Editing Scots language (section)

===Decline in status===
[[File:John Knox House - Edinburgh Fringe.jpg|thumb|{{lang|sco|Lufe God abufe al and yi nychtbour as yi self}} ("Love God above all and thy neighbour as thyself"), an example of [[Early Scots]], on [[John Knox House]], Edinburgh]]

Before the [[Treaty of Union 1707]], when Scotland and England joined to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, there is ample evidence that Scots was widely held to be an independent [[sister language]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scots-online.org/articles/Nostra_Vulgari_Lingua.php |title=Nostra Vulgari Lingua: Scots as a European Language 1500–1700 |first=Dauvit |last=Horsbroch |publisher=www.scots-online.org |access-date=18 October 2015 }}</ref> forming a [[pluricentric language|pluricentric]] [[diasystem]] with English.

German linguist {{lang|de|[[Heinz Kloss]]|italic=no}} considered Modern Scots a {{lang|de|Halbsprache}} ('half language') in terms of an [[abstand and ausbau languages|{{lang|de|abstand|nocat=y}} and {{lang|de|ausbau|nocat=y}} languages]] framework,<ref>Kloss, Heinz, ²1968, ''Die Entwicklung neuer germanischer Kultursprachen seit 1800'', Düsseldorf: Bagel. pp.70, 79</ref> although today in Scotland most people's speech is somewhere on a continuum ranging from traditional broad Scots to [[Scottish English|Scottish Standard English]]. Many speakers are [[diglossia|diglossic]] and may be able to [[code-switching|code-switch]] along the continuum depending on the situation. Where on this continuum English-influenced Scots becomes Scots-influenced English is difficult to determine. Because standard English now generally has the role of a {{lang|de|[[Dachsprache]]}} ('roofing language'), disputes often arise as to whether the varieties of Scots are dialects of Scottish English or constitute a separate language in their own right.<ref name="Stuart-Smith"/><ref name="Maggie Mcott">{{cite web |last=Scott |first=Maggie |title=The Scots Continuum and Descriptive Linguistics |url=http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue2/ScotsContinuum.html |work=The Bottle Imp |publisher=[[Association for Scottish Literary Studies]] |access-date=21 July 2011|date=November 2007}}</ref>

The UK government now accepts Scots as a [[regional language]] and has recognised it as such under the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Second Report submitted by the United Kingdom pursuant to article 25, paragraph 2 of the framework convention for the protection of national minorities |url=http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/minorities/3_fcnmdocs/PDF_2nd_SR_UK_en.pdf |publisher=[[Council of Europe]] |access-date=16 August 2013 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Notwithstanding the UK government's and the Scottish Executive's obligations under part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Scottish Executive recognises and respects Scots (in all its forms) as a distinct language, and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English.}}

Evidence for its existence as a separate language lies in the extensive body of Scots literature, its independent – if somewhat fluid – [[orthography|orthographic conventions]], and in its former use as the language of the original [[Parliament of Scotland]].<ref>See for example {{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1560/1/contents |title=Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1560 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826030235/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1560/1/contents |archive-date=26 August 2020 }}, written in Scots and still part of British Law</ref> Because Scotland retained distinct political, legal, and religious systems after the Union, many Scots terms passed into Scottish English.