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FOREWORD
THIS book is an outcome
of the Vernacular
Circle of the Burns Club of London; and the Circle itself is, in turn,
the outcome—quite unconscious—of a stream of tendency, coming apparently
from nowhere, but instinctively seeking to fertilise the rich pastures
of old forms of language and dialect, which display an increasing
resistance to various processes of standardisation.
The significance of the work of this particular Vernacular Circle, which
concentrates on Lowland Scots, becomes all the greater in virtue of the
fact that the contributions to the subject presented here are all the
work of men, living furth of Scotland, who are immersed in busy life,
and that none of them is doctrinaire, some of them indeed being non -
professional students of language.
One and all of them, however, have had their attention arrested by the
Anglicising of the Scottish Lowland language which has been affecting
the speech of the people. This influence, which has been at work for
many a year, has not been in any sense a propagandist movement inspired
by England itself. It has been the result of several tendencies, some
natural, but some quite unnatural.
To begin with, there has been an inclination of snobbish, though often
illiterate, parents to discourage the Lowland Scots language as a mark
of lowly birth, and consequently to be avoided. Then there has been an
altogether erroneous but understandable idea that Scots boys are
hampered in their lives out of Scotland by their native speech, and that
therefore Lowland Scots must be banned. So far, however, from that being
necessary, we are faced by the fact that the main support of the
movement for fair-play for the Lowland language has been initiated by
Scots in fairly responsible positions, living outside Scotland. The only
opposition that has been offered to the movement has been by Scots
living in Scotland, though they are the very people who would rise in
rebellion were any open attempt made to Anglicise the institutions of
their native land.
Having in view the danger ahead, the Burns Club of London in 1920 formed
a Vernacular Circle to devise a method for preserving from entire
destruction the language in which the mentality of the Lowland Scot can
best be expressed.
The enthusiasm of earnest Scots men and women living out of Scotland was
immediately guaranteed, and they sought to extend this enthusiasm to
their native heath, for by the gifts of patriotic Scotsmen prizes were
established in the four Scottish universities and in several of the
parish schools.
The Lecture scheme was heartily encouraged by Scottish professors at
English universities, and the illuminating lectures of Professor W. A.
Craigie, Oxford; Professor Peter Giles, Cambridge; and Professor Gordon,
Oxford, have helped to kill most of the unthinking criticism of the
movement.
It has been impossible to find room in this volume for all the lectures
delivered, but it is hoped that those by the Marquis of Aberdeen,
Professor Gordon, and others may be included in a further volume.
The work started in London has now been taken up in Scotland, where a
Vernacular Committee has been formed by the Burns Federation, under the
presidency of Sir Robert Bruce. Thus the movement has entered a new and
important phase; and, with the work being done in Scotland itself,
greater progress must be expected. The full results of such a movement
as this cannot be seen in this generation, but the pioneers who have
helped to organise the whole trend of sense and sentiment inherent in
the Circle feel that they are taking part in a great movement, which, if
making for a fulfilment of our separate selves, is in no way inimical to
the essential, if subtle, unity of our Commonwealth.
WILLIAM WILL,
Hon. Secretary, Vernacular Circle.
The Scottish Tongue
A Series of Lectures on the Vernacular Language of Lowland Scotland
Delivered to the Members of the Vernacular Circle of the Burns Club of
London By W. A. Craigie, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford
University, John Buchan, M.A., LL.D., Peter Giles, M.A., LL.D., Master
of Emmanuel, Cambridge University and J. M. Bulloch, M.A., LL.D., Editor
of “The Graphic” Chairman, Vernacular Circle, Burns Club of London.
(1924) (pdf) |
