Modern Scots: An Analytical Survey

by Robert McColl Millar

Overview

This textbook overview of Modern Scots provides a description and analysis of the language covering lexical, phonological and structural patterns. It presents evidence for the diversity of the language through illustrations from newly collected fieldwork material. Frequent, detailed analysis of local variation is combined with a central focus is on the overall patterning of Scots. McColl Millar also examines the present and future of Scots, considering both its use in literature and other media and ongoing language policy and planning.
A dedicated chapter introduces the reader to the various research methods and available resources – including corpora, atlases and dictionaries – and provides guidance on how to use them effectively. Each chapter concludes with a series of exercises to complete and issues to discuss, encouraging active engagement and development of skill and knowledge in relation to the subject matter. This textbook offers a practical and engaging survey of Modern Scots making this an essential resource, aptly structured for use on Modern Scots and modern varieties of English modules.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474416870
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	03/28/2018
Series:	Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language - Advanced
Edition description:	90,000
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert McColl Millar is Reader in Linguistics in the School of Language & Literature at the University of Aberdeen. His books include Northern and Insular Scots (2007), Authority and Identity. A Sociolinguistic History of Europe before the Modern Age (2010) and English Historical Sociolinguistics (2012).

Table of Contents

Some preliminaries

Chapter 1: Scots: languages and cultures, peoples and lands

Chapter 2: Resources

Chapter 3: Phonology

Chapter 4: Lexis

Chapter 5: Structure: the Grammar of Modern Scots

Chapter 6: Scots used creatively: literature and beyond

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Sociolinguistics of Scots

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Scots: a once and future language?

References

What People are Saying About This

This book offers a fascinating, carefully-developed and thought-provoking account of Scots and its uses by a leading authority on the subject. It is at points quite demanding, yet clearly the work of an excellent teacher who can make complex ideas comprehensible. It draws upon a lifetime of work in the field, and in a number of places – a rather special and in my view valuable feature – on the author’s own personal experience. I recommend it without hesitation.

Professor Jeremy Smith

This book offers a fascinating, carefully-developed and thought-provoking account of Scots and its uses by a leading authority on the subject. It is at points quite demanding, yet clearly the work of an excellent teacher who can make complex ideas comprehensible. It draws upon a lifetime of work in the field, and in a number of places – a rather special and in my view valuable feature – on the author’s own personal experience. I recommend it without hesitation.

Editorial Reviews

This book offers a fascinating, carefully-developed and thought-provoking account of Scots and its uses by a leading authority on the subject. It is at points quite demanding, yet clearly the work of an excellent teacher who can make complex ideas comprehensible. It draws upon a lifetime of work in the field, and in a number of places – a rather special and in my view valuable feature – on the author’s own personal experience. I recommend it without hesitation.

Professor Jeremy Smith