Emma Grae: Unionist parodies of Scots speakers are a win for the language

Twitter has given the Scots language a much bigger audience in recent years and spread awareness of not only the multiple dialects within the leid, but debunked many of the myths surrounding the language.

However, because the Scots language is one of many cultural markers that sets Scotland apart from England, it is wrongfully seen as point of contempt by Unionists, despite the fact that people elsewhere in the UK are simply curious about it.

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I’m talking from experience. I’ve been promoting the Scots language from London for years now, and I’ve never met an English person who even questions the legitimacy of the language, let alone gone out their way to ridicule it. This internalised self-loathing is an inherently Scottish problem.

It comes from native Scots speakers too. After all, in order to parody the language effectively, you have to be able to speak it, as one account which I won’t name is doing almost daily with poems intended to mock Scots folk singer Iona Fyfe.

While this account very much thinks they are the one having a laugh, the truth is that their sheer hatred is inspiring them to do what Scots language advocates like myself and Fyfe want: Promote and practice writing in the leid.

To put how effective these parody account are at using the lied into context, they have now started a rumour among themselves that they are, in fact, the work of the Scots creators they are mocking - when in reality, it is a small, but organised hateful group.

The amount of time that goes into these accounts can’t be underestimated. One account that dubs itself a "parody genius" has actually utilised multiple attempts at Shakespearian iambic pentameter in Scots, which takes no small amount of literary awareness and - dare I say - talent.

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As noted by Dr Michael Dempster, director of the Scots Language Centre: “Aften the haurdest critics o Scots are amang the best spikkers theirsels. They’ll mibbie hae internalised the tired an oot-o-date hostility we face fir spikkin in wir ain language an perpetuate it against them thit daurnae wheesht.

"The irony o onie imitation o 'writin how ye speak' is thit, as hit’s duin bi fulla spikkers theirsels, it’s aften decent Scots writin in an o itsel. As fankilt a thocht process as it is, an as squinty its motivation, A haun on hairt welcome these Scots spikkers explorin their ain language an expressin it in writin.”

I was recently told that Scots is systematically drummed out of speakers for a reason - to enable them to succeed academically and professionally. But at the end of the day, you have to understand linguistic fundamentals that apply to sister languages like Scots and English to parody something like iambic pentameter, which funnily enough, has existed since the 1300s and is first attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer, who, like this "parody genius" was fluent in more than one language.

Not only that, iambic pentameter is a difficult form to write in, which only points to the benefits of fluency in both Scots and English, despite what the critics say.

I, for one, hope that the accounts inspire other Unionists to create in the leid. Perhaps they’ll find themselves even enjoying it and maybe think twice about the bias that has led them to feel like Scots is only worthy of being a tool to ridicule.

However, as Dr Dempster says, this isn’t the best way to promote the leid because of the hate driving these accounts and in an ideal world people would be able to learn about their language "in mair healthy an supportit contexts".