The apologetic or parochial apostrophe is a feature of Lowland Scots orthography, now widely proscribed as Anglocentric, whereby an apostrophe is inserted or appended to Scots words which critics claim creates the appearance of an English contraction, thus fostering the impression – common among speakers of English and Scots alike – that Scots is simply a barbarized, heavily elided form of English.

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  • The apologetic or parochial apostrophe is a feature of Lowland Scots orthography, now widely proscribed as Anglocentric, whereby an apostrophe is inserted or appended to Scots words which critics claim creates the appearance of an English contraction, thus fostering the impression – common among speakers of English and Scots alike – that Scots is simply a barbarized, heavily elided form of English. To others however its use simply makes more sense with regards to how the words are said. In most cases, Scots words never actually "lost" letters. For example, while the word taen would often be spelled ta'en (to resemble the English "taken"), the word in fact never contained a velar consonant. In the 14th century, according to an older Scots orthography, it was spelled tane. Robert Burns, though himself a speaker and promoter of Scots, made heavy use of the apologetic apostrophe in his writings. Though the feature is increasingly absent from Scots literature, it remains common in informal writing, and in transcription of Scots by English-speakers.
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  • The apologetic or parochial apostrophe is a feature of Lowland Scots orthography, now widely proscribed as Anglocentric, whereby an apostrophe is inserted or appended to Scots words which critics claim creates the appearance of an English contraction, thus fostering the impression – common among speakers of English and Scots alike – that Scots is simply a barbarized, heavily elided form of English.
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  • Apologetic apostrophe
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