Ulster Scotch

[ardal]

Yeah, been looking for a dictionary of this language myself. It seems to only give small glimpses but nothing in-depth, but isn't that the sort of thing "wee dafies" you would've heard a while back in the north, although now I'd expect it's unexacceptable?

[pintsofguinness]

She's affa fand o him, so she is (She's awfully fond of him)

You got to love that 

[Square Ball]

Larn te cont wiv Ulcer Soots

0 nocht/awt
1 yin/ane/ae
2 twa/qwa
3 thrie/thie*
4 fower/fivver*
5 five
6 sax
7 sen/seiven*
8 echt
9 nine
10 ten
11 leivin*/livin/elivin
12 twal/qwal
13 thirtaen*/thurteen
14 fowertaen*/-teen, etc
15 fiftaen
16 saxtaen
17 sentaen/seiventaen
18 echtaen
19 ninetaen
20 twonnie/qwonnie
21 yin an twonnie/twontie-yin/twuntie-wan
22 twa an twontie/twontie-twa
30 thretie/thurtie
31 yin an thurtie/thurtie-yin
40 fawrtie
50 fiftie
60 saxtie
70 seiventie
80 echtie
90 ninetie
100 yin hunnèr
132 yin hunnèr an thurtie-twa
200 twa hunnèr
232 twa hunnèr an thurtie-twa
1000 yin thoosan
1032 yin thoosan an thurtie-twa
1232 twal hunnèr an thurtie-twa
2000 twa thoosan
2032 twa thoosan an thurtie-twa

Tis gets funner.

[dubnut]

Lads surely its a joke.

Its an accent not a language.
Does that mean us Dubs have our own language if we just type it like it sounds?

"stooooory Micko, ya goin fra few scoops?"
translated "Hello Michael and how are you, will you be joining me in the public house for an alcoholic beverage?"

"ask me bollix" translated "no, certainly not" or in Ulster Scotch "gwayan shite"

[nifan]

This argument keeps popping up.
I doubt the sanity of anyone who believes it is a language.
It is obviously a dialect.

[Flameboy]

so called "ulster scots" is simply phonetic spelling of one of the most deplorable accents on earth....

not to put too fine a point on it lads - ulster scots is a load of bollox and one up manship designed to show that "its not just fenians who have their own language!"....pathetic.

[MW]

Its a pity the language isnt popular in ALL parts of Norn Iron. Ards Borough Council erected bi-lingual signs welcoming visitors to the area in both English and Ulster Scots, but sadly the locals tore them down within hours as they thought they were in Irish.

Sorry but that's simply untrue. Whether it's an urban myth or transported from another part of Northern Ireland, it's certainly without fact in reference to the Ards Borough Council signs.

Basically every poster on here has fallen into the trap of thinking this is an Ulster issue. Sorry folks, but it ain't. You're falling into the good old trap this place produces of being insular and parochial.

Having studied some Scottish history (and written a dissertation on the subject of national identity, including the role of language, using Scotland as one of my case studies), I know that the Scots language (or dialect, it's a matter of debate among experts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language ) isn't something that has been invented in Ulster.

Scots was the language of government and the royal court in Scotland up to 1603 (when the court moved to London). And officially, it was Scots, not English, that people were speaking. The two tongues shared the same root, the Germanic languages brought by the 'Anglo-Saxon' invaders of the sixith/seventh centuries - much of lowland Scotland had been part of the Angle kingdom of Northumbria (while at this point 'Englisc', as its native speakers invluding Northerunbrians called it, would have been a series of dialects with no 'standard' - this gradulally came with the formation of the kingdom of England).

What makes a language? Often it's simply the fact that two countries have developed the same root tongue in different directions (e.g. Swedish and Norwegian, Dutch and Flemish) - this porcess was at least underway in Scotland until the events of 1603 and 1707 began to reverse the process in favour of 'standard English'. It's worth noting at this point that the Plantation of Ulster was begun in the first decade of the 17th century - precisely the time when Scots and (standard) English were at their most divergent.

If anyone's interested, read the excellent 'The Story of English' by Robert McCrum - it contains a chapter on Scotland, referring to both Gaelic and (Lowland) Scots, and this chapter has a lengthy section entitled 'Scots in Ireland' (and in turn the linguistic influence of Scots-Irish immigrants in America). Again, it's worth noting this book was published in the 1980s, before the 'Ulster Scots landguage movement' groups took off. (Indeed rather than Ulster-Scots people, while noting that term, McCrum refers to Scots-Irish people).

The Scots language (or dialect if you prefer) is recognised by the Scottish Parliament today (see http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/scots/index.htm and http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/index.htm )' recognised alongside Gaelic as a native language may I add - so whatever you're views on the 'language versus dialect' front, or on various Ulster-Scots language bodies or figures, don't fall into the parochial Ulster trap of saying it was simply invented here.

[Flameboy]

Real scots don't speak "Scots" but Gaelic.....which is identical to irish....

Ulster Scots is indisputably a load of shite....

[Donagh]

Sorry but that's simply untrue. Whether it's an urban myth or transported from another part of Northern Ireland, it's certainly without fact in reference to the Ards Borough Council signs.

It wasn't Ards but that other hotbed of unionist liberalism and tolerance, Castlereagh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/478513.stm

[dubnut]

"Basically every poster on here has fallen into the trap of thinking this is an Ulster issue. Sorry folks, but it ain't. You're falling into the good old trap this place produces of being insular and parochial"

Try to be just a little bit more patronising there BW  

I couldnt give a crap if its Ulster, Yorkshire, or feckin Timbuktu, its an accent written down as its spoken, you could do the same with any accent.
To call it a language is laughable, its certainly the first language I was ever fluent at first glance!
Ye ken?

[nifan]

it is not an accent - it is a dialect, there is a big difference.

[dubnut]

it is not an accent - it is a dialect, there is a big difference.

Its a silly dialect.

[AZOffaly]

Whether it be a 'dialect' or simply the phonetic representation of an accent it is not a language. It seems to be a mish mash of a dialect, with it's own phrases, and an accent.  Is Cockney a language?

Half of those examples of Ulster Scots or Scotch given above just sound like someone speaking english with a wicked nordie accent. (eg 'Hi ye daen?' )The ad on Setanta is hilarious.

As Laureleye says maybe we could start the Offaly language society, because it's pure mule and jaysus muck savage as well.

[Flameboy]

its a load of shite ffs!!!


Anyone who thinks this qualifies as a language or "dialect" will surely conced that working class dubliners and culchies all have their own peculiar "dialects" ......

[Flameboy]

Ulster scots me hole!!!!