Scots is the Germanic language variety traditionally spoken in lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is sometimes referred to as Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Hebrides.
Since there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and s...
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Scots is the Germanic language variety traditionally spoken in lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is sometimes referred to as Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Hebrides.
Since there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots. Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results. Focused broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with Scottish Standard English at the other . Consequently, Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, but with its own distinct dialects. Alternatively Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish.
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