Books by Robert McColl Millar

This textbook overview of Modern Scots provides a description and analysis of the language covering lexical, phonological and structural patterns. It presents evidence for the diversity of the language through illustrations from newly collected fieldwork material.

This book considersvarious theoretical and methodological issues in relation to a representative sample of fishing communities along ScotlandOCOs east coast. Can the lexical variation and change found in these communities be perceived as primary evidenc"e;

Sociolinguistics provides a powerful instrument by which we can interpret the contemporary and near-contemporary use of language in relation to the society in which speakers live. Almost since the beginning of the discipline, however, attempts have been made to extrapolate backwards and interpret past linguistic change sociolinguistically. Some of these findings have influenced the discussion of the history of the English language as portrayed in the many textbooks for undergraduate courses. A consistent application of sociolinguistic theory and findings has rarely been attempted, however, despite the specialist literature which demonstrates this connection at specific points in the language's development.This textbook provides students with a means by which a previously existing knowledge of a linear, narrative, history of English can be deepened by a more profound understanding of the sociolinguistic forces which initiate or encourage language change. Uniquely, it discusses not only the central variationist tendencies present in language change and their analysis but also the macrosociolinguistic forces which act upon all speakers and their language. Chapters investigate the political, cultural and economic forces which affect a society's use of and views on language; language contact, language standardisation and linguistic attrition are also covered. Discussion is illustrated throughout by apposite examples from the history of English. The volume enables students to develop a deeper understanding of both sociolinguistics and historical linguistics; it is also be useful as a primer for postgraduate study in the subjects covered.

Revised edition of: Trask's Historical linguistics / R.L. Trask. London: Arnold, 2007.

The Scots dialects of northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland are among the most traditional varieties of 'English', exhibiting features not current elsewhere for centuries. Until recently, they were spoken in communities whose traditional occupations have encouraged the equation of speech with local identity. They have all also been affected by contact with Gaelic, or Norse, or both. In recent years, however, the decline of traditional industries has been matched by the discovery of oil off their coasts, encouraging in-migration of speakers of many varieties of English and other languages. How well have these varieties maintained their traditional natures at the start of the 21st century?

Much has been written on dialect formation through contact between dialects of the same language, but the question of what happens when closely related but linguistically discrete varieties come into contact with each other has largely been neglected. Here Robert McColl Millar sets out to redress this imbalance.