Eighteen months ago, in an article in The Irish Times, I heralded a new impetus in Ulster-Scots writing. As we celebrate Ulster-Scots Language (Leid) Week (November 21st to 26th) this momentum has become unstoppable. Today’s Ireland cannot be understood without an appreciation of this essential part of the island’s culture.
Although there has always been much criss-crossing of “the Sheugh” (ditch), as the Irish Sea is affectionately known in these northern parts, it was the Plantation of Ulster that systematised the settlement of the area by Scots. Most of them were Protestants and owed their new opportunities to the crown.
From their contact with the natives, elements of the Irish language entered their discourse. The resultant rich blend of Scots, Irish and English flourished in literary form over the next two centuries. But, in the 20th century, this print culture faltered.
This is ironic, given that the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 might have been expected to guarantee nothing but good for the hearth language of so many of its supporters. Yet although Ulster-Scots played a role in unionist political strategy at the time, perhaps a “cultural cringe” in respect of its rural roots led to its being under-nurtured by the new state. The focus may have been on emulating the British metropolitan elite.
A more recent bias condemns Ulster-Scots as an invented “anything-but-the-Irish-language” or as no more than “English with a Ballymena accent’” This arises from ignorance of its literary pedigree. It is also a reaction against a regrettable tendency to over-identify Ulster-Scots with one community. Ulster-Scots does not belong to only one cultural group in Northern Ireland. It emerged from exchange and this is its great strength.
The challenges it faces in incorporating new realities in its vocabulary are no different from those met by other languages and dialects which have undergone a revival or recovery process – for instance Welsh, Hungarian or, indeed, Irish.
And Ulster-Scots has some excellent language resources, such as Philip Robinson’s Ulster-Scots: A Grammar of the Traditional Written and Spoken Language, published by the Ulster-Scots Language Society.
The society is developing The Complete Ulster-Scots Dictionary. This is eagerly awaited by writers because it will increase the breadth of vocabulary and grasp of context. In 2021 the society published a useful Ulster-Scots Writers’ Guide.
The Ulster-Scots Agency’s increased engagement with language is welcome. The agency was established in 1998 as part of the North/South Language Body under the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. Its Irish-language counterpart is Foras na Gaeilge. The agency is responsible for promoting Ulster-Scots language, culture and heritage.
In 2019 the agency launched Ulster-Scots Language Week and included a workshop specifically for writers. In 2021 it partnered with Belfast’s oldest library, the Linen Hall, to launch the Ulster-Scots Writing Competition for poetry and prose.
This calibre of competition acknowledges Ulster-Scots’ capacity as a modern literary medium. My prize-winning poem addresses the catastrophic evacuation of Kabul airport in August 2021.
…somebodie mad a sprachle tae git ower tha waa,
tha hale crood riz…
swep forrit. She wus doon!...
Somehoo A pu’d hir oot.
Ma billies hel tha line.
Safe in tha bield,
hir an tha chile
dee’d in ma airms
(‘sprachle’ – an ungainly leap; ‘bield’ – safe place/ sheep fold; ‘billies’ – comrades)
The Linen Hall published the winning entries and the project was nominated in the Scots Language Awards 2022.
In 2021, the Ulster-Scots Community Network published Yarns, an anthology of poetry and prose. A second edition is due shortly.
The burgeoning activity of local council Ulster-Scots language officers and council funding of new work are important resources and stimuli.
Initiatives from writers themselves are particularly inspiring, and social media has greatly enabled fruitful networking. Angeline King is writer-in-residence at the University of Ulster. She has published four novels (and just completed a fifth) in which she explores combinations of Ulster-Scots and English. Dusty Bluebells appeared originally with English narration and Ulster-Scots dialogue. She then produced a version in which both are in Scots. Her work also reflects changes in Ulster-Scots dialogue over generations.
King characterises the Ulster-Scots writing scene as having “an organic movement of female poets, playwrights and novelists from several hubs, including Women Aloud NI, Ulster University and the Frances Browne Literary Festival, not only producing their own work but generously reviving lost voices”.
The annual Frances Browne Festival is held in Donegal’s Finn Valley where, explains organiser Shirley-Anne Godfrey, “under the one roof it is possible to hear members of the one family speaking Irish, English and Ulster-Scots.” All three are platformed. “Many of our Ulster-Scots writers treasure the ‘safe cultural space’ here, where they can experiment with their… re-engagement with Ulster-Scots uncoupled from any sectarian associations. That all the poets listen to all the winning poems in the three languages, in such an atmosphere of warmth and mutual respect, is key to the success of the event.”
This year’s Ulster-Scots poetry prize was won by Steve Dornan, author of the genre-busting poetry collection Tha Jaw Banes.
Al Millar, a native of Donegal and editor of the Ballymoney Chronicle, was highly commended. His new weekly column Ulster-Scots Leid Loanen (language lane) uses accessible Ulster-Scots language to engage readers. His first collection of poetry, Echas Frae the Big Swilly Swally, is imminent.
Anne McMaster from Garvagh celebrates the growing enthusiasm for Ulster-Scots. “I’m doing both school workshops and council-funded creative writing workshops,” she says. “I’ve made short films, given lectures, and use varying poetic forms – haiku, imagist poetry and sedoka being three. I’ll be drawing on hybrid poetic/short story forms when I tell stories of a fictional rural village as part of Leid Week events. Póames, my first book of Ulster-Scots poetry, has allowed me to explore the muscular beauty of the language. I write differently in Ulster-Scots than in English; there’s a visceral immediacy about Ulster-Scots...”
To resume its place in mainstream publication Ulster-Scots writing needs editors with both language and editorial skills. This combination has been lacking. But I’m helping to develop a package to encourage and enable publishers to open the door to this sinewy and essential voice.
Angela Graham is a writer from Belfast. Her collection of short stories A City Burning (Seren Books, 2020) was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Her poetry collection is Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere (Seren Books, 2022)
