Unionism, Loyalism, and the Ulster‐Scots Ethnolinguistic ‘Revival’

The U lster‐ S cots ethnolinguistic ‘revival’ in N orthern Ireland has been appropriated, promoted, and internalized by many across the varieties of unionism and loyalism. Much of the academic literature on U lster‐ S cots has focused on political and cultural dimensions of the ‘revival’. This article analyses the written promotion of the U lster‐ S cots movement by those who purport to conceptualize it primarily in terms of a literary‐linguistic revival. Through a close textual analysis of the U lster‐ S cots L anguage S ociety's journal, U llans , I investigate where this part of the U lster‐ S cots ‘revival’ fits in the nexus of unionism and loyalism. Although U llans does contain markers of the ‘ P rotestant community’, in general its U lster‐ S cots narrative fails to conform to any specific form of unionist ideology. Rather, this victimhood narrative may be more mimetic towards Irish linguo‐cultural promotion, defence, and legitimization than a development of various strands of endogenous unionist ideology.