Three poems wi a preamble in the Scots tongue

Abstract

The language o these three poems may be shortly described as the East-Side Edinburgh, dialect, bit Ah hae a word or twa ti say anent language in general, an ma Edinburgh dialect in particular. Noo, it hiz aye appeared ti me that, gin ony Scottish speech wud be true an natural-lika, it maun follow the same development in the individual as ony ither language ix' dialect whatsoiver. Ony sort o hauf-nducated buddy; ony raan ir wummin, that is, wha hiz eneugh buik-learnin ti ettle eftir writin somethin original, maun develoo his language oi the same Process, nae maitter whither he writes in Braid Scots ir in Standard English. This process, ti ma wey o thinkin, sterts richt awaw back when as bairns wi first ettle ti parrot the soons spoken bi the folk moon about iz. The basis o ony tongue, therefore, is yin o pronunciation; the wee bairn stammers oot his smaw speec1 in the accent o his alu fireside, the accent that will inair ir less bide _ in his speech ti the end o his days. The words thirsels hae less importance than the accent in wailk they are spoken. As the bairn grows in knowledge an in years, his min' gits filled wi new ideas that maun be expressed bi the general standard terminology, beciz the local mainner o speakin canny cope wi the situation.! At the schuil, forbye, the growin bairn maun read buiks written in Standard English, an gin he dizny hatïen ti hae been bro3ht up on standard weys o speakin, he will hae ti anak a stoot- herted, bit no over successfy, attempt ti read thorn the wey he is telt. The later deve.lonment o the soeech o ony individual wha gaes aboot e bit, an reads onything that he oin git a haud o, involves the assimilation o aw kinds o words an phrases, ivory yin o whilk, hooiver, is altered bi contact 1 his ain original accent. The ootcoa,:,e o aw this is that a literary dialect maun bi its ain nature contain words assimilated. frae the standard language and frae ither dialects, the hale bein in a measure unified bi bein pronounced accordin ti the original local accent o the individual. In these three poems Ah has therefore ettled ti vase the function o accent in a mainner worthy o the 1mj)ortance whilk it posse,_ ?es in this theory o dialect, bi writin doon the words as Ah wud naiturally pronounce thump wi as muckle phonetic accuracy as is possible ri the usual alphabetic characters. The first poem describes a wee laddie' s adventure, frae a bairn's point o vie, an in the dialect o a wee Edinburgh keelie. Ah'll no say that it is juist the bonniest dialect that Ah hae heard, bit thalx ye are; Ah happened ti be brocht up on it, an had ti tak whit Al got. The second Yin belongs ti the transition period, in whilk the growin balm is warslin awaw wi an unfamiliar accent an maistly findin it a sair feat. The third is written in th last stage o the process, when a buddy is free ti think fir himsel. It will be seen that the vocabulary is a wee bit main varied nor that o the first Wee poem, an that the ugly, staucherin glolal stop hiz been dropped awthigitherp fir sharely a man may hae as muckle discretion o his ain as practise speakin withoot that awfy-like soon. In conclusion, Ah wad like ti apJly this theory o dialect ti the question o Synthetic Scots. Ti ma wey o thinkin, the yin true an naitural Scottish literature maun follow the process described abuin, an the malt advantage it tales o the widenin o scope afforded bi the last stage, the richer a meal* w. it hae ti wart wi. Naethin, on the ither haunt cud be main artificial than ti gae ti a fermhoose wi a wee note-bulk jottin doon the words as they tumble frae the lips o the :termer an his guid wife, an then atudyin thum up at hame, an manufacturin a poem accordin ti the limitations o thir speech