Editing Ulster Scots dialect (section)

===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>