Perthshire Cant: Secret language of Scottish Travellers

From the BBC

A secret language preserved for hundreds of years and used only by travelling families is on the verge of extinction.

As summer berries ripen in central Scotland migrant workers from Eastern Europe arrive to help with the harvest. But once the fruit pickers were itinerant British families.

For several weeks over the summer months Travellers could catch up with rarely-seen friends and relatives while earning money at the berry fields.

When gathered together the Travellers spoke Cant, a language impenetrable to non-Travellers. The Perthshire Travellers used their own strain of Cant which included words dating from the 12th Century.

It will not be long before those words will never be heard again.

Blairgowrie-born Sheila Stewart is the last in line. A singer, storyteller and author, at 78 she is the sole remaining speaker of Perthshire Cant, though her Traveller family had spoken the language for generations.

"We were called itinerants long ago, but the real name for us was tinkers [tin smiths] because we had a skilled trade," Sheila says.

"Whenever Travellers met they spoke the Cant, especially at the berry picking time. We'd speak it a' the time round the campfire," says Sheila.

Secret code

The Cant words are evocative. Sheila speaks of wammilin coocavies, naismorts and kinchins. But the words aren't purely decorative, they served a purpose.
Sheila Stewart Sheila Stewart is the last in line of the Perthshire Cant speakers

They were code used only by the Travellers.

"It was a secret language," she says. "No one ever knew what we were saying. Because that was the only identity we had to separate us from the local community."

Distrust of Travellers in settled communities played a part in keeping their Cant alive.

"It was a way of survival," Sheila explains. "It was terrible in Blairgowrie. But I take my hat off to the people of Blairgowrie now for persecuting and ridiculing us. Because if they hadn't we would have been blended into society and our culture would have been lost."

"We were kept in a bubble and wir (our) culture was kept intact," says Sheila.

That culture was explored by the Scottish folklorist Hamish Henderson who, when working for the School of Scottish Studies, encouraged the family to sing their traditional songs at folk clubs.

"Hamish Henderson discovered us in 1953 and we were put on the stage [to sing] the ballads that he thought had died out many, many years ago," says Sheila.

"Every place in Scotland's got their different Cant. But Hamish Henderson investigated and he said Cant originated in Perthshire, that's how I've got the old words."
Origins

The late Dr Sheila Douglas, a folklorist with an expertise in the Travellers' language, spoke to BBC Radio Scotland in 2007 about the origins of Perthshire Cant.

Perthshire Cant words

Wammilin coocavie - boiling kettle

Mort - woman

Coul - man

Naismort - mother

Naiskil - father

Kinchins - children

She said, "I think you can judge by the elements that you find in Cant that a lot of it is the Scots of the area where the Travellers belonged. But because their ancestors were Gaelic speakers there's a few words of cant that are derived from Gaelic. The Cant word for bad is 'shan' and that's just like the Gaelic."

Dr Douglas continued, "There are also a number of words that the Travellers think of as Cant that are actually old Scots words that are no longer in use."
Dying language

Cant has been part of Sheila's vocabulary for as long as she can remember. Her parents spoke English, but their speech was peppered with the traditional words.

"I grew up with it," says Sheila. "I've got words in Cant that date back to the 12th century and other Travellers dinnae use them now. I'm the only one in Scotland now that's got the old words. Other Travellers don't know what I'm saying."

Sheila's own children show little interest in speaking Cant, although they do understand it.
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The Travelling Stewarts

The Stewart family of Blairgowrie, headed by matriarch Belle, became familiar figures on the folk scene. The 'Travelling Stewarts' were known for their ballad singing. These songs that had been sung around the campfire for pleasure were handed down from generation to generation - with some even dating back as far as the 12th century.


"I speak it to them but they answer me in English," she says. "It annoys me! They say it's easier for them [not to use it]."

Perthshire Cant has gradually fallen out of favour and, unlike the Stewart family who were adamant that they would keep the language alive, other speakers have also let it slip.

The Travellers' way of life has changed and that, too, has contributed to the language's disappearance. Fewer families travel now and many have moved into houses.

"That was a big problem [for Cant]," says Sheila. "Because if they got to stay in their usual places [on the road] they would amalgamate wi' the other travelling folk and the Cant was rife."

"But when they got put into houses they were all separated, some of them was in Perth, some was in Dundee and that kind of faded the Cant."
Travellers' culture

Sheila has spent much of her life travelling around the world lecturing on the oral culture of Travellers. She was awarded the MBE for services to the oral tradition of Scotland's folk music and for travelling people.
A family of Travellers camped near the berry fields of Blairgowrie A family of Travellers camped near the berry fields of Blairgowrie, Perthshire

"When you see films on television it's all about the discrimination of Travellers," says Sheila, "they never bring out the other ways of life of the travelling people - their Cant language, their songs, their ballads, their stories. "

"There's more to Travellers than a dirty layby. We've got a tremendous amount to put into society that society has lost".

While Travellers continue to use their own strains of Cant, Sheila's is the oldest and she is aware that when she passes away, Perthshire Cant and its ties to generations of tinker families will disappear.

But while Sheila has spent much of her life spreading awareness of her language, she is pragmatic about its fate.

"It's dead," she says. "Gone. I'm the last in line."