Scottish Cant (often called Scots-Romani or Scotch-Romani) is a cant spoken by Scottish Travellers and Scottish Lowland Roma, primarily in the Scottish Lowlands.[2]
| Scottish Cant | |
|---|---|
| Scots-Romani | |
| Native to | United Kingdom |
| Region | Scotland |
| Ethnicity | Scottish Romani and Traveller groups |
Native speakers | 460 in Scotland (2011)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | trl |
| Glottolog | trav1235 |
Classification
editUp 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]
Use of archaic Scots
editScottish Cant uses numerous terms derived from Scots which are no longer current in Modern Scots as spoken by non-Travellers, such as mowdit "buried", mools "earth", both from muild(s), and gellie, from gailey (galley), "a bothy".[2]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
editLoans from Gaelic include words like:[2]
- cluishes "ears" (Gaelic cluasan or cluais, a dative form of cluas "ear")
- shain "bad" (Gaelic sean "old")
Romani influences
editThe percentage of Romani lexical vocabulary is said to be up to 50% of the lexicon; some examples are:[2]
- gadgie "man" (Romani gadžó "a non-Romani person")
- pannie "water" (Romani paní)
Recordings
editHamish 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
editReferences
edit- ^ Scottish Cant at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d e Kirk, J. & Ó Baoill, D. Travellers and their Language (2002) Queen's University Belfast ISBN 0-85389-832-4
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
