The Edinburgh Companion to Scots

Edinburgh Companions to Scottish Literature

by John Corbett (Editor), J. Derrick McClure (Editor), Jane Stuart-Smith (Editor)

The Edinburgh Companion to Scots is a comprehensive introduction to the study of older and present-day Scots language. The aim of the volume is to explain and illustrate methods of research into Scots and Scottish English. Topics include the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of contemporary speech in Scotland, and the investigation of Older Scots written texts. There is further coverage of issues such as modern literary Scots, language planning, placenames and personal names, and the development of Scots overseas.

Each chapter gives a brief overview of the topic, and provides case studies to illustrate avenues of exploration for those beginning to develop research techniques. The book is designed as an accessible introduction to key issues and methods of investigation for undergraduate students interested in the way language has developed in Scotland.

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2003

About the author

John Corbett grew up in Ayr and studied Scottish and English literature and language studies at the University of Glasgow. He has taught in a number of higher educational institutions in Brazil, China, Macau, Scotland and Russia. Now retired from teaching and administration, he remains an adjunct professor at Beijing Normal Hong-Kong Baptist University and a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow.

He has published widely on diverse topics, including Scottish literature and the Scots language, literary translation, intercultural language education, and corpus linguistics. He is Publications Convener of the Association for Scottish Literature and has twice chaired the MLA Scottish Literature Forum.

Reviews

[Warwick]

If you're looking for a good corpus of modern Scots, I can heartily recommend the r/ScottishPeopleTwitter subreddit, which if you're not a Scots-speaker will soon leave you deeply depressed that this amazingly colloquial language is not available to you. Is there any language more naturally funny?





"Cunt" for "person" is so common that it has led to common substitutions for "someone", "everyone", as seen in tweets like:









(I thought a sookie must be a blowjob – from "suck"? – but my wife reckons it just means sex. Though she is the least Scottish Scottish person ever so who knows.)







(I think "weapon" is my favourite current Scottish insult, although "roaster" is also a classic.)











(This "lit" for "like" is everywhere on Twitter, though you won't see it in any Scots dictionary. Pronounce it [lɪʔ], with a glottal stop at the end.)













And if any Americans want to practise the accent:



This has been a public service announcement on behalf of the Scots language.