Scots and Scottish English : sociolinguistics and education in Glasgow and Edinburgh
The thesis describes, in the first instance, a sociolinguistic investigation of the speech of people of Edinburgh and Glasgow. This entails describing research carried out in the two cities with census-matched informants who were tape-recorded as they answered a questionnaire presented to them as informally as conditions allowed. This questionnaire enquired about all linguistic aspects of spoken language (e.g. phonology, syntax) and about informants' attitudes towards their own language use and their perceptions of the languages spoken in Lowland Scotland. Broadly speaking this resulted in the discovery that Scots-dialect linguistic forms are a feature of the speech of almost all natives of Glasgow and Edinburgh regardless of socio-economic status, age and gender. These kinds of non-linguistic social factors do, however, account for the range of, and extent to which Scots-dialect forms are used, as well as informants' attitudes towards spoken Scots and, indeed, perceptions of Scots as an entity separate from Scottish English. The latter part of this thesis describes an investigation into the official attitude of, and stance taken by the people responsible for educating children in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There
Steele, Laura June
Scots and Scottish English : sociolinguistics and education in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The thesis describes, in the first instance, a sociolinguistic investigation of the speech of people of Edinburgh and Glasgow. This entails describing research carried out in the two cities with census-matched informants who were tape-recorded as they answered a questionnaire presented to them as informally as conditions allowed. This questionnaire enquired about all linguistic aspects of spoken language (e.g. phonology, syntax) and about informants' attitudes towards their own language use and their perceptions of the languages spoken in Lowland Scotland. Broadly speaking this resulted in the discovery that Scots-dialect linguistic forms are a feature of the speech of almost all natives of Glasgow and Edinburgh regardless of socio-economic status, age and gender. These kinds of non-linguistic social factors do, however, account for the range of, and extent to which Scots-dialect forms are used, as well as informants' attitudes towards spoken Scots and, indeed, perceptions of Scots as an entity separate from Scottish English. The latter part of this thesis describes an investigation into the official attitude of, and stance taken by the people responsible for educating children in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There
scots scottish_english sociolinguistics education glasgow edinburgh describes first_instance sociolinguistic_investigation speech people edinburgh glasgow entail describe carry two_city census matched informant tape recorded answered questionnaire present informally condition allow questionnaire enquire linguistic aspect speak_language phonology syntax informant attitude_towards language_use perception languages speak lowland scotland broadly speak result discovery scots dialect linguistic_form feature speech almost native glasgow edinburgh regardless socio_economic_status age_gender kind non_linguistic social_factor however account range extent scots dialect form use well informant attitude_towards speak scots indeed perception scots entity separate scottish_english latter_part describe investigation official attitude stance_take people responsible educate child glasgow edinburgh