From: cwilson@gssec.bt.co.uk (Colin Wilson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Accent and Dialect, the politics there
Date: 17 Nov 92 13:45:40 GMT
Organization: BT

In article <1992Nov15.205128.8644@news.clarkson.edu>, walker@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Graham Walker, 227 West Old Main,268-3847,) writes:
|> From article <1992Nov13.183451.18675@gssec.bt.co.uk>, by cwilson@gssec.bt.co.uk (Colin Wilson):
|> >If you live in some places in Aberdeenshire, it's easy to think that this
|> > tongue (the regional dialect of Scots, often known by the euphemism "the
|> > Doric") is about to disappear. What has happened in most cases is that the
|> > nature of the community has changed, and a self-contained rural or semi-rural
|> > community is now dominated by middle-class commuters from Aberdeen. The place
|> > where I grew up, Peterculter, is a first-rate example of this. Ouside ready
|> > commuting distance to Aberdeen, "the Doric" is still there. What's more, as
|> > of this year, it has equal status with English in the schools in the region.
|> > 
|> > ********************************************************************************
|> > *  Colin Wilson,                           E-mail:  cwilson@gssec.bt.co.uk     *
|> In my case I am referring to the NE coast Fraserburgh, St. Combs,
|> Inveralochy, Cairnbulg, etc. and Donside Kemney, Fyvie, Alford, etc.,
|> and in these cases (especially on the coast) the social make up of the
|> communities has not changed much since I was small. However, I still
|> believe that the local tongue is becoming more like "standard english"
|> because of the affect of television. I agree that today the Doric is
|> "studied" in school but almost as if it were a historical artifact.
|> Personally, I would be glad if it were to become spoken more commonly,
|> however, "you can never return home" and I think this is a case in
|> point.

I don't disagree that Scots in the north-east is being eroded, but I
think that anyone who suggested that it was about to disappear would be
overstating things.

The way in which it is treated in the schools may be about to change
radically for the better. Grampian Regional Council are holding a
conference on this very subject on 28th. November, and I hope to attend
as an observer on behalf of the Scots Language Society. It's possible
that we will see increasing use of Scots in the future, not as a
"historical artefact", but as a teaching medium. Incidentally,
Strathclyde are holding a similar conference a few days later.

After that, the next step will need to be a concerted campaign to get
Grampian TV to start using it for the regional news, weather, etc. and
other programmes, and to get the council to use it in areas other than
education, such as bi-lingual road signs ("Fraserburgh/The Broch",
"Turriff/Turra", etc.),  its own internal activities, and dealings with
the public.

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