Scots facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Scots
(Braid) Scots, Lallans, Doric
Native to	United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland
Region	Scotland: Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, Caithness, Arran and Campbeltown Ulster: Counties Down, Antrim, Derry and Donegal
Native speakers	100,000  (1999) 1.5 million L2 speakers Total: 17% to 85% of the Scottish population speak it to some degree
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic Scots
Early forms:	Early Scots Middle Scots Scots
Official status
Official language in	None — Classified as a "traditional language" by the Scottish Government. — Classified as a "regional or minority language" under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by the United Kingdom in 2001. — Classified as a "traditional language" by The North/South Language Body
Recognised minority language in	Scotland

Scots is a West Germanic language. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots or Lallans. It is not Scottish English but it is similar to the English spoken in Scotland. Ulster Scots is a special form of Scots found in the north of Ireland. Scots is very different from the Scottish Gaelic language, which is a Celtic language.

Some people debate if Scots is a separate language or a type of English. It is generally seen as one of the old forms of English. Scots also has its own unique types, like Doric.

The Story of Scots: How it Grew

This map shows how Scots grew and spread across Scotland and Ulster over time.      Old English was spoken here by the early 800s, in the northern part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which is now part of Scotland.      Early Scots was spoken in these areas by the early 1400s.      Modern Scots was spoken in these areas by the mid-1900s.

Scots started to develop in southeastern Scotland around the 1100s and 1200s. This area was once part of an old kingdom called Northumbria. People speaking an early form of English, influenced by Norse, moved there from northern England.

Over time, other languages also influenced Scots. Words came from Latin, which was used in churches and for laws. Norman and French words came from the "Auld Alliance" (a friendship between Scotland and France). Words from Dutch and Middle Low German came through trade and people moving from the Low Countries. Scots also borrowed words from Gaelic.

From the 1200s, Early Scots spread across Scotland. This happened as King David I created new towns called burghs. By the 1300s, Scots became the main language in most of eastern Scotland. This was because it grew in importance, and French became less common in Scotland.

Between 1610 and the 1690s, many Scots-speaking people moved to Ulster in Ireland. About 200,000 Lowlanders settled there. In some areas, there were many more Scots speakers than English speakers. After 1700, a more standard form of English became popular for writing. The Scots spoken after 1700 is sometimes called "Modern Scots."

Related pages

• Scots Wikipedia