Stooshie over Scots dialect project
THE BBC could be made to hire a Scots dialect tsar under controversial plans to promote the country’s “mither tongue”.
The SNP Government wants the publicly-funded broadcaster to hire an “adviser on Scots”.
BBC Scotland producers and presenters should also be recruited on their knowledge of local dialects, according to a new report.
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Scots dialect should be shoehorned into teacher training and “sites of special linguistic interest” set up.
Areas including Glasgow, Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire should become “dialect conservation areas”.
Published yesterday by the ministerial working group on the Scots language, the report recommends that BBC Scotland depict “native speakers using the language in any and all contexts”.
It said: “Interviewers talking to Scots speakers should use Scots themselves, to encourage the interviewees to respond in the mither tongue.
“Knowledge of spoken Scots should be regarded as an important qualification when producers and presenters are chosen.”
Tory MSP Liz Smith said: “I really don’t think it’s a priority just now. By all means have experts in this area and allow them to send information around, but I don’t think it should be an obligation for the BBC.”
A BBC Scotland spokesman said it had access to Scots language advisers. Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop said that the ideas would help progress with enhancing the status of the Scots language.
