Linguistics lecturer James Kirby looks at pro-indy Twitter users with Informatics colleague Sharon Goldwater

What does your use of language say about you?

Do you throw around the odd “dreich” or “wheesht”, “bairn” or “boak”?
If so, you may be a supporter of Scottish independence.

University of Edinburgh researchers Dr Sharon Goldwater from the School of Informatics and Dr James Kirby from Linguistics and English Language have delved into the language used by Twitter users who are in favour of Scotland separating from the United Kingdom.

They found some interesting insights that will have you saying “michty me!”

Pro-indy Twitter users are more likely to use Scots in their tweets, except when tweeting about the Scottish referendum.

Read more about their findings in this article for the Edinburgh Evening News:

Edinburgh Evening News – Pro-indy Twitter users more likely to use Scottish words

About James Kirby

James Kirby is a Reader Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh. Some of his research interests are phonetics, sound change and also language and music.