| Scottish Cant | |
|---|---|
| Scots-Romani | |
| Native to | United Kingdom |
| Region | Scotland |
Native speakers | 460 in Scotland (2011)[1] |
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | trl |
| Glottolog | trav1235 |
Scottish Cant (often called Scots-Romani or Scotch-Romani) is a cant spoken by Scottish Travellers and Scottish Lowland Roma, primarily in the Scottish Lowlands.[2]
It is uncertain whether Scottish Cant is the result of Scottish Lowland Romani Travellers transitioning from speaking Romani to speaking a mixed language (like what happened to Romanichal Travellers in England with Angloromani and Romanisæl Travellers in Sweden and Norway with Scandoromani), or whether it is the result of Romani in Lowland Scotland merging with an indigenous Lowland Traveller group. The large number of Scots-derived words and archaic Scots words within Scottish Cant vocabulary suggests that merging with another group, although it could just be that Lowland Scottish Travellers are fully Romani in their roots and they just picked up these words, similar to how Angloromani has picked up words such as ken and mort which are derived from English.
Up to 50% of Scottish Cant originates from Romani-derived lexicon.[3] This is because the Scottish Lowland Travellers come from traditionally itinerant groups of Romani heritage.
Lowland Scottish Travellers/Gypsies are not to be confused with indigenous Highland Travellers, an entirely indigenous group of travelling people with their own distinct language.
Like Angloromani and Scandoromani, Scottish Cant is considered a Para-Romani language.
The Scottish Gaelic element in the dialects of Scottish Cant is put anywhere between 0.8% and 20%.[2]
Scottish Cant uses numerous terms derived from Scots which are no longer current in Modern Scots as spoken by non-Travellers, such as mowdit "buried", mools "earth", both from muild(s), and gellie, from gailey (galley), "a bothy".[2]
Loans from Gaelic include words like:[2]
The percentage of Romani lexical vocabulary is said to be up to 50% of the lexicon; some examples are:[2]
Hamish Henderson and other folklorists recorded various conversations about the Scottish Cant language, with speakers including Lizzie Higgins and Jeannie Robertson.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] He also recorded Belle Stewart singing a version of "Dance to Your Daddy" in both Cant and Scots.[11]
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