IT HAS survived more than 300 years living cheek by jowl alongside a bigger and more widely adopted neighbour.

But now experts predict that the Scots language still in use today may be driven to extinction as people adopt a more standard vocabulary and dialect to speak to their computers.

Linguists say that Scots words such as “bampot,” “glaikit” and “stooshie” are already being seen as old-fashioned by youngsters and face being phased out entirely.

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The rise of voice-activated technology such as phones and games consoles is expected to spread to household appliances such as cookers, light switches and washing machines as the “internet of things” takes hold.

And the need to make devices understand commands may spell doom for traditional pronunciations like “gless” (glass), “hame” (home), “bane” (bone), or fit “foot” as people adopt speech patterns influenced by Americanisms which machines can understand.

HSBC commissioned socio-linguistic experts Dr Dominic Watt, a lecturer in forensic speech at the University of York, and dialogue and dialect coach Brendan Gunn.

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They predict that an independent Scotland would have to act to safeguard the language to maintain the Scots dialect in a similar way to Norway following its split from Denmark. He said: “In the future, our voices will become ever more crucial and we’ll use them to interact with the majority of machines and devices in our daily lives.

“Keyboards will have become obsolete and we will become completely comfortable speaking to our cars, washing machines, fridges, taxi apps and online banking services.

“In just one generation, the sound of our cities, work places and homes will continue to develop and evolve quite audible differences.”

The report looked at how language could develop in the next 50 years, and warned that a Scots language lobby might be set up to highlight the “separateness of Scotland’s culture and heritage”.

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The study said: “If a second independence referendum were to go in favour of Scotland’s separation from the UK, the picture could be very different in the Glasgow of 2066.

“Because language and identity are so closely tied together, it might be that the Scots language lobby would step their efforts up a few gears, as a way of highlighting the separateness of Scotland’s culture and heritage.”