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Scots [note 1] is a language variety descended from Early Middle English in the West Germanic language family.Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, the Northern Isles of Scotland, and northern Ulster in Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots), it is sometimes called: Lowland Scots, to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language that was historically ...
Modern Scots" is used to describe the language after 1700, when southern Modern English was generally adopted as the literary language. There is no institutionalised standard variety, but during the 18th century a new literary language descended from the old court Scots emerged.
English is the most widely spoken and de facto official language of the United Kingdom. [13] A number of regional and migrant languages are also spoken. Regional English variant languages are Scots and Ulster Scots; indigenous Celtic languages are Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. There are many non-native languages spoken by immigrants ...
The dialect of English spoken in Northern Ireland shows influence from the lowland Scots language. [12] There are supposedly some minute differences in pronunciation between Protestants and Catholics, the best known of which is the name of the letter h, which Protestants tend to pronounce as "aitch", as in British English, and Catholics tend to pronounce as "haitch", as in Hiberno-English.
Early in the 19th century the publication of John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scots Language was accompanied by a renewed interest in Scots among the middle and upper classes. In this period the absence of an official standard or socially acceptable norm led to further dialect divergence.
Scotland has three indigenous languages: English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic. [160] [161] Scottish Standard English, a variety of English as spoken in Scotland, is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with broad Scots at the other. [162] Scottish Standard English may have been influenced to varying degrees by Scots.
Scotland (along with English and Scots) [42] Gbe: ... Sakha (local official language; in localities with Yukaghir population) [78] Zhuang: Guangxi (with Chinese ...
Official language A language designated as having a unique legal status in the state: typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business. Regional language A language designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state.