The Scottish languages bill

The Scottish Parliament has unanimously passed the Scottish Languages Bill. The bill will pass into law once it receives the formality of royal consent.

The bill makes Gaelic and Scots official languages in Scotland and also introduces measures aimed at boosting the use and development of both languages. Making Gaelic and Scots legally the official languages of Scotland – alongside English (which is a de facto official language) – is a historic step in the story of Scottish languages. Neither Gaelic or Scots have ever hitherto been legally recognised as official languages in Scotland. Scots was the de facto official language of the Scottish state prior to 1707, but following the Reformation and the adoption for political reasons of the English language King James Authorised Version of the bible, although Scots remained the spoken language of all levels of Scottish society outwith the Gaelic speaking areas – which still extended into the Lowlands until the 1700s – the written Scots employed by Scottish state institutions became increasingly permeated by English. After 1707, the Scottish middle and upper classes abandoned spoken Scots too and deep rooted prejudicial attitudes against Scots established themselves. We still see these prejudices today, they manifest in the dismissal of Scots, which is still spoken by over two million people, as a “pretend language”. In the case of Gaelic they manifest in dismissing it as a dead language, even though it remains very much alive. People who dismiss Gaelic as a dead language are really saying that they want it to die.

Gaelic has never been legally an official language in Scotland. It remained the language of the Scottish royal court and the aristocracy until well into the middle ages, and in the 12th century it was current as a spoken language in all of mainland Scotland and the Hebrides with the exception of the extreme south east, but even there it was a prestigious language employed by the land owning classes. It was the use of Gaelic which led to the very formation of Scotland as a nation. The name Scot in mediaeval Latin referred to Gaelic speakers, originally to Gaelic speakers in Ireland. Until the 10th or 11th century Latin Scotia and Old English Scotland meant Ireland. It was only after English borrowed the Norse name Írland that the name Scotland became restricted in meaning to those parts of the island of Britain which were Gaelic in language and culture.

Latin Scotti or Scoti, meaning Gaels, was an exonym, a name used by foreigners to refer to another ethnic group but not used by that ethnic group themselves. In the same way German, Hungarian and Finn are exonyms used to refer to the ethnic groups which call themselves Deutsch, Magyar, and Suomi respectively. The ultimate origin of the name Scotti is obscure, The term was first employed in Latin in the late 3rd century to refer to the Gaelic speaking Celtic tribes from Ireland who were increasingly raiding the Roman province of Britannia.

There are a number of theories about where the word Scotti came from before being borrowed into Latin. It does not correspond to the name of any known Celtic tribe, although a Celtic origin remains the most likely. According to one theory, the original meaning was “cut off, outcast”, that is those cut off from Roman civilisation, related to scoith (to cut off), from scoth (“point, edge (of weapon)”), from Proto-Celtic *skutā, from Proto-Indo-European *skewt- (“to cut”). Another suggestion derives it from the Old Irish noun scoth meaning “pick”, as in “the pick” of the population, the nobility, from an Archaic Irish reconstruction *skotī. None of these suggestions have won general acceptance.

Whatever the ultimate origin of the name, in a very real sense Scotland means the land of the Gaelic speakers, that fact alone qualifies Gaelic as a national language of Scotland.

As well as making Gaelic and Scots official languages in Scotland, the bill gives parents increased rights to ask their local authority to establish a Gaelic medium school in their area. One of the bill’s most important provisions is that it supports the creation of areas of linguistic significance in Gaelic communities, modelled on the Irish Gaeltachtaí, so that Scottish Government ministers can better target policies to support the language’s growth and maintenance as as community language. It also gives parents in every part of Scotland the legal right to apply for Gaelic nursery and early years places for their children.

This bill establishes the important principle that Gaelic and Scots are equally national languages of all of Scotland.

The bill is less specific in its provisions for Scots. It requires Scottish Ministers to produce a Scots language strategy and to report on progress in relation to that strategy. It gives Scottish Ministers to the power to give guidance to public authorities on promoting the use of Scots, and requires Scottish Ministers to promote Scots language education in schools. It also gives Scottish Ministers the power to set standards and give guidance on Scots language education in schools.

Although Scots has many more speakers than Gaelic, it faces serious challenges. Where Gaelic has a widely accepted standard form. Scots still lacks this and there is no consensus on whether one should be established. As a native speaker of Scots I have my own views on this (spoiler alert, short answer yes) however that’s a topic for another article. As a language that is closely related to English, Scots can be permeated and undermined by English in a way that’s easier for Gaelic – which is obviously highly distinct from English – to resist.

One thing this bill doesn’t include, which I believe would be highly beneficial for both Gaelic and Scots, is to provide for education in Scotland’s schools is to provide for teaching school children in Scotland about the languages of Scotland, their history, origins and development, their former geographic extent and the role they have played in Scottish culture. That would go a long way to overcoming the prejudice and ignorance which remain so widespread in Scotland and which is still sadly apparent today. These prejudices were on full ugly display on social media in response to this bill. People who would be infuriated if Scotland’s built heritage was allowed to decay become irrationally angry when it comes to Scotland’s linguistic heritage.

The best way to ensure that Gaelic and Scots have a future is to create the conditions in which people value and respect them and want to learn and use them. This bill is an important step in achieving that.

An update on my mum. Having a chance to waffle on about my favourite subject – Scotland’s languages – was just what I needed to take my mind off things. We were called to the hospital on Tuesday night at 4 am as the staff thought my mum was at the end of her life, but yet again she defied expectations and her condition stabilised. However she is running out of road. These episodes of crisis are happening more frequently. She’s had no food for over three weeks and no fluids since Monday of last week. She has not been responsive for two weeks now. The only blessing is that she’s being kept comfortable and pain free. The end will come any day now, formidable as she is, not even my mum can defy the inevitable forever.

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