Modern Scots
Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from English, largely from the colloquial register. This process of language contact or dialectisation under English has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English, and increased population mobility became available after the Second World War. It has recently taken on the nature of wholesale language shift towards Scottish English, sometimes also termed language  change, convergence or merger. By the end of the twentieth century Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland. Residual features of Scots are often simply regarded today as slang, especially by people from outwith Scotland, but even by many Scots. Dialects. The varieties of Modern Scots are generally divided into five dialect groups: The southern extent of Scots may be identified by the range of a number of pronunciation features which set Scots apart from neighbouring English dialects. Like many languages across borders there is a dialect continuum between Scots and the Northumbrian  dialect, both descending from early northern Middle English. The Scots pronunciation of contrasts with in Northern English. The Scots realisation reaches as far south as the mouth of the north Esk in north Cumbria, crossing Cumbria and skirting the foot of the Cheviots before reaching the east coast at Bamburgh some 12 miles north of Alnwick. The Scots –English / cognate group (-"might", -"enough", etc.) can be found in a small portion of north Cumbria with the southern limit stretching from Bewcastle to Longtown and Gretna. The Scots pronunciation of "wh" as becomes English south of Carlisle but remains in Northumberland , but Northumberland realises "r" as , often called the "burr", which is not a Scots realisation. The greater part of the valley of the Esk and the whole of Liddesdale have been considered to be northern English dialects by some, Scots by others. From the nineteenth century onwards influence from the South through education and increased mobility have caused Scots features to retreat northwards so that for all practical purposes the political and linguistic boundaries may be considered to coincide. As well as the main dialects, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow (see Glasgow patter) have local variations on an Anglicised form of  Central Scots. In Aberdeen, Mid Northern Scots is spoken by a minority. Due to their being roughly near the border between the two dialects, places like Dundee and Perth can contain elements and influences of both Northern and Central Scots. Phonology. Vowels. Vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule. Orthography. Words which differ only slightly in pronunciation from Scottish English are generally spelled as in English. Other words may be spelt the same but differ in pronunciation, for example: "aunt", "swap", "want" and "wash" with , "bull", "full" v. and "pull" with , "bind", "find" and "wind" v. , etc. with . History. As of 2022, there is no official standard orthography for modern Scots, but most words have generally accepted spellings. During the 15th and 16th centuries, when Scots was a state language, the Makars had a loose spelling system separate from that of English. However, by the beginning of the 18th century, Scots was beginning to be regarded "as a rustic dialect of English, rather than a national language". Scots poet Allan Ramsay "embarked on large-scale anglicisation of Scots spelling". Successors of Ramsay—such as Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott—tended to follow his  spelling ideas, and the general trend throughout the 18th and 19th centuries was to adopt further spellings from English, as it was the only accessible standard. Although descended from the Scots of the Makars, 18th-19th century Scots abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings for standard English ones; although from the rhymes it was clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended. Writers also began using the apologetic apostrophe, to mark "missing" English letters. For example, the older Scots spelling / (meaning "taken") became ; even though the word had not been written or pronounced with a "k" for hundreds of  years. 18th-19th century Scots drew on the King James Bible and was heavily influenced by the conventions of Augustan English poetry. All of this "had the unfortunate effect of suggesting that Broad Scots was not a separate language system, but rather a divergent or inferior form of English". This 'Scots of the book' or Standard Scots lacked neither "authority nor author". It was used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster, by writers such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Murray, David Herbison, James Orr, James Hogg and William Laidlaw among others. It is described in the  1921 "Manual of Modern Scots". By the end of the 19th century, Scots spelling "was in a state of confusion as a result of hundreds of years of piecemeal borrowing from English". Some writers created their own spelling systems to represent their own dialects, rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots. The variety referred to as 'synthetic Scots' or "Lallans" shows the marked influence of Standard English in grammar and spelling. During the 20th century, with spoken Scots and knowledge of the literary tradition waning, phonetic (often humorous) spellings became more common. In the second half  of the 20th century a number of spelling reform proposals were presented. Commenting on this, John Corbett (2003: 260) writes that "devising a normative orthography for Scots has been one of the greatest linguistic hobbies of the past century". Most proposals entailed regularising the use of established 18th-19th century conventions and avoiding the 'apologetic apostrophe'. Other proposals sought to undo the influence of standard English conventions on Scots spelling, by reviving Middle Scots conventions or introducing new ones. A step towards standardizing Scots spelling was taken at a meeting of the Makar's Club in Edinburgh in 1947, where the  Scots Style Sheet was approved. J. K.Annand, Douglas Young, Robert Garioch, A.D. Mackie, Alexander Scott, Tom Scott and Sydney Goodsir Smith all followed the recommendations in the Style Sheet to some extent. Some of its suggestions are as follows: In 1985, the Scots Language Society (SLS) published a set of spelling guidelines called "Recommendations for Writers in Scots". They represent a consensus view of writers in Scots at the time, following several years of debate and consultation involving Alexander Scott, Adam Jack Aitken, David Murison, Alastair Mackie and others. A developed version of the Style Sheet, it is based on  the old spellings of the Makars but seeks to preserve the familiar appearance of written Scots. It includes all of the Style Sheet's suggestions, but recommends that writers return to the more traditional "-aw", rather than "-aa". Some of its other suggestions are as follows: The SLS Recommendations says "it is desirable that there should be traditional precedents for the spellings employed and […] writers aspiring to use Scots should not invent new spellings off the cuff". It prefers a number of more phonetic spellings that were commonly used by medieval Makars, such as: ar (are), byd, tym, wyf (bide , time, wife), cum, sum (come, some), eftir (after), evin (even), evir (ever), heir, neir (here, near), hir (her), ir (are), im (am), littil (little), sal (shall) speik (speak), thay (they), thaim (them), thair (their), thare (there), yit (yet), wad (would), war (were), wes (was), wul (will). David Purves's book "A Scots Grammar" has a list of over 2500 common Scots words spelt on the basis of the SLS Recommendations. Purves has also published dozens of poems using the spellings. In 2000 the Scots Spelling Committee report was published in Lallans. Shortly after publication Caroline Macafee criticised some aspects  of that, and some previous spelling suggestions, as "demolishing the kind-of-a standardisation that already existed where Scots spelling had become a free-for-all with the traditional model disparaged but no popular replacement", leading to more spelling variation, not less. Grammar. The spellings used below are those based on the prestigious literary conventions described above. Other spelling variants may be encountered in written Scots. Not all of the following features are exclusive to Scots and may also occur in some varieties of English. Definite article. is used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns , diseases, trades and occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: ('autumn'), ('Wednesday'), ("off to church"), ("at the moment), (today), ('influenza'), ('Latin'), ("The duck ate a piece of bread"), ("my wife") etc. Nouns. Nouns usually form their plural in but some irregular plurals occur: / ('eye'/'eyes'), / ('calf'/'calves'), / ('horse'/'horses'), / ('cow'/'cows'), / ('shoe'/'shoes'). Nouns of measure and quantity are unchanged in the plural: ("four feet"), ("two miles"), (five pounds), (three hundredweight). Regular plurals include (loaves), (leaves), (shelves) and (wives). Pronouns. Personal and possessive pronouns. The second person singular nominative (, Southern  Scots , Shetland dialect ) survived in colloquial speech until the mid 19th century in most of lowland Scotland. It has since been replaced by in most areas except in Insular Scots where (, Shetland ) is also used, in North Northern Scots and in some Southern Scots varieties. is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular or is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder. The older second person singular possessive "thy" (), and "thee" (, Shetland along with "thine"("s") ) still survive to  some extent where remains in use. See T–V distinction. Relative pronoun. The relative pronoun is ("'at" is an alternative form borrowed from Norse but can also be arrived at by contraction) for all persons and numbers, but may be left out (There aren't many people who live in that glen). The anglicised forms 'who, whom, whose', and the older 'which' are literary affectations; is only used after a statement (he said he'd lost it, which is not what we wanted to hear). The possessive is formed by adding "'s" or by using an appropriate pronoun (the woman  whose house was burnt), (the woman whose daughter got married); (the men whose boat was lost). A third adjective/adverb , indicating something at some distance Also (those) and (these), the plurals of "that" and "this" respectively. In Northern Scots and are also used where "these" and "those" would be in Standard English. Verbs. Modal verbs. The modal verbs (may), (ought to), and (shall), are no longer used much in Scots but occurred historically and are still found in anglicised literary Scots. , (should), and are the preferred Scots forms. Scots employs double modal constructions (He won't be able to come  today), (I may be able to come tomorrow), (I used to be able to do it, but not now). Negation occurs by using the adverb , in the North East , as in (I'm not coming), (I will not teach you), or by using the suffix - sometimes spelled "nae" (pronounced variously , or depending on dialect), as in (I don't know), (They can't come), (We couldn't have told him), and (I haven't seen her). The usage with "no" is preferred to that with -"na" with contractable auxiliary verbs like -"ll" for "will", or in yes/no questions with  any auxiliary "He'll no come" and "Did he no come?" Present tense of verbs. The present tense of verbs adhere to the Northern subject rule whereby verbs end in -"s" in all persons and numbers except when a single personal pronoun is next to the verb, , , (They say he's too small), etc. but , but . (Those who come first are served first). (The trees grow green in summer). Past tense and past participle of verbs. The regular past form of the weak or regular verbs is "-it", "-t" or "-ed", according to the preceding consonant or vowel: The "-ed  ending may be written -'d" if the "e" is 'silent'. Many verbs have (strong or irregular) forms which are distinctive from Standard English (two forms connected with ~ means that they are variants): Present participle. The present participle and gerund in are now usually but may still be differentiated and in Southern Scots and, and North Northern Scots. Adverbs. Adverbs are usually of the same form as the verb root or adjective especially after verbs. (Having a really good day). (She's awfully tired). Adverbs are also formed with -"s", -"lies", , "gate"("s")and , (at times), (perhaps), (splendidly), (pretty well), (perhaps), (backwards ), (partly), (secretly), (almost), (always, everywhere), (everywhere), (anyhow), (everywhere), (anyhow, anywhere), (straight ahead), (how, why). Numbers. Ordinal numbers end mostly in "t": "seicont", "fowert", "fift", "saxt"— (second, fourth, fifth, sixth) etc., but note also "first", "thrid"/"third"— (first, third). "Ae" , is used as an adjective before a noun such as : (The One House), (One boy and two girls). is pronounced variously, depending on dialect, , in many Central and Southern varieties, in some Northern and Insular varieties, and , often written , and in dialect writing. The impersonal form of 'one' is "a body" as in (One can never live by oneself). Interrogative words. In  the North East, the 'wh' in the above words is pronounced . Syntax. Scots prefers the word order to 'He turned the light out' and ("Give us it") to 'Give it to me'. Certain verbs are often used progressively , . Verbs of motion may be dropped before an adverb or adverbial phrase of motion . Subordinate clauses. Verbless subordinate clauses introduced by (and) express surprise or indignation. (She had to walk the whole length of the road—and she seven months pregnant). (He told me to run—and me with my sore leg). Suffixes. Diminutives. Diminutives in -"ie", small (stream), (frightened person, coward ), (gamekeeper), (kilted soldier), (postman), (woman, also used in Geordie dialect), (rhododendron), and also in -"ock", (little bit), (toy, plaything), (sorrel) and Northern –"ag", (little), (child, common in Geordie dialect), (Geordie), -"ockie", (small house), (little woman), both influenced by the Scottish Gaelic diminutive -"ag" (-"óg" in Irish Gaelic). Literature. The eighteenth century Scots revival was initiated by writers such as Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson, and later continued by writers such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Scott introduced vernacular dialogue to his novels. Other well-known authors like Robert Louis Stevenson, William Alexander, George MacDonald, J. M. Barrie and  other members of the Kailyard school like Ian Maclaren also wrote in Scots or used it in dialogue, as did George Douglas Brown whose writing is regarded as a useful corrective to the more roseate presentations of the kailyard school. In the Victorian era popular Scottish newspapers regularly included articles and commentary in the vernacular, often of unprecedented proportions. In the early twentieth century, a renaissance in the use of Scots occurred, its most vocal figure being Hugh MacDiarmid whose benchmark poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926) did much to demonstrate the power of Scots as a  modern idiom. Other contemporaries were Douglas Young, John Buchan, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch and Robert McLellan. The revival extended to verse and other literature. William Wye Smith's New Testament translations appeared in 1901 and in 1904 in a new edition. In 1983 William Laughton Lorimer's translation of the New Testament from the original Greek was published. Sample texts. From "Hallow-Fair" (Robert Fergusson 1750–1774) From "The Maker to Posterity" (Robert Louis Stevenson 1850–1894) From "The House with the Green Shutters" (George Douglas Brown 1869–1902) From "Embro to the Ploy" (Robert Garioch 1909 - 1981) From "The New Testament  in Scots" (William Laughton Lorimer 1885- 1967) Mathew:1:18ff