inscription "Godis Providens Is My Inheritans" over the main entrance door leading to the tower in
Ballygally Castle A large numbers of
Scots-speaking
Lowlanders, some 200,000, arrived during the 17th century following the 1610
Plantation, with the peak reached during the 1690s. In the core areas of
Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one. Literature from shortly before the end of the unselfconscious tradition at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is almost identical with contemporary writing from Scotland. W. G. Lyttle, writing in ''Paddy McQuillan's Trip Tae Glesco
, uses the typically Scots forms kent
and begood
, now replaced in Ulster by the more mainstream Anglic forms knew
, knowed
or knawed
and begun''. Many of the modest contemporary differences between Scots as spoken in Scotland and Ulster may be due to dialect levelling and influence from Mid Ulster English brought about through relatively recent demographic change rather than direct
contact with Irish, retention of older features or separate development. The earliest identified writing in Scots in Ulster dates from 1571: a letter from Agnes Campbell of County Tyrone to
Queen Elizabeth on behalf of Turlough O'Neil, her husband. Although documents dating from the Plantation period show conservative Scots features, English forms started to predominate from the 1620s as Scots declined as a written medium. In Ulster Scots-speaking areas there was traditionally a considerable demand for the work of Scottish poets, often in locally printed editions. These include
Alexander Montgomerie's
The Cherrie and the Slae in 1700; shortly over a decade later an edition of poems by
Sir David Lindsay; nine printings of
Allan Ramsay's
The Gentle shepherd between 1743 and 1793; and an edition of
Robert Burns' poetry in 1787, the same year as the Edinburgh edition, followed by reprints in 1789, 1793 and 1800. Among other Scottish poets published in Ulster were
James Hogg and
Robert Tannahill. (1814–1887) inscribed in paving in Writers' Square, Belfast That was complemented by a poetry revival and nascent prose genre in Ulster, which started around 1720. The most prominent of these was the
rhyming weaver poetry, of which, some 60 to 70 volumes were published between 1750 and 1850, the peak being in the decades 1810 to 1840, although the first printed poetry (in the
Habbie stanza form) by an Ulster Scots writer was published in a
broadsheet in Strabane in 1735. These weaver poets looked to Scotland for their cultural and literary models and were not simple imitators but clearly inheritors of the same literary tradition following the same poetic and orthographic practices; it is not always immediately possible to distinguish traditional Scots writing from Scotland and Ulster. Among the
rhyming weavers were
James Campbell (1758–1818),
James Orr (1770–1816),
Thomas Beggs (1749–1847),
David Herbison (1800–1880),
Hugh Porter (1780–1839) and
Andrew McKenzie (1780–1839). Scots was also used in the narrative by Ulster novelists such as
W. G. Lyttle (1844–1896) and
Archibald McIlroy (1860–1915). By the middle of the 19th century, the
Kailyard school of prose had become the dominant literary genre, overtaking poetry. This was a tradition shared with Scotland which continued into the early 20th century. --> A somewhat diminished tradition of vernacular poetry survived into the 20th century in the work of poets such as Adam Lynn, author of the 1911 collection
Random Rhymes frae Cullybackey, John Stevenson (died 1932), writing as "Pat M'Carty", and John Clifford (1900–1983) from East Antrim. In the late 20th century the poetic tradition was revived, albeit often replacing the traditional
Modern Scots orthographic practice with a series of contradictory
idiolects. Among the significant writers is
James Fenton, mostly using a blank verse form, but also occasionally the Habbie stanza. He has produced a trilogy of novels
Wake the Tribe o Dan (1998),
The Back Streets o the Claw (2000) and
The Man frae the Ministry (2005), as well as story books for children
Esther, Quaen o tha Ulidian Pechts and
Fergus an tha Stane o Destinie, and two volumes of poetry
Alang the Shore (2005) and
Oul Licht, New Licht (2009). A team in Belfast has begun translating portions of the Bible into Ulster Scots. The Gospel of Luke was published in 2009 by the Ullans Press. It is available in the YouVersion Bible Project.
Since the 1990s . It shows the
Irish translation (middle) and a translation in a form of Ulster Scots (bottom). In 1992 the Ulster-Scots Language Society was formed for the protection and promotion of Ulster Scots, which some of its members viewed as a language in its own right, encouraging use in speech, writing and in all areas of life. Within the terms of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages the British Government is obliged, among other things, to: • Facilitate and/or encourage of the use of Scots in speech and writing, in public and private life. • Provide appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of the language at all appropriate stages. • Provide facilities enabling non-speakers living where the language is spoken to learn it if they so desire. • Promote study and research of the language at universities of equivalent institutions. The
Ulster-Scots Agency, funded by DCAL in conjunction with the
Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, is responsible for promotion of greater awareness and use of Ullans and of Ulster-Scots cultural issues, both within Northern Ireland and throughout the island. The agency was established as a result of the
Belfast Agreement of 1998. Its headquarters are on
Great Victoria Street in central
Belfast, while the agency has a major office in
Raphoe, County Donegal. In 2001 the Institute of Ulster Scots Studies was established at the
University of Ulster. An Ulster Scots Academy has been planned with the aim of conserving, developing, and teaching the language of Ulster-Scots in association with native speakers to the highest academic standards. By the early 20th century the literary tradition was almost extinct, though some 'dialect' poetry continued to be written. Much
revivalist Ulster Scots has appeared, for example as "official translations", since the 1990s. However, it has little in common with traditional Scots
orthography as described in Grant and Dixon's
Manual of Modern Scots (1921).
Aodán Mac Póilin, an
Irish language activist, has described these revivalist orthographies as an attempt to make Ulster Scots an independent written language and to achieve official status. They seek "to be as different to English (and occasionally Scots) as possible". He described it as a hotchpotch of obsolete words,
neologisms (example: for
vacuum cleaner), redundant spellings (example: for
who) and "erratic spelling". In 2005, Gavin Falconer questioned officialdom's complicity, writing: "The readiness of Northern Ireland officialdom to consign taxpayers' money to a black hole of translations incomprehensible to ordinary users is worrying". Recently produced teaching materials, have, on the other hand, been evaluated more positively.
Sample texts The three text excerpts below illustrate how the traditional written form of Ulster Scots from the 18th to early 20th century was virtually indistinguishable from contemporary written Scots from Scotland.
The Muse Dismissed (
Hugh Porter 1780–1839) :Be hush'd my Muse, ye ken the morn :Begins the shearing o' the corn, :Whar knuckles monie a risk maun run, :An' monie a trophy's lost an' won, :Whar sturdy boys wi' might and main :Shall camp, till wrists an' thumbs they strain, :While pithless, pantin' wi' the heat, :They bathe their weazen'd pelts in sweat :To gain a sprig o' fading fame, :Before they taste the dear-bought cream— :But bide ye there, my pens an' papers, :For I maun up, an' to my scrapers— :Yet, min', my lass— ye maun return :This very night we cut the churn.
To M.H. (Barney Maglone 1820?–1875) :This wee thing's o' little value, ::But for a' that it may be :Guid eneuch to gar you, lassie, ::When you read it, think o' me. :Think o' whan we met and parted, ::And o' a' we felt atween— :Whiles sae gleesome, whiles doon-hearted— ::In yon cosy neuk at e'en. :Think o' when we dander't ::Doon by Bangor and the sea; :How yon simmer day, we wander't ::'Mang the fields o' Isle Magee. :Think o' yon day's gleefu' daffin' ::(Weel I wot ye mind it still) :Whan we had sic slips and lauchin', ::Spielin' daftly up Cave Hill. :Dinna let your e'en be greetin' ::Lassie, whan ye think o' me, :Think upo' anither meetin', ::Aiblins by a lanward sea. From
The Lammas Fair (Robert Huddleston 1814–1889) :Tae sing the day, tae sing the fair, ::That birkies ca' the lammas; :In aul' Belfast, that toun sae rare, ::Fu' fain wad try't a gomas. :Tae think tae please a', it were vain, ::And for a country plain boy; :Therefore, tae please mysel' alane, ::Thus I began my ain way, :::::Tae sing that day. :Ae Monday morn on Autumn's verge ::To view a scene so gay, :I took my seat beside a hedge, ::To loiter by the way. :Lost Phoebus frae the clouds o' night, ::Ance mair did show his face— :Ance mair the Emerald Isle got light, ::Wi' beauty, joy, an' grace; ::::Fu' nice that day. The examples below illustrate how 21st century Ulster Scots texts seldom adhere to the previous literary tradition,
Yer guide tae the cheenge-ower, perhaps being a rare exception. Instead there has been an increase in the use of somewhat creative phonetic spellings based on the perceived sound-to-letter correspondences of
Standard English, i.e. dialect writing, as exemplified in ''Alice's Carrànts in Wunnerlan'' or the adoption of a more esoteric "amalgam of traditional, surviving, revived, changed, and invented features" :Dae A need a new aerial? :Gin ye hae guid analogue reception the nou, ye'r like no tae need tae replace yer ruiftap or set-tap aerial for the cheenge-ower – thare nae sic thing as a 'deegital aerial'. But gin ye hae ill analogue reception the nou, ye'll mebbe need tae replace it. :Find oot by gaun til the aerial-pruifer on
Teletext page 284. Anither wey is tae wait until efter the cheenge-ower for tae see if yer pictur's affect. From ''
Alice's Carrànts in Wunnerlan'' (Anne Morrison-Smyth, 2013) :The Caterpillar an Alice lukt at ither fur a quare while wi'oot taakin: finally the Caterpillar tuk the hookah oot o its mooth, an spoke tae hir in a languid, dozy voice. :"Wha ir yae?" said the Caterpillar. :This wusnae a pooerfu guid openin fur a yarn. Alice answert brev an baakwardly, "A—A harly know, Sir, jest at this minute—at least A know wha A wus this moarnin, but heth, A hae bin changed a wheen o times since thin." :"What dae yae mean bae that?" said the Caterpillar sternly. "Explain yersel!" :"A cannae explain maesel, A'm feart, Sir," said Alice, "baecaas A'm naw maesel, yae see." :"A dinnae see," said the Caterpillar. :"A cannae mak it onie mair clear," Alice answer, while polite, "fur A cannae unnerstan it maesel tae stairt wi; an baein sae monie different sizes in yin dae haes turnt mae heid." From
Hannlin Rede [annual report]
2012–2013 (
Männystèr o Fairms an Kintra Fordèrin, 2012) :We hae cum guid speed wi fettlin tae brucellosis, an A'm mintin at bein haleheidit tae wun tae tha stannin o bein redd o brucellosis aathegither. Forbye, A'm leukkin tae see an ettlin in core at fettlin tae tha TB o Kye, takkin in complutherin anent a screengin ontak, tha wye we'll can pit owre an inlaik in ootlay sillert wi resydentèrs. Mair betoken, but, we'll be leukkin forbye tae uphaud an ingang airtit wi tha hannlins furtae redd ootcum disayses. An we'r fur stairtin in tae leukk bodes agane fur oor baste kenmairk gate, 'at owre tha nixt wheen o yeirs wull be tha ootcum o sillerin tae aboot £60m frae resydentèrs furtae uphaud tha hale hannlin adae wi beef an tha mïlk-hoose. ==See also==