Mother tongue

Ian Johnstone welcomes the publication of prose in Scots by a popular author like Alexander McCall Smith (Letters, 10 February). This is well overdue. The magazine Lallans was launched in 1973 and its first editor asked for submissions of prose, rather than poetry, in Scots. There has never been a dearth of poetry in Scots, although, whether it is possible to write poetry in contemporary English is open to question.

In writing Scots, it is desirable that traditional spellings should be used and writers should not invent new spellings off the cuff. It is regrettable that we should now encounter spellings like "coo", as in "hoo noo broon coo", when the preferred spelling is defined as "cou", in conformity with "mou, doun, loun and toun".

Writing prose in Scots does not necessarily involve stuffing a text conceived in English with couthie Scots words.

DR DAVID PURVES

Strathalmond Road

Edinburgh