Cromarty Fishing Dialect

[emanday]

Just got this from my daily emailed Scotsman newsletter...

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=276452007

Just found it interesting.

[Russell]

Thanks Mary

What intrigued me was the storm it stirred up and some of the less desirable responses posted. Some would not have lasted 10 seconds on TalkingScot before banishment to the unknown technical nether regions.

Without grants and researchers I feel we do quite a good job of reminding folk of their linguistic heritage as well as their genetic one.
Ta

Russell

[emanday]

Must agree about the tone of some of the responses, Russell. It surprises me that they don't get pulled. Some of the ones about this article were downright insulting.

I found the prospect of these dialects being lost quite disturbing. Some of the comments about letting dying languages die didn't go down well with me. The way I look at it, in 3000 years time when archeologists are digging up our past, they might stand a better chance of "getting it right" if our old dialects have been recorded and studied. Look at the trouble many of us are having transcribing the older OPR's and Testaments.

Study and research, I say. I applaud the folk who have taken it upon themselves to glean as much as they can from these two old chaps before it is too late.

[paddyscar]

It was an interesting article. The 'dialect' being suggested as poor grammar and pronunciation in some readers' comments indicates a lack of understanding. The preservation of 'the dialect' means that it will be recorded as a means to understanding the past and the means to understanding our future language.

Latin is considered to be a dead language, because by not changing, it became unusable. It doesn't mean that it is irrelevant.

Part of our success in communicating is finding a common ground, while knowing and understanding that language is continually evolving.

It will be interesting to have SarahND's input on this subject.

Frances

[wini]

Mary,

I too read the article in the Scotsman emailed headlines and was equally surprised at the comments by some .
If any of you have elderly relatives still alive I hope you record some of their memories before they are no longer with us.
I was involved with a project in a country town compiling oral histories of the elderly residents and since then I have regretted that I had no elders left in my family.

When an old person dies, a library burns.

West African Proverb

wini

[emanday]

When an old person dies, a library burns.

West African Proverb

Gosh, that is so true, and that article has highlighted that so well. I hope the researchers working with the old chaps use the recording of the dialect to also get some history of the area and lives of the fishermen.