Scottish Independence

Continuing this theme of international relations, let us explore the effects of Scottish independence on language. Although we are still unsure on whether Scotland will gain independence, we can begin to predict the changes that it may bring with it.

According to the 2011 Census, the population was 5,296,400 which is only 8.4% of the population in the United Kingdom. This would make Scotland the 113^th most populated country if it were a sovereign state.

English is the official language of Scotland, however, Scots and Scottish Gaelic are officially recognised languages. In fact, according to the Gaelic Language Act (2005), Gaelic was given ‘equal respect’ to English. Although in 1996, 30% of Scottish inhabitants were fluent in Scots, this number has declined considerably and it has also been found that less than 1% of people speak Scottish Gaelic, so these are both minority languages

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language that is used in the Scottish highlands and according to historical texts, was brought over from Ireland in the 1300s. However, this view has recently been opposed by archaeologists who have not found any evidence of the Irish settlers. The language itself is made up out of 18 letters, not including vowels with accents. Gaelic nouns have gender and they also have cases and the word order is verb-subject-object (unlike subject-verb-object in English). The BBC broadcasts a radio station in Gaelic called ‘Radio nan Gàidheal’ and also the television channel ‘BBC Alba’, which are available across the UK.

Scots is a Germanic language which is spoken in Scottish lowlands. It is disputed whether Scots is in fact a language or a dialect and 64% of the population "don't really think of Scots as a language". Scots is much more similar to English than Gaelic as it follows the subject-verb-object word order and many words are recognisable.

This is a small section of text in Scots:

Thar are mony folk, wha hae spoken English a' their grown-up days wha like to gang back to the tongue o' their bairnhood, i' the mirk and shadows o' auld age. Thar are ithers wha seem tae tak better to the Word whan it comes to them wi' a wee o' the Scottish birr. And thar are a hantle o' folk - and I meet them a'gate - wha dinna speak Scots theirsels, but are keen to hear it, and like to read it.

On the 18^th of September 2014, there will be a referendum for Scottish nationals to vote whether they would like to be independent from the UK. Although politicians have been reassuring people that independence will not make a big difference as Scotland will remain in the EU and will keep pound sterling as its currency, references to language has been very infrequent.

I think that if Scotland becomes independent, due to border controls and since fewer people will cross the border, the language is Scotland may change further away from British English. This may lead to the Scottish dialect may become a different language. However, I doubt this because of the influences of the media and internet, the Scots will still be exposed to English.

However, Scotland is not the only sovereign state considering independence. Catalonia also wants to become independent from Spain, which may have a larger impact on their language. Catalan has been oppressed since Franco’s rein but if Catalonia was granted independence, it may give inhabitants a push to revitalise the language.

St Andrew's Cross (Flag of Scotland)