well... as far as I know Gaelic wasn't spoken everywhere in Scotland. People are not sure if it was the language of the Picts as well. There is a theory that it came with the Scoti from Ireland.... *my tuppence*
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Moderator: The Playground (RPG)
Carpe Jugulum Carved with a twisted smile An epitaph for sorrow Sethian - Epitaph
Aye Thats Right, Miri. Gaelic as we know it was imported from Ireland in the 7th or 8th century, but it also merged with the dialects that were already there. No doubt the Vikings had their contribution in shaping the language. I am dying to learn more about the history. Still stuck with Grammar and conversation grrr Hope this will change after Chrismas.hehe
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Scottish in Heart :-))
In the darkest heart the pride of man will walk allone
's ged tha mi fada bhuat cha dhealaich sinn a chaoidh
hehe.. well, as I mentioned before, I got stuck into the History of Fife (which is said to be one of the original pictish kingdoms) I read it in one of the books I read.
Thanks a lot , Keltic I didn't know about this website ye mentioned. Oh dear another forum to keep me busy ..... lol (Still waiting for a decent entry on the darkover rpg hehe but i hope it will happen soon )
You know what makes me sad, reading through a thread like this? It's the misconception and ignorance of Sottish history, even in the home country.
Also, people tend to draw a hard line in the time and say: that's the status quo I want to preserve.
Consider the accents: There were times there were no accents at all till in the late middleages the accent grave was being introduced. Very late in the 17th century the accent aigu appears. two hundred years later the status of before was reintroduced. With what outcome? People are complaining because the accent aigu would be ancient. WRONG.
The same holds true for Gaidhlig, where was it spoken. There were times almost throughout all of Scotland! Do you know who promoted Scots? Correct, Robert Burns. You may want to preserve the relativley young Lallans as well as the related Doric, but why in the whole world would you not want to preserve the older and even more traditional language Gaelic?
To make that even more clear: the language spoken by nobility and leaders over centuries was neither. It was French.
I know that Willows post is an old one but she compares the french in Canada with the french in France and she is correct to say the dialects have changed a good amount but Willow the gaelic of Nova Scotia and Scotland has not changed much at all .If you travel to certain areas of Cape Breton for instance you will find the dialect of the Barra people of Scotland who settled there. In another part of the island you'll find the people who left the Isles of Harris and Lewis..I was at a gathering in Cape Breton where I was speaking to a visitor from the Lsle of Lewis in Scotland when he quickly turned to another gentleman who was speaking in his own Lewis dialect ,walked over to speak to him only to find that the gentleman was indeed speaking his dialect but his family left Scotland about 175 years ago...The Lewisman was so surprised and indeed the Cape Breton mans people did come out from Lewis those many years ago.There really is not much of a differance in the gaelic of Scotland and Nova Scotia..Of course we all reilize that dialects are common to all languages even within ones own country. Reading other posts here I must say that it would be great if people would keep there negetive remarks to themselves and only post positive ones but of course that would never happen,thats why the fight to keep gaelic alive is a big one .
I was brought to Canada in 1947 from Ayrshire and have been back twice, once in 1963 and the last time was Oct. 2007. No one in my family that I know of speaks the Gaelic (which is an absolute shame). When I went home last year I was pleasantly surprised to note that most of the road signs were in both English and Gaelic. This was not the case in 1963. From what I observed in my short stay was that Gaelic is making a comeback. I think this has to do with the surge in Scottish Nationalism over the past 20 years or so. The language is not Dead, Dying ,or fading into oblivion. Alba gu Braugh. (I think that correct.)
As to promoting Gaelic, the first order of the day for me would be to stop the silly bickering about bilingual road signs and do something constructive instead
And I'm all for promoting Scots as well, the more, the merrier! But then I'm not Scottish, so I don't really have a say in the matter.
As to the question if Gaelic was ever spoken in the Central Belt, just look at all the place names with Inver- (Inbhir) or Kil- (Cill) in them.
I believe you are right about the nationalism. Some friends there know I hope to learn Gaelic and send me things with enough information to understand it and it helps. Speaking it is going to be a whole other chapter.
My paternal grandmother came whit her parents from Co. Kerry and When she was upset she would speak in Gaelic. I wish I had an interest back then because I could have learned the Irish Gaelic from her.
I understand from friends there that an effort is being mounted now to preserve Gaelic in Ireland.
Scots Gaelic is alive and well thanks to "The Gaelic College in Cape Breton, N.S. There is also the College of Piping in P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island) and at the University of Guelph in ONtario one can obtain a Masters in Scottish Studies. In Scotland the B.B.C. has a Gaelic News Broadcast and the further North and West you go into the Highlands the more Gaelic is spoken. The boogers'll no get rid o' us that easily.
Scots Gaelic is alive and well thanks to "The Gaelic College in Cape Breton, N.S. There is also the College of Piping in P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island) and at the University of Guelph in Ontario one can obtain a Masters in Scottish Studies. In Scotland the B.B.C. has a Gaelic News Broadcast and the further North and West you go into the Highlands the more Gaelic is spoken. The boogers'll no get rid o' us that easily.
ALBA GU BRATH
Camac.
Though I don't know one word of Gaelic or even less understand it that a language or dialect call it whatever you want that I find intriguing. The roots of this beautiful language is probably lost in time since there was so many conquerors and intermarriage that it is probably completely different today.
And I agree with you Camac, thanks to the "Gaelic College of Cape Breton" in NovaScotia for their dedication to teach the language which is more spoken there then in Scotland unfortunately.We've been in Scotland in 1999 and then as we travelled around the countryside at that time at least the language was nowhere to be found in the south but as we were driving up north some places where we stopped one could hear the folks speaking it.
On the Orkneys again the language was not there is was english everywhere. We learned then that Scotland was just starting to reinstate the Gaelic in schools.
It was said that Gaelic was spoken more by NovaScotian then Scots.
LOA
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