Although English is by far the most widely used language of the nine county province of Ulster (not the same entity as Northern Ireland), many people conduct their daily lives using Irish (Gaeilge) and Ulster Scots. About 100,000 people are estimated to speak Ulster Scots as well as English with about 10,000 people (usually the older generation) using only Ulster Scots. Countless others throughout the province speak English with occasional borrow words from both Irish and Ulster Scots.
Ulster Scots is the name given to the dialect of the Scots language spoken in three main areas of Ulster (see map). Scots is a germanic language, i.e. it comes from the same language family as German, Dutch and English (to name but a few). It is most closely related to English; both languages split from Anglo-Saxon (also called Old-English) around 1400 AD. Scots is therefore similar to English and this has led to a debate as to whether the former is really a distinct language at all. Indeed both Scots and Ulster Scots have suffered from years of being viewed as merely 'improper English' which has contributed greatly to the decline in use and subsequent erosion of vocabulary. In my view, Scots is more than just a regional dialect of English however, as it posseses a discrete vocabulary and a discrete grammar as well.
In this brief beginners guide to Ulster Scots, I hope to present some of these features to allow you to make your own mind up about the status of Ulster Scots speech. I think you will at least agree with me that Ulster Scots can be very different from English and deserves to be recognised as a distinctive cultural heritage for many people in the north of the island of Ireland.
The parent language of Ulster Scots, Lowland Scots (often contracted to Lallans) has been classified a minority language by the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages and as such is protected by a European charter to which the UK government signed up in 2000 and ratified in 2001. Scots was brought to Ulster by the plantations of the 15th and 16th centuries where it met with not only the Irish language, but also with a Nordic influence. The regions where Ulster Scots is spoken today (shown below) are still consistent with the distribution of the early Scottish settlers of the plantations and due to many factors which would present a subject on its own, these regions have subtleties of speech which make them distinct enough to almost be separate dialects of Scots which are generally just grouped together as Ulster Scots. As I am from the town of Ballymoney, I will be presenting the form of Ulster Scots as spoken in the North of county Antrim.
Another term often heard in discussions about Ulster Scots and of which you should be aware is Ullans. It is a contraction of Ulster Scots in the same way as Lallans is a contraction of 'Lowland Scots'. I get the feeling however that this term tends to be used when referring to the written language only and specifically the orthography based on traditional literary usage and on more recent inventions such as the use of the downward sloping accent on some vowels.
Before moving on to the lessons, A word on orthography (the way a language is written down). Anyone who has seen any documents produced by the government or looked at the website of the Boord o Ulster Scots will be familiar with the so called "Adamsonic" style of writing Ulster Scots with grave accents and so on. Although I no longer employ this scheme when writing Ulster Scots (I feel it alienates native speakers from their own language), I will occasionaly make some use of one feature; I shall use the acute accent to denote a stress which is different to the word in English. For example, créam is pronounced like crayim but spelling it like this would detract from the meaning which is cream.
If you wish to learn the pronunciation (which can be tricky to get right!), why not start by listening to some of the audio files in the vocabulary section accessed via the table below.
Now that you have been introduced to the language, it's time to start introducing yourself to others using Ulster Scots in lesson 1. Good luck!
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MORE LESSONS ON THE WAY!! -- WATCH THIS SPACE!
CLÁRACHA EILE ATÁ AG TEACHT AGUS LEAGAN GAEILGE FOSTA!! -- TAR AR AIS I GCEANN TAMALL!
