经济学人下载:约翰逊语言专栏--关于苏格兰语地位的政治辩论(1)

Books&arts
来源于《图书和艺术》版块

Johnson
约翰逊语言专栏

A cup o’ kindness
一杯善意的酒

A politically charged debate over the status of the Scots tongue
关于苏格兰语地位的政治辩论

As they cleared their heads after Burns Night on January 25th, having celebrated their national poet with whisky and haggis, another hangover loomed for Scots in less than a week’s time. A majority of them rejected Brexit in the referendum of 2016, whereas a majority in the United Kingdom overall supported it. Scotland is now leaving the European Union against its will—prompting a renewed call for Scotland, in turn, to leave the UK.
在1月25日的彭斯之夜，苏格兰人用威士忌和羊杂碎庆祝完民族诗人之后清醒了，而同时不到一周的时间内，他们又被新一轮宿醉笼罩。他们中的大多数在2016年的公投中反对脱欧，而英国的大多数人总体上支持脱欧。苏格兰现在违背自己的意愿离开欧盟，这促使人们再次呼吁苏格兰离开英国

Naturally, the case for independence plays up characteristics that differentiate Scotland from England. Among them is language, which diverges from the talk south of the border in two main ways. One is Gaelic, a Celtic language impenetrable to outsiders (it is related closely to Irish and Manx but only distantly to English), which, however, is spoken only by around 50,000 people, or about 1% of Scotland’s population. The bigger difference is Scots—though quite how different it is remains a matter of debate.
当然，独立的主张强调了苏格兰与英格兰的不同之处。其中之一是语言，它从两方面偏离了南部边境的语言。其中之一是盖尔语，这是一种外人无法理解的凯尔特语言(它与爱尔兰语和曼克斯语关系密切，但与英语关系不大)，然而，只有大约5万人(约占苏格兰人口的1%)讲这种语言。更大的区别是苏格兰语——尽管有多大的不同仍然是一个有争议的问题。

As soon as you cross over from England, syntax and pronunciation change sharply. While the dialects of northern England have much in common with each other, the break at the border is stark. Because of that, some observers think Scots is not a dialect of English but a distinct (if related) language. The proindependence Scottish National Party affirms as much in its manifestos.
一旦你从英格兰过来，语法和发音就会有很大的变化。虽然英格兰北部的方言彼此之间有很多共同之处，但在边界上的分歧是明显的。正因为如此，一些观察家认为苏格兰语不是英语的一种方言，而是一种独特的(如果相关的话)语言。主张独立的苏格兰民族党在其竞选宣言中也做出了同样的声明。