In 1978, Dr Ian Adamson visited the Fryske Akademy in the Netherlands with a group of Ulster politicians and community activists to see how Ulster Scots, which he described as Ulster Lallans, could be promoted in the same way as Friesian. As a result of this, he published in 1981 his vision for the future of Ulster Scots and Ulster Gaelic in a paper The Language of Ulster, which formed part of his book the Identity of Ulster. Throughout the 1980s he promoted both languages in lectures to community groups throughout Northern Ireland, as a result of which he was asked to become a founder member of the Cultural Traditions Group of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council in 1988.
In 1990 he helped found the Ultach Trust for the preservation and promotion of Ulster Gaelic and in 1992 was asked to become Chairman of the newly formed Ulster Scots Language Society. This society was formed to encourage an interest in traditional Ulster Scots literature, whether it be prose, poetry or drama, to support the use of the Ulster Scots language in present day speech, in education and to encourage the Ulster Scots tradition in music, song, dance, ballads and story telling. The Ulster Scots Language Society produced its first magazine Ullans in 1993. Dr Adamson proposed the title “Ullans” as a contraction of the words Ulster (Gaelic Uladh) Lallans, the latter being the Scotch word for Lowlands or the Lowland speech. Ullans was also considered as an acronym of the purpose of the Ulster Scots Language Society to support the Ulster Scots Language in Literature and Native Speech or as the developing literary standard of the Ulster Scots Language.
On 23rd July 1992 he had the first of several meetings with Professor Robert Gregg in Vancouver to discuss the development of the language on a cross community basis in both Northern Ireland and Donegal. That year he published under the imprint of his publishing house Pretani Press, The Folk Poets of Ulster series: the three volumes of The Country Rhymes of Hugh Porter, the Bard of Moneyslane; The Country Rhymes of James Orr, the Bard of Ballycarry and The Country Rhymes of Samuel Thompson, the Bard of Carngranny. At Dr Adamson’s request, a letter from the Chief Executive of Belfast City Council was forwarded on 4th October 1994 to Professor Robert Gregg, at that time the greatest living authority on Ulster Scots, in order to establish whether Ulster Scots was in fact a distinct language or merely a dialect of English. Professor Gregg replied on 17th November 1994 that Ulster Scots was decidedly a distinct language and in no way a garbled dialect of English. Since then Dr Adamson has been to the forefront in promoting his concept of an Ulster Scots or Ullans Academy based on the Frisian or Fryske Akademy in the Netherlands.
Ian Adamson