Luath Scots Language Learner sampler
This new edition of the Luath Scots Language Learner featuring updated information is suitable as an introductory course or for those interested in reacquainting themselves with the language of childhood and grandparents. There are dictionaries and grammar books but this is the first-ever language course. The book assumes no prior knowledge on the reader's part. Starting from the most basic vocabulary and constructions, the reader is guided step-by-step through Scots vocabulary and the subtleties of grammar and idiom that distinguish Scots from English. An accompanying audio recording conveys the authentic pronunciation, especially important to readers from outside Scotland. The audio recording, which accompanies the Luath Scots Language Learner book, conveys the authentic pronunciation, especially important to readers from outside Scotland. It is suitable as an introductory course or for those interested in reacquainting themselves with the language of childhood and grandparents. There are dictionaries and grammar books but this is the first-ever language course. The book assumes no prior knowledge on the reader's part. Starting from the most basic vocabulary and constructions, the reader is guided step-by-step through Scots vocabulary and the subtleties of grammar and idiom that distinguish Scots from English.
This new edition of the Luath Scots Language Learner featuring updated information is suitable as an introductory course or for those interested in reacquainting themselves with the language of childhood and grandparents. There are dictionaries and grammar books but this is the first-ever language course. The book assumes no prior knowledge on the reader's part. Starting from the most basic vocabulary and constructions, the reader is guided step-by-step through Scots vocabulary and the subtleties of grammar and idiom that distinguish Scots from English. An accompanying audio recording conveys the authentic pronunciation, especially important to readers from outside Scotland.
The audio recording, which accompanies the Luath Scots Language Learner book, conveys the authentic pronunciation, especially important to readers from outside Scotland. It is suitable as an introductory course or for those interested in reacquainting themselves with the language of childhood and grandparents. There are dictionaries and grammar books but this is the first-ever language course. The book assumes no prior knowledge on the reader's part. Starting from the most basic vocabulary and constructions, the reader is guided step-by-step through Scots vocabulary and the subtleties of grammar and idiom that distinguish Scots from English.
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LUATH SCOTS LANGUAGE LEARNER<br />
At the time of writing, <strong>Scots</strong> is a language with no generally-accepted<br />
spoken or written standard. This presents problems for any attempt to<br />
produce a learners’ course. The solution that has been adopted is to<br />
introduce the learner to <strong>Scots</strong> in a way that can be seen as being<br />
parallel to how native speakers communicate using <strong>Scots</strong>, or indeed<br />
using any language. In general, native speakers speak only one variety<br />
of <strong>Scots</strong>, that with which they themselves were raised as children;<br />
however, they understand not only their own variety but also others,<br />
based on an instinctive appreciation of the ‘core’ common to all<br />
varieties, and an awareness of how other speakers’ varieties diverge<br />
from that core.<br />
The aim of this book is to present <strong>Scots</strong> in a way that mirrors this<br />
situation. For comprehension, the book presents the learner with the<br />
‘core’ common to all varieties of <strong>Scots</strong>, while explaining the differences<br />
between them (which are not enormous) where it is appropriate to do<br />
so. For speech, the book enables the reader to learn one regional variety<br />
that will be acceptable and understandable to <strong>Scots</strong>-speakers from any<br />
region of the country 1 .<br />
The variety of <strong>Scots</strong> presented for the learner to speak is that of North<br />
East Scotland. There are a number of reasons for having chosen this<br />
area, one of which is that the writer is himself from there. However,<br />
there are other reasons, not least of which is that the North East is the<br />
region which has (according to UK government figures from NVVS) the<br />
highest percentage of active <strong>Scots</strong>-speakers. Another is that, although<br />
all regional varieties of <strong>Scots</strong> carry a social stigma to some extent, it is<br />
not quite so badly stigmatised in the North East as it is in some other<br />
areas. In other areas, spoken <strong>Scots</strong> is confined almost entirely to the<br />
working class, whereas in the North East (especially away from<br />
Aberdeen) its use among the middle class is not unusual. Lastly, the<br />
speech of North East Scotland has maintained a range of <strong>Scots</strong><br />
vocabulary and usage that, nowadays, is not so commonly heard<br />
elsewhere.<br />
1 It is a myth that <strong>Scots</strong>-speakers from different areas do not<br />
understand one another’s dialects.<br />
O
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