Scots: The Mither Tongue

by Billy Kay

In this revised edition of a classic of contemporary Scottish culture, Billy Kay vigorously renews the social, cultural, and political debate on Scotland’s linguistic future. He compares Scottish with other European lesser-used languages, and celebrates its survival in its various dialects, literature, and song.

Genres: Nonfiction, Scotland, Linguistics, History, Cultural, Language

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Billy Kay is a writer, broadcaster and language activist. Born in Galston, East Ayrshire, Scotland in 1951, he studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his study on the history and current status of the Scots language, Scots: The Mither Tongue (1980), which became the basis for a television series broadcast in 1986.

Reviews

[Uilleam Mac Uilleam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ma girlfreend has just telt me this book has had me slavering and havering away aw day. Must be gid

[hoffnarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned a lot from the book and there is broad coverage. The book is interesting throughout. Three areas that can frustrate readers: If you don’t already read Scots well, the many and sometimes long Scots passages in block quotes can be extremely difficult. You can guess your way through some phrases but the assumption seems to be (confirmed by the concluding paragraph addressing the reader as someone Scottish) you can read Scots fluently. Only very occasionally are Scots words in quotes glossed. Secondly, pronunciation explanations never include phonetic alphabetic glosses and instead offer occasional comparisons which are ambiguous - “sounds like” comparisons depends a lot on whether the reader is Scottish, English, or American so that readers may be left wondering how many words are pronounced. Finally, while I’m certainly very sympathetic to the overall narrative of the tragic disregard for Scots as a serious idiom of study and promotion, there are moments when readers more familiar with sociolinguistics or of the histories of language and nationalism will find themselves uneasy to encounter extremely curt dismissals of any more troubling connections of the latter, and strange occasional passages (not uniform, as the author is more careful in some places than in others) where Scots is treated as special thanks to glories of Scotland’s past, over and above languages/dialects within Scotland (Doric) or beyond (Northumbrian) etc. Languages are dialects and dialects are languages as he says, until they aren’t, as he suggests elsewhere speaking of unbroken continuum’s and the like. The deeply contested terrain here is not always carefully dealt with by highly normative tone of this work on Scots.

[Shimon de Valencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read, that covers a lot of material. The (long) Scots sections can be a bit daunting. But with forbearance, and a wee dictionary, you’ll master it, and significantly expand your Scots vocabulary. Although it can be a bit of a slog if your reading it as a stand alone book; if it is part of a reading effort to engage with and/or learn more about Scots, this volume will be both a rewarding, and entertaining read.

[Catriona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a LOT from this book! It's a really engaging account of the development of Scots as a language, the cultural and political circumstances that have influenced and shaped the status of Scots within our own country, and it brings to the reader many interesting parallels between other European languages and their dominant neighbours and asks why Scots hasn't been recognised or accepted as some other languages have.
Highly recommended.

[Dave Maddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this in Edinburgh on a recent vacation. My primary interest in Scots is from a linguistic and literary point of view, so the few chapters focusing on contemporary language politics were a somewhat of a bore. However, the bulk of the book which gives an overview of the history of the language with many excerpted texts was very good.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved hearing this book brought to life by the author. Fascinating insight into the history of the Scottish language and how it fares today.

[Nichola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma imersão na cultura e na história da Escócia. Trabalho impecável feito pelo autor.

[Cailean McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and insightful read.