David Purves > Quotes

“What we have at present in Scotland is a linguistic continuum between Scots-English - the cumulative result of the attempts of several generations of Scots to speak English - and what is left of our own language, now largely confined to those who have not been deracinated by the influwnce of educational policy. Nevertheless, the Scots language still survives, incipient and fragmented, in the speech of the people and in a substantial body of recorded literature, although what is left of spoken Scots is coming under increasing pressure from English as a result of the influence of British radio and television. The problem for those who are interested in the survival and further evolution of Scots, is not how best to doctor it so that is can masquerade as English, but how to distinguish it clearly from English in writing, as a language which has a character and rules of its own.”
― David Purves, Thrawart Threipins

“It seems ti me that the're a whein o guid grunds for owresettin the Shakespeare play intil Scots. For ae thing, the action is set maistlie in Scotland an the dramatis personae is maistlie Scots. For aw, it haes becom an English stage tradeition ti knap the plays o Shakespeare in a clippit ferr back Inglish accent, an whan this is duin wi Macbeth, it is ill ti credit that the action haes oniething to dae wi Scotland at aw. For another thing, Shakespeare's play is nou that weill-kent that monie skreids in it ir nou clichés - wurds that war aince fou o virr haes becum sachless owre the hunders o year sen they war written.”
― David Purves, Scots Glasnost VII: April 1993