Slipping into the broad tongue in a truly multicultural land

It is often the butt of jokes, but a new TG4 film about but the Ulster- Scots language takes a different approach, writes FIONOLA MEREDITH

THE MOST STRIKING thing about The Hamely Tongue – Cultúr Ceilte, a documentary about Ulster-Scots to be shown on TG4 tonight, is that it avoids both mockery and hostility: the usual default positions. Instead, director Deaglán Ó Mocháin, an Irish language activist, has made a generous and engagingly open-minded film – offered in the spirit of comradeship – which traces the surprisingly radical history of the Ulster-Scots people, and finds common ground between the two linguistic and cultural traditions.

“It shouldn’t be seen as a competition between two cultures – either you’re multicultural or you’re not,” says Ó Mocháin. He admits to not always having had “warm thoughts” for the Ulster- Scots movement. But that initial wariness changed to a new understanding as he learned more about the people and their heritage. Besides, having grown up in Co Monaghan, Ó Mocháin already had a familiarity with some of the words – “when Mam was giving out to us, she would slip into the broad tongue”. Now, as a fellow traveller in the world of language activism, he believes that the tradition should be properly supported and nurtured. “People say Ulster-Scots sounds like a Ballymena accent,” says Ó Mocháin. “But what’s wrong with a Ballymena accent?” The vexed question of whether Ulster-Scots is indeed a language, or just a dialect masquerading as one, is touched on in the film, albeit obliquely. In a canny piece of sophistry, Dónall O Riagáin, former head of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages, says that “there’s no doubt that Scots is a language . . . and that Ulster-Scots is Scots”. It’s true that the subtitles provided when Ulster Scots is being spoken in the film are not entirely necessary. As the Belfast writer Stephen Mullan puts it, the words are easily “translated from the Ulster-Scots by your eyes and brain”. But O Riagáin is on surer ground when he says that “an entire community is preserved in the language . . . and the human race is all the poorer if the language dies”.

For many Ulster-Scots enthusiasts, Ó Mocháin's documentary will come as welcome respite from all the sniggering. Described by its detractors as "a DIY language for Orangemen", a blatantly political attempt to annexe government cash otherwise destined for the promotion of the Irish language, the Ulster-Scots movement is relentlessly lampooned. Last year, one of the sell-out shows at the Belfast Film Festival was a screening of the 1974 soft porn spoof Flesh Gordon, accompanied by a live translation in Ulster-Scots by three local comedians.

Entitled Shockin'ly Spaiked O'er Smot (Badly Dubbed Porn)Live, it contained lines like "Flesh! Flesh! I luve ye, but we hiv anely fowerteen oors to sauf the earth!" But the public perception of Ulster-Scots has also been damaged by a long-running series of gaffes, errors of judgement and delays by the Ulster-Scots Agency, or Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch, the cross-border body set up under the 1998 Belfast Agreement to promote awareness of Ulster- Scots history, language and culture.

Several years ago, the Agency gave £50,000 of public money to an ambitious musical called On Eagle's Wing. Seen as an attempt to rival the success of Riverdance, it told the story of the Scots Irish and their migration to America in the century after they came to Ireland. But the US premiere had to be called off after two investors pulled out, leaving the show to be known henceforth as On Budgie's Wing.

On another occasion, the outspoken and flamboyant former chair of the Agency, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, was criticised when it was revealed that – at taxpayers’ expense – he took a taxi rather than the train from Belfast to Dublin, all so he would not have to appear in public in his kilt. Lord Laird defended the move on security grounds.

In the past, the Agency’s hospitality bill for official functions has been criticised in an internal Government audit. In recent months, however, the problems have intensified. Last July, it was reported that more than £7 million from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure budget had been set aside for the as yet non-existent Ulster Scots Academy over the next two years. And while colourful signs at the Ulster Scots Agency’s offices on Belfast’s Great Victoria Street have been cheerfully announcing that a visitor centre will be “coming soon” for many months now, there’s still no sign of it – leading to questions in the Assembly about paying rent for prime ground-floor city centre space to stand empty.

Even the DUP Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Nelson McCausland – himself a prominent advocate for Ulster- Scots – has expressed concerns. Last month, he took the unusual step of criticising the Agency – for spending £2,500 on Santa hats for spectators at an Ulster rugby game at Ravenhill. In a statement to the Irish Times, the Minister says that "it is clear that there are ongoing issues regarding the strategic direction and governance and administrative processes within the Ulster-Scots Agency. I am aware of these issues and I have been taking robust steps to try to address them." Mr McCausland adds that "the Ulster-Scots community is entitled to have a first-class service and I am determined to ensure that the Ulster Scots Agency is 'fit for purpose'; that it provides value for money; is efficient and effective; and that it is good for the community it serves."

As Deaglán Ó Mocháin’s sensitive film demonstrates, there’s a clear distinction to be made between the public, politicised face of Ulster Scots and the many enthusiasts and amateurs who are motivated by nothing more than a love of their own, dear “hamely tongue”. It’s here that real solidarity, mutual respect and common purpose between traditions can be found. After all, says Ó Mocháin, “if someone on the Shankill Road wants to do Highland dancing, who are we to say they’re wrong?”

The Hamely Tongue – Cultúr Ceilteis on TG4 tonight at 9.30pm

What is Ulster-Scots?

According to the Ulster-Scots Agency, the term “Ulster-Scots” has, for nearly 400 years, referred to people, not place – the people who migrated from the Lowlands of Scotland to Ulster, and to the Ulster-Scots communities that they established across the nine counties.

The Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 was the first official document to mention Ulster- Scots, stating that it represents “part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland”. Under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, Ulster-Scots became an officially recognised regional language of Europe.