Kelly McGill, whose mother is Scottish, is in the final year of her Master's degree in linguistics at the University of North Texas and has studied several American dialects.

Kelly travelled four-and-a-half thousand miles to meet with the staff of Am Baile, the Highland Council's award-winning history and culture website, after reading about the Cromarty Fisher Dialect.

The fishermen of Cromarty spoke a distinctive version of Scots, similar to other fishing communities in the Moray Firth area, but with its own vocabulary and syntax.

Today, there are only two fluent speakers surviving — brothers Bobby and Gordon Hogg. They are descendents of a long line of fisherfolk and can trace their ancestry back for centuries in this small coastal port.

Since the spring of 2007, Janine Donald, a researcher with Am Baile, has been working with the Hogg brothers and other members of the community, making audio recordings and compiling a lexicon of dialect words and phrases.

After reading about the project, Kelly emailed the team and arrangements were made for her visit earlier this month.

Janine Donald Am Baile Researcher, left, with Bobby Hogg and University of North Texas student, Kelly McGill.

During her four-day stay in Cromarty she interviewed the Hogg brothers, made use of Highland Library resources at the local library, and generally soaked up the atmosphere of the town.

Kelly was accompanied by her husband, John, and as recent newlyweds, they were able to combine research with a slightly delayed honeymoon. For his first visit across the pond, John found the Highlands fascinating, if a bit cold!

When Kelly has finished her project, she intends to share her findings with Am Baile, a reciprocal arrangement which truly emphasises the value of online resources. The Cromarty Fisher Dialect audios can currently be heard on the Am Baile site (www.ambaile.org.uk) and the lexicon will be available shortly as a download.

Hopefully, this interesting archive will be of value to the local community and future researchers alike.

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