Reminder: Ulster Scots

[Doug Ewell]

Michael Everson <everson at evertype dot com> wrote:

>>> Presently there are two new translations of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" being prepared. One is in Scots, and uses traditional Scots orthography (which has some variation in it to be sure). The other is in Ulster Scots, and uses the orthography in The Hamely Tongue.
>> 
>> Is it necessary to distinguish between Ulster Scots and its orthography?
>
> It is necessary to distinguish Ulster Scots orthography from Scots orthography.
>
>> That is, is the description in The Hamely Tongue a subdivision of Ulster Scots?
>
> It is the current orthography used for Ulster Scots. This is supported by a range of *institutions* in Northern Ireland. 

I am starting to think, based on what Michael is saying, that any
distinction between the dialect and the orthography is immaterial. 
Michael's need appears to be to tag "Ulster Scots," both dialect and
orthography, distinctly from "traditional" or "non-Ulster" Scots, both
dialect and orthography.

Michael's statement that the Hamely Tongue orthography is "the current
orthography used for Ulster Scots" is important.  It implies that the
dialect and orthography, at least today, can be represented by a single
language tag, in much the same way that the wide variety of differences
between U.S. English and British English (spelling, pronunciation,
vocabulary, singular/plural conventions, etc.) can be represented by
contrasting "en-US" and "en-GB".

Accordingly, I suggest we reconsider 'ulster' and think about recasting
its description to cover the dialect as well as the orthography.

--
Doug Ewell  |  Thornton, Colorado, USA  |  http://www.ewellic.org
RFC 5645, 4645, UTN #14  |  ietf-languages @ http://is.gd/2kf0s ­