Language in Scotland

The chapters in this volume take as their focus aspects of three of the languages of Scotland: Scots, Scottish English, and Scottish Gaelic. They present linguistic research which has been made possible by new and developing corpora of these languages: this encompasses work on lexis and lexicogrammar, semantics, pragmatics, orthography, and punctuation. Throughout the volume, the findings of analysis are accompanied by discussion of the methodologies adopted, including issues of corpus design and representativeness, search possibilities, and the complementarity and interoperability of linguistic resources. Together, the chapters present the forefront of the research which is currently being directed towards the linguistics of the languages of Scotland, and point to an exciting future for research driven by ever more refined corpora and related language resources.

“One of the best features of this volume for a (historical) corpus linguist is that several contributions (especially those by Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, David Beavan, and Jean Anderson) discuss the rationale behind specific corpora as well as technical aspects related to corpus compilation and design. This helps in understanding the character of the resources, draws attention to their many strengths and highlights the types of research that may be pursued on the basis of the corpora in the most fruitful manner.” - Joanna Kopaczyk, University of Edinburgh/Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan,/i>, in: Northern Scotland 7.1 (2016), pp. 112-116
”Language in Scotland gives a good picture of the research into Scottish linguistic issues currently under way at home and abroad. Scotland’s investment in corpus data will be essential for the generation of the tools needed for integration into the electronic media of the future. The emphasis on the accessibility and interoperability of the resources is key to the continued vitality of Scots and Gaelic, now minority languages in the country where they arose.” - J. Lachlan Mackenzie, VU University Amsterdam & ILTEC Lisbon, in: The English Messenger 23.1 (Summer 2014), pp. 70-73