This topic comes up from time to time and always there is the same confusion between a Scottish accent and the distinct nature of the Scots language. Anyone who has tried to read Burns' poetry will quickly realise that there is a great deal more to the language than simply representing the phonetics of speech - the "braw bricht moonlit nicht" sort of thing. That merely indicates how a Scots person might say the English words "brave bright moonlit night and has no more linguistic meaning than would the difference between a southern drawl from Alabama and the long vowels of a Bostonian. Scots as a language is mostly spoken as a mixture of words along with English and, as a matter of courtesy, most would refrain from using purely Scots words when conversing with a non-native to avoid misunderstanding. Scots and English actually share the same Anglo-Saxon dialects originating around the northern half of England and this northern English language spread north into Scotland after the Norman conquest, replacing the native Gaelic south of the Highlands. There have, of course, been many developments since then including the influence of other languages such as French. Ashet is a Scots word meaning a dish and is derived from the French assiette (a plate). Over the years English speakers in the south of England have modified their speech and words such as "stane" in Scots and "stone" in English are simple examples of this where Scots has retained the earlier "a" pronunciation whereas English has modified this to "o". Where differences still exist is in the grammar of the two languages. Even although Scots may speak perfect English they will construct sentences slightly differently. "I have went to the shop" is correct in Scots but in English would be "I have gone ....". Another glaring difference is the "ch" in loch which no Englishman seems capable of pronouncing other than as "ck" in lock although I have never found them to have the same difficulty when pronouncing the composer Bach which never comes out as "Back".