Insular West Germanic speech was first established in what is now Scotland in the sixth century. Uniquely among Old English-derived speech forms other than standard literary English, Scots has a claim to be regarded as a distinct language rather than a dialect, or latterly a group of dialects, of English. The distinction between Scots and Scottish English, which though not always clear in practice, is soundly based on historical facts. Germanic speech was established in what had been an area of Celtic language and culture. The growing complexity of the Scottish linguistic situation, with French and English emerging as functioning languages of the kingdom, can be deduced from official documents of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The chapter also discusses the spread of English in the Gaidhealtachd and the Northern Isles, and looks at phonology morphology, syntax, and dialect variation of Scottish English. Language adds a distinctive colouring to the contemporary Scottish cultural scene.