The last person fluent in the fisherfolk dialect of Cromarty has died.
It was a traditional dialect used for centuries by fisherfolk.
But yesterday it emerged that the language of Cromarty had finally died with the passing of its last speaker.
Bobby Hogg was the only person still fluent in the age-old tongue of the Black Isle and his death at the age of 92 means it will now exist only in audio recordings. . .
Some of the words in the dialect include:
Dialect Word English Meaning
ablach odd looking, awkward
amitan a fool
ammers embers
back flan down draught
baldie boats type of fishing boat that Cromarty men took to the lochs
bauchles old ill fitting shoes or slippers
beetyach a small knife for beeting (mending) nets
belligut a greedy person
belwar layers of tangles
bendin the place where two pieces of long-line are joined
beouch dear
bicht a turn taken by a boat when shooting the lines
bladyach sweet sounding
bladyach tang sweet tongue
A dialect of English.
Dialects disappear all the time, When it comes down to it we all have our on unique dialect, related to our families dialect as well as regional and/or sub culture dialects.
Languages die out all the time too.
What is more interesting is when a dialect is given the status of its own language and this is highly political.
Thus some claim the language spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland isn’t English but Scottish, a related but separate language with a high degree of mutual intelligibility. Those who seek Scottish independence would go for this and if it is achieved Scottish will one day be a recognized language.
These things can get very fraught – as below from earlier this year in the Ukrainian Rada ( Parliament).