The Hamely Tongue

Several factors have in the past prevented the Ulster-Scots from taking a justifiable pride in their language and culture. Considering it was settlers from Ulster that gave Scotland her very name, attempts to portray the Scots element in the north-east corner of the island of Ireland as some kind of "Johnny-come-lately" offshoot of English imperialism at the time of the Plantation betray a total ignorance of history. There was actually a period during the history of these islands when the whole island of Ireland was viewed as one of the western isles of Scotland. Those academics and others who underplay the importance of the Scots input in Ulster quite simply fly in the face of the facts. Similarly, there is a prevailing notion purveyed by some who like to think they know about language and history that Ulster-Scots is just "English talked funny". The vocabulary of Lowland Scots, and therefore ultimately of Ulster-Scots, is in fact largely the English that many centuries ago ceased to be current in England, so to that extent they are correct. However, in the unlikely event of a visit from Chaucer in this closing decade of the twentieth century, it is extremely doubtful that his con