Scottish Cant

Last updated
Scottish Cant
Scots-Romani
Native to United Kingdom
Region Scotland
Ethnicity Scottish Romani
Native speakers
460 in Scotland (2011) [1]
Indo-European
  • mixed language
    • Scottish Cant
Language codes
ISO 639-3 trl
Glottolog trav1235

Scottish Cant, Scots Romani, Scotch Romani or the Scottish Romani language is a cant and variety of the Romani language spoken by Lowland Romani (Lowland Gypsies), who primarily live in the Scottish Lowlands. [2]

Contents

Classification

Up to 50% of Scottish Cant originates from Romani-derived lexicon. [3]

The Scottish Gaelic element in the dialects of Scottish Cant is put anywhere between 0.8% and 20%. [2]

Romani vocabulary

The percentage of traditional Romani lexical vocabulary is said to be up to 50% of the lexicon; some examples are: [2]

Use of archaic Scots

Scottish Cant uses numerous terms derived from Scots which are no longer current in Modern Scots as spoken by non-Travellers, such as mowdit "buried", mools "earth", both from muild(s), and gellie, from gailey (galley), "a bothy". [2]

Gaelic influences

Loans from Gaelic include words like: [2]

Recordings

Hamish Henderson and other folklorists recorded various conversations about the Scottish Cant language, with speakers including Lizzie Higgins and Jeannie Robertson. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] He also recorded Belle Stewart singing a version of "Dance to Your Daddy" in both Cant and Scots. [11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Scottish Cant at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kirk, J. & Ó Baoill, D. Travellers and their Language (2002) Queen's University Belfast ISBN   0-85389-832-4
  3. ↑ Wilde 1889, cited in Not just lucky white heather and clothes pegs: putting European Gypsies and Traveller economic niches in context. In: Ethnicity and Economy:Race and class revisited. C. Clark (2002). Strathclyde University.
  4. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  5. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  6. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  7. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  8. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  9. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  10. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  11. ↑ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
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