Patrick Chew scripsit:
> We can make comparisons with Scots English and Queen's English
> here... will the refuting argument still hold in this case?
The language situation in Scotland is (discounting Scots Gaelic) that there
is a dialect continuum called "Scots", with some degree of recognition
but with no standard form, and then there is "Scottish Standard English",
which is a variety of English influenced by Scots in pronunciation (and
to some degree in grammar and lexis, too). These form a diglossic pair.
As usual, there are a few people who speak only one or the other, and a
rather larger number who speak some other variety of English only.
--
John Cowan
jcowan@... www.ccil.org/~cowan www.reutershealth.com
"In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side
with the giants on whose shoulders we stand."
--Gerald Holton