Bilinguals an dementia

Tuesday, 19 April 2011 10:10

2 Comments

bi Bob Fairnie

Aboot fower year syne, Eurolang, the wabsite o the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, reportit aboot twa studies that spelt guid news for bilingual fowk but no sae guid news for monolinguals. The results fae the studies that leukit intae memory an senility in 2004 an dementia in 2006, shawed a haud back in the oncome o senility an dementia in bilinguals.

The first study, furthset in 2004 bi Ellen Bailystock o York Univairsity in Toronto, Canada, discovert that symptoms o senility averaged oot at 71.4 year auld in monolingual fowk, agin 75.5 for thaim that wis bilingual. The exemplar wis makit up fae English monolinguals an French-English bilinguals.

A deid language?

Thursday, 14 April 2011 01:00

14 Comments

by Bob Fairnie

Scots is a deid language. Sae some fowk keeps on tellin us juist like the broken record they’ve been playin tae us for the lest hunner an fifty year. Jings, the maist popular sang ever in the warld, ower the lest twa hunner an fifty year, “Auld Lang Syne”, is screivit in a deid language. Ay, that’ll be richt!

In 1996, the GRO(S) did a test question on Scots in some airts o the kintrae afore they decidit no tae pit the question intae the 2001 Census. Howanever, fae the nummers they got, they war able tae jalouse an extrapolatit nummer o aboot 1.5 million Scots speikers for the hail o Scotland. Juist imagine it. 1.5 million fowk aw speikin a deid language an no kennin. But hing on a meinit. Gin ther wis 1.5 million fowk speikin it, hou in the name o the wee man can it be a deid language?

Mono or stereo?

Monday, 11 April 2011 12:00

32 Comments

bi Bob Fairnie

Whan a body speirs for mair Scots language in oor scuils, or ony whaur else for that maitter, the cry gauns oot fae some fowk that the bairns needs tae ken a mair univairsal language like English sae that they can communicate wi oor neibours in Europe an athort the warld. This is a guid exemplar o a richt mono-leidit wey o leukin at things. Juist cause they can speik only the yae language thirsels, they think that awbody else is the same. The feck o oor neibours in Europe aw speiks twa, three or e’en mair leids. Whit wey can oo no dae the same?

A wee anniversary

Sunday, 10 April 2011 01:00

2 Comments

bi Stuart McHardy

This time o the year as the 10th o April approaches A aye mind whit happent in 1992. Back then a bunch o fowk gaithert on the Friday nicht on Regent Road tae protest agin the election result which saw Scotland bein ruled bi a pairty hardly onie o us had voted fer. The cry was fer a Scottish Parliament but there wis nae wey that the Tories in Londin wuid listen tae oniethin like yon.

The protest wis stairtit by Scotland Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace, a bunch o crusaders agin Dounreay Nuclear Power station and they had hiedit doun tae the capital tae tak a stand. Uisin their ain contacks an the phone trees developt bi the Anti-Poll Tax movement they’d managed tae drum up some support an aroun twa hunder fowk turnt up on Regent Road across fae the then Scottish Office an ootside the gates o the Royal High Schol, that sae mony fowk wantit tae be the site fer a Scottish parliement.

Furmer Labour environment meinister faces the jyle

Friday, 08 April 2011 13:00

4 Comments

Shent furmer Labour MP Elliot Morley pleadit guiltie yestreen at Southwark Magistrates Court in Sou Lunnon, whaur he wis facin trial on twa fraud chairges anent his claims fur mortgage peyments on expenses. The chairges relates ti peyments o £30,428 at a slump.