Language,
Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland
by Aodan Mac Poilin
The maximally differentiated Ulster-Scots we have seen to date reflects
a number of contradictory strategies, whose only common denominator is to
be as different to English, and occasionally Scots, as possible. In vocabulary,
this has involved the use of a disproportionate quota of obsolete words
and of neologisms invented in Northern Ireland (e.g., 'langblether' for
telephone; 'stour-sucker', a direct translation from German, for 'vacuum
cleaner'). Germanic forms are particularly favoured, although there is a
ready acceptance of French and Latin-derived vocabulary which was either
never used or has become obsolete in English. Spelling sometimes draws on
redundant 16th and 17th century spelling conventions ('qoho' for 'who' etc.),
now rarely if ever used in Scotland. This alternates with an erratic spelling
which sometimes reflects everyday Ulster-Scots speech rather than the conventions
of either modern or historic Scots, and sometimes does not (terminal 't'
in 'it' and 'at', is pronounced in Ulster-Scots with a full glottal stop,
but is usually spelt according to the English convention). Unstressed vowels,
which often merge into a neutral vowel sound, are often changed in Ulster-Scots
writing; where Scots writers are content to write 'the', some Ulster-Scots
writers use 'tha'.
In style, the approach appears to favour a form of folksy nativist purism,
manifesting itself as a pastiche of rural speech, and based apparently on
the assumption that the native speaker of Ulster Scots can aspire to neither
abstract thought nor the passive voice. The result is a jumble of clashing
registers far removed indeed from the grace of modern Synthetic Scots, and
a very distant cousin to Hugh McDiarmaid's interrogation of eternity or
William Lorimer's wonderfully earthy version of the New Testament.
It is also often incomprehensible to the native speaker. This is one of
the most acute problems facing the Ulster-Scots movement. Enthusiasts rightly
point out that Ulster-Scots has been marginalised and stigmatised, and that
its speakers have been imbued with a false sense of inferiority. However,
if the movement were to concentrate on linguistic maintenance, through restoring
a sense of pride in their speech to these communities, it would have to
endorse a high proportion of standard English speech-forms. The drive to
establish its linguistic status has resulted in forms of maximally differentiated
Ulster-Scots, which, if accepted as being the 'correct' form, could reinforce
the sense of inferiority among native speakers the enthusiasts are trying
to combat.
The following is an example from an Ulster-Scots version of a government
advertisement published in the press on February 9, 1999. The original English
of the first sentence of the advert is as follows:
Applications are invited for the post of Sub-Editor (English and Ulster-Scots)
in the office of the Official Report (Hansard) of the New Northern Ireland
Assembly, which is located at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast.
In the maximally differentiated Ulster-Scots version we have:
It's noo apen fur tae pit in jab foarms fur tha ontake o Unner-Editor (Inglis
an Ulster-Scotch) wi tha Chammur o tha Scrievit Accoont (Hansard) o tha
New Ulster Semmlie sittin at tha Tolsel Biggins, Stormont, Bilfawst.
Of the thirty-five lexical items here, only five common words (it's, in,
editor, new, at) and less than half of the proper nouns (Ulster, Hansard
and Stormont) correspond to their Standard English equivalent. A word-by-word
rendering of this into standardised English spelling, but leaving in their
original form the terms 'Scrievit' and 'Tolsel Biggins' would read as follows:
It's now open for to put in job forms for the ontake of Under-Editor (English
and Ulster-Scots) with the Chamber of the Scrievit Account (Hansard) of
the New Ulster Assembly, sitting at Tolsel Biggins, Stormont, Belfast.
An analysis of some of the elements of this sentence may be useful. 'It's
noo apen fur tae pit in jab foarms fur tha ontake o' as an equivalent for
'Applications are invited for the post of' requires no comment. 'Biggin'
(= building) is a word of Norse origin, and is still in use in Ulster-Scots
in the much more restricted sense of 'outhouse'. 'Chaummer' {= chamber}
is a French-derived word, now referring only to an upper room in a house
or outbuilding, according to the Concise Ulster Dictionary. It appears to
be used here only because it is not the word 'office'. 'Scrievit', one of
the permitted words of Latin origin, means 'written'. It was once common
north of the Humber, but survived into modern times only in the north-east
of Scotland, according to the Concise Scots Dictionary. 'Scrievit Accoont'
(written account) is an adequate if not quite accurate and totally unnecessary
translation of 'Official Report'. |
