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Scottish Cant (often called Scots-Romani or Scotch-Romani) is a cant spoken by Scottish Travellers and Scottish Lowland Roma, primarily in the Scottish Lowlands.

Classification

Up to 50% of Scottish Cant originates from Romani-derived lexicon.

The Scottish Gaelic element in the dialects of Scottish Cant is put anywhere between 0.8% and 20%.

Use of archaic Scots

Scottish Cant uses numerous terms derived from Scots which are no longer current in Modern Scots as spoken by non-Travellers, such as mowdit "buried", mools "earth", both from muild(s), and gellie, from gailey (galley), "a bothy".

Gaelic influences

Loans from Gaelic include words like:

• cluishes "ears" (Gaelic cluasan or cluais, a dative form of cluas "ear")
• shain "bad" (Gaelic sean "old")

Romani influences

The percentage of Romani lexical vocabulary is said to be up to 50% of the lexicon; some examples are:

• gadgie "man" (Romani gadžó "a non-Romani person")
• pannie "water" (Romani paní)

Recordings

Hamish Henderson and other folklorists recorded various conversations about the Scottish Cant language, with speakers including Lizzie Higgins and Jeannie Robertson. He also recorded Belle Stewart singing a version of "Dance to Your Daddy" in both Cant and Scots.

See also

• Angloromani language
• Beurla Reagaird
• Shelta

References

1. Scottish Cant at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ^ Kirk, J. & Ó Baoill, D. Travellers and their Language (2002) Queen's University Belfast ISBN 0-85389-832-4
3. Wilde 1889, cited in Not just lucky white heather and clothes pegs: putting European Gypsies and Traveller economic niches in context. In: Ethnicity and Economy:Race and class revisited. C. Clark (2002). Strathclyde University.
4. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
5. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
6. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
7. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
8. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
9. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
10. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
11. "Tobar an Dualchais". Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 2021-12-01.

• Scots language
• Languages of Ireland
• Languages of Scotland
• Anglic languages
• Romani in Scotland
• Mixed languages
• Cant languages