Ulster Scots, a language that only exists because Unionists are jealous of Republicans having Irish, has got its own visitor centre in Belfast City Centre this week. With approximately £350,000 of its funding coming from the UK government and around the same from the Irish government, some may see it as a waste of money for what is essentially a dead language that no-one speaks (although the 2011 census has the number of speakers at around 16,000, but everyone has got together and agreed that the figure is probably bollocks).
Ulster Scotch: What we know
Examples of Ulster Scotch (or Ullan) date back to the 18th Century. There was large demand for Scots speaking poets such as Burns, Lindsay and Ramsay in Ulster and their work was printed locally. Scots was also used in the narrative in local literature in the 19th century by Ulster novelists.
Then it sort of died. In fairness, everyone was a bit busy in the early 20th century with risings and global conflict.
There was a revival in the early 90's and in 1992 the Ulster-Scots Language Society was formed to protect and promote what they saw as a language (but no-one else did).
Ulster Scotch as it is today is basically made up. A language that has gained what little traction it has because of Unionisms need to have a sense of belonging and identity.
Make up your own language, it's fine. I did it when i was 8 and it never hurt anyone. The main difference is that i didn't get £350,000 of government funding to open a 'visitors centre' in the centre of Belfast. Not to mention the missing £400,000 from 2010.
Ulster Scots has received at least a million in funding in the last 4 years. This would be fine if we hadn't been in an economic decline for the same time. A decline that is coming to a head in the upcoming budget. The money that's being given to keep alive a language that essentially only exists to prove a point could be much better spent in our schools, our libraries, on our roads or in our hospitals.
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