Scots: The Mither Tongue

by Billy Kay

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

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

192 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 was educated at Galston High School and Kilmarnock Academy and studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh.

He has produced and presented many radio and television documentaries on Scottish cultural history for the BBC. He is co-author, with Cailean MacLean, of Knee Deep in Claret. He is a passionate advocate for the Scots language and author of the classic work Scots: The Mither Tongue (1980), which became the basis for a television series broadcast in 1986.

His book on the global influence of the Scottish diaspora, The Scottish World was published in 2006. In 2023, he published his memoir in Scots, Born in Kyle, which he describes as a love letter to an Ayrshire childhood.

Reviews

[Uilleam Anndra]

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

[hoffnarr]

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]

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]

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.

[Jss Mwfrth]

A thoroughly researched and passionate account of Scots, its history and the prejudices that have threatened it. Kay’s enthusiasm is infectious, although at times his defence of Scots seems to leave little room for those whose speech has become more anglicised; an uncomfortable tension in a book arguing against linguistic judgement. Nevertheless, this is an engaging and important celebration of the language, and has reinvigorated my love for my mother tongue.

[Dave Maddock]

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]

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]

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

[Cailean McBride]

Excellent and insightful read.