Scots in Parliament

This month the Scots Language Centre focuses on the place of the Scots language in the Scottish parliament, both past and present. At one time the use of both spoken and written Scots was taken for granted in our national institutions because the ruling classes also spoke Scots. The earliest examples of this date from the 14th century. For this earlier period please see the article on the left hand menu entitled ‘Scots and the Three Estates’ which outlines the history of the language in Scottish politics between the 1300’s and 1707. This is accompanied by two readings of 16th century acts in Scots. Between 1707 and 1999 Scotland had no parliament of her own but this was re-established as a result of the devolution referendum in 1997. Because the ruling classes abandoned Scots, the Scottish parliament today is almost wholly conducted in English. However, the status and presence of Scots in the new parliament since 1999 is described in our second article (see left) ‘Scots at Holyrood’.