Doric ‘deserves same status as English’

Doric is to be promoted and protected on a new scale in Scotland with a body now set up in Aberdeen to secure the same status for North-east Scots as English and Gaelic.

The North-east Scots Language Board is being led by academics, key figures and institutions in the region to normalise the use of the language in civic life, media, business and education.

North-east Scots is spoken between Montrose and Nairn with Doric, a dialect of the language, found in roughly half that area from Aberdeen northwards. Doric itself has several different dialects as it moves between fishing and farming communities.

Now, road signs, public information and media broadcasts could be delivered in North-east Scots in the future given the creation of the board which aims to enhance the area’s distinctive culture.

Around 1.5m people speak Scots with the highest proportions found in Aberdeenshire and Shetland (49 per cent) and Moray (45 per cent), according to latest census figures.

While the Scottish Government has set out a Scots language policy, the board hopes to forge ahead in making Doric and North-east Scots more visible in everyday life with hopes its work could lead to the development of a national Scots language body.

Dr Thomas Mckean, director of Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Institute and vice-chair of NESLB, said:

“North-east Scots or Doric are mostly thought of as being a language for home and family, but its use is far more widespread than that.

“Large numbers use it in their everyday lives, but one of our aims is to promote and celebrate its use in areas where it isn’t often visible, such as in our civic life, in the media, and education.”

The board will include representatives from Aberdeen University, Robert Gordon University as well as Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Angus councils.

It will build on the work of Aberdeenshire Council, which last year passed a Doric Language Policy which promotes its use in schools across the region.

Dr Mckean said studies have shown that children taught in their native language attain better academically in other fields with a Pathway for Scots in schools now being developed by the Elphinstone Institute in support of the Board’s work.

He added: “We want to raise the status of North-east Scots and Doric. We know it is used in business life in the Northeast but simply we would like to hear more North-east voices.

“The number of Scots speakers here is probably denser than anywhere apart from perhaps urban Glasgow.

“You here a vast number of different voices in the media – Shetland, Highland, Central Belt, but not a lot of North-east voices. Doric and North-east Scots was always seen as the vernacular, as in you wouldn’t speak it to your minister or doctor that way.”

A major event will be held at Aberdeen University’s St Machar Cathedral on Saturday night to reflect the aims of the new board – a rendition of Handel’s Messiah in Doric.

“It’s never been done before. It is very unusual to find Doric represented as ‘high’ culture or ‘high’ art,” Dr Mckean said.

He said promoting Northeast Scots should not be at the expense of the work done on raising awareness of Gaelic.

Only 0.6 per cent of the population in Aberdeenshire and 0.8 per cent of Aberdeen residents speak Gaelic, although recent rises have been recorded.