For the dialects of English spoken in Scotland, see Scottish English. For the Celtic language, see Scottish Gaelic.
Scots
Lowland Scots Broad Scots
(Braid) Scots Lallans Doric
Pronunciation
[skɔts]
Native to
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland
Region
Scotland: Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, Caithness, Arran and Campbeltown
Ulster (Ireland): Counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry, Donegal and Armagh
Ethnicity
Scots
Native speakers
1,541,693 (2011)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
North Sea Germanic
Anglo-Frisian
Anglic
Scots
Early forms
Northumbrian Old English
Early Middle English
Early Scots
Middle Scots
Dialects
Central
Southern
Ulster
Northern
Insular
Cromarty †
Doric
Glasgow
Writing system
Latin
Official status
Official language in
Scotland[2]
Recognised minority language in
Northern Ireland (as Ulster Scots) Republic of Ireland (County Donegal; also as Ulster Scots)
Language codes
ISO 639-2
sco
ISO 639-3
sco
Glottolog
scot1243
ELP
Scots
Linguasphere
52-ABA-aa (varieties: 52-ABA-aaa to -aav)
The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census in Scotland aged 3 and above who stated that they can speak Lowland Scots
The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census in Northern Ireland aged 3 and above who stated that they can speak Ulster Scots
Scots language
History
Early Scots
Middle Scots
Modern Scots
Dialects
Insular Scots
Northern Scots
Central Scots
Southern Scots
Ulster Scots
Doric Scots
v
t
e
Scots[note 1] is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots).[3] Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, and northern Ulster, it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Goidelic Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Galloway after the sixteenth century;[4] or Broad Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Standard English. Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English, as the two diverged independently from the same source: Early Middle English (1100–1300).[5][6][7]
Scots is recognised as an indigenous language of Scotland by the Scottish government,[8] a regional or minority language of Europe,[9] and a vulnerable language by UNESCO.[10][11] In the 2011 Scottish Census, over 1.5 million people in Scotland reported being able to speak Scots.[12]
Given that there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing a language from a dialect, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots, particularly its relationship to English.[13] Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects exist, they often render contradictory results. Broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with Scottish Standard English at the other.[14] Scots is sometimes regarded as a variety of English, though it has its own distinct dialects;[13]: 894 other scholars treat Scots as a distinct Germanic language, in the way that Norwegian is closely linked to but distinct from Danish.[13]: 894
^"Scotland's Census 2011" (PDF). 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
^"Fact: Scotland's official languages are English, Scots, Gaelic & British Sign Language". Scotland.org. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
^"List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148". Conventions.coe.int. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
^"Gaelic Language". cranntara.scot.
^Horobin, Simon; Smith, Jeremy (2002). An Introduction to Middle English. Oup USA. ISBN 978-0-19-521950-0. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
^Alexander Bergs, Modern Scots, Languages of the World series, № 242 (Bow Historical Books, 2001), ISBN 978-3-89586-513-8, pp. 4, 50. "Scots developed out of a mixture of Scandinavianised Northern English during the early Middle English period.... Scots originated as one form of Northern Old English and quickly developed into a language in its own right up to the seventeenth century."
^Sandred, Karl Inge (1983). "Good or Bad Scots?: Attitudes to Optional Lexical and Grammatical Usages in Edinburgh". Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. 48. Ubsaliensis S. Academiae: 13. ISBN 978-91-554-1442-9. Whereas Modern Standard English is traced back to an East Midland dialect of Middle English, Modern Scots developed from a northern variety which goes back to Old Northumbrian
^"Scots language policy: English version - gov.scot". www.gov.scot.
^"States Parties to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and their regional or minority languages". coe.int.
^"UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^Evans, Lisa (15 April 2011). "Endangered languages: the full list". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^"Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion | Scotland's Census". Scotland's Census.
^ abcAitken, A. J. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. p. 894.
^Stuart-Smith, J. (2008). "Scottish English: Phonology". In Kortman; Upton (eds.). Varieties of English: The British Isles. Mouton de Gruyter, New York. p. 47.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
as Ulster Scots). Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, and northern Ulster, it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish...
group of dialects of Scots, although groups such as the Ulster-ScotsLanguage Society and Ulster-Scots Academy consider it a language in its own right, and...
the language generally use the following chronology: Northumbrian Old English to 1100 Pre-literary Scots to 1375 Early Scots to 1450 Middle Scots to 1700...
Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has...
Scots and Scottish Gaelic are minority languages. The dialect of English spoken in Scotland is referred to as Scottish English. The Celtic languages of...
Early Scots was the emerging literary language of the Early Middle English-speaking parts of Scotland in the period before 1450. The northern forms of...
[ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the...
Look up Scots in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Scots may refer to: Scotslanguage Scottish people Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels SCOTS, abbreviation...
The Ulster Scots (Ulster-Scots: Ulstèr-Scotch; Irish: Albanaigh Uladh), also called Ulster Scots people (Ulstèr-Scotch fowk) or, in North America, Scotch-Irish...
Dictionary of the ScotsLanguage (DSL) (Scots: Dictionar o the Scots Leid, Scottish Gaelic: Faclair de Chànan na Albais) is an online Scots–English dictionary...
sign language based on English, not BSL) Scots Insular Scots Shetland dialect Orcadian Northern Scots Doric Central Scots Glaswegian Southern Scots Ulster...
The Scots Wikipedia (Scots: Scots Wikipædia) is the Scots-language edition of the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. It was established on 23 June 2005...
from language contact between Scots and the Standard English of England after the 17th century. The resulting shifts to English usage by Scots-speakers...
Hiberno-English. Irish is an official language of Northern Ireland since 2022, and the local variety of Scots, known as Ulster Scots, has official minority status...
from Early Scots, which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English. Subsequently, the orthography of Middle Scots differed from...
The Scottish people or Scots (Scots: Scots fowk; Scottish Gaelic: Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged...
"Scots Wha Hae" (English: Scots Who Have) is a patriotic song of Scotland written using both words of the Scotslanguage and English, which served for...
Shaetlan; and referred to as Modern Shetlandic Scots (MSS) by some linguists) is a dialect of Insular Scots spoken in Shetland, an archipelago to the north...
gradually replaced by Scots. Norn is thought to have become extinct around 1850, after the death of Walter Sutherland, the language's last known speaker...
Central Scots (Northeast Mid Scots) and South East Central Scots (Southeast Mid Scots), West Central Scots (West Mid Scots) and South West Central Scots (Southwest...
her "Scots word of the day" and poem (Scots: poyum) videos. Pennie grew up in Airdrie in a household speaking Scots with her parents, grandparents and siblings...
The ScotsLanguage Centre (Scots: Centre for the Scots Leid) is an organisation that promotes the use of the Scotslanguage. The current director of the...
Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Scottish language may refer to: Scotslanguage (Scots Leid), a Germanic language spoken in Lowland Scotland and Ulster,...
different from Modern English and Modern Scots, and largely incomprehensible for Modern English or Modern Scots speakers without study. Within Old English...
Insular Scots comprises varieties of Lowland Scots generally subdivided into: Shetland dialect Orcadian dialect Both dialects share much Norn vocabulary...
language, especially the Irish language, from Erische A 16th–19th-century Scotslanguage name for Scottish Gaelic. Also an archaic term for the Scots...
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