Scots Language: The Right to Scottish Culture.

Hullo

Firstly, I would have wished to write this in Scots to further our own culture, and dispel the myth that Scots is a language of the uneducated.. obviously when we are *only* taught English in school and given the impression that English is 'correct' by our own academia on impressionable minds of 5yo and up.. as adults we are left with the impression that English is the intelligent language and Scots for NEDS. All such thought does is destroy our own culture and curb us by ourselves into destruction as a peoples.. we should end English being taught in Schools and begin Scots as our Standard language alongside Gaelic.

That being said, for broad appeal and so others who are not Scots can read this, let's discuss the points.

We have a duty of care towards our culture, to preserve who we are as a peoples, might I remind the reader, we are the descendants of the Gauls, along with the Irish,Welsh, French, Cornish.. and extended The Catalans and Lombards (Northern Italy). We Scots as you know were the only ones do defend against the Romans. Descendants of the Pictish Gauls and Highland Gauls, The Picts who were the Elite Fighting force of the Gauls and protectors of those who would make the long journey to trade in silver to Galatia, whom Saint Paul spent time with and then wrote a letter to 'The Galatians' this was our colony in Anatolia.

Today, we are in a cultural purgatory.. with shades chasing our every thought, perhaps this is too poetic, let me explain:

The language of a peoples is the core of it's culture, without scholastic authority the culture dies.
More people from around the world respect latin or greek than are aware Scots as a language, you see their culture is oft remembered? Oh the irony that I write this in English! Ye widnæ credit'yt! Deid folk huv mær culture thun alive wans!! it's madness!

Here are some writings I have shared on this topic;
Quora:
"Hi
A large slice of the Scots population speaks ‘Scots’ the sister language of English, as Portuguese is with Spanish, Norwegian is with Swedish, Arabic is with Hebrew.
Scottish Standard English is what you are referring to.

In Scottish Standard English, we speak English but with the same accent we normally use for Scots, there are many different accents within Scotland, I am from the West Coast and speak with a West Coast accent, which is close to Glaswegian.

The history of Scots and English can be traced back to the same root, they both come from The Danelaw, and are variations on the Germanic family of the Jute Angles. This ‘Early English’ Anglo-Frisian (Danish) developed into both Scots and English.
Scottish people like myself, do something called ‘code-switching’ , you see this in the Philippines with English and Tagalog, but because Scots and English are sister languages it’s easier for the listener to get confused if they are not familiar with the Scots words used to pepper the speech.
So in short, both yes and no, you can compare ‘Early Scots’ to ‘Middle English’.. and even today, Modern Scots is closer to Middle English than it is to Modern English, I would say the Scots accent itself is probably ancient, going back through to the tongues of the Gauls, the English can still sound easily German in accent if they are not thinking too hard about it.
To be clear.. the reason I speak about Scots is, Scots came BEFORE Scottish Standard English, that’s what people were speaking.. and before that Gaelic.
Examples:
Scots
Fæ o’wer yon hill awe the sheep came ben runnin’ gee mæ a riȝht friȝht! Wæ tail waggin’ ahun’yt tæ. Happy ays ye like!
English/Scottish Standard English
From over the hill all the sheep came here running, gave me such a fright! With tail wagging behind it too. Happy as you like!
Scottish Standard English is said the same as English, but with your voice you would use for Scots, only the words change.
--links missing--"
"Hullo
Ah enjoyed yon ænswers gee’d si fær.. hmm miby ma æn pest guide oan the mætter wid help yez.
Hæ yursel a time wæ iyt!
Dava's Scots for English Speakers
Grammar, Diction and Syntax
Scots is a poetry based language, unlike its sister language English which has ridgid rules of expression and any deviation is considered slang. English is founded on the principles and pillars of versatility and clarity. Scots is founded on the principles and pillars of ingenuity and elegance.
Crafted throughout each paragraph of speech is something known as 'patter' patter specifically is the humorous branch of Scots micro-poetry. However the micro-poetry can be crafted into any form.
In the 'Personifications' Alba ends her interview with '.. How time flies but never stops.' This is a micro-poem. The meaning of which is.. time itself has boundless energy, but as we travel along with time, we become tired. This is an expression of exasperation mixed with reflection.
Groupings
Scots vs English
In Scots we did not use 'Be' prefix-ligature as often as the English do. So.. with us it is..
A'cause and not Because. I've not heard of 'A'come' instead of 'Become' but to me its a no brainer that aforementioned could drop into common usage easily, however, it's not happening as yet, so I did not use it.
Aye = yes
Naw = no
Ah = I
Maw = mum
Da = dad
Bru'er = brother
Wean = child
Bairn = baby
Wan = one
Twinty = twenty
Hunner = hundred
A vs B
A'cause
Afore
A'furiyt
A'gun
A'hind
A'hun
A'huneyt
Atween
vs
Because
Before
Infront (of)
Begun
Behidden
Behind
Behind (of)
Between
--
Næ vs Not
Cannæ
Cudnæ
Didnæ
Isnæ                                                                                                                                                            Widnæ                                                                                                                                                      Urnæ
vs
Can not
Could not
Did not
Is not
Would not
Are not
--
Scots Ash vs English
Næ
Wæ
Tæ
Fæ
Mæ
Dæ
Hæ
vs
None
With
To
From
Me
Do
Have
—
æy vs ay
Sæy
Wæy
Læy
Pæy
Dæy (‘happened the dæy’)
vs
Say
Way
Lay
Pay
Day
—
Yogh vs CK (this correctly uses Yogh instead of c, yogh covers cgh)
Oȝh
Loȝh
Moȝhkyt
Dreeȝkyt
Sleeȝkyt
Gleeȝkyt
vs
Oh
Lake (Lock Water Gate)
Muck (laden)
Drowned (and dark)
Sly
Gormless
Yogh is used to represent the thoating noise we use in the above words.
Correctness of Grammar in Scots can be an Abuse
Let me explain:
It does not matter the rules of which you speak Scots, think about Scots like a living breathing democracy with each word by each person having its own right to exist, no it is more the emotion in which something is said. In Scotland we at the time of writing have many generations who were emotionally abused for speaking 'slang' by people who wished to further the cause of the English language & culture. So in conclusion it is not wise to force rules on the Scots language .. but instead have commonalities and use them as a guideline.
In Scots on the West Coast we say 'huv' this is incorrect Scots 'hæ' is correct Scots and is from the East coast.. however 'huvnæ' is correct Scots 'hænæ' is incorrect. This microscopic dichotomy shows that Scots speakers themselves.. trying to correct someone may mean you are seen as someone who is trying to further the cause of English and dissuade the cause of Scots.
We are poetical in nature, and so as poetry is a living breathing emotion, our language is this also.
--links missing--"
And finally:

"As a native Scots speaker, I enjoyed an outside perspective. Thanks J[redacted] :)
I *will* add something that is missing from the linguists scope however..
It’s culture. It’s politics.

In School we are taught not to speak Scots as it is considered ‘slang’.. this is enforced by and for the benefit of English Culture, rebranded as ‘British’.
This led to a *very* strange dichotomy, that all those 5yo who were taught in School to accept English, believe they are speaking English when they are in fact speaking Scots. It’s a form of brainwashing. School teachers are taught to reviere the English language and so culture and they enforce this with the children.

I myself was slapped in the face 3 times over the course of being in primary School (5yo to 12yo) for speaking ‘slang’ when I was actually speaking my own tongue of Scots.
When Scots go abroad and try to speak Scots to others.. no one understands us.. we say things to excuse this to ourselves like ‘oh our ‘accent’ is too thick.’ it’s a plain fact.. if you are *meant* to be both speaking the same language and one doesn’t understand the other.. then it’s not the same language.

When I lived in the States for 3 months.. only 2 people out of the dozens I interacted with could understand me speaking normally, the rest I had to switch to English.
So.. in conclusion.. it’s brainwashing of those fertile young 5yo minds, that we speak ‘English’.. so now they adults, their minds either refuse to admit or make the same excuse they made when they were children ‘it’s an accent.’.

Scots while being the sister language to English, isn’t going anywhere.. but my fears grow more and more.. the more I think of our culture and how it is disappearing. If only we could wake the Scottish peoples up to Scots as a language.. we might have some protection."

I wish the Scottish Parliament to use Scots and Gaelic as the academic languages of Scotland and in The Parliament itself. The more we speak English the more we are English in culture and thought.. as it is well known, your language defines your cultural behaviour.
Let the children learn English online when they get home.. they will do it regardless anyway, no one can stop them, watching American movies and TV shows etc.. Scots for School across the central belt, with at least 5 hours of Gaelic a week, and the reverse for the Highlands, Gaelic with at least 5 hours of Scots a week.

Margaret Thatcher took all Scottish History off the syllabus .. I wasn't taught about Scotland until a teacher, God Bless him was being made redundant (second year) one afternoon told us everything, we were captivated! I was 14yo and had never heard anything in school about Scotland. I would have learned LOADS about England if I had paid attention.. knights and kings and queen and.. blah blah English stuff.

This is a common occurrence with the Scottish peoples.. ask around.. what were they taught?
The core as I said is language.. we are brainwashed into English culture via it as a language. 2013 was the first time I had ever heard of Scots being a language.. an' ays yon mirror reflects the thoughts o' ma eyes.. ye see well wit is written oan ma face.

kind regærds

Dava
(David Shaw, Dumbarton 43yo, Saor Alba)