CROMARTY IS SAVED; Fisher dialect preserved after brothers recorded.

Byline: MAGGIE BARRY

The most under-threat dialect in Scotland, only spoken by two elderly brothers, has been preserved for posterity.

Bobby Hogg, 89, and his brother Gordon, 82, are the last people to converse fluently in the Cromarty fisher dialect of the Black Isle, and their memories of life in the Highland village, have now been recorded and written down.

Bobby said: "It is dying out. You hear a smattering in some things people from Cromarty say, but nobody speaks it fluently but for us."

The dialect is based on the speech locals picked up from English soldiers stationed in the area in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

It has been described as a hybrid of Shakespearean English and Geordie, with words such as thee, thou and thine. And, like Cockneys, they said 'erring instead of herring - but hears instead of ears.

The brothers' tales are on Highland Council's culture and history website, Am Baile, as well as being published in a booklet.

David Alston, Highland councillor for the Black Isle, said: "The Cromarty dialect was part of a way of life which has now gone.

"We cannot bring it back but it is important we record it as fully as possible."

CAPTION(S):

SPEAKER Bobby Hogg, 89 FLUENT Gordon Hogg, 82