Wikipedia:Spellin an grammar

Spellin

Here at Wikipaedia it's recommendit that fowk uises 'traditional' pan-dialect spellins, anes that hae a guid history o uiss. Awtho this isna sae strict as in English we ettle tae come up wi writin that's easy tae read an can be soondit oot bi readers in thair ain dialect.

Ae thing tae mynd is that maist modren Scots writers disna uise the apologetic apostrophe onymair. Mairower, ettle tae evite uisin slang wirds in encyclopedic airticles.

O coorse maist awbody haesna been teached siclike at the schuil but wi practice it shoudna be ower difficult. Whan resoorces is aboot that expoonds on whit 'traditional' spellins is an hou tae applee thaim in a consistent mainer.

We ettle tae follae the wey set oot bi the Report an Recommends o the Scots Spellin Comatee, itherwice kent as the RRSSC.

Fowk that wants tae contribute but disna hae a awfu guid understaundin o Scots can eik the {{fixscots}} template or the {{Translation}} template.

Ither guides tae spellin:

The 1947 Scots Style Sheet guidit mony ither thochts on modren Scots spellin
The Scots leid airticle is a cutty guide tae the maist kenspeckle pynts o Scots spellin.
Jottins on Spellin an grammar fae Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd.
Description o traditional Scots spellin an pronunciation athort sindry dialects fae Scots-Online wi a mair academic haundlin in Aw Ae Wey—Written Scots in Scotland and Ulster.
The innin tae the SND gies a bit grundin in the leid an the 'traditional' written forms. Mynd whit's uised in Wikipaedia is redd up for tae be mair consistent.
John Tait's thochts anent the maiter.
David Purves' thochts anent the maiter (PDF) a development o thir o the SLS.

Grammar

Scots isna juist English written wi orra wirds an spellins. It haes its ain grammar an aw. If aw ye dae is tak an English text an chynge the spellins an swap a puckle wirds it'll juist be Scotched English an no Scots.

A cutty guide tae the maist kenspeckle pynts o Scots grammar can be fund in the Wikipedie airticle anent the Scots leid.
Jottins on grammar fae Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd..
A weel wrocht descreeption fae Scots-Online
The entries in the Scottish National Dictionary (SND) (see Dictionars ablo) gies guidance anent the richt semantic an gramatical uiss o wirds.

Dictionars

Prent dictionars can be gotten frae SLD Ltd.
The Online version o the Scottish National Dictionary (SND) is the mither o aw dictionars. Mynd it's Modren Scots uised in Wikipedie sae wale SND and SND Supll. Gin ye wale Full Entry the dictionar rake micht come oot wi a better ootcome whaur ye can wale the wird ye micht be efter fae the list on the left.
Scots-English-Scots fae The Online Scots Dictionary. Spellins here seems tae hae been redd up for consistency but the defineetions is aften awfu cutty sae cross referencin the SND wad be wirth a thocht gin ye're no richt shuir o the richt uiss o a wird.
Wikipedia:RRSSC Common wordleet (English ti Scots)
Wikipedia:RRSSC Common wordleet (Scots til English)
Wikipedia:Scots-English-Scots dictionar

Exemples

For a guid exemplar o modren Scots spellin an grammar, read William Lorimer's New Testament in Scots (Canongate Classics, Edinburgh 2001. ISBN 1841951447).

A guid exemplar o contemporar Scots writin online can be fund in Scots Tung Wittins.

A guid walin o traditional Scots leeterar can be fund at ScotsText.

For a guid examplar o whit no tae dae see this meaninless, menseless mince wi heich seembolic vailyie that's o nae uiss whitsomeiver for Scots-speakin fowk or this.

Raisons for this policy

The main raison is for tae dae awa wi argiements ower the richt spellins o wirds. That wastes time better spent writin new text for airticles. Tae settle on the ae wey o spellin we needit to wale a staundart. Mony staundarts haes been proponed ower the years an we hae taen the hindmaist ane, the RRSSC, sin it is the hindmaist.

The RRSSC haes been pitten thegither by fowk that kens the wark they're daein for the maist pairt. It's nae perfect an there's a twa-three pynts that ae body or anither disna like. Houaniver gin Scots prose is tae gang onywey in Scots eddication, prose writers maun rally roond ae staundart. Maist o the fowk writin for the Scots Wikipaedie haes chuisen tae rally roond this ane till a better ane comes alang.

Twa ither policies micht hae been waled but they baith hiv waur fauts than the RRSSC.

"Oniething gaes" haes been tried on the English Wikipedia whaur American/English spellins are baith alloued. It leads tae pyntless argiement in the lang rin (an mibbies e'en in the short rin). Forby it micht lead tae accusations o bias taewart ae dialect or anither at some pynt. Anither pynt is that we maun hae uniform spellin gin we want tae be a richt encyclopedie.

"A seestem o wir ain" is ower muckle wark. Oor aim is tae write an encyclopedie an that's a muckle job in its ain richt. The RRSSC haes awready duin a deal o wark on spellin an there's little need for us tae dae the wark ower again. It's better that we juist uise whit they'v duin. Oor aim shoud be tae mak a wheen o encyclopedie airticles wi as little distraction as we dow -- nae tae mak yet anither Scots spellin seestem.

That said, there's nae doot that fowk winna write the RRSSC wey whan they contribute. It's nae easy whan ye daena ken it. Nane o us wis taucht Scots spellin, sae we canna be expectit tae get it richt. We shoud tak text spelt onywey athoot compleenin or rushin tae fix it richt awa. Houaniver awbody shoud mynd that we aim tae correct spellins tae the RRSSC staundard suiner or later.

Collogue

For tae quaisten or mak pynts aboot the maiters abuin uise the Collogue page (Ye can sneck the collogue tag abuin an aw).

Guidance anent mair general maiters can be fund bi gaun throu the Commonty Yett.

Technical maiters is dealt wi at the Mercat Cross. Speirins on spelling is dealt wi at the Spellin Fettle.