Andrew Blance News Today

IN TODAY’s instalment of the I Hear Dee project’s History in a Wird series, we explore the origins of the Up Helly Aa season of fire festivals. Run by linguist Dr Viveka Velupillai and native Shaetlan speakers Roy Mullay, Julie Dennison and Andrew Blance, the I Hear...

IT IS Christmas and, appropriately, Shetland language project I Hear Dee is delving into the origins of the word Yül, the 12 days of festivities which is much, much older than all our current traditions and probably dates back to pre-Christian times. For us this is a good way...

IN THE latest instalment of the I Hear Dee project’s History in a Wird series, we feature the origins of the Shetland word truss, meaning “(useless) odds and ends; scraps; scrapings; rubbish”. Run by linguists Dr Viveka Velupillai and native Shaetlan speakers Roy Mullay,...

IN THE next instalment of the I Hear Dee project’s History in a Wird series, we feature the origins of the Shetland word for otter. The word dratsi is an extremely rare example of a former fishermen’s taboo work entering regular vocabulary. Run by linguists Dr Viveka...

THE WORLD’s first ever bilingual grammatical description of the local language – Shaetlan – has just been published by a group of enthusiasts. The 119-page primer, written by Dr Viveka Velupillai and Roy Mullay, is very much seen a working document – it is available for...

SHETLAND NEWS has teamed up with the I Hear Dee project to help spread the word about their work on promoting the local language. Run by linguists Dr Viveka Velupillai and native Shaetlan speakers Roy Mullay, Julie Dennison and Andrew Blance, the I Hear Dee project aims to...

A NEW project aimed at promoting one of the rarest varieties of Scots has taken the world by storm, with thousands of players across six continents.