Researching Ulster-Scots in Taganrog: An Ausbau-Language in the Making
Our second blog post comes from a long-time member of the Discourse Research Association of Ireland, Dr Alex Pavlenko of the A.P. Chekhov Institute in Taganrog, Russia. Alex has previously shared his work with us as part of the 2023 Summer Seminar Series. His presentation, entitled An Attempt at Transforming an Island Dialect into an Ausbau-Language – the case of Ulster-Scots, can be viewed here. Alex has authored many publications on topics related to Ulster-Scots and Shetlandic dialects, and his monograph Sociolinguistic Parallels across Europe: Focus on Lowland Scotland and the Eastern Slavic Countries was published in 2017 by Nova Science Publishers, as part of their Language and Linguistics series.
Alex’s engagement with DRAOI is a testament to our network’s global appeal and its ability to bring together researchers of Irish discourse and language from around the world. Indeed, many of Alex’s postgraduate students regularly attended the 2024 seminar series.
In this blog post, Alex introduces the DRAOI network to the research on Ulster-Scots being conducted by him and his supervisees at the Rostov State University of Economics in Russia.
The study of multi-idiom linguistic situations, regional and minority languages, and language planning is a significant focus of research at the English Department of the A.P. Chekhov Institute in Taganrog, Russia, which has been a branch of Rostov State University of Economics since 2015. Under the supervision of Dr Alexander Pavlenko, who leads the MA Programme ‘Foreign Languages in the Context of Modern Culture’, several Master’s degree projects on the lesser-used languages and regional dialects of the British Isles and continental Europe have been completed. The research employs a mostly sociolinguistic and dialectological methodology, including discourse analysis. Dr Pavlenko has long been interested in the linguistic situation in Northern Ireland, particularly in the discourse surrounding Ulster-Scots, and has authored several papers on this topic. This interest has culminated in a current Master’s degree project titled ‘Transforming an Island Dialect into an Ausbau-language (the case of Ulster-Scots)’, which is at its initial stage.
The proposed project is a sociolinguistic study examining the current status of Ulster-Scots and its prospects for sustainable development. It focuses on how authors writing in Ulster-Scots, as well as compilers of modern dictionaries and school textbooks, emphasise the differences between this idiom and both Scots of Scotland and English. The desire to highlight the distinctive features of Ulster-Scots is seen as a cultural, historical and linguistic phenomenon, explored within the broader context of the social history of Ulster-Scots, with particular emphasis on the period from 1998 (the Good Friday Agreement) to the present day. Language planning is analysed as an element of identity construction for the Ulster-Scots-speaking community, as well as a reflection of nationalist ideology. The comparatively late recognition of Ulster-Scots as an important symbol of local culture and identity, leading to intensive language planning, allows us to consider it as an Ausbau-language, in line with Heinz Kloss’s theory (Kloss 1968).
The developments involving Ulster-Scots serve as an example of how a minority language, previously neglected, gained prominence due to changes in the political climate and improved attitudes towards minorities. The experience of Northern Ireland aligns with Einar Haugen’s ideas on language planning as a part of social planning; it is a set of deliberate measures that affect the functional status of a language (Haugen 1971). Language planning involves three main stages: (1) language choice, (2) assessment of attitudes towards lesser-used languages, and (3) language planning itself. In this study, all three stages pertain to Ulster-Scots. Discourse analysis plays a role in all three stages – diagnostically in stages 1 and 2, and instrumentally in stage 3.
The primary material for the Master’s thesis consists of minutes from the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 to the present day in which Ulster-Scots is mentioned. These minutes are categorised into the following thematic headings:
- Culture, arts and leisure
- Press/Media
- Corporate
- Assembly Commission
- Publications
- Agriculture
These texts will be analysed using methods of interactional sociolinguistics to identify the discourses surrounding Ulster-Scots and to ascertain the attitudes of the members of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland and guests participating in the sessions. This will provide insight into the broader attitudes towards Ulster-Scots within Northern Irish society. The data collected will help clarify the actual status and future prospects of Ulster-Scots within the linguistic landscape of this region of the United Kingdom.
The general methodology is based on the ideas of scholars such as J. Gumperz, J. P. Blom and H. Kaltman, among others. We plan to apply a range of analytical procedures to identify recurring formal-contextual connections and assess their contribution to meaning-making.
We also hope to include other primary sources, such as newspaper articles, in the future; at this stage, however, we are focusing on the parliamentary minutes, which are readily accessible. We believe that our study of Ulster-Scots as both an island dialect and an Ausbau-language will benefit from the application of discourse analysis, and conversely, that discourse studies may be enriched by the introduction of this new primary material.
We are grateful to the Discourse Research Association of Ireland for the opportunity to expand our horizons in discourse research through their highly informative, enlightening and well-organised seminars, and for the chance to present our project to experts in the field.
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