The Concise Dictionary Of Scottish Words And Phrases, by Betty Kirkpatrick

As a dear friend of mine who is moving to Scotland asked me to read and review this book, I have done so in order to help my friend out in making the transition to an area which speaks English in a different way from what either of us are used to. In reading this book, which lives up to its name in being concise although it is certainly by no means complete or exhaustive in its treatment, I was particularly struck by the way that in which Scottish has influenced in some ways my own speaking of English. The Scottish language (or Scots, as it is often called) is one that has a rather contentious history. Like the author, I take Scottish English (or Scots) to be a separate language that is a part of the English language grouping of the West Germanic languages, similar to Afrikaans being related to but not identical to Dutch. Scottish has some influences from French that are distinct from English and it preserves in many cases an older form of English before the notorious Great Vowel shift which changed other English dialects. Of course, given the influence of Standard English or other dialects of English on Scots, it is perhaps unsurprising if many of the words and phrases listed in this book may not always be in common use in certain parts of Scotland.

How does one deal with the status of a language like Scottish? To what extent is it worth promoting a language that is not official and that is facing heavy competition from a more successful and more prestigious related form of the same language. The fate of Scots within Scotland is by no means dissimilar from the fate of Scots Gaelic in Scotland as well as Gaelic proper in Ireland, or Provencal and Languedoc in France. In all of these cases languages which sprang up naturally face a great deal of competition from prestigious forms that come from more politically powerful parts of the same nation-states that the people who speak these small languages belong to. It can be an uphill battle, especially where there is no official organization promoting and supporting scholarship within a language, for little languages to survive. If Scottish does survive, though, this book will likely have a modest role in helping people to recognize the worth of the language and be able to write phonetically enough to make the language understandable and plain to other speakers and writers of the language.

In terms of its contents, this book is a bit less than 200 pages long and consists of a short introduction and then an alphabetically organized list of words and phrases in Scottish from A to Z along with short definitions and some usage of them. There are definitely some surprises here. A great many of the words are very similar to standard English, just spelled differently to reflect the different Scottish pronunciation of these words, or with very easy to recognize and minor changes in vowel sounding or changes at the beginning or end of the word. Some of the words have influences from Scots Gaelic or French (which is not particularly surprising), and some of them appear to show a greater descriptiveness than is common in many English expressions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of expressions that reflect a fondness for cute babies, beautiful girls, clever but poor young men, as well as being intoxicated. If you happen to be going to Scotland, or living there, and you want a short and easy-to-read guide that will help you with words and expressions that you will find, this is certainly a worthwhile book to study.