The BBC has some wonderful Scots history and language resources on line:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/f...ic/index.shtml



(And for those in Scotland)

Scots: The Language of the People
Tuesday 28 February
BBC Two Scotland, 10.00 - 11.00pm

Carl MacDougall tells the story of how the Scots language adapted to the demands of the modern world in this first programme of a new four-part series. In the twentieth century Scotland's writers, folk singers, comedians and broadcasters breathed new life into Scots, showing that it could once again play a role in every aspect of our lives.

Carl says, "Scots is not just a language for blethering - it's an all-purpose Rolls Royce of tongues capable of articulating the profoundest philosophical thoughts, the most soaring emotion, the most potent political sentiments."

He traces the early history of Scots from its roots in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Gaelic. These languages have left their linguistic footprint in the country's place names - Perth and Pittenweem from Pictish; Kirkwall and Thurso from Norse; Hawick and Jedburgh from Anglo-Saxon.

As academic Kirsteen McCue puts it, "Scots does matter today, in the sense that it's always mattered because it's part of who we are, and part of how we express ourselves."

Poet, Janet Paisley adds, "It is the language that Scots invented about their selves. It is the only language that talks about Scotland."
For independent Scotland, our distinctive language was to become an important expression of our national identity. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Scots was the language of the Royal Court, legislation and the vehicle for some of the finest poetry in Europe. Poets like Gavin Douglas and William Dunbar extended the range of Scots and raised the status of the Scots language, but over the next two hundred years events would conspire against Scotland's national language

Related Links

-Writing Scotland
All about Scottish authors.

-Voices
Local dialects from all over the UK.