Another way of speaking English disappears as fisherman's death spells demise of rare dialect

Fox News ^ | 10/3/2012 | Associated Press

[FeliciaCat]

In a remote fishing town on the tip of Scotland's Black Isle, the last native speaker of the Cromarty dialect has died, taking with him another little piece of the English linguistic mosaic.

Scottish academics said Wednesday that Bobby Hogg, who passed away last week at age 92, was the last person fluent in the dialect once common in the seaside town of Cromarty, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Scottish capital Edinburgh.

The Biblically-influenced speech — complete with "thee" and "thou" — is one of many fading dialects which have been snuffed out across the British Isles.

[bboop]

‘Ebonics (be) its own language’ is a ruse to get federal money for non-English speakers for the schools, doncha know? It is NOT a language; street dialect perhaps. Many dialects in Germany, but they all know Hoch Deutsch.

[andy58-in-nh]

Well, at least we still have those fishermen who talk like the “Pepperidge Farm remembers” guy.

There are numerous seaside redoubts in downeast Maine and mountain hamlets here in New Hampshire where people still sound just like that. Most of them are my age or older. Unfortunately, many of the younger folk in southern New England increasingly sound like sitcom TV characters.

The old accents are colorful, while the new ones just fade into bland sameness. I still enjoy giving directions to lost visitors from New York and the mid-Atlantic, if only to smile and offer: "You cahn't get they-uh from hee-uh". Sometimes, I wish I was wearing my old black-and-red plaid jacket and the hat with ear flaps, just to complete the image for them.

[discostu]

Yeah. Regional dialects have all been suffering in the age of electronic communication. TV and radio push a standardized dialect with a lot of strength. Dialects like this one was probably never used by more than a few hundred people at the same time, as the village got smaller, as more of the people living there grew up talking like what they heard on the TV and radio rather than their parents that number dwindled until it was eventually just one really old guy. Used to be almost every town or village had some sort of variation even from a town a mile away, then we started traveling more, then came radio. The forces of history are hard on small region dialects. Heck even large region dialects are suffering, lots of people that grew up in the South don’t sound Southern anymore.

[discostu]

The people who feel a need to boldly declare they don’t care what other people think are the ones that care the most. People who really don’t care don’t care enough to say it.

[beelzepug]

Wouldn’t you be more at home over at D.U. with the rest of the thickwits?

[andy58-in-nh]

Ebonics be a language
As dead as Mr. T.
It killed off all my homies
And now i's killin' me.

Word.

[Rebelbase]

It’s obvious the article doesn’t appeal to your intellect so why bother commenting about it?

[yarddog]

My Mother’s family came from an island in the inner Hebrides called Colonsay. I once looked on their web site and noticed there are several Gaelic speakers on the island.

I would guess the Western Islands have the most Gaelic speaker in Scotland and probably by a long way. I have also read that the Western Islands are last bastion of devout Christians.

[circlecity]

"The people who feel a need to boldly declare they don’t care what other people think are the ones that care the most. People who really don’t care don’t care enough to say it."

OK

[Beagle8U]

The sad fact is it's news that ‘something’ is lost forever, but nobody knows exactly what it is.

We know it was a language dialect of some sort, but since it's lost, we are all equally ignorant.

[circlecity]

"Wouldn’t you be more at home over at D.U. with the rest of the thickwits?"

Well, the fact I wouldn't have to listen to your incessent whining is attactive but, nah, I think I'll stay here.

[circlecity]

"It’s obvious the article doesn’t appeal to your intellect so why bother commenting about it?"

because I choose to. I don't need any other reason. Don't like it? Too bad.

[pops88]

My daughter grew up in New Zealand from age 2 1/2 to 7. She had the cutest accent that was lost almost immediately after returning to the U.S. That was so disappointing. It’s sad that we’re losing dialects. It’s a loss of culture, and sadly, most of us now sound like Californians.

[andy58-in-nh]

It’s sad that we’re losing dialects. It’s a loss of culture, and sadly, most of us now sound like Californians.

Bummer, dude.

LOL. Agree 100%.

[stuartcr]

If mankind lasts long enough, there will probably just be one language.

[Romulus]

The disappearance of this dialect won't effect anyone's life in the slightest.

You could not be more wrong. The human reliance on language goes to our existential core. Language is how we think about concepts. When the vital tool of language is impaired or lost, we lose the ability to consider or comprehend realities that now lie beyond our awareness. Your comments expose you as an incurious oaf who sets no value on his own humanity.

Pitiful and (since you embrace an impoverished view of humanity) contemptible.

[Flycatcher]

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!

[Twinkie]

That’s what Obama once thought - “I amazes me . . “ - That’s my theory.

[circlecity]

"Your comments expose you as an incurious oaf who sets no value on his own humanity."

Nonsense. Nowithstanding your platitudes and gibberish. Please tell me how anyone's day to day existance will be affected by this in the slightest.

[Fiji Hill]

Back in the mid-1980's, I heard a presentation from a traveler who had returned from the Hebrides. He said that it broke his heart that the young people of the islands were forsaking their traditional music and only wanted to listen to Michael Jackson.

Here's hoping that events such as the annual Hebridean Celtic Festival, which began in the 1990's, will help to keep their traditions alive.