Scottish Gaelic

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Scottish Gaelic Gàidhlig
Bilingual roadsign in Mallaig:
Pronunciation:	[ˈkɑːlʲɪkʲ]
Spoken in:	Scotland, United States, Australia, Canada
Region:	Parts of the Scottish Highlands, Western Isles, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Formerly all of mainland Scotland, albeit marginally in the southeast (parts of Lothian and Borders) and possibly eastern Caithness. Also in Sydney, Australia, Moscow, Russia and Astana, Kazakhstan.
Total speakers:	92,400 people aged three and over in Scotland had some Gaelic language ability in 2001[1] with an additional 900 in Nova Scotia. 1,610 speakers in the United States in 2000.[2]. 822 in Australia in 2001. [3]. Estimated 100+ speakers in Russia and about 100 in Kazakhstan (Estimated over 100,000 speakers in 2006)
Language family:	}}}  Celtic   Insular Celtic    Goidelic     Scottish Gaelic}}}
Official status
Official language of:	Scotland
Regulated by:	Bòrd na Gàidhlig
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	gd
ISO 639-2:	gla
ISO 639-3:	gla

Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish and Manx languages. It is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish. The language is often described as Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, or Gàidhlig to avoid confusion with the other two Goidelic languages. Outside Scotland, it is occasionally also called Scottish or Scots, a usage dating back over 1,500 years, for example Old English Scottas. This usage is uncommon in Scotland (and parts of northern most England) because since the 16th century the word Scots has by-and-large been used to describe (Lowland) Scots, which developed from the northern form of early Middle English. In Scottish English, Gaelic is pronounced [ˈgaːlɪk]; outside Scotland, it is usually [ˈgeɪlɪk] (for comprehension, see IPA).

History

Gaelic, a descendant of the Goidelic branch of Celtic and closely related to Irish, is the traditional language of the Scotti or Gaels, and became the historical language of the majority of Scotland after it replaced Cumbric, Pictish and Norse. It is not clear how long Gaelic has been spoken in what is now Scotland; it has lately been proposed that it was spoken in Argyll before the Roman period, but no consensus has been reached on this question. However, the consolidation of the kingdom of Dál Riata around the 4th century, linking the ancient province of Ulster in the north of Ireland and western Scotland, accelerated the expansion of Gaelic, as did the success of the Gaelic-speaking church establishment. Placename evidence shows that Gaelic was spoken in the Rhinns of Galloway by the 5th or 6th century.

The Gaelic language eventually displaced Pictish north of the Forth, and until the late 15th century it was known in English as Scottis. Gaelic began to decline in mainland Scotland by the beginning of the 13th century, and with this went a decline in its status as a national language. By the beginning of the 15th century, the highland-lowland line was beginning to emerge.



By the early 16th century, English speakers gave the Gaelic language the name Erse (meaning Irish) and thereafter it was invariably the collection of Middle English dialects spoken within the Kingdom of the Scots that they referred to as Scottis (whence Scots). Nevertheless, Gaelic has never been entirely displaced of national language status, and is still recognised by many Scots, whether or not they speak Gaelic, as being a crucial part of the nation's culture. Of course, others may view it primarily as a regional language of the highlands and islands.

Gaelic has a rich oral (beul-aithris) and written tradition, having been the language of the bardic culture of the Highland clans for several centuries. The language preserved knowledge of and adherence to pre-feudal laws and customs (as represented, for example, by the expressions tuatha and dùthchas). The language suffered especially as Highlanders and their traditions were persecuted after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and during the Highland Clearances, but pre-feudal attitudes were still evident in the complaints and claims of the Highland Land League of the late 19th century: this political movement was successful in getting members elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Land League was dissipated as a parliamentary force by the 1886 Crofters' Act and by the way the Liberal Party was seen to become supportive of Land League objectives.

Scottish Gaelic may be more correctly known as Highland Gaelic to distinguish it from the now defunct Lowland Gaelic. Lowland Gaelic was spoken in the southern regions of Scotland prior to the introduction of Lowland Scots. There is, however, no evidence of a linguistic border following the topographical north-south differences. Similarly, there is no evidence from placenames of significant linguistic differences between, for example, Argyll and Galloway. Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle (the North Channel) linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct.

Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1755 - 2001)

Year	Scottish population	Speakers of Gaelic only	Speakers of Gaelic and English	Speakers of Gaelic and English as % of population
1755	1,265,380	289,798	N/A	N/A (22.9 monoglot Gaelic)
1800	1,608,420	297,823	N/A	N/A (18.5 monoglot Gaelic)
1881	3,735,573	231,594	N/A	N/A (6.1 monoglot Gaelic)
1891	4,025,647	43,738	210,677	5.2
1901	4,472,103	28,106	202,700	4.5
1911	4,760,904	18,400	183,998	3.9
1921	4,573,471	9,829	148,950	3.3
1931	4,588,909	6,716	129,419	2.8
1951	5,096,415	2,178	93,269	1.8
1961	5,179,344	974	80,004	1.5
1971	5,228,965	477	88,415	1.7
1981	5,035,315	N/A	82,620	1.6
1991	5,083,000	N/A	65,978	1.4
2001	5,062,011	N/A	58,650	1.2

Current distribution in Scotland

The 2001 UK Census showed a total of 58,652 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.2% of population over three years old).^[4] Compared to the 1991 Census, there has been a diminution of approximately 7,300 people (an 11% of the total), meaning that Gaelic decline (language shift) in Scotland is continuing. To date, attempts at language revival or reversing language shift have been met with limited success.

Considering the data related to Civil Parishes (which permit a continuous study of Gaelic status since the 19th century), two new circumstances have taken place, which are related to this decline:

• No parish in Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 75% any more (the highest value corresponds to Barvas, Lewis, with 74.7%).
• No parish in mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 25% any more (the highest value corresponds to Lochalsh, Highland, with 20.8%).

The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar), where the overall proportion of speakers remains at 61.1% and all parishes return values over 50%. The Parish of Kilmuir in Northern Skye is also over this threshold of 50%.

Proportions over 20% register throughout the isles of Skye, Raasay, Tiree, Islay and Colonsay, and the already mentioned parish of Lochalsh in Highland.

Regardless of this, the weight of Gaelic in Scotland is now much reduced. From a total of almost 900 Civil Parishes in Scotland:

• Only 9 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 50%.
• Only 20 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 25%.
• Only 39 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 10%.

Outside the main Gaelic-speaking areas a relatively high proportion of Gaelic-speaking people are, in effect, socially isolated from other Gaelic-speakers and as a result they obtain few opportunities to use the language.

Orthography

Further information: Scottish Gaelic alphabet

Old Irish, the precursor to both Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic, was written in a carved writing called Ogham. Ogham consisted of marks made above or below a horizontal line. With the advent of Christianity in the 10th century the Latin alphabet was introduced to Ireland. The Goidelic languages have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland.

A form of Early Modern Irish, known as "Classical Gaelic", was used as a literary language in Ireland until the 17th century and in Scotland until the 18th century. Later orthographic divergence is the result of more recent orthographic reforms resulting in standardised pluricentric diasystems.

The 1767 New Testament historically set the standard for Scottish Gaelic. Around the time of World War II, Irish spelling was reformed and the Official Standard or Caighdeán Oifigiúil introduced. Further reform in 1957 eliminated some of the silent letters which are still used in Scottish Gaelic. The 1981 Scottish Examinations Board recommendations for Scottish Gaelic, the Gaelic Orthographic Conventions, were adopted by most publishers and agencies, although they remain controversial among some academics, most notably Ronald Black.^[5]

The modern Scottish Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U

The letter h, now mostly used to indicate lenition of a consonant, was in general not used in the oldest orthography, as lenition was instead indicated with a dot over the lenited consonant. The letters of the alphabet were traditionally named after trees (see Scottish Gaelic alphabet), but this custom has fallen out of use.

The quality of consonants is indicated in writing by the vowels surrounding them. So-called "slender" consonants are palatalised while "broad" consonants are velarised. The vowels e and i are classified as slender, and a, o, and u as broad. The spelling rule known as caol ri caol agus leathann ri leathann ("slender to slender and broad to broad") requires that a word-medial consonant or consonant group preceded by a written i or e be also followed by an i or e; and similarly if preceded by a, o or u be also followed by an a, o, or u. Consonant quality (palatalised or non-palatalised) is then indicated by the vowels written adjacent to a consonant, and the spelling rule gives the benefit of removing possible uncertainty about consonant quality at the expense of adding additional purely graphic vowels that may not be pronounced. For example, compare the t in slàinte [slaːntʃə] with the t in bàta [paːtə].

The rule has no effect on the pronunciation of vowels. For example, plurals in Gaelic are often formed with the suffix -an, for example, bròg [proːk] (shoe) / brògan [proːkən] (shoes). But because of the spelling rule, the suffix is spelled -ean (but pronounced the same) after a slender consonant, as in taigh [tʰɤj] (house) / taighean [tʰɤjən] (houses) where the written e is purely a graphic vowel inserted to conform with the spelling rule because an i precedes the gh.

In changes promoted by the Scottish Examination Board from 1976 onwards, certain modifications were made to this rule. For example, the suffix of the past participle is always spelled -te, even after a broad consonant, as in togte "raised" (rather than the traditional togta).

Where pairs of vowels occur in writing, it is sometimes unclear which vowel is to be pronounced and which vowel has been introduced to satisfy this spelling rule.

Unstressed vowels omitted in speech can be omitted in informal writing. For example:

Tha mi an dòchas. ("I hope.") > Tha mi 'n dòchas.

Once Gaelic orthographic rules have been learned, the pronunciation of the written language can be seen to be quite predictable. However learners must be careful not to try to apply English sound-to-letter correspondences to written Gaelic, otherwise mispronunciations will result. Gaelic personal names such as Seònaid [ˈʃɔːnɛdʒ] are especially likely to be mispronounced by English speakers.

Pronunciation

Vowels

Gaelic vowels can have a grave accent, with the letters à, è, ì, ò, ù. Traditional spelling also uses the acute accent on the letters á, é and ó, but texts which follow the spelling reform only use the grave.

IPA

Spelling	Pronunciation	English equivalent	As in
a, á	[a], [a]	cat	bata, lochán
à	[aː]	father	bàta
e	[ɛ], [e]	get, late	le, teth
è, é	[ɛː], [eː]	marry, lady	sèimh, fhéin
i	[i], [iː]	tin, sweet	sin, ith
ì	[iː]	evil	mìn
o	[ɔ], [o]	top, boat	poca, bog
ò, ó	[ɔː], [oː]	jaw, door	pòcaid, mór
u	[u]	brood	tur
ù	[uː]	brewed	tùr

Diphthongs

IPA

Spelling	Pronunciation	As in
ai	[a], [ə], [ɛ], [i]	caileag, iuchair, geamair, dùthaich
ài	[aː], [ai]	àite, bara-làimhe
ao(i)	[ɯː], [ᵚi]	caol, gaoil, laoidh
ea	[ʲa], [e], [ɛ]	geal, deas, bean
eà	[ʲaː]	ceàrr
èa	[ɛː]	nèamh
ei	[e], [ɛ]	eile, ainmeil
èi	[ɛː]	cèilidh
éi	[eː]	fhéin
eo	[ʲɔ]	deoch
eò(i)	[ʲɔː]	ceòl, feòil
eu	[eː], [ia]	ceum, feur
ia	[iə], [ia]	biadh, dian
io	[i], [ᴊũ]	fios, fionn
ìo	[iː], [iə]	sgrìobh, mìos
iu	[ᴊu]	piuthar
iù(i)	[ᴊuː]	diùlt, diùid
oi	[ɔ], [ɤ]	boireannach, goirid
òi	[ɔː]	fòill
ói	[oː]	cóig
ua(i)	[uə], [ua]	ruadh, uabhasach, duais
ui	[u], [ɯ], [ui]	muir, uighean, tuinn
ùi	[uː]	dùin

Consonants

Most letters are pronounced similarly to other European languages. The broad consonants t and d and often n have a dental articulation (as in Irish and the Romance and Slavic languages) in contrast to the alveolar articulation common in English and other Germanic languages). Non-palatal r is an alveolar trill (like Italian r or Spanish rr.)

	Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n̪		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p, b	t̪, d̪			k, g
Affricate			ʧ, ʤ
Fricative	f, v	s	ʃ		x, ɣ
Approximant				j
Lateral		l, ɫ		ʎ
Trill		r
Flap		ɾ

Aspiration vs. Voicing in Gaelic Stops

The "voiced" stops /b, d, g/ are not phonetically voiced [+voice] in Gaelic, but rather voiceless unaspirated. Thus Gaelic /b, d, g/ are really phonetically [p, t, k] [-voice, -aspirated].

The "voiceless" stops /p, t, k/ are voiceless and strongly aspirated (postaspirated in initial position, preaspirated in medial or final position). That is, in syllable onsets Gaelic /p, t, k/ are phonetically [p^h,t^h,k^h], but they are [hp,ht,xk] in syllable-final position. Note that preaspirated stops can also be found in Icelandic. Because of these facts, it can be argued that Gaelic /p, t, k/ are [-voice, +aspirated].

In some Gaelic dialects, stops at the beginning of a stressed syllable become voiced when they follow a nasal consonant, for example: taigh 'a house' is [tʰɤi] but an taigh 'the house' is [ən dʰɤi]; cf. also tombaca 'tobacco' [tʰomˈbaxkə].

Broad vs. Slender

Scottish Gaelic along with Modern Irish, Manx and Old Irish contains what are traditionally referred to as broad and slender (palatalized) consonants. Historically, Primitive Irish consonants preceding the front vowels /e/ and /i/ developed a [j] onglide similar to palatalized consonants found in Russian (Thurneysen 1946, 1980). Celtic linguists traditionally transcribe slender consonants as /C´/.

Modern languages contrast from Gaelic in the assumed meaning of "broad" and "slender". In modern languages, the phonetic difference between "broad" and "slender" consonants are more complex than mere 'palatalization'. For instance, the Gaelic slender s, phonetically transcribed as /s´/, is actually pronounced as the alveolo-palatal fricative [ʃ], not as [sʲ]. See the consonant chart below for details.

Lenition and spelling

The lenited consonants have special pronunciations: bh and mh are [v]; ch is [x] or [ç]; dh, gh is [ʝ] or [ɣ]; th is [h], [ʔ], or silent; ph is [f]. Lenition of l n r is not shown in writing. The digraph fh is almost always silent, with only the following three exceptions: fhèin, fhathast, and fhuair, where it is pronounced as [h].

Based on Gillies (1993).

IPA.

Radical			Lenited
Orthography	Broad	Slender	Orthography	Broad	Slender
b (initial)	[p]	[pj]	bh	[v]	[vj]
b (final)	[p]	[jp]	bh	[v]	[vj]
c (initial)	[kʰ]	[kʰʲ] or [cʰ]	ch	[x]	[ç]
c (final)	[xk]	[kʰʲ] or [çkʲ]	ch	[x]	[ç]
d	[t̪]	}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|} References 1. ^ [1] 2. ^ [2] 3. ^ [3] 4. ^ Kenneth MacKinnon (2003). Census 2001 Scotland: Gaelic Language – first results. Retrieved on 2007-03-24. 5. ^ The Board of Celtic Studies Scotland (1998) Computer-Assisted Learning for Gaelic: Towards a Common Teaching Core. The orthographic conventions were revised by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in 2005: Gaelic Orthographic Conventions 2005 (PDF). SQA publication BB1532. Retrieved on 2007-03-24. Scots refers to the Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland. In Scotland it is sometimes called Lowland Scots or its contraction Lallans ..... Click the link for more information. In the Gàidhealtachd (the Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland), the use of the Gaelic language on road signs instead of, or more often alongside, English is now common, but has historically been a controversial issue of symbolic rather than practical significance for people on both sides ..... Click the link for more information. Mallaig Gaelic - Mallaig ..... Click the link for more information. International Phonetic Alphabet Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. The International Phonetic Alphabet History Nonstandard symbols Extended IPA Naming conventions IPA for English The ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Nemo me impune lacessit   (Latin) "No one provokes me with impunity" "Cha togar m'fhearg gun dioladh"    ..... Click the link for more information. Motto "In God We Trust"   (since 1956) "E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional) Anthem ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Advance Australia Fair [1] Capital Canberra Largest city Sydney ..... Click the link for more information. This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved. Protection is not an endorsement of the current [ version] ([ protection log]). ..... Click the link for more information. Scottish Highlands (A' Ghàidhealtachd in Gaelic) include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. ..... Click the link for more information. Na h-Eileanan Siar (The Western Isles) Location Geography Area Ranked 7th  - Total 3,071 km²  - % Water ? Admin HQ Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh) GB-ELS ONS code 00RJ Demographics ..... Click the link for more information. Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton - formely île Royale, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Míkmaq: Únamakika, simply: Cape Breton) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. ..... Click the link for more information. Nova Scotia Nouvelle-Écosse, Alba Nuadh Flag Coat of arms Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit   (Latin) "One defends and the other conquers" ..... Click the link for more information. Lothian (Lowden in Scots, Lodainn in Gaelic) forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills. ..... Click the link for more information. Scottish Borders Location Geography Area Ranked 6th  - Total 4,732 km²  - % Water ? Admin HQ Newtown St. Boswells GB-SCB ONS code 00QE Demographics Population Ranked 18th ..... Click the link for more information. Caithness (Gallaibh in Gaelic)[1] is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1708 ..... Click the link for more information. Sydney New South Wales Location of Sydney within Australia Population: • Density: 4,280,190 (2006 Census) (1st) 345. ..... Click the link for more information. Москв? (Russian) Location of Moscow in Europe Coordinates ..... Click the link for more information. Astana Астан? Flag Seal Location in Kazakhstan Coordinates: Country ‎ The Republic of Kazakhstan ..... Click the link for more information. Nova Scotia Nouvelle-Écosse, Alba Nuadh Flag Coat of arms Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit   (Latin) "One defends and the other conquers" ..... Click the link for more information. Motto "In God We Trust"   (since 1956) "E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional) Anthem ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Advance Australia Fair [1] Capital Canberra Largest city Sydney ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Hymn of the Russian Federation Capital (and largest city) Moscow ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem My Kazakhstan Capital Astana Largest city Almaty Official languages Kazakh (state language), Russian ..... Click the link for more information. A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language. As with biological families, the evidence of relationship is observable shared characteristics. ..... Click the link for more information. Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. During the 1st millennium BC, they were spoken across Europe, from the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea, up the Rhine and down the Danube to the ..... Click the link for more information. Insular Celtic hypothesis concerns the origin of the Celtic languages. The six Celtic languages of modern times can be divided into: the Goidelic languages (Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic); and the Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish and Welsh). ..... Click the link for more information. Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Nemo me impune lacessit   (Latin) "No one provokes me with impunity" "Cha togar m'fhearg gun dioladh"    ..... Click the link for more information. This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages. Afrikaans Die Taalkommissie, South Africa Arabic Academy of the Arabic Language (مجمع اللغة العربية, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, ..... Click the link for more information. Bòrd na Gàidhlig, IPA: [borst na gaːlɪk], is a quango appointed by the Scottish Government with responsibility for Scottish Gaelic. ..... Click the link for more information. This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Herod_Archelaus Article Outline top help follow me Show Outline Toggle Show Factz go help Previous Next clear iPedia Home - Except where otherwise noted, Copyright © 2008 iPedia.net.