Not scottish english, which is a variety of english, or scottish gaelic, which is actually a celtic rather than a germanic language, but lowland scots. The intelligibility and comprehensibility of world englishes 145 2. By this time, scots was declasse and statusless, and highlanders learned english as a second language with limited to no scots interference murison 1979. History and present position of english in scotland. But in spite of all that, much work still needs to be done if scots is to become the true national language of scotland or. Oct 23, 2019 unfortunately, the mutual intelligibility test does not always lead to clearcut results. Latin also held prominence in the literature ofscience, philosophy and theology. Intercomprehension and mutual intelligibility among southern malagasy languages article in language matters 382. The greatest mutual intelligibility is between ulster irish and southern scottish.
Old english mutual intelligibility post by mulder21 20061117, 17. The scots language has germanic roots and is spoken widely in lowland scotland and some regions of ulster. Scots that seeks to be the first authoritative grammar book of scots. These mutually intelligible languages will make you do a double.
In england, the sound v, as in sun svn, is a typical southern sound, found in southern england and in south midland, while this. How mutually intelligible are scots and irish gaelic. Scots gaelic gaidhligirish gaeilgemanx gaelg the three here are all linked and are mutually intelligible gaeilge is the main language from which gaidhlig came and then lastly gaelg. Apr 15, 2014 frisian is often cited as the language that is closest to english, but scots is actually closer i. Personally, as an anglophone, i can concur with that. The muchvaunted mutual intelligibility between spanish and portuguese leaves much to be desired.
Hes the site administrator and i am waiting for him to give me some site tools i. Mutual intelligibility the reader wiki, reader view of. Nov 26, 2018 the scots language has a significant level of mutual intelligibility with english. Mutual intelligibility between german and dutch i am a native dutch speaker who also knows a bit of german. Some linguists claim that mutual intelligibility is, ideally at least, the primary criterion separating languages from dialects. Recognising and celebrating the differences between english and scots can help. Gaidhlig and gaelg are the most mutually intelligible, with irish being less so as it is more pure. Jason needs to get off his lazy ass and help me with the site. Mutual intelligibility definition and examples thoughtco. Languages vary from one place to another, from one social group to another, and from one situation to another, and these are the main topics of this chapter.
According to the mutual intelligibility page on wikipedia, scots is the only language that is relatively mutually intelligible to english. Thus as norman french became the ruling language across the nation, and withit all largescaletrade ventures, english settled down again to a local fermentation ofdialects. Intercomprehension and mutual intelligibility among. In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. The intelligibility and comprehensibility of world englishes.
Irish gaelic and scots gaelic are a bit like italian and spanish fluency in one goes a long way to understanding the other. Languages understandable to englishspeakers without learning. Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in europe charlotte gooskens department of applied linguistics, university of groningen in europe a large number of languages are spoken. I think that the answer should be more nuanced and that it depends on several factors. The scots language has a significant level of mutual intelligibility with english. Unfortunately, the mutualintelligibility test does not always lead to clearcut results.
Scottish english resulted from language contact between scots and the standard english of england after the 17th century. There are also other difficulties with the criterion of mutual intelligibility. True, given enough time and goodwill, mutual intelligibility can be achieved without too much effort. Scots may be considered partially mutually intelligible, but it would likely be asymmetric, as most if not all scots speakers also have a goodtonative. Bilingual diglossia is a type of diglossia in which one language variety is used for writing and another for speech. Kajkavian has higher mutual intelligibility with slovene than the national varieties of shtokavian, while chakavian has a low mutual intelligibility with either, in part due to large number of loanwords from venetian. Mutual intelligibility and the contact history of english. There is not any standard germanic language allthough english is the most widely spoken germanic language in the world. How to classify a variety of speech as either a language or a dialect is one of those neverending linguistic debates. Scots in the scottish curriculum bilingualism matters. Testing mutual intelligibility between closely related.
Auld norse is a north germanic leid that wis spoken bi indewllers o scandinavie an indewllers o thair owerseas settlements in the viking age, till aboot 0 the chyngin processes that distinguish auld norse frae its aulder form, protonorse, wis maistly concludit aroond the 8t century, an anither transitional period that led up til the modren descendants o auld norse i. It depends on which variety of english and which variety of scots. The only language mutually intelligible with english is scots, but its disputed whether that is a language or not, but scots is recognized as a language under the european charter for regional or minority languages. English is distinct from german, dutch, and swedish. Terminology most scots today speak english, or scottish english which is a variety of english with a distinct accent and some vocabulary and grammar differe. Mutual intelligibility among the slavic languages beyond. Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages intelligibility. How mutually intelligible are scots and english relative to other closelyrelated languages. The degree to which a speaker of one variety understands the speech of another closely related variety can be expressed in a single number closely related languages. First of all, once you make yourself aware of mutually intelligible languages. Hence, the highlander has never spoken scots and hardly recognizes any distinction between it and. Sep 02, 2019 since mediaeval times long before england and scotland were under the same government.
On the other hand, speakers of closely related languages can often communicate with each other. In vanuatu we piloted a picture task and a translation task. Does anyone here know of any sort of objective measure that has been taken to compare how well english especially nonbritish speakers can understand the scots language as opposed to, say, danish and norwegian, italian and sicilian, or even german and. Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in. Pdf some scientific intelligibility studies robert lindsay. Therefore the scots itself was under siege from the indigenous dialects and later on from the standard english taught in schools and the modern usage of transatlantic english by the younger generation. Mutual intelligibility as well as questions of power and.
Here is a poem by egill skallagrimsson in, icelandic, old english, english and old icelandic. Language, dialect what are the varieties that make up a. Another problem occurs in the case of diglossia, used to describe a situation in which, in a given society, there are two closely related languages, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue. Is there a language that is mutually intelligible with. Frisian is often cited as the language that is closest to english, but scots is actually closer i. Are there any mutually unintelligible english dialects. Respect for linguistic diversity is a core eu value but the. Germanic language mutual intelligibility best, country. A case study of exogamous sui clans by james norris stanford this study investigates dialect contact and identity by examining the systematic patterns of clan contact and immigration found among the exogamous clans of the sui people, an ethnic minority concentrated in rural parts of guizhou, china. Is there mutual intelligibility between scottish gaelic and. The norse element in the orkney dialect university of aberdeen. Scots and english are sister languages, in the same way that the languages of norway and denmark are. Are there any languages that are mutually intelligible with english.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. A perceptual study of scottish dialects b005772 msc. Between sources, you might find some claiming that two languages are mutually intelligible, while other sources claim those same languages arent. The legitimate and illegitimate offspring of english yorkspace. It is important for learners to know the differences between the languages and the times when they might want to use one rather than the other. Language variation 2 if you take a look at a dialect atlas of england,2 you will find that roughly, the word child is used in southern england and in midland, while bairn is used in northern england. In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which. Cairn, an academic journal focused on scots and written in scots. I am learning scots gaelic and can read some irish with a bit of difficulty, but fluent speakers of scots gaelic can more or less understand most irish indeed irish gaelic is often broadcast on scots gaelic radio. Thus scots english may at first be quite unintelligible to. Jun 09, 2015 how to classify a variety of speech as either a language or a dialect is one of those neverending linguistic debates. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable pdf that you.
Heres a nice chart showing lexical distance between european languages. The resulting shifts to english usage by scots speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken for mergers by linguists unfamiliar with the history of scottish english. These mutually intelligible languages will make you do a. So far ive only been able to learn is that english is highly intelligible among its different dialects, but no actual statement that all dialect are mutually intelligible. It is sometimes used as an important criterion for distinguishing languages from dialects, although sociolinguistic factors are often also used.
Mutual intelligibility wikimili, the best wikipedia reader. This language should not be mixed up with either the celtic language or scottish gaelic. But how distinct are english and scots or dutch and low german spoken across the border from the netherlands in parts of germany or swedish and danish. Its important to note that mutual intelligibility is highly subjective. Pdf some scientific intelligibility studies robert. In sociolinguistics, diglossia is a situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same speech community. Others said that they couldnt understand a word of dutch afrikaans the first time they heard it. In a european context, scots, low german, and occitan. Most scottish people command a whole series of increasingly englishlike varieties between.
These mutually intelligible languages will make you do a double take. Thus scots english may at first be quite unintelligible to speakers of the various varieties of standard american english, and vice versa. Their mutual intelligibility varies greatly, both between the dialects themselves as well as with other languages. How mutually intelligible are scots and english linguistics. Sep 01, 2017 john hodgart, a former english teacher and a member of the scottish governments working group on scottish studies gave a presentation in musselburgh in 2011 on the place of scots in the scottish curriculum. On the mutual intelligibility of spanish and portuguese a. Is there a language that is mutually intelligible with english. The paper deals with a complex situation of english in scotland. Sizesize mutual intelligibilitymutual intelligibility autonomy and heteronomy autonomy and heteronomy prestige prestige a language is a dialect with an army and a. Mutual intelligibility wikipedia republished wiki 2. On the other hand, speakers of closely related languages can often communicate with each other to a fair degree.
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