Re: Branch of English or a Separate Language?

From: Prai Jei (pvstownsend_at_zyx-abc.fsnet.co.uk)
Date: 09/11/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 12:08:11 +0100

Arpad (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
<b062caa9.0409100749.6339ffdb@posting.google.com>:

> jimbot@uboot.com (Jim Tyson) wrote...
>> Jarmo Puolakanaho wrote in message news:...
>> > In alt.usage.english semiretired@my-deja.com wrote:
>> > > Branch of English or a Separate Language?
>> >
>> > A dialect. As far as I know, everyone who speaks Scots understands most
>> > forms of English. I'm not sure if it works the other way around,
>> > though.
>>
>> It's a language because people who decide these things (the people who
>> speak it) say it's a language. Who understands what is just not
>> relevant. Cases have been brought up before in this forum to
>> demonstrate why intelligibility between speakers is not a useful
>> criterion. To rehearse: Swedish and Norwegian (at least Bokmaal) are
>> very readily mutually intelligible but they aren't usefully conceived
>> of as one language:

Note that where Scots uses different words to standard received English
(whatever you conceive that to be), e.g. "til", "siccer", "ken",
"scrieve" (for "to", "sure", "know" and "write" respectively), the Scots
words are closer to other Germanic or Scandinavian languages.

Spoken Scots may well be a mystery to me here in Wales, but wid a wee
kenning o Jairman an aifin muir wee o Sweditch the written language can be
worked out without too much trouble.

Our own dialect Wenglish is a mystery to some indeed to goodness look you
now :) 

-- 
Paul Townsend
I put it down there, and when I went back to it, there it was GONE!
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