Urban Scots Dialect Writing

This study explores the fundamental issues - linguistic, historical, cultural and discoursive - involved in the written representation of urban Scots. Offering a comprehensive linguistic description of Glaswegian, it examines its use and functions in 20th-century Glasgow fiction. The study argues that urban Scots is a coherent variety perfectly suitable as a literary medium alongside any other standard or non-standard variety of English. Throughout, the book draws on examples from Glasgow fiction for illustration, culminating in the analyses of representative text passages and of authenticity in their dialogue representation. Contents: Language varieties, Standard English and Scots - Synchronic description of Glaswegian - Relationships between: sound and symbol, spoken and written language, perception and representation of dialect - Analyses of selected passages from the novels No Mean City; Dance of the Apprentices; The Changeling; Mr Alfred MA; Its Colours They Are Fine.