The fact that down to the 20th. C. Ladies in Scotland could compose songs and poetry and understand a language, which, whilst not the same language as that used in Scandinavia, could, I understand, be understood by medieval folk in those parts, must surely go some way to giving that language some legitimacy as a separate language. Where do we have comparable examples from the other parts of the U.K.? On a visit to Amsterdam some fifteen years back I, as a native speaker of Scots, had the most peculiar feeling that I should be able to understand all the signs on the buses and shop fronts, fact was I understood the meaning of a few and a visit to Scandanavia to test if the same feeling prevails there is now too late to contemplate.
|