Gaelic or Scots for Coplands

[iwccc]

I have been led to believe that there was a question in the 1881 census asking what was spoken Gaelic or English or?  Does anyone know if this is true?  If it is true then how can I find this information as I cannot seem to find it on any Census I have found.  I am looking for William Copland b. 1854 in Dumfries.  Thank you

[GR2]

I can't seem to find an example from my transcriptions of the 1881 census at the moment, but in 1891 it's in the column following the parish of birth. Some of the commercial transcriptions miss out that, the number of rooms with a window in the house etc. What's entered in that column is G if only Gaelic is spoken or G & E if both Gaelic and English are spoken. If no Gaelic is spoken, the column is left blank. The original entries can be seen on ScotlandsPeople. I would be very surprised if someone born in Dumfries in 1854 was a Gaelic speaker.

[MonicaL]

From SP guide notes:

Gaelic (from 1891) shows whether the person spoke G (Gaelic) or G and E (Gaelic and English)
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/census-returns#Interpreting content

Monica

[iwccc]

Thanks GR2. Very helpful information.   My next question is who spoke 'Scots'?

[iwccc]

Thanks MonicaL, that is a very helpful link you have provided. Much appreciated.
Perhaps you may be able to help --- who spoke 'Scots' ?

[Skoosh]

Scots was spoken from Shetland to the Border excepting those counties which predominantly spoke Gaelic. The fashion for English came in with the Union & started with the gentry who had tuition lessons & sent to English schools to learn how to speak with a bool in their mooth! 

Skoosh.

[GR2]

Basically, everyone spoke one dialect or other of Scots in their day to day lives. I still do (the Doric version). Even those whose language was close to standard English would often use Scots vocabulary, syntax and idiom.

[Gadget]

I have a letter written by my 3 x great grandfather in the mid 1830s. He was from Kirkcudbright/Dumfriesshire, It is written in a mix of Scots and English and  after he moved to Merionethshire in Wales. He complained that he couldn't understand a word that the locals were saying 

Gadget

[Forfarian]

I'm not sure that Shetlanders or Orcadians would agree that Scots was widely spoken in Orkney or Shetland until relatively recently. The Shetlanders in particular are quite proud of their own language, Norn.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norn_language and in particular the map in the article.
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language