History of the Scots Language

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.

List of contents

• 1: What is Scots?


• 2: Historical and linguistic backgrounds: the Germanic languages, Old English and the pre-Scots period


• 3: Scots in the Medieval and Early Modern periods


• 4: Scots in decline? The Modern Age


• 5: Historical phonology of Scots


• 6: Historical morphosyntax of Scots


• 7: Historical development of Scots lexis


• 8: Conclusions

About the author

Robert McColl Millar is Professor in Linguistics and Scots Language at the University of Aberdeen. His particular interests lie in the present use and history of Scots, in social dialectology and in the effects of language contact. His books include Northern and Insular Scots (Edinburgh University Press, 2007), Modern Scots: An Analytical Survey (Edinburgh University Press, 2018) and A Sociolinguistic History of Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Summary

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.

Additional text

Particularly for those interested in language contact, Millar's account is a good example of how to approach a history of a minority=minoritised language variety closely related to the superordinate variety.

Product details

• Authors: Robert McColl Millar, Robert Mccoll (Professor in Linguistics an Millar
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.09.2023
• EAN: 9780198863991
• ISBN: 978-0-19-886399-1
• No. of pages: 210
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Grammar & Punctuation, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax, Sociolinguistics, Grammar, syntax & morphology, Phonetics, phonology, Historical & comparative linguistics, Grammar, syntax and morphology, Scots (Lallans, The Doric), Historical and comparative linguistics