JOHN Swinney’s election has the potential to give Scotland’s indigenous languages a much-needed boost as the Scottish Languages Bill makes its way through Parliament. The bill is giving our languages legal protection for the first time in their extensive history and that’s why it is vital to have a First Minister who truly understands their importance.
As the former education secretary, Swinney has already shown he is willing to use his platform to promote Scots and Gaelic. But perhaps most significantly, he has acknowledged that the languages are not a political tool, but an integral part of Scotland’s culture – even if there is no denying the role that pro-indy politicians have played in protecting them.
Referring to Gaelic, Swinney said the “good structures” that were being put in place to support the leid during his time as education secretary were “not a nationalist plot” but a way to ensure “fair treatment” for a minority language that has existed for over 1000 years.
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Swinney has similarly legitimised Scots, describing it as “an essential element of our nation’s culture and heritage”.
Writing as a Scots author, I have seen first-hand how separating Scotland’s languages from politics is essential to promoting their legitimacy outside of Scotland and in the union. But this can only be done through comprehensive education, which the new Scottish Languages Bill has the potential to provide.
All too often, I have seen the Scots leid reduced to “pretend language made up by the SNP”, when, the reality is that both Scots and Gaelic predate the Union by hundreds of years. It is therefore comforting to know that Swinney has personally viewed some of the many historic Scots texts housed at the National Library of Scotland, some of which go back as far as 1440.
But in order to change attitudes, a strong politician who can meet and overcome the challenges presented by the current economic climate is essential, even if that means obtaining further devolution to divert much-needed resources back into Scotland’s cultural landscape.
A prime example of why this is needed is Aye Write. Despite being one of Scotland’s Scotland’s premier book festivals, it initially failed to secure the funding it needed from Creative Scotland to showcase new and emerging literary voices in 2024.
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Scotland’s indigenous languages are of huge cultural significance and they need to be fostered for the benefit of Scottish people within and outside Scotland. Even more so when you consider their unifying of power in a Scotland that is more divided than ever by class and politics.
A good example of the unifying power of our leids is a new Scottish deli that’s proven a hit in London – Auld Hag’s The Shoap. Popular with Scots and people from all over alike. It uses almost entirely Scots language signage and specialises in Scottish scran, showcasing not only the many foods that make Scotland great outside of Scotland but our language.
That’s not to mention the renewed interest in the Scots leid prompted by Len Pennie’s "Scots Word of the Day", which actually has a predominately American audience. Her promotion of the language even prompted someone at her London book launch ask if it is okay for non-Scots to use our leids, to which the answer was a natural yes.
But while I think it’s important to discuss Scotland's languages outside of politics, a natural symptom of their promotion is a move towards independence. Every country should be free to govern itself and an awareness of what makes a country great – or should I say braw – only reinforces that.
Taking Swinney’s experience as a politician out of the equation, his age puts him in a fantastic position to promote the leids. Swinney, 60, is from the same generation as my parents, who grew up experiencing violence – verbal and sometimes physical – for daring to speak their native tongues, so he will understand why so much prejudice still exists today.
But Swinney has also seen first-hand how there is hope for the future through the revival Scottish languages have enjoyed in recent years – from Billy Kay making history by delivering a speech in Scots to all political parties in Scots in 2022 to the Scottish Languages Bill itself, which was only launched at the end of last year.
With this in mind, I invite the new First Minister to make fostering the new bill a priority. It is a key to the promotion and representation of Scottish culture at home and abroad that should not be overlooked. But given that Swinney has already used the Scots leid in his first parliamentary speech, and made space for Gaelic in the Cabinet, I am confident this is already the case,
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