Central Scots Dialect in the East Lothian County: 2018 Morphosyntactic Dialectal Survey

The Scots language belongs to the Teutonic Germanic language family essentially spoken in the Lowland Scots area covering central and southern Scotland as well as the north-eastern part of the country. It is divided into four different groups of varieties, i.e. the Broad Scots dialectal group spoken in southern Scotland, the Doric dialect spoken in the north-eastern part of Scotland, the Insular Scots group spoken in the Shetland and Orkney Islands and the most spoken and written Scots dialectal group called Central Scots extending from the central western to the central eastern part of the country. The study carried out in the East Lothian county from 13 August to 21 August 2018 had the purpose to analyse the syntax and grammar of the local Lothian Scots and to determine if it still survives in the pervasive wave of Standard England English. A semistructured type questionnairewas distributed to 17people during this period revealing a radically different grammatical attitude from the other enquiries conducted in the Scottish Borders five years earlier.


Scots: Short Historical Introduction & Dialect Labels
The Scots language comes from a group of north-western Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons who landed in the south-eastern part of England in 449 A.D. The Saxons occupied the southern and western parts of Britannia while the Anglians colonised the central and northern areas of the country that had already been in the possesion of the Romans but had also been inhabited by the Celtic tribes: "The Saxons kept mostly to the south and west, as all the areas with -sex in their names still attest, while the Angles spread northwards through Yorkshire and Northumberland." (Murison 1977, 1). The Anglians reached the north-east of England in 547 and created the kingdom of Bernicia which allowed them to conquer the fortress of Din Eidyn in 638. Nevertheless, Scotland at the time was dominated by Celtic languages (Goidelic and Brythonic dialect groups) and only a small geographical area located in the south-east of Scotland was inhabited by Anglians. By the end of the 7th century, Great Britain was composed of seven kingdoms called the Heptarchy, two of which, named Mercia and Northumbria, represented the two largest kingdoms put into place by the Anglians. The Scots language is the direct descendent of the Mercian and Northumbrian dialectal groups brought by these people. The rise of this language in Scotland actually starts when King Malcom III (1057-1093) generates a series of sweeping reforms to strengthen the monarchy by reorganising it on Anglo-Norman lines. Allowing other groups, including the Normans, the French, and the Dutch to grant Scottish territories via the implementation of the Burghs gives the Scots language the opportunity to extend beyond the south-eastern area. Most business activities taking place between Germanic kingdoms are mostly derived from Anglo-Saxon rules. Malcom III's son, David I (1124David I ( -1153 remains the main and the most efficient instigator of these profound changes, which gives a definite boost to Scots as a powerful national language in the sectors of commerce, justice, administration, and religion until the Reformation period in 1560. The Scots language as we know it has not always been called Scots. Over the past 1,500 years, there have been diverse appellations, the first of which are termed Anglic (McClure 1979, 27), Inglis (McClure 1998, 10), Englisc (McClure 2002, 7) or Angelisc (Warrack 2000, 5). Different spelling variants for a same language entity were used due to the Anglian invasions in northern Britain during the Old English period. There was the Scots language referring to Scots Gaelic or also called the Ersche language due to its Irish roots and the Inglis language having north-western German roots. From the 15th century onwards, two main writers Adam Loutfut and Gavin Douglas desired to change the name of their language to show their cultural and linguistic differences with the Saxon area: "Adam Loutfut in 1494 is apparently the first to name it Scottis. Gavin Douglas in the General Prologue to his Eneados stresses the distinction between 'our awin language' which is Scottis, and the language of England, which he calls Inglis or Sudron." (McClure 2002, 44) From the 17th century onwards, the term Scots was eventually applied to identify the Germanic language Inglis as opposed to Scottish Gaelic representing the Celtic language of Scotland.
Nowadays, Scots and English are often mixed up which gives a "Scottish-English dialectal continuum" as Fiona Douglas (Kachru & Nelson 2009, 45)  Generally used by working-class Scots.

Scottish Standard English (SSE)
Much closer to Standard English. Limited Scottish grammar, vocabulary and idiom, but still with Scottish accent.

Used by middle-class Scots and by working-class Scots in formal situations.
Figure 1: Scottish-English dialectal continuum from Douglas (2009, 45).
Extralinguistic factors inside the Lowland Scottish society generate a great number of state-of-the-art Scottish-English (SE) varieties ranging from Dense or Thick Scots (SC) corresponding to traditional local or regional low anglicised dialects to Thin or Standard Scottish English (SSE) corresponding to mainstream highly anglicised Scottish English varieties containing very few Scots words and in which the difference is mainly phonological. All these dialect groups are termed Scots English by McArthur (1979, 59). For some Scottish respondents, the important influence of English degraded the Scots language in its entirety and thus they do not consider it as a language any more, as Douglas asserts: "However, Scots are also plagued by linguistic insecurity, and perhaps, the majority regard their language as being bad English or slang rather than Scots." (Douglas 2009, 48) As regards some linguists, they adopt a softer approach in the contemporary identity of SC and SE: " McArthur's (1987) (Douglas 2009, 48) The results of the dialectal enquiries carried out in the Scottish Borders from 2010 to 2013 have led more to the left side of the continuum, i.e. the Dense Scots dialects (Bour, 2015(Bour, , 2017(Bour, , 2018. The situation in the East Lothian county is quite different and the way people speak and write their dialect(s) is more located on the right side of the continuum, i.e. Mainstream Standard Scottish English(es).  Blank spaces imply that the respondent did not want to reveal this information. Those who indicated that they belong to the middle class have employments related to the fields of business, architecture, and cultural history.

Dialectal Enquiry: Questionnaire Survey
Furthermore, some additional questions deal with the label concept to know if some respondents give a specific name to their idiolect, local or regional dialect(s) (Task 3, Questions 5,7 & 13).

Questionnaire, Task 1: Vernacular Continuum of the Scots Syntax
It was not an easy task to find people in the four towns who speak Central Scots because Standard England English is nowadays present everywhere in the county. The table below confirms the current situation:

Yes No
Do you speak Scots? 8 9 Do you write Scots? 1 16 analysing the first task of the 17 questionnaires.
Ten standard sentences compose the first task: (1) It is possible that he has to see her tonight.
(2) Ian can probably repair his uncle's car.
(3) She's bound to win the race. I am quite certain that she is capable of doing it.
(4) Formerly, John was outgoing and could help many people in the community.
(5) Perhaps it would be best for him to go now.
The neighbours should probably come around about this common project.
Katia will be able to join them in Italy by next week. (8) She came down with the flu. She shouldn't be allowed to go out. She could infect other people. (9) Maybe this couple used to be able to run the marathon in less than 10 hours.
Personally, I think you ought to rest.
Among the seven respondents, five of them use a limited number of Scots words in some of their English sentences. However, the spelling belongs to the Central Scots dialect.
Here are their slight modifications. None of them changed sentence (4): (1) It is possible that he has to see her the night.
Ken you see her the night.
He'll possibly see her the night.
He might see her the night.
Does he hae tae see her the night?
(3) I ken she kin da that.
She's bound tae win her race. She's mair than capable ae winning.
Perhaps it would be best ta go now.
He better go noo.
The neighbours should probably come roond the noo.
The neebors should get the gither for this project.
We shid get everyone the gither.
Katia's goan oot with them to Italy next week. She's no well. She isnae allowed oot. She'll spread it.
She came down wi the flu. She should nae be allowed tae go out. (9) Maybe this couple used to could run the marathon in less than 10 hoors.
Maybe this couple used to be able to run the marathon in less than 10 oors.
Maybe this couple used tae be able to run the marathon in less than 10 hours. talks. This is mainly a spelling difference; the grammar being constructed on the Normative English grammatical system. There is just one exception in which one respondent proposed a typical southern Scots structure called a Double Modal: used to could. This is a complex combination composed of a marginal modal in first position followed directly by a central modal in second position, which is impossible in Standard Englishes.
The second element can only be an intermediate modal expression, i.e. a quasi or semi modal such as be able to, be going to or have to (Quirk 1985, 137) in Normative English varieties.
The other two respondents, a 51-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman indicated more typical Central Scots and Broad Scots constructions respectively in this first task.
Both belong to the working class. They partly turned the ten sentences into these two Scots varieties. Here are their interpretations: (1) He might hae tae see her the night. (51-year-old man) He might huv ti see 'ur the night. (61-year-old woman) (2) Ian wid be able tae repair his uncle's car, mibey.
Ian 'ull likely fix is uncle's motor.
(3) She's bound tae win the race. Am share she could dae it.
She'll win the race awright. Am shair she's up ti it awright.
(4) John wis outgoing and used tae help many people in the community.
Mibi it wid better for him ti gaun.
The neighbours might come roond tae this common project.
Awbody roond about should git the gither on this.
Katia will be able tae jine them in Italy by next week.
Katia will manage ti meet thum in Italy bi next week.
Mibbe this couple used tae be able to run the marathon in less than 10 hours.
Mibi this twa yist ti be able ti run the marathon under 10 oors. In the questionnaire survey, I propose twelve sentences containing ten Double Modals (DMs) and two Triple Modals (TMs). They can be classified into four categories (Quirk, 1985,  (used to could, should ought to, used to wid) It also depends on the type of combination used, i.e. any hybrid combinations having used to in its structure will in the majority of cases imply an MM + SM syntactic ordering, which is not the case if ought to is present in the hybrid modal sequence.

Exotic Core Triple Modals
These combinations are made up of three Central Modals: (will should can, will might could) In general, they have a lower degree of frequency than Core DMs.

Exotic Hybrid Triple Modals
These combinations are made up of Central Modals and other non-classical modal expressions: (will need to can, might used to could, should might better) Any of the Multiple Modals of these categories can be written with one or several Scots spelling variants belonging to unique Lowland dialects. It will not modify the meaning of the clause.
The purpose of this second task is to turn each combination into a negative and inter- Furthermore, with this type of core DM, we are dealing here with an Epistemic-Root semantic ordering which gives the following paraphrases: (3 ′ ) It would be impossible for her to be able to milk the cow if she tried.
(4 ′ ) It is probable that we are unable to park over there.
In sentence 3), the negation is connected to the matrix clause while in sentence (4) the negation moved and is therefore connected with the subordinate clause.
In the other sentences, only one modal auxiliary was maintained with a detached or attached Scots negative by the 61-year-old respondent, which include the following: Lance might no want corn instead of potatoes. (6) He no cun come the morn.
You shoodni make the rules clear.
Only the first two sentences were turned into the interrogative-negative form: (1) Was it no him that couldny drink black coffee late at night?
She always indicates a Scots dialectal structure and diverse Scots orthographies even if some clauses are exclusively written with the English spelling. She is an exception among the 17 respondents. The majority barely completed this task due to their very low level of knowledge of the Scots language. They neither recognised nor understood any of the proposed combinations. Only two additional informants also indicated Scots elements but neither of them maintained a DM or a TM. Here is what they wrote: Responses of a 51-year-old male respondent from Port Seton.
(1) Could he no yince drink black coffee late at night? He used tae no be able to drink black coffee late at night.
(2) Could the laddie no muck oot the byre?
The laddie couldnae muck oot the byre.
(3) Could she milk the coo if she tried?
She couldnae milk the coo if she tried.

(5) Wid Lance want corn insteid o tatties?
Lance might no want corn insteid o tatties. (6) Could he no come the morn? (7) Should ye no make the rules clear?
Ye shouldnae make the rules clear. (8) Could she no tend tae that bairn?
She cannae tend tae the bairn. (9) Could oo no hae time tae eat somethin afore oo hae tae gaun?
Oo wullnae hae time tae eat something afore o hae tae gaun. (10) Can A mibbey get it oot the morn? (11) Did he no used tae let me up the brae?
He didnae used tae let me up the brae. (12) Wid they no hae tae drive a lorry tae get thon job?
They deh need tae drive a lorry tae get thon job.
He is the only respondent who completed almost the entire task. By looking at the ques- replacing the primary auxiliary do and the negator not. This is a lexical levelling process that can occasionally be found in Scots dialects.
Responses of a 58-year-old female respondent from Dunbar.
(1) He canny drink black coffee at night.

Defining Scots
As seen previously, the Scots language is in a fragile state in the East Lothian county.
The third task contains 13 questions, one of which asked the respondents what they think of Scots. What does it represent to them in the 21st century? Is it still connected to their culture and identity or has it become moribund? Regarding the respondents who continue to use a part of Scots, two of them indicate that Scots is a colloquial language and they exclusively speak it at home and with friends, typically in non-working environments. Another informant writes Standard English with a correct grammar and syntax, but he never writes a Scots word. English is a written system unlike Scots being a spoken system. For two respondents, Scots is still identified as a dialect and English as a language. They indicate the separation between the language and the dialect and do not consider Mainstream England English as a Standard variety.
Those respondents who essentially use Standard English propose a spectrum of definitions of Scots. For two respondents, it is still identified as a traditional dialect representing the beginning of a civilisation with unique traditions only spoken by the locals.
Two other respondents assert that Scots is an old language on the wane, essentially used

Scots Dialect Labels
Among the seven informants who have some knowledge of the Scots language, four of them proposed a name to their dialect they use on a daily basis. This is what they

Frequency of Use
As can be seen in Written frequency of Scots 0 0 0 7 9

Social Contexts
The respondents give different identities to Scots and Scottish English dialects and it is to be noticed that the same locations in the use of both types of dialects are regularly selected by vernacular and standard speakers. The spoken frequency of use always remains more important than the written frequency of use.

SED SD EED
In your daily life, you use more 10 2 5 It is necessary to determine if this current dialectal situation will be repeated in the other two counties of the Lothian region, i.e. Mid and West Lothian? The Scottish Borders field surveys showed that significant differences appear from county to county in the use of vernacular grammatical features and that opinions regarding the regional language can be quite radical among respondents from a single town. In the near future, field linguistics prospects in the remaining Lothian regions will be conducted to describe and analyse the degree of importance of Scots dialects in their syntactic and lexical aspects in this highly economic central eastern part of Lowland Scotland. Town in which you were born:

Abbreviations
Town in which you live: Town in which you work: Indicate the time you spent to complete the questionnaire: VERY IMPORTANT!: Use your own dialectal knowledge, your own syntax and grammar. Do not use any dictionaries or grammar books to complete this questionnaire. Fill it in on your own without the help of anyone. Complete as much as you can. Thank you in advance for respecting these rules and for your cooperation.

Task 1
Translate the following sentences into Scottish English and/or into Scots.
1.) It is possible that he has to see her tonight.
2.) Ian can probably repair his uncle's car.
3.) She's bound to win the race. I am quite certain that she is capable of doing it.
4.) Formerly, John was outgoing and could help many people in the community.
5.) Perhaps it would be best for him to go now.
6.) The neighbours should probably come around about this common project.
7.) Katia will be able to join them in Italy by next week.

8.)
The came down with the flu. She shouldn't be allowed to go out. She could infect other people.
9.) Maybe this couple used to be able to run the marathon in less than 10 hours.
10.) Personally, I think you ought to rest.

Task 2
Turn each of the underlined structures into the negative and into questions. You do not have to write the entire sentence again. However, if you wish to make additional modifications as regards the words that are not underlined, you have to write it entirely in this case.
1.) He used to could drink black coffee late at night.
4.) We might could park over there.
5.) Lance may will want corn instead of potatoes.
6.) He'll should can come the morn.
7.) You should ought to make the rules clear.
9.) We might will have time to eat something before we have to go.
10.) I may can get it out tomorrow.
11.) He used to wid let me up the brae.
12.) They will need to can drive a lorry to get that job.

Task 3: Additional questions
1.) How often do you use these types of underlined structures above?
A/ a lot B/ often C/ occasionally D/ rarely E/ never 2.) You write these types of underlined structures above: A/ a lot B/ often C/ occasionally D/ rarely E/ never 3.) Do you have a name for these underlined structures?
4.) Can you cite a couple of places or circumstances in which you use these underlined structures?