Editing Ulster Scots dialect (section)

==Status==
{{Main|Scots language#Status}}

===Linguistic status===

[[File:MoatRoadBallyhalbert.jpg|thumb|A bilingual street sign in [[Ballyhalbert]], County Down]]

The majority of linguists treat Ulster Scots as a [[variety (linguistics)|variety]] of the [[Scots language]]; Caroline Macafee, for example, writes that "Ulster Scots is [...] clearly a dialect of Central Scots."<ref name="C. Macafee 2001 p121"/>  The Northern Ireland [[Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure]] considers Ulster Scots to be "the local variety of the Scots language."<ref name="dcalni.gov.uk" /> Some [[linguists]], such as Raymond Hickey,<ref>Raymond Hickey ''Irish English: History and Present Day Forms'', Cambridge University Press, 2007. pp. 85–120</ref> treat Ulster Scots (and other forms of Scots) as a [[dialect]] of [[English language|English]]. It has been said that its "status varies between dialect and language".<ref>Crowley, Tony (2006) "The Political Production of a Language". ''Journal of Linguistic Anthropology''; Volume 16, Issue 1, pp. 23–35.</ref>

Enthusiasts such as [[Philip Robinson (author)|Philip Robinson]] (author of ''Ulster-Scots: a Grammar of the Traditional Written and Spoken Language''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/03-grammerbook.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105225837/http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/03-grammerbook.asp|url-status=dead|title=ulsterscotsagency.com|archivedate=5 January 2009}}</ref>), the Ulster-Scots Language Society<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ulsterscotslanguage.com/en/language/ |title=Language |publisher=Ulsterscotslanguage.com |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> and supporters of an Ulster-Scots Academy<ref name="ulsterscotsacademy.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.ulsterscotsacademy.org/ |title=結婚式の準備・役立つ知っておきたいこと【まとめ】 |publisher=Ulsterscotsacademy.org |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> are of the opinion that Ulster Scots is a language in its own right. That position has been criticised by the [[Ulster-Scots Agency]], with a [[BBC]] report stating: "[The Agency] accused the academy of wrongly promoting Ulster-Scots as a language distinct from Scots."<ref>{{cite news|author=Conor Spackman |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7535681.stm |title=UK &#124; Northern Ireland &#124; Ulster-Scots academy 'misguided' |publisher=BBC News |date=31 July 2008 |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> This position is reflected in many of the academic responses{{clarify|date=April 2015}} to the "Public Consultation on Proposals for an Ulster-Scots Academy"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/usaig_-_consultation_-_full_responses__53_-2.doc |format=Doc |title=Public Consultation on Proposals for an Ulster-Scots Academy |publisher=Dcalni.gov.uk |access-date=17 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213050/http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/usaig_-_consultation_-_full_responses__53_-2.doc |archive-date=23 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

===Legal status===
{{Update section|date=December 2022}}
Ulster Scots is defined in an ''Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland establishing implementation bodies done at Dublin on the 8th day of March 1999'' in the following terms:

{{blockquote|"Ullans" is to be understood as the variety of the Scots language traditionally found in parts of Northern Ireland and Donegal.}}

The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) Northern Ireland Order 1999,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/19990859.htm |title=The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 |publisher=Opsi.gov.uk |date=5 December 2013 |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> which gave effect to the implementation bodies incorporated the text of the agreement in its Schedule 1.

The declaration made by the British Government regarding the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]] reads as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CV=1&NA=&PO=999&CN=999&VL=1&CM=9&CL=ENG |title=List of declarations made with respect to treaty No.&nbsp;148 |publisher=Conventions.coe.int |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The United Kingdom declares, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Charter that it recognises that Scots and Ulster Scots meet the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language for the purposes of Part II of the Charter.}}

This recognition differed significantly from the commitments entered into under the Charter in relation to Irish, for which specific provisions under Part III were invoked for the protection and promotion of that language. The definition of Ullans from the North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) Northern Ireland Order 1999 above was used on 1 July 2005 Second Periodical Report by the United Kingdom to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe outlining how the UK met its obligations under the Charter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/local_and_regional_democracy/regional_or_minority_languages/2_monitoring/2.2_States_Reports/UK_report2.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225044134/http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/local_and_regional_democracy/regional_or_minority_languages/2_monitoring/2.2_States_Reports/UK_report2.pdf|url-status=dead|title=PDF|archivedate=25 December 2009}}</ref>

The [[Good Friday Agreement]] (which does not refer to Ulster Scots as a "language") recognises Ulster Scots as ''"part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland"'', and the Implementation Agreement established the cross-border [[Ulster-Scots Agency]] (''Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch'').

The legislative remit laid down for the agency by the North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) Northern Ireland Order 1999 is: "the promotion of greater awareness and the use of Ullans and of Ulster-Scots cultural issues, both within Northern Ireland and throughout the island".

The agency has adopted a mission statement: ''to promote the study, conservation, development and use of Ulster Scots as a living language; to encourage and develop the full range of its attendant culture; and to promote an understanding of the history of the Ulster-Scots people.''<ref name="Ulster-Scots Agency"/> Despite the Agency's reference to Ulster Scots as "a language", this eliding of the distinction between Ulster Scots as a linguistic form, and "Ulster Scots culture" broadly referring to cultural forms associated with the Scottish-descended population, continued thereafter.

The [[Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006]]<ref>{{UK-LEG|path=ukpga/2006/53/contents|title=Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006}}</ref> amended the [[Northern Ireland Act 1998]] to insert a section (28D) entitled ''Strategies relating to Irish language and Ulster Scots language etc.'' which [[inter alia]] laid on the Executive Committee a duty to "adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and develop the Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture." This reflects the wording used in the [[St Andrews Agreement]] to refer to the enhancement and development of "the Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=199&docID=2931 |title=Home – Department of Taoiseach |publisher=Taoiseach.gov.ie |date=19 May 2009 |access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> There is still controversy on the status of Ulster Scots.<ref>McCoy, Gordon, and O'Reilly, Camille (2003) "Essentialising Ulster? the Ulster-Scots Language Movement". In ''Language and Tradition in Ireland''. [[Maria Tymoczko]] & Colin Ireland, eds. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.</ref>