Linguistic diversity in Scotland : language distribution, social attitudes and identity

Abstract

In order to understand Scotland’s current linguistic situation, it is important to comprehend the changes that the Scottish society has undergone in the past. With this purpose in mind, the following analysis has been divided into three different parts that address both historical and sociolinguistic matters, providing a complete overview of Scotland’s past and present linguistic ecologies: Chapter 2 approaches the historical development of the Scottish nation; Chapter 3 addresses the development of the main indigenous languages of the country; and Chapter 4 focuses on today’s distribution of languages and the policies pertaining the two minority languages of Scotland. A set of conclusions to this study (Chapter 5) and two additional appendixes containing press articles on the opinions and attitudes towards Gaelic are also provided at the end of this dissertation. In this study, a special emphasis has been placed on the case of Scots, with the biased perception that this particular language shares some historical and sociolinguistic features with Galician. From a more personal point of view, this study arises from my desire to grant a language, and its people, with the recognition and prestige that they deserve. From a linguistic point of view, however, my study also tries to address the ongoing debate surrounding the linguistic nature of Scots, as well as to shed some light onto the hypothesis that prestige and power can outshine ethnicity and belonging. In an attempt to understand the concepts of language, dialect, identity and nation within the Scottish debate, a brief overview of the speakers’ attitudes is also provided to illustrate the arbitrariness behind the labels of language and dialect legitimizing Max Weinrech’s famous statement that “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy”