Keeping Scots Language Alive | In Search Of Sir Walter Scott | BBC Scotland

Poet Len Pennie talks about performing in Scots and why it is so important to keep the language alive, as she discusses the legacy of Sir Walter Scott's work with author Damian Barr.
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[@snodrog5]

Len Pennie is a brilliant Scots poet, she deserves much more than just a brief interview.

[@AAMacKenzie]

Too right

[@AAMacKenzie]

Her career as a poet has just begun. There will come a time when I will be able to say, "I knew her when she was less known -- but now -- she's a legend!"

[@jackjohnhameld6401]

I wish this had gone on much longer : Len Pennie is a talent to watch.

[@jimmydickson8854]

My wife and I have been in Australia 45 years and still talk Scot’s ,old jimmy

[@sylviamcfadden5439]

I’m out in Canada learning Scots 💕

[@adam62385]

The one thing that struck me was when Len talked about her friend saying she couldn’t speak Scots in interviews, & how that’s equating Scots as seemingly uneducated. That struck me so because I’m from East TN, in the Appalachians. For long as I can remember, I’ve heard the same nonsense about my own accent, which I reckon itself is similar to Scots. My Mammaw (TN Appalachian for Grandmother) family are the Campbell clan. I remember a story my cousin Penny told of she & her friend visiting Inveraray, & her friend from LA asking how she understood what anybody at their hotel said. I love her response: ‘Honey… my whole family talks like this!! Feels like I ain’t left home!’ 😁 Man… I hope I get to visit the Highlands someday!!

[@ReineDeLaSeine14]

Yes, many early Appalachians were Scots and some of the phrasing is still used. I was thinking of Appalachian dialects when I watched this. I used to think some of the same things until I moved to Appalachia and I say let your accent shine!

[@adailydaughter6196]

Love this. Thanks for sharing your beautiful culture / language with us 😍

[@drrd4127]

Aye, ma da spek Scots aw th' tyme. Ah dinnae dae it maun cos ah leev abraid bit a kin un'nerstaun an kinna scrieve a wee bit.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

What does that mean

[@omniglot]

It means "Yes, my dad speaks Scots all the time. I don't do it much because I live abroad but I can understand and can write a little bit",

[@chickensprint]

@@omniglot as an Australian it's definitely much easier to understand when heard opposed to when read

[@drrd4127]

@oscarosullivan4513 It means "Yes, my dad speaks Scots all the time, I don't speak it much because I live abroad but I can understand and write it a bit"

[@ScMc17]

That's just English words typed like your talking with a strong accent

[@sa25-svredemption98]

Although Scottish Gaelic has the big name and status as the quintessential Scottish language, I feel in no small way a greater cultural affinity than with Lallans, or Scots. This is as an Australian with rather diverse heritage, nonetheless the largest cultural and ethnic heritage I have is that of the Scots, particularly of the Clyde Estuary. Lallans is the language heard most often in the Scots diaspora here, due in no small part also to the Ulster Scots and Scottish Scots who still come here. That, and most Caledonian societies here still maintain strong emphasis on Scots language and culture (one of the most famous being the Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia, whose Pipes and Drums often attend and perform at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo). Even so, it's not just the Scots Language of yesteryear preserved by Sir Walter Scott...of course, Rabbie Burns is still a celebrated proponent of the language, but also some of the works of Robert Lois Stevenson are in Lallans! There is, of course, other examples of Lallans preserved through books. I think readily of some of the earlier publications of King James VI and I, with Scots as the official court language at the time (prior, of course, to his moving to England the the English court). As stated here, the preservation of the spoken language is due to the working class of Scotland, especially the Lowlands and East Coast (the north-west, islands and far north, of course, being integral to the preservation of Scottish Gaelic as the cultural language). But I think it's very significant, and especially to diaspora communities, that the official court language of Scots is also so widely available in print, as in so doing it continues to provide that cultural link between the diaspora and the present-day Scottish cultures.

[@dannymcintyre3819]

There is no such thing as the Clyde estuary

[@sa25-svredemption98]

@@dannymcintyre3819 Firth of Clyde, the estuary (nautical term - I am a sailor first and foremost) where the Clyde River opens up to the sea. Firth of Clyde is the name many would be familiar with.

[@Motofanable]

The Firth of Clyde aren't a typical Lowlands because it's one of the lost hinterlands of Gaelic Scotland, so it looks like you have a heritage similar to Irish Ulster and Highlands.

[@dannymcintyre3819]

@@Motofanable agreed. Carrick and Galloway are very much part of the Gàidhealtachd until the 17th century too, perhaps into the 18th century. The southern lowlands generally having become majority Scots / Old Inglis speaking much early by the 12/13/14tj centuries but before that dominated by Gaels. Scots (and old English) is a massive part oof Scotland's history and present too and we should be equallly proud of it.

[@gardener3030]

Wow, she’s groovy.

[@samuelr007ruiz9]

As a native Spanish speaker who can understand Portuguese to a 98% in its formal form and to a 80% in a normal conversation, Scots is a language because if it weren't I'd have to say that Portuguese is not a language. There is a huge difference between Yucatec Spanish dialect, Center Chilean Spanish Dialect and Cubans Spanish Dialect to the point that sometimes it is easier to understand a person speaking in formal Portugues than someone speaking in one of those informal forms (dialects) of Spanish.

[@RobertHeslop]

Being from Newcastle upon Tyne, I don't actually find Scots that hard to understand if I listen to it

[@alaingoyette3883]

The music was too loud making it difficult to hear her correctly

[@ryansmith2844]

Could one of you please decipher the poem in, um, 'several species of small furry animals grooving in a cave with a pict'...? Is it original and is there more to it? Or were they just making fun of the language?

[@Gagikato]

❤420 likes

[@Sabhail_ar_Alba]

That BBC oik's insufferable.

[@artistsanomalous7369]

Just me or is this girl a few quarts short of a pint?