Spelling Scots: The Orthography of Modern Literary Scots, 1700-2000

People have been writing in Scots for over 700 years, but the spelling of Scots has never been fixed, with many words, like buik, buke, book, appearing in a variety of forms. Drawing on the Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of the spelling system of Older and Modern Scots, illustrating how this orthographic system has developed partly in response to historical shifts in pronunciation, and partly as a result of social and political change. Spelling Scots acts not only as a wide-ranging reference book to the changing orthography of Scots, but also as an outline of the active interventions in the practices that have guided Scots spelling. The book shows how canonical writers of poetry and fiction in Scots from 1700 to the present day have blended convention and innovation in presenting Scots in literary texts, and it explores the influence of key writers such as Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Hogg and Stevenson. Introducing an innovative method of tracing the use of key spelling variants in a corpus of Scots writing, the book discusses the implication of this method for promoting wider literacy in Scots. This volume should be a standard reference volume in libraries of institutions where literature in Scots is studied. It offers a detailed survey of why literature in Scots exhibits such a broad range of variant spellings. Analyses the development of Modern Scots orthography and compares the spelling used in key works of literature. People have been writing in Scots for over 700 years, but the spelling of Scots has never been fixed, with many words, like buik, buke, book, appearing in a variety of forms. Drawing on the Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of the spelling system of Older and Modern Scots, illustrating how this orthographic system has developed partly in response to historical shifts in pronunciation, and partly as a result of social and political change. Spelling Scots acts not only as a wide-ranging reference book to the changing orthography of Scots, but also as an outline of the active interventions in the practices that have guided Scots spelling. The book shows how canonical writers of poetry and fiction in Scots from 1700 to the present day have blended convention and innovation in presenting Scots in literary texts, and it explores the influence of key writers such as Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Hogg and Stevenson. Introducing an innovative method of tracing the use of key spelling variants in a corpus of Scots writing, the book discusses the implication of this method for promoting wider literacy in Scots. Spelling Scots should be a standard reference volume for all institutions where literature in Scots is studied. It draws on the authors' current research project, the Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing. Key features. Evidence-based treatment of the material using two main corpora Presents the first full description of Modern Scots spelling Explores the influence of key writers such as Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Hogg and Stevenson on other writers Title page 3 Copyright 4 Contents 5 Acknowledgements 6 The IPA Chart 7 1 Introduction 9 2 The Consonants of Older Scots 24 3 Older Scots Vowels 47 4 The Development of Modern Scots Orthography 67 5 From Orthoepy to Activism: Orthographic Interventions 84 6 Cluster Analysis and Scots Orthography 105 7 Applying Cluster Analysis to Scots Poetry 119 8 Applying Cluster Analysis to Scots Prose 135 9 Promoting Literacy in Scots 147 Appendix: Wordlists Used in Cluster Analyses 155 References 160 Index 167 The Consonants Of Older Scots -- Older Scots Vowels -- The Development Of Modern Scots Orthography -- From Orthoepy To Activism : Orthographic Interventions -- Cluster Analysis And Scots Orthography -- Applying Cluster Analysis To Scots Poetry -- Applying Cluster Analysis To Scots Prose -- Promoting Literacy In Scots. Jennifer Bann And John Corbett. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 152-158) And Index. This book analyses the development of Modern Scots orthography and compares the spelling used in key works of literature, showing how canonical writers of poetry and fiction in Scots have blended convention and innovation in presenting Scots. This volume analyses the development of Modern Scots orthography and compares the spelling used in key works in literature