This is the first full scale attempt to record the diachronic development of this important English language variety and includes extensive essays by some of the foremost international scholars of the Scots language. The book attempts to provide a detailed and technical description of the syntax, phonology, morphology and vocabulary of the language in two main periods: the beginnings to 1700 and from 1700 to the present day. The language's geographical variation both in the past and at the present time are fully documented and the sociolinguistic forces which lie behind linguistic innovation and its transmission provide a principal theme running through the book. WINNER of the Saltire society/National Library of Scotland Scottish Research Book of the Year Award
Part One The beginnings to 1700: differentiation and standardization in early Scots, Anelli Meurman-Solin; the origins of the Scots orthography, Veronica Kniezsca; the phonology older scots, Adam J. Aitken; the morphology of older Scots, Anne King; the syntax of older Scots, Lilo Moessner; the lexis of older Scots, C.I. Macafee; older Scots phonology and its regional variation, Paul Johnston; older Scots literary language, Ronald D.S. Jack. Part Two 1700 to the present day: phonology of Scots post 1700, Charles Jones; syntax and morphology - 1700 to the present day, Joan Beal; Scots lexis post 1700, Graham Tulloch; regional variation in Scots post 1700, Paul Johnston; ongoing change in modern Scots - the social dimension, C.I. Macafee. Part Three Scots overseas: Scots in Ulster and North America, Michael Montgomery; Scots in Australia, Graham Tulloch; Gaelic influence, Colm O'Baoill.
