You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This book provides a thorough yet approachable history of the Scots language, a close relative of Standard English. Robert McColl Millar explores both sociolinguistic and structural developments in the history of Scots, bringing together these two threads of analysis to offer a better understanding of linguistic change.
This monograph is about how the Scots language is discursively constructed, both from ‘above’ (through texts such as educational policies, debates in parliament and official websites) and from ‘below’ (in focus group discussions among Scottish people). It uses the interdisciplinary discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis to examine what discursive strategies are used in different texts, and also to investigate salient features of context. This allows a broader discussion of the role of this language in Scotland, and how different ways of constructing a language can percolate through society, appearing in both important, elite texts and discussions among ordinary people. It thus contributes to the body of knowledge about contemporary Scots, but also expands the range of possible applications for critical discourse analysis approaches.
This is the first full scale attempt to record the diachronic development of this important English language variety and includes extensive essays by some of the foremost international scholars of the Scots language. The book attempts to provide a detailed and technical description of the syntax, phonology, morphology and vocabulary of the language in two main periods: the beginnings to 1700 and from 1700 to the present day. The language's geographical variation both in the past and at the present time are fully documented and the sociolinguistic forces which lie behind linguistic innovation and its transmission provide a principal theme running through the book.WINNER of the Saltire society/National Library of Scotland Scottish Research Book of the Year Award
None
Interrogates the rise of national philosophies and their impact on cosmopolitanism and nationalism.
None
An informed and critical account of every aspect of contemporary education in Scotland. It is essential reading for student teachers, professionals in every education sector in Scotland, research students and anyone with an interest in the Scottish education system.