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What's a Language Worth to a Small Town in Scotland?
A fisherman's dialect dies out.
Bobby Hogg, a 92-year-old resident of the Scottish fishing village of Cromarty, died earlier this week, taking a local dialect along with him. According to the BBC:
Hogg and his brother, who died last year, are believed to be the last two people fluent in the language. In 2009, a researcher recorded some of their conversations and created a lexicon of the "Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect" [PDF]. Hundreds of words and phrases are documented, including this one: "A'm fair sconfished wi hayreen; gie's fur brakwast lashins o am and heggs" – or "I'm so fed up with herring, give me plenty of ham and eggs for breakfast." That phrase survives in print, but it will likely never be spoken again.