Newton Emerson: C’è solo un problema con l’Ulster Scots. A differenza della lingua irlandese, non esiste
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/12/18/newton-emerson-theres-just-one-problem-with-ulster-scots-unlike-the-irish-language-it-doesnt-exist/
di TeoKajLibroj
14 commenti
Hoo can ye say at this isnae a rale leid? O coorse it is. It shairly isnae jist scrievin doon a twang
It may well be the first language spawned out of spite.
Nah.
This is “Ireland is Full” levels of wrong.
Pox on all who sail this boat.
Isn’t there a legitimate Scot’s Gaelic? I think it would be culturally appropriate for them to use that. what’s this pigin nonsense
Some people say the same thing about Scots. They forget it was the language of the Scottish court, has literature and developed as a separate language from English. It is used as a way to deny Scottish identity.
Isn’t Ulster Scots, the language brought over when Scots were planted in Ireland.
I’d be more than happy to have Ulster Scots recognised and even taught in schools. But the truth of the matter is loyalists couldn’t care less about Ulster Scots until they can use it as a means of denigrating the Irish language. The only time Ulster Scots is mentioned is when nationalists demand that Irish be recognised.
The really weird thing is that Scots and by extension, Ulster Scots are actual languages with actual real and valid linguistic traditions.
And the irony is that far more damage has been done to the image and reputation of Scots by loyalists than by the Irish language movement.
It’s not Gaeilgeoirí who are equating the rich heritage of Robbie Burns with English, but stauncher, and with “so it is” thrown in occasionally.
In literally the second paragraph of the article, the guy says that Ulster Scots is a real dialect of Scots (true). Then he says “Scots is often considered to be a dialect of English”, avoiding the fact that even if it’s “often considered” to be, it actually is its own language – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language. Saying that Ulster-Scots is “just a dialect of English with a few random words thrown in” is factually incorrect.
I’m an Irish Nationalist, and I think the DUP’s efforts to push Ulster-Scots have been mostly a huge failure, but this whole “haha look at the stupid fucking Prods trying to revitalise part of their cultural heritage” thing is actually just sectarianism. You wouldn’t be saying this about any other group trying to do the same.
It seems to me that the fairest interpretation is that Ulster Scots is a dialect of the Scots language. Scots being a language very closely related to English due to sharing a common ancestor in Old/Middle English, and having evolved alongside it.
He’s a “Dafty Weeyin”
Good point. Looking for a way to be different i guess.
Unionists – “Whhhhhaaaa it’s not fair that the Taigs have their own language.
And maybe in the future it might be on the signs”
NI population – “but your language , English, is spoken across the island , is that not enough. “
Unionists – “NO, we want our own language to hit your language over the head with “
Not a fan of the minimisation of Ulster Scots. Might not be a language in the strict sense but it’s certainly a dialect and I like that dialects are increasingly celebrated all over Europe.
We’re going to end up in a situation where Irish language campaigners become the main advocates for Ulster Scots learning and rediscovery and the PUL will increasingly want little to do with it.
If Ulster Scots is a language then so is Cork and Kerry.
Kerry English is far more divergent from standard hiberno-English than Ulster Scots is.