Shaetlan – dialect or language? Student poses question in dissertation research

HOW SHETLANDERS use Shaetlan – and whether people see it as a dialect or a language – are the key questions at the heart of new questionnaire being carried out by an English linguistics student.

Chrissie Hunter is conducting research for her dissertation on the English language and linguistics course at the University of Stirling, and is asking resident Shetlanders or people who have previously lived in the isles for a long time to take part.

The aim of the research is to find out the attitudes people in Shetland have towards Shaetlan, and if local people perceive it as a dialect or as a language.

The project is titled: ‘A study of the intergenerational use of Shaetlan in the Shetland Islands, and local perceptions towards its newfound status as a language’.

Shaetlan was finally recognised as a language in its own right late last year.

Furthermore, Hunter’s dissertation research looks to discover how important the use of Shaetlan is for personal identity and the island community as a whole.

Among the questions in the questionnaire are what people in Shetland would call certain objects, such as a football, a turnip and the small forked-insect feared locally as the “forkie tail”.

You can take part in the questionnaire, which Hunter says should take no longer than 15 minutes, here.