PPC 17mm 256 x 333
Cover 13mm 216 x 289mm
'This book offers a fascinating, carefully-developed and thought-provoking account of Scots and its uses by a leading authority on the subject. It draws upon a lifetime of work in the field, and in a number of places - a rather special and in my view valuable feature - on the author's own personal experience. I recommend it without hesitation.'
Jeremy Smith, University of Glasgow
An overview of the structure, use and diversity of Modern Scots
This textbook offers a practical survey of Modern Scots making this an essential resource, aptly structured for use on Modern Scots and modern varieties of English modules. Robert McColl Millar guides students through an engaging description and analysis of Modern Scots, covering its present lexical, phonological and structural patterns while also presenting evidence for its diversity through illustrations from his broad experience. Although detailed analysis of localised variation is regularly presented, the central focus of the book is on the overall patterning of Scots. The book also considers the present state of, and future prospects for, the language, considering both its use in literature and other media and ongoing language policy and planning. Each chapter concludes with a series of exercises to complete and issues to discuss, encouraging active engagement and development of skill and knowledge in relation to the subject matter.
Key Features
. A new description and analysis of the structure and use of Modern Scots
. Leads students through often complex material while also mapping out the similarities and large-scale patterns in a clear and accessible way
. A chapter devoted to resources and methods introduces students to the various resources available online and in print form - corpora, atlases, dictionaries - and how to use them effectively in the study of Modern Scots
. Exercises and guided suggestions for further reading
. Coherent content and structure aligned to structure of taught courses
Robert McColl Millar is Professor in Linguistics and Scottish Language at the University of Aberdeen.
Cover design:
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edinburghuniversitypress.com
ISBN 978-1-4744-1686-3 [PPC]
ISBN 978-1-4744-1687-0 [PPC]
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Robert McColl Millar is Reader in Linguistics in the School of Language & Literature at the University of Aberdeen. His books include Northern and Insular Scots (2007), Authority and Identity. A Sociolinguistic History of Europe before the Modern Age (2010) and English Historical Sociolinguistics (2012).

Some preliminaries; Chapter 1: Scots: languages and cultures, peoples and lands; Chapter 2: Resources; Chapter 3: Phonology; Chapter 4: Lexis; Chapter 5: Structure: the Grammar of Modern Scots; Chapter 6: Scots used creatively: literature and beyond; Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Sociolinguistics of Scots; Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Scots: a once and future language?; References