Neologisms

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...weil, I haed tae blog on it suiner or later, jist be gled it's no spellin...

Ane o first things a bodie rins up agin in Scots writin is the nummer o wurds ye see that dinna resemble the language as spoken. Ae pairt o this is the nummer o new wurds that fowk mak up tae fill in the gaps that's i the language.

Nou, as is aften pynted out, there's naething wrang wi this, as it's whit aw languages dae whan they come across something they dinna hae a wurd for. There's nae need tae think o "television" as a wrang wurd tae hae in Inglish jist acause Chuacer wadna hae kent whit it wis, for ensample.

I dout, houe'er, that there is a problem whan wurds is made up tae gie us wurds for things that we awreidy ken about. Tak "Democracy", as an ensample. Democracy is a concept that (I howp) maist o us is familiar wi. We unnerstaun whit it means. As a wurd, it gies a guid representation o a concept that we need a wurd for whan talkin about politics. An syne we awreidy ken fine weil whit it means, dae we ralley need a new wurd for it? Weil, I'd say we dinna, but there's fowk that thinks we dae. The DUP in Northren Ireland aince pit out a leaflet that haed thaim as the "Folk-owerance Pairtie o the Ulster-British Cleek". Nou, I'm aw for mair Scots i public life, an I trow that poleitical pairties hae their pairt tae play in pittin Scots "out there", but it haes tae be connectin wi Scots as a spoken language in communites, an no as tokenistic, seimbolic Scots that haesna got a thing ava tae dae wi the language fowk uise. I jist canna see onie fowk in Northern Ireland talkin about an election an a bodie says, "I wis thinkin o votin for the Democratic Unionist Party,"
"Wha?" says anithir.
"Och, ye ken, the Folk-owerance Pairtie,"
"Oh, aye o course. Thaim."

Hm. Dinna think sae.

O course, we ken fine weil whit's haippened. A bodie wi the best intentions wantit tae jouk out o uissin the wurd "Democratic" acuase that's the wurd in Inglish. An no wantin tae uise an Inglish wurd in a Scots leaflet, thocht "Folk-owerance" wad be a guid alternative, an tae be fair, as a translation/ owersettin it daes the job. O course, "Democratic" isna an Inglish wurd ava. Or raither, it is an Inglish wurd, but it belangs equally weil tae ithir leids an aw. Greek, o course. Spanish, Romanian, Swadish, German, Gaelic. Wi wee changes i spellin that wurd can be funn richt athort the wurld. The ainlie reason that Ulster Scots disna hae the same wurd (or at least, no accordin tae thon leaflet), is acuase a bodie thocht o it as Inglish, or thocht that ithir fowk wad think o it as Inglish. I the minds o fowk i the Scots-speakin (or mair accurately, Scots-screivin) wurld, Inglish haes a kind o copyricht on Greek an Laitin wurds, an that's no exactly fair. In conceedin thon, we'r daein wirsels out o hail rainge o wurds we share i common no jist wi Inglish, but wi languages aw ower the wurld.

An it isna jist an issue ower the watter. I mind hearin o a meeting in Edinburgh back i the 90s (?) whan there wis "Bentap" about leids. That's richt, a bentap. Like the G8 Bentap at Gleneagles i 2005. Haes a bodie e'er uissit "bentap" like thon unselconsciously?

Nou, I'm no sayin that neologisms hae nae place in wir language; that'd be glaikit, unrealistic an wad mean drawin sum kind o arbitrary line i time efter whilk nae new wurds are alloued. New wurds is guid things, an shaws that wir language haes the capacity an flexibility tae survive i the modren wurld whaur fowk dinna blether about pleuchs, fishin an bevvy aw day. At the same time, we suldna be feart o takkin thae new wurds frae internaitional sources - or tae pit it mair bluntly, wurds shared wi Inglish. Gavin Douglas didna mind uisin wurds frae Laitin, Greek, French or Inglish whan he didna hae a Scots ane tae haun, an neither suld we.



"Folk-owerance" an "Bentap" wad hae maist Scots fowk (masel includit) scratchin their heids wunnerin whit they wis. No sae wi ithir neologisms that aiblins mak a bittie mair sense. "Owerset" is ane ane o thaim. It is, for a stairt, an internaitional wurd, bein funn i Wast an North Germanic leids. Seicondly, an I think this is sumthing that maun aye be taen intae account whan ye'r thinkin a new wurd, the contex in whilk the wurd is uissit wull jist about aye mak clear whit it means fowk that dinna ken it awreidy: "W.L Lorimer owerset the New Testament frae Greek tae Scots." The wurd can ralley ainlie mean ae thing there, na? O course, ye micht wunner gin we ralley need sic a wurd, syne, as ye can see an hear on the page "Scots and the Three Estates" here on the SLC, fowk wis thinkin o "ane gude and trew translatioun" lang afore Lorimer. Sae the wurd, cognate wi Inglish, haes been aroun langer than the ane cognate wi German... whit ane ocht we tae uise?

Weil, that's ane tae think o for yersels, which is jist a wey o me saying "Weil, I dinna ken." Ma blogs is jist meant tae get fowk thinkin an prod thaim intae makkin their ain minds up; they isna prescreiptive.

Anithir wurd we micht uise (ane I've seen it wrate doun, tho no heird it yet) is "stour souker". I'll leave ye tae guess whit it means, an I'll gie ye a clue: i Norrowey they cry it a "Støvsuger".


Aw the best,

Dunc


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