Aboot wis
I Hear Dee is wirkin tae heichten Shaetlan's profile as a fully viable language variety athin it's ain richt - haemaboot, nationally an internationally. W'ir gotten a plaess fir da language athin Microsoft's SwiftKey keyboard, w'ir maed a Shaetlan Wirdle, w'ir pitten oot a primer fir da general public at's freely avaelable, an w'ir lanched da first interactive online dictionary o Shaetlan whar aa spaekers can add dir ain content. Aathin we pit oot is freely avaelable an it's bilingual wi Shaetlan as da default an English as a option.
Shaetlan is a contact language at's truly it's ain thing. It pre-daets Standirt English in Shetland, but it's nivver gotten recognised as a language. W'ir wantin tae shaa trowe action at naethin is hinderin Shaetlan bein øsed as a language o instruction an it sud be includit in sküls, in teritary education an in aa pairts o public life as een o da twa languages in dis bilingual community.
Prof. Dr. Viveka Velupillai is affiliatit wi da Department of English at da University of Giessen, Germany, but is baessed athin Shetland, whar her principal project is tae recoard an describe Shaetlan fae a typological perspective. Shø wis awardit a Visiting Professorship at da Univesity of the Highlands and Islands in November 2023. Her speecialties includes linguistic typology, contact linguistics an historical linguistics. Her wark includes An Introduction to Linguistic Typology an Pidgins, Creoles & Mixed Languages: An Introduction, as weel as takkin pairt athin da World Atlas of Language Structures, The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures an The Automated Similarity Judgement Program.
Shø is parteeklarly interestit wi da interaction o language, plaess an da environment, an whit effect linguistic diversity haes apø economic resilience an environmental stabeelity. Firbye dat shø's interestit wi da effects o digitalk in giein written voices an growein acceptabeelity tae stigmatised an marginalised languages.
Roy Mullay is a native spaekker o Shaetlan wi a keen interest in linguistics an a backgroond in game programmin. He is maed Jakob Jakobsen's Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland avaelable apø da Internet Archive an is eenoo transcribin it tae be a web interfaessed searchable resource. Firbye dat he's time-served wi graphic design wark an is da brains an talent ahint da graphics o I Hear Dee.
Julie Dennison is a native spaekker o Shaetlan an aa, an a keen advocate o da language. Shø's a trained artist, graphic designer an printmakker, wi a added backgroond in contemporary textiles. Shø’s illustratit bairn's books in Shaetlan, fir example Da Tree Bears, an shø is written an illustratit her ain. Shø is da brains an talent ahint da draaeens an cartoons o I Hear Dee.
Andrew Blance is a Shetland-boarn data scientist wi a PhD in machine lairneen an quantum computeen athin particle physics. He's interestit in da application o AI, developin apps an haein a fun wi tech gair. He's a advanced Python developer at's teached coorses on it afore, an he's published twartree paeppers on Deep Lairneen. He's da tech genius ahint wir Wirdle, da daily Shaetlan wird game.
James Stewart is a Shetland-boarn software ingineer wi a backgroond in politics. He’s wrocht fir isles MP Alistair Carmichael in Westminster, he’s wrocht idda charity sector, an noo he’s a Lead Ingineer athin a telecommunications start-up. He’s writin a book aboot da history o politics in Shetland an he foondit da gamin charity Get-Well Gamers. James steys in Ayrshire wi his wife Steph an aans a café dere. He’s da developer o Da Spaektionary, a collaborative Shaetlan dictionary fir Shetlanders, by Shetlanders.