THE new First Minister Humza Yousaf has promised to make culture a priority, and this will hopefully manifest in Scotland’s indigenous languages – Scots and Gaelic – getting the support and protection they need.
But while there have been calls for Yousaf to appoint a new minister for Scottish languages from the grassroots organisations Oor Vyce and Misneachd, I do not believe that that this is the solution.
This is because much of the work needed to protect and promote the languages has already been done – and he needs to know this.
But, more importantly, I’d like to point out that languages affect more than one governmental department – they are a crucial part of any society.
As a Scots language advocate who spends the majority of my time either writing in or promoting the leid, I would not know where to start as a minister for Scottish languages if I was working alone.
It’s perhaps for this reason that when I attended the cross-party discussion on the Scottish Languages Bill in preparation for the introduction of the bill later this year, no one suggested appointing a Scottish languages minister.
Instead, advocates and academics alike spoke of the barriers that cultural cringe and a lack of funding currently present to the work they are already doing.
Therefore, I would argue that instead of having the protection of two very different indigenous languages headed by a minister – a job, which, in my opinion, is outwith the remit of any one person – Yousaf needs to give his ministers the opportunity to work with existing organisations and advocates, who simply need more funding.
Just look at the internet. Online, you can find many fantastic free resources like Len Pennie’s Scots Word of the Day and Susi Briggs and Alan McClure’s Oor Wee Podcast, which make the Scots language accessible to children and learners alike.
Meanwhile, the Scots Language Centre has worked tirelessly for more than three decades to produce the resources needed to get more people talking and embracing Scotland’s most-spoken indigenous language, Scots.
I even helped make this happen, when I was a part of the Scots Warks project, which saw us we create a fantastic set of resources to get Scots speakers writing in the leid.
And while I am not a Gaelic speaker, new opportunities to learn are being presented there too on platforms like Duolingo and the website SpeakGaelic – and they could help the language cover from the sharp decline it has experienced in recent years.
The potential Yousaf has to enable cultural progress through funding opportunities cannot be underestimated.
We could well have new generations of Scots and Gaelic speakers who have no concept of the “cultural cringe” – that is, a rejection of Scottish cultural markers viewed as embarrassing.
However, in the current climate, the discourse around Scots is divisive because the language is so often wrongly conflated with politics.
Director of the Scots Language Centre Dr Michael Dempster said: “Speaking Scots must be destigmatised to allow speakers to fully engage in our society – and government taking a lead on this could be vitally important.
“Since 2009, the Scottish Government has assured the funding of The Scots Language Centre and the Dictionaries of the Scots Language as part of its Scots policy.
“Along with our partners across the education and culture sectors, we work to provide the highest quality resources and support for Scots speakers.
“We have the knowledge, experience, and organisational structures to develop support for Scots, however the sector’s current funding levels is severely beneath the public demand for our support.
“I invite the First Minister and all cabinet members to contact the Scots Language Centre to discover the excellent work that is already being done for Scots and to discuss how this can be organically developed to ensure our linguistic jewel thrives going into the future.”
The Scottish Languages Bill – which will hopefully give the Scots language legal protection for the first time – also gives Yousaf a fantastic opportunity to rewrite the narrative around Scotland’s indigenous languages and solidify Scotland’s unique cultural position on the world stage.
Because our cultural markers really are vital to what makes us Scottish.
When I recently argued in favour of Scottish independence from a cultural perspective at Cambridge University, it was clear that while there is an understanding of what it means to be Scottish culturally, England does not have the same identity – especially when the monarchy is taken out of the equation.
The cultural markers of being Scottish, especially its languages, benefit everyone.
Among their many advantages, they create a sense of community, give people a wider vocabulary to help them articulate their experiences, and if the Scots Language Award is further developed, they could well provide learners with more opportunities for academic success.
If I was in the new First Minister’s position, I would start by giving the relevant ministers the time and opportunities to work with the many great organisations and advocates who have already made significant progress in protecting and developing the leids, such as those I’ve named throughout this article.
After all, while the results of the 2022 census are not yet known, 1.5 million people attested to speaking Scots in 2011, and evidence suggests that this number will have almost certainly increased – just take a look at the half-a-million learners who tune in to Scots Word of the Day on TikTok alone.
But all of this progress needs additional governmental support, and I can only hope that the new First Minister delivers on his promise to make this happen.
