New Scots language research launched

Published: 26 January 2021

Academics at the College of Arts have been awarded a research grant on Scots to build foundations for language policy and planning.

Academics at the College of Arts have been awarded a research grant on Scots to build foundations for language policy and planning.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh Arts & Humanities Research Grant is for a project called “Language policy and planning for Scots: A community-driven approach”.

The project is today launching its Future of Scots website in Scots  and in English and are calling on the public to take part in their survey on the language. The survey is asking for people's views on the presence of Scots in education, media, creative arts and in policy-making.

The principal investigator is Dr Joanna Kopaczyk, English Language & Linguistics, School of Critical Studies, and co-investigator is Professor Bernadette O’Rourke, School of Modern Languages & Culture.

Scots is used by around 1.5 million people in Scotland (2011 Census), but remains an under-researched and under-resourced language.

Dr Kopaczyk said: “The lack of a structured research agenda to inform policy-making for Scots has a detrimental effect on the efforts of national organisations, Scots language agencies and communities.

“Our project will build foundations for language policy and planning for Scots as a new research area. It situates Scots within broader debates around minority languages in Europe and beyond, from which research on Scots has been noticeably absent.”  

The project aims to develop a consultation-driven research agenda and inform language policy, through:

  • canvassing the views of Scots-speaking communities, 

  • engaging with four main stakeholder groups: teachers, media, creative industries and policy-makers, 

  • consulting with experts on minority languages in the UK (e.g. Scottish Gaelic) and across Europe (e.g. Galician, Catalan, Basque) to help identify priorities and strategies, 

  • identifying where reform is needed in national and local institutions.  

The project is a collaboration between University of Glasgow, Education Scotland and Oor Vyce, the civic campaign for the Scots Language Act.

 

 

The project is today launching its Future of Scots website in Scots  and in English and are calling on the public to take part in their survey on the language. 

Also on the website is a community survey on Scots - https://scotslanguagepolicy.glasgow.ac.uk/hae-yer-say/ - which is  asking for people's views on the presence of Scots in education, media, creative arts and in policy-making.

The results will feed into workshops with relevant stakeholder groups which will be held throughout the year, culminating in a consolidating workshop involving stakeholders, academics working on Scots and other minority languages, and minority language campaigners from across Europe.

First published: 26 January 2021

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