It’s yin o the UK’s best kept secrets that the leid even exists, but ah’m gled tae hae finally figured oot the truth. Ma life is sae much the richer acause o it, an Scotland, tae me, aw the bonnier. Aw the braver.
When this English writer stated working in the Borders, “ah stairtit tae realise that Scots wis mair than an accent aff the telly. There wis a hale wide leid oot there”. She adds, “It’s a leid fowk speak aroon freends, when they’re at the hicht o joy, no tae mention in their dairkest pit. Tae thaim, it’s the leid o the hame, the leid o luve, the leid o the street an the hert. An for that reason it scunners me ayont aw belief tae see hou its spikkers are forced tae deny its existence in the public realm”.
She soon felt; “A sense o injustice that weans here in Scotland growe up readin English wirds that they lairnt tae say in Scots frae bein born. An ah see hou it happens that they growe up tae be affrontit o the wey they spik, hou thae wirds are reived frae them like candy frae a babe’s haun as they grow aulder, throu street signs, exams, instructions, frae awthin ‘important’”.
“But are we no taucht that the maist important thing ye can be in life is yersel? Mebbes no – at least, no if ye happen tae be a Scot, ah ween.”
“It’s ainly natural that spikkin an scrievin in the leid ye think in should lead ye tae bein yer authentic sel.
To address this injustice, “permission maun be gien, at ilka opportunity, by ilka yin wi the pouer to gie it, for a Scots spikker tae be their authentic self wioot shame, wioot fear, an wioot hesitation”.