Thochts

Posted by

Hello aw, howp ye haed a guid Christmas an Hogmanay an ye'r aw daein weil i the wunter cauld.

I haed a wee bit cauld masel, but I'm ower it the nou. It wis guid seein faimily an there wis guid crack at Hogmanay. Mind ye, we didna hae onie coal, sae I first-fittit wi a black olive. First time for awthing....


Oniewey, I'm on tae bloggin the day about sumthing that's been fashin me for a while, an twa-thrie raicent news airtlicles on this site hae touched on it. Essentially, it's about hou fowk owerleuk Scots as pairt o "Scottishness".

Nou, the problem seems tae be that fowk (for ordinar no native Gaelic speakers) seems tae think that Gaelic is Scotland's ainlie naitonal leid, "the" naitional leid, in fack, an therefore onie rallyin o Scottish cultur an identity maun be aroun the Gaelic an the cultur associate wi it. Nou, I'm no ane tae caw doun Gaelic (I'm daein it masel at the Uni), but this is jist plain wrang. The cultur an leid o the Gaels is a muckle pairt o wir heritage as Scots, it's played an important pairt i wir history an leitarature, an I honestly howp that it wull continue tae dae sae as lang's there's fowk cryin thaimsels "Scots" (or "Albanach" gin ye'd raither). Houe'er, the exack same coud be appleid tae Scots, a tung that's spake by monie mair fowk nor haes Gaelic, an is as aften as no pairt o cultur o the verra same fowk that ignores it i sum orra flicht o fancy that gars us aw be Heiland fowk!

I gree that we maunna tyne the cultur an leid o waulkin sangs, ceilidh an the rale smeddum o monie o the Gaelic makars (tae say naething o the ilkaday leid o Gaels the day), but we also maunna tyne the cultur an leid o Lawland Scotland; be that Dundonian whalin sangs, wir ain Scots makars or crack i a pub. For fowk that's sprung frae that cultur tae ignore it i favour o a Celtic, Heiland aethetic an syne cry that "naitonal" an try tae pass it aff as the leid an cultur o places that hae no been Gaelic speakin for a thousan year or mair (gin e'er) is jist as muckle an "imposition" (for want a better wurd) as horsin a uniform, Inglis speakin British cultur on the fowk o Heilands. Waur, it's a denial, e'en gin it's no thocht out, o the wurth o Lawland Scots cultur, an the pairt it's played shapin wir kintra an cultur this hinmaist thousan year.

Tae mak anither ensample via a wee diversion, I read on an online forum (Shetlink, I dout) o twa-thrie linguists that wis ettlin at re-makkin the Norn, the North Germanic leid that wis aince spake i the Northren Isles. The idea wis that by gaein throu auld rhymes, ballads an the monie, monie wurds o the modren dialecks that's obviously taen frae the Norse, they coud mak a neo-Norn tae help Northen Isles fowk tak pride i their heritage an dinsteinctive cultur. Nou, pittin aside the deifficulties o gettin fowk tae tak pride i a leid that's been hailly constructit airtifeicially whan it's haird enou gettin thaim tae tak pride i the wey they actually dae speak, the haill idea says whit, exackly about the value o Shetlandic an Orcadian i aw the deifferent weys they'r spake the day? Whit daes it say about the value o wey fowk i the Northren Isles hae been speakin i the centuries that's gaed by syne Norn dee'd out? Whit daes it say o the value o post-Norse cultur i the Northen Isles?

Nou pittin that same reasonin ontae Gaelic as "the" naitonal leid o Scotland leaves me wi this thocht: Lawland Scots an Lawland cultur is jist as important an jist as Scottish as Gaelic. We'd be daein wirsels a muckle dunt on wir cultural heid gin we ignore that, an gin we turn wir backs on the cultur that maist o us come frae i favour o a mair fashionable pairt o Scotland's cultur. "Dig whaur ye staun" as the Swedish fowklairists say, an ye jist micht finn sumthing that haes a guid sicht mair relevence tae ye nor reingin about for "yer" heritage amang anithir cultur. An for monie o us, o course, ye dinna need tae dig ava.



God Bless,
Dunc

Sang o the Week - Windir: Blodssvik

blog comments powered by Disqus