How is Scots its own language and not just a dialect?
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The short answer is basically because people who speak it want it to be.
There is no established and agreed upon framework or criteria for distinguishing between a dialect and a language.
Scots is old, it was recognised as the national language of Scotland in the 1700s. There are plenty of other examples of different languages that are functionally very similar and could be considered dialects but are considered different languages. Most of these occur in places where they are spoken in different countries and people have a nationalistic motivation for maintaining their separation.
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