Language death in Scotland : a linguistic analysis of the process of language death and linguistic interference in Scottish Gaelic and Scots language
Within contemporary Scotland there are two distinct language systems which may be considered to be threatened with extinction. These are the Germanic system of Scots, decended from the Northumbrian dialect of Old English, and the Celtic system of Gaelic, one of the languages of the Goidelic branch of Celtic. Both systems are dominated by English, in the written form and through the spoken forms of Received Pronunciation and Standard Scottish English. The common ancestry of Scots and English, both being derived from dialects of Old English, suggests that the form of domination in this relationship could be distinguised from the influence of English on Gaelic. This is paralleled in the distinction made between the processes of 'language suicide' (ie the gradual assimilation towards a similar system) and 'language murder' (ie the displacement of one language by another). This is considered in terms of register and domain. Interference is analysed within various registers and domains in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis and orthography. Further studies assess the extent of usage for Gaelic in the Isle of Lewis and Scots in Banffshire. The main conclusion that is drawn from the study is that the broad
MacLeod, Stewart A.
Scottish Gaelic language ; Linguistic minorities
Language death in Scotland : a linguistic analysis of the process of language death and linguistic interference in Scottish Gaelic and Scots language. Within contemporary Scotland there are two distinct language systems which may be considered to be threatened with extinction. These are the Germanic system of Scots, decended from the Northumbrian dialect of Old English, and the Celtic system of Gaelic, one of the languages of the Goidelic branch of Celtic. Both systems are dominated by English, in the written form and through the spoken forms of Received Pronunciation and Standard Scottish English. The common ancestry of Scots and English, both being derived from dialects of Old English, suggests that the form of domination in this relationship could be distinguised from the influence of English on Gaelic. This is paralleled in the distinction made between the processes of 'language suicide' (ie the gradual assimilation towards a similar system) and 'language murder' (ie the displacement of one language by another). This is considered in terms of register and domain. Interference is analysed within various registers and domains in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis and orthography. Further studies assess the extent of usage for Gaelic in the Isle of Lewis and Scots in Banffshire. The main conclusion that is drawn from the study is that the broad
language death scotland linguistic_analysis process language death linguistic interference scottish gaelic scots language within_contemporary scotland two_distinct language system may_consider extinction germanic system scots northumbrian dialect old_english celtic system gaelic languages branch celtic system dominate english write form spoken form received pronunciation standard scottish_english common ancestry scots english derive dialect old_english suggest form domination relationship could influence english gaelic parallel distinction_make process language suicide gradual assimilation towards similar system language murder displacement language another consider_term register domain interference analyse within various register domain term phonology_morphology syntax lexis orthography study assess_extent usage gaelic isle lewis scots main_conclusion drawn study broad