Review: Scots Language Books

Denizens of the Scoterati will have noticed a surge of interest recently in the Scots language, largely brought about by the BBC's interesting four part television series Scots, introduced by the novelist Carl MacDougall. This examined the history of the language and gauged its future, while offering an introduction to its literary and cultural contexts.

In his accompanying book, Scots: The Language of the People (Black and White), MacDougall surveys literature in Scots (or partly therein) over several centuries, from an anonymous late 13^th century fragment bemoaning the death of Alexander III up to late 20^th century work from Edwin Morgan and Kathleen Jamie.

Constraints of time mean that television programmes on literature must skip over texts, so this collection is welcome. Selections are offered from around 50 writers (a few of them known only as Anon), complete with a short piece offering a potted biography and the significance of the chosen extract. Tie-in books, however, sometimes fail to stand on their own, and if this book has a fault, it is that some of the introductions seem a little skimped in order to fit in the longer prose pieces. I could have done with more than four paragraphs on a major figure like Walter Scott, and while little is known about Henryson, I'd have appreciated the chance to learn more about his work and how it existed in the context of his time.

That said, on the whole, I'd recommend this book, for the selections are so well made: a nice mix of old favourites (The Twa Corbies, Holy Willie), classics like Grassic Gibbon's short story 'Smeddum' and quirky examples from modern times, such as Morgan's chaffinch map and Tom Leonard's 'The Voyeur' (the one which plays with the word wee). It is curious to see the trajectory of literary Scots veering from the language of historical heavybrow and of panegyric, to the language of picaresque dialogue, to the language of sentiment and of comedy and coarseness, something MacDiarmid helped to shift back on course, and which contemporary writers and educators in Scots are determined to steer in the right direction.

A timely reappearance, then, for Billy Kay's Scots – The Mither Tongue (Mainstream), which first appeared twenty years ago, when the Scottish parliament was just a wish for most Scots speakers. In this updated and extended edition, Kay is far from happy with the Parliament and what he sees as its lack of support for Scots (due, he reckons, to a perceived bond between Scots and nationalism).

Kay surveys the language from it beginnings between the fifth and tenth centuries BC when it slowly took over (moving from the South East) from the dominant language, a Q Celt language similar to Welsh. Alongside the political and literary histories of the language, Kay also looks at how other tongues (Norse, Gaelic, Picitsh) informed Scots; he is particularly good on the subtle differences between dialects within Scotland.

Though I broadly support Kay's stance on the language, and though I've no doubt that his book is one of the crucial texts in a modern Scotland, many will find the book polemical, questionable, even on occasion objectionable. This, I suppose, is what makes it so readable. Those who balk at the thought of being preached to, might choose to miss out the introduction and the last chapter – they will still find a fascinating piece of social history – a classic tale of rise and fall (and hopeful rise again) - to entertain their thoughts.