Editing Scots language (section)

{{short description|West Germanic language}}
{{About|the distinct West Germanic language|the dialects of English spoken in Scotland|Scottish English|the Celtic language|Scottish Gaelic}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Scots
| altname          = Lowland Scots<br>Broad Scots
| nativename       = {{lang|sco|(Braid) Scots}}<br>{{lang|sco|Lallans}}<br>{{lang|sco|Doric}}
| states           = [[United Kingdom]], [[Republic of Ireland]]
| region           = {{plainlist|
* [[Scotland]]: [[Scottish Lowlands]], [[Northern Isles]], [[Caithness]], [[Isle of Arran|Arran]] and [[Campbeltown]]
* [[Ulster]] ([[Ireland]]): [[Counties of Ireland|Counties]] [[County Down|Down]], [[County Antrim|Antrim]], [[County Londonderry|Londonderry]], [[County Donegal|Donegal]] and [[County Armagh|Armagh]]}}
| ethnicity        = [[Scottish people|Scots]]
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|sco|skɔts|}}
| speakers         = 1,508,540
| date             = 2022
| ref              = <ref name="census22"/>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam6             = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| ancestor         = [[Old English]]
| ancestor2        = [[Northumbrian Old English]]
| ancestor3        = [[Early Middle English]]
| ancestor4        = [[Early Scots]]
| ancestor5        = [[Middle Scots]]
| minority         = [[Northern Ireland]] (as Ulster Scots)<br>[[Republic of Ireland]] ([[County Donegal]]; also as Ulster Scots)
| nation           = [[Scotland]]<ref name="Scottish official languages">{{cite web |title=Fact: Scotland's official languages are English, Scots, Gaelic & British Sign Language |url=https://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/facts/scotlands-languages |website=Scotland.org |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref>
| dia1             = [[Central Scots|Central]]
| dia2             = [[Southern Scots|Southern]]
| dia3             = [[Northern Scots|Northern]]
| dia4             = [[Insular Scots|Insular]]
| dia5             = [[Ulster Scots dialect|Ulster]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| iso2             = sco
| iso3             = sco
| glotto           = scot1243
| glottorefname    = Scots
| lingua           = 52-ABA-aa (varieties: 52-ABA-aaa to -aav)
| map              = Scots speakers in the 2011 census.png
| mapcaption       = The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census in Scotland aged 3 and above who stated that they can speak Lowland Scots
| map2             = Ulster-Scots speakers in the 2011 census in Northern Ireland.png
| mapcaption2      = The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census in Northern Ireland aged 3 and above who stated that they can speak Ulster Scots
| pushpin_image    = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language
}}
{{Scots language}}

'''Scots'''<ref group=note>The [[endonym]] for Scots is {{lang|sco|Scots}} {{IPA|sco|skɔts|}}.<!--Do not add the Scottish Gaelic name: it is a completely different language.--></ref> is a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] [[Variety (linguistics)|language variety]] [[Anglic languages|descended from]] [[Early Middle English]]. As a result, [[Modern Scots]] is a [[sister language]] of [[Modern English]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fuster-Márquez |first1=Miguel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQLBqKjxuvAC |title=A Practical Introduction to the History of English |last2=Calvo García de Leonardo |first2=Juan José |publisher=Universitat de València |year=2011 |isbn=9788437083216 |location=[València] |page=21 |access-date=19 December 2017}}</ref><ref>Alexander Bergs, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lLhZAAAAMAAJ Modern Scots]'', Languages of the World series, № 242 (Bow Historical Books, 2001), {{ISBN|978-3-89586-513-8}}, pp. 4, 50. "Scots developed out of a mixture of Scandinavianised Northern English during the early Middle English period.... Scots originated as one form of Northern Old English and quickly developed into a language in its own right up to the seventeenth century."</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Good or Bad Scots?: Attitudes to Optional Lexical and Grammatical Usages in Edinburgh|author=Sandred, Karl Inge|journal=Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis|publisher=Ubsaliensis S. Academiae|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LodAQAAIAAJ|year=1983|volume=48|isbn=978-91-554-1442-9|page=13|quote=Whereas Modern Standard English is traced back to an East Midland dialect of Middle English, Modern Scots developed from a northern variety which goes back to Old Northumbrian}}</ref> Scots is recognised as an indigenous language of [[Scotland]] by the Scottish government,<ref name="ScotsLangPolicy">{{cite web|title=Scots language policy: English version - gov.scot|url=https://www.gov.scot/publications/scots-language-policy-english/|website=www.gov.scot}}</ref> a regional or minority language of Europe,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CV=1&NA=&PO=999&CN=999&VL=1&CM=9&CL=ENG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709023931/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CV=1&NA=&PO=999&CN=999&VL=1&CM=9&CL=ENG#selection-6725.113-6725.116|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2011|title=List of declarations made with respect to treaty No.&nbsp;148|publisher=Conventions.coe.int|access-date=9 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=States Parties to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and their regional or minority languages|url=https://rm.coe.int/states-parties-to-the-european-charter-for-regional-or-minority-langua/168077098c|website=coe.int}}</ref> and a vulnerable language by [[UNESCO]].<ref>{{cite web|title=UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger|url=http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap/language-id-410.html|access-date=6 October 2020|website=www.unesco.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Evans|first=Lisa|date=2011-04-15|title=Endangered languages: the full list|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/apr/15/language-extinct-endangered|access-date=2020-10-06|website=The Guardian}}</ref> In a Scottish census from 2022, over 1.5&nbsp;million people in Scotland reported being able to speak Scots.<ref name="census22">{{Cite web |title=Scots |url=http://www.gov.scot/policies/languages/scots/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=Scottish Government |language=en}}</ref> 

Most commonly spoken in the [[Scottish Lowlands]], the [[Northern Isles]] of [[Scotland]], and northern [[Ulster]] in [[Ireland]] (where the local [[dialect]] is known as [[Ulster Scots dialect|Ulster Scots]]), it is sometimes called '''Lowland Scots''', to distinguish it from [[Scottish Gaelic]], the [[Celtic language]] that was historically restricted to most of the [[Scottish Highlands]], the [[Hebrides]], and [[Galloway]] after the sixteenth century;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cranntara.scot/gaelic.htm |title=Gaelic Language |website=cranntara.scot}}</ref> or '''Broad Scots''', to distinguish it from [[Scottish Standard English]]. Most Scottish people's speech exists on a [[dialect continuum]] ranging between Broad Scots and Standard English.<ref name="Stuart-Smith-phonology"/>

Given that there are no universally accepted [[Language or dialect|criteria for distinguishing]] a language from a [[dialect]], scholars and other interested parties often disagree about whether Scots is a dialect of [[English language|English]] or a separate language.<ref name=OxfordCompanion>{{cite book|author-link=A. J. Aitken|last=Aitken|first=A. J.|title=The Oxford Companion to the English Language|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|page=894}}</ref>