Histories and descriptions of Scots typically begin by broaching a sociolinguistic definition of this rather unique language variety (unique, at least, as a ‘dialect’ of English). Millar's approach to this question in the first chapter of this book sets it apart from many others on the same topic; he provides clear examples for concepts such as dialect continuum, often with engaging personal anecdotes, yet is discerning of the inherently ideological nature of defining a ‘language’. A framework for conceptualising Scots is offered via Kloss's concepts of Abstand and Ausbau, which are useful for understanding the intractable relationship between Scots and English. A detailed linguistic ecology follows.
Prior to a formal linguistic description, Millar delves into the historical and societal forces that have produced the ‘dialectalization’ of Scots. A genealogy from proto-Indo-European to Middle Scots (chapter 2) precedes a sociolinguistic history, with lexical and some phonetic detail, from the Romans to eighteenth-century anglicisation (chapter 3). Several popular beliefs about Scots are challenged—for example, Millar argues that ‘the boundary between [Scots and Gaelic has been] less geographical than social’. Chapter 4 continues this history, assessing whether the mainstream perception of political and linguistic ‘decline’ in Scotland is a fair one. The consequences of important events, such as the centralisation of power in Westminster and the distribution of the English-language Bible in Scotland, suggest that it is. However, Millar cautiously qualifies this narrative with evidence of linguistic change, rather than decline, and continued usage, as well as the efforts of language activism. In doing so, this chapter also provides a picture of Modern Scots in its notably divergent written and spoken forms.
Chapters 5–7 provide historical descriptions of phonology, morphosyntax, and lexis, respectively. Distinctiveness from different varieties of English and assimilation towards Standard English are considered throughout, set within both a social and linguistic history. Millar points out that the first of these descriptions in particular—phonology—presents the researcher with certain difficulties given the absence of primary data prior to the end of the nineteenth century and the complexity of the Scots sound-spelling system, among other factors. After drawing from Northumbrian Old English texts that evidence distinctive features of Old Scots, a systematic review of Aitken's nineteen Modern Scots vowels comprises the bulk of the chapter. The relative richness of written records makes for comparatively more straightforward methodologies in chapters 6 and 7. A complex yet convincing account of the erosion of traditional Scots lexis—the most distinctive feature in the delineation of Scots from English—is aligned somewhat with the perceived decline in Scots as a whole following on from the loss of political, economic, and cultural autonomy, and the advent of urbanisation.
Particularly for those interested in language contact, Millar's account is a good example of how to approach a history of a minority/minoritised language variety closely related to the superordinate variety. One of many varieties in this situation, Scots is distinguished by the relatively atypical fact of its long, if wavering, history of independent ideology and literacy.
