Acknowledging Language: Unconscious Bilingualism in the Heartland of Scots

The project will explore the nature and practice of unconscious bilingualism between Scots and Scottish Standard English on the Moray coast, centring on Banff and its surrounding communities, an area with strong Scots language use as well as a dynamic history of land-based population movement (along the rural coast and its agricultural hinterland) and seaward movement (in the fishing industry). Research will focus on diverse contexts in which Scots is spoken to varying degrees, including the workplace, community public spaces, primary schools, and Banff Academy, the main educational establishment in the region (and one which has strong Scots Language and Scottish Studies programmes, as well as a strong developing Public Engagement partnership with the Elphinstone Institute). Depending on the candidate, the research may take a number of different paths and may include the use of Scots in social media and other environments.
The project will examine the role of the use of Scots in an educational setting, focusing on descriptive study, investigating evolving vocabularies and traditions of language use in our multimedia, multinational environment. The study will shed light on vocabulary, register, code switching contexts, and look at language acquisition and use by those originally from outside the community.
A key part of the project is Public Engagement work within the network of communities surrounding Banff through which the paradigm of young people’s use of Scots will be compared with that of other parts of the North-East and across the generations.
Benefits: Dr Wilkins will benefit from bringing her extensive Scottish ethnographic work to bear on a language-based PhD, in partnership with an internationally recognised authority in the field of sociolinguistics.