The Forum for Research in the Languages of Scotland and Ulster is holding a one-day symposium that will be of great interest to anyone who is researching aspects of the Scots language. Entitled ‘Language Attrition, Dialect Attrition’, this symposium will be held at the AK Bell Library, Perth, 10am to 5pm on Saturday 4 December. The papers, which will be open for questions and discussion, will be as follows:

10am ‘Theoretical and methodological insights on attrition’ by David Britain (Bern)

11am ‘The complexities of obsolescence: change across the generations in Lerwick, Shetland’ by Mercedes Durham (Aberdeen)

12pm ‘Lexical Attrition in East Central Scots’ by John Kirk (Belfast)

1pm  Break for lunch and AGM of the Forum

2pm ‘Attrition in the dialects of the Scottish fishing communities’ by Lisa Bonnici and Will Barras (Aberdeen)

3pm ‘The place of dialect in Scotish Gaelic revival efforts’ by Will Lamb (Edinburgh)

4pm ‘For whom is language attrition an issue? Perceived attrition of Scots in a small Central Belt town: A sociolinguistic perspective’ by James Costa (Lyon)

The cost of the symposium is £30 but students, unwaged and senior citizens can obtain tickets for £25. The price includes a sandwich lunch. For more information please contact Dr Robert McColl Millar (University of Aberdeen) at r.millar@abdn.ac.uk or phone 01224 273909.