Matilda

Roald Dahl’s much-loved children’s book, Matilda, will be published in Scots by Black and White publishing.

Glaswegian author Anne Donovan, best known for her novel Buddha Da, will provide the translation. The book is due to be published in July.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Bruce Dubskelper and the Cake:

‘This eejit,’ gollered the Heidie, pointin her ridin-crop at him like a rapier, ‘this knurl, this beelin blype, this pizenous plouk that ye see afore ye, is nane ither than a feechie creeminal, a keelie, a lowse bangster fae the Mafia!’

‘Whit, me?’ Bruce Dubskelper said, lookin richt conflummixt.

‘A reiver!' the Trunchbull skraiched. 'A minker! A crackraip! A pirate! A kithan! A snaffler!’

‘Haud on,’ the laddie said. ‘That’s a bit ower the tap, Miss Trunchbull.’

‘Dae ye deny it, ya ugsome hotterel! Ur ye pleadin no guilty?’

‘Ah dinnae ken whit ye’re on aboot,’ the laddie said, mair bumbaized than ever.

Scots CLPL at Glasgow University

This event was held on Friday 14th June and was well-attended. Lectures from University of Glasgow provided an overview of resources that are currently available as well as new resources that will launch later this year, including:

Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech – a database featuring written and spoken Scots

Sounds of the City – a website created to explore and explain sound change in Glaswegian dialect over the past forty years. Clicking on this link will take you to the resources.

The Scots Syntax Atlas – a work in progress, this site looks at syntax (word order) in Scots and how it varies across different dialects.

The Berwickshire Place-Name resource -part of the Recovering the Earliest English Language in Scotland: Evidence from place-names project, this map is searchable and has a glossary looking at the origin of place names.

Accentricity – this podcast, produced in Scotland and featuring interviews with a variety of Scots and non-Scots speakers, looks at language and identity. there are teaching resources to accompany this here.

Oor Wullie BIG Bucket Trail

Our Education Specialist will support the education programme of the ‘Oor Wullie BIG Bucket Trail’ by holding Scots language workshops for families at various trail venues. Keep an eye on our Twitter feed to find out more. You can find out more about associated learning and teaching resources here.

Education Scotland Teaching resources

Education Scotland’s National improvement Hub has been updated with a new resource for Teaching Scots. Suitable for learners studying Scots at BGE level, Engaging with spelling in Scots language looks at the history of spelling and gets learners thinking about the concept of ‘correct’ spelling and what this means for Scots. The activities incorporate reading, writing, talking and listening and were developed by academics and teachers.