Language | Ulster Scots Agency

Word of the day

"Twa"

Meaning: Two

Example sentence: "A'll mak twa sopes o'tay."

Phrase of the week

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur"

Meaning: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur

The Ulster-Scots Language

Fair faa ye to oor website. Here ye’ll fin oot mair aboot tha leid.

The Ulster-Scots language was established in Ulster in the early 1600s with the arrival of Lowland Scottish settlers and endures to this day. It is spoken every day by many people in parts of Ulster, and Ulster-Scots vocabulary has been adopted in spoken English in the region. Ulster-Scots language has featured in printed prose and poetry for around 300 years.

Ulster Scots has its own literature, including the works of the eighteenth and nineteenth Century ‘rhyming weaver’ poets such as Hugh Porter, the Bard of Moneyslane; James Orr, the Bard of Ballycarry; Samuel Thomson, the Bard of Carngranny; and David Herbison, the Bard of Dunclug. 

The Scots language is a sister language of English. Both share a common Anglo-Saxon origin and are part of the Germanic family of languages – similar to the way French and Spanish are relatives within the Romance language family.

For centuries, Scots was the national language of Scotland and was used for education, literature, law and the Royal Court. Its official status declined from the early 1600s, with greater legal and political integration with England making English the official language of the Kingdom. However, Scots remained the language of the home.

: Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the UK government recognises Ulster-Scots as a minority language. This places obligations on government departments in Northern Ireland to safeguard, facilitate, and encourage its use. [communitie...-ni.gov.uk]
The Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement are both committed to the protection and promotion of Ulster-Scots as part of Northern Ireland’s cultural wealth. [communitie...-ni.gov.uk]
In May 2022, the UK government formally recognised Ulster-Scots as a national minority under the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This recognition affirms the distinct language, heritage, and culture of the Ulster Scots community. [questions-...liament.uk]
This recognition places obligations on the UK (especially Northern Ireland) to encourage and support the use of Ulster-Scots in public life, education, and media.
: Most people in Northern Ireland respect cultural diversity and have respect for Ulster-Scots identity, heritage and language. However, over the years, some myths have been spread about the Ulster-Scots language which has caused people to be embarrassed or fearful about embracing, enjoying and sharing Ulster-Scots. Below are a few haivers we can address:

“It doesn’t exist”
It is often claimed that Ulster-Scots does not exist. This simply isn’t true. The language was established in Ulster in the early 1600s with the arrival of Lowland Scottish settlers and has been here ever since, featuring in printed prose and poetry for around 300 years. The earliest known Ulster-Scots poet was William Starrat of Strabane, who was writing in 1722.

“It’s just bad English”
Ulster-Scots is often dismissed as bad English. The close proximity of some Ulster-Scots words to English words, like coul/cold; houl/hold; toul/told; or boul/bold is often used to justify this, but it is wrong.
Scots is a sister language to English and many words have a shared origin. It is just like French and Spanish. For example, the French word for country is pays, which is Spanish is pais. No-one would ever claim that Spanish is just bad French, even though 75% of their words are very similar because of their shared roots in Latin.

“It’s closely related to Irish”
Some commentators wrongly claim that Ulster-Scots is closely related to Irish. In fact, Ulster-Scots and Irish are members of two entirely separate and distinct language families. Irish is part of the Celtic language family (in common with languages like Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Manx). Ulster-Scots is part of the Germanic language family (in common with languages like Scots, English, German, Dutch and Flemish).
Like other languages that share a geographical space, words have been loaned/borrowed between Ulster-Scots and Irish, the most famous example of which is the word crack, which has become an iconic Irish word even though it is actually Ulster-Scots.

Dae ye hae a ‘wheen o wurds’?

Test your knowledge of the language to see how many Ulster-Scots words you know in our online quiz. If you’re successful, you can print or download your certificate and bring it into the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre in Belfast or Raphoe to claim your free ‘Wheen o Wurds’ badge.

Take the quiz here

More information on Ulster-Scots language

: Ulster-Scots has a rich literary tradition, stretching from the early eighteenth century to the present day, which has been tied closely to Scotland. The earliest known
Ulster-Scots poet, William Starrat of Strabane, whose work was first published in 1722, was a correspondent of the famous Scots poet Allan Ramsay.
A generation later, the works of Robert Burns were avidly soaked up in Ulster and inspired a movement of writers who became known as the Weaver Poets. Foremost among them was Samuel Thomson, the Bard of Carngranny, who was a correspondent of Scotland’s national poet.
Ulster enjoys a unique relationship with Burns. It was often said that every Ulster home had two books, the Bible and Burns. His works were published here in the local press during his lifetime and the first volume of his poems to be published outside of Scotland was in Belfast. Today, the world’s largest collection of Burns material outside Scotland is held at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ulster-Scots writers like WG Lyttle and Archibald McIlroy enthusiastically embraced the kailyard genre which was popular in Scotland, while in more recent times, Ulster-Scots was reflected in the work of the Ulster-born literary giants CS Lewis and Seamus Heaney.
: The footprint of Ulster-Scots can be seen clearly in the place names of Ulster. The Ulster-Scots settlers generally adopted the earlier Gaelic and sometimes Norse or Anglo-Norman place names, but they also added new names, incorporating Scots words which described their new home.
Words like brae (hillside), knock (hill), knowe (hillock), dod (round hill) and mote (mound) describe hilly features; while burn, watter and strule describe streams and a strand is a beach or seashore. Words like glar and clabber describe mud, flush describes marshy ground, and a moss is a bog.
Plants and animals also feature in place names, including whin (gorse), lint (flax), bracken (fern), rodden (rowan), tod (fox), wedder (ram), whaup (curlew) and pickie (young coalfish); while built features are represented by words like brig (bridge), kirk (church) and cotton (small group of cottages), along with terms like loanen or loan (lane).
: Today there is new hope for the future of the Ulster-Scots language. The Belfast Agreement of 1998 emphasised the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to languages in Northern Ireland and recognised Ulster-Scots as “part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland”.
Ulster-Scots has been designated by the UK for protection under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, in common with Scots, Welsh, Manx, Cornish and Irish: and this protection may in time also be adopted by the Republic of Ireland.
The Ulster-Scots Agency, a government organisation established under the Belfast Agreement and sponsored by the administrations in Belfast and Dublin, works to promote the language, heritage and culture of the Ulster-Scots people; and supports a wide range of activity to promote the language. Both of Ulster’s universities are involved in work to shed new light on Ulster-Scots; and programmes reflecting Ulster-Scots culture, heritage and language can now be found regularly on television and radio, supported by the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.