Scots i sindry dialecks.  

  Haein a Scots speir i the census is a muckle step forrit for Scots, an we aw howp it pynts tae a future o Scots bein gied the offeicial staunnin an support it deserrs.  For aw that, it is ainlie a tool, an a tool canna fix oniething gin it’s no yaised richt.  Sae lat’s dae whit we can tae spreid the wurd, help tae get as accurate a pictur as we can for the yaise o Scots the day, an syne gang forrit wi the information tae wark for a better future for wir leid.

 Cheerio for nou,

Dunc

 

Sang o the Week: Immortal - One by One.

 

 

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The opinions expressed here are the views of the writers and commentators and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Scots Language Centre