| Scottish Cant | |
| Also Known As: | Scots-Romani |
| States: | United Kingdom |
| Region: | Scotland |
| Speakers: | 460 in Scotland |
| Date: | 2011 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | mixed language |
| Iso3: | trl |
| Glotto: | trav1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Traveller Scottish |
| Ethnicity: | Scottish Romani and Traveller groups |
Scottish Cant (often called Scots-Romani or Scotch-Romani) is a cant spoken by Scottish Travellers and Scottish Lowland Roma, primarily in the Scottish Lowlands.
Up to 50% of Scottish Cant originates from Romani-derived lexicon.[1]
The Scottish Gaelic element in the dialects of Scottish Cant is put anywhere between 0.8% and 20%.
Scottish Cant uses numerous terms derived from Scots which are no longer current in Modern Scots as spoken by non-Travellers, such as mowdit "buried", mools "earth", both from Undetermined: muild(s), and Undetermined: gellie, from Undetermined: gailey (galley), "a bothy".
Loans from Gaelic include words like:
The percentage of Romani lexical vocabulary is said to be up to 50% of the lexicon; some examples are:
Hamish Henderson and other folklorists recorded various conversations about the Scottish Cant language, with speakers including Lizzie Higgins and Jeannie Robertson.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] He also recorded Belle Stewart singing a version of "Dance to Your Daddy" in both Cant and Scots.[9]