Celtic language focus

As Irish folk all around the world raised a glass of Guinness and toasted the good Saint Patrick, Lingo24 decided it was the perfect time to take a closer look at the Irish language... And while we were at it, we took the chance to investigate a few other Celtic languages too!

Irish Gaelic

Irish is a Celtic language. In its makeup, grammatical forms and lexicon, it is closer to Welsh than English or French. It is linked into the group of Celtic languages with a connection to Gaulish. This can be seen from the examples below.

These Celtic languages are said to be Indo-European languages, sharing an affinity with ancient languages such as Gothic, Greek, Hittite, Latin Old Slavonic and Sanskrit, less so with English, Hindi, Italian and Russian. One of the unique features of these Indo-European languages is the loss, or not, of p:

The Irish language has three main sections: An tSeanGhaeilge (Old Irish - lasting until 900A.D.), An MheánGhaeilge (Middle Irish- between 900 - 1200) and An NuaGhaeilge (Early Modern Irish). Modern Irish is believed to have been taught in schools from the start of the 13th century as the same dialect is found in all scholastic verse written in Ireland until the middle of the 17th century.

The earliest written form of Irish can be seen on old stone, and sometimes on old wooden stumps or even bones. These originate in the fourth to the seventh century. The markings on the stones etc. were known as Ogham. They were made up of a varying number of strokes and notches marked on the edge of the stone and it was based on the Latin alphabet. There are still around 300 Ogham stones still in Ireland, most of them in Munster.

Written documents in Irish using the Roman alphabet come into existence from the introduction and acceptance of Christianity. The first documents to be put into a written form were secular wisdom, law and poetry.

Ireland has a great oral tradition carrying many of its stories and language gems which are still being told today. In Irish society the poets and the scholars held a very privileged place. This remained the case until the Flight of the Earls in 1607. The Irish language remained the prominent language until the sixteenth century. The Tudors, and especially Henry VIII were determined to change this and make Ireland a country that only spoke English.

One of the more modern tools used to suppress the use of Irish was the 'Bata Scóir'. This was used during the National Schools System which was introduced in the early part of the 19th century. Children who spoke Irish in class had a little stick placed around their neck which received a notch each time they spoke Irish. At the end of the school day the teacher would slap the child once for each notch appearing on the stick. A similar system also existed in Wales. This was called the 'Welsh Knot'. Thankfully they failed and although Irish had been ravaged by invasion, starvation (The Famine) and immigration it is still spoken widely by Gaels in Ireland and around the world.

One of the main characters in the revival of the Irish language was Douglas Hyde who was born in 1860. He was the son of a Protestant minister and he tried to record and maintain much of the written and oral heritage of Ireland. He founded the Gaelic League and was elected President of Ireland.

The modern day story of Irish is a much brighter story. The Irish language is thriving all over the island. With the decline of the Irish language small pockets emerged in which Irish was the predominant language. These areas became known as Gaeltacht areas. Most of these areas existed along the West Coast of Ireland and in Ulster. The North of Ireland had relatively few Irish speakers. The revival of the language both North and South of the border took a major up-turn at the early part of the 20th century. The Gaelic League played an active role in this by setting up Irish language classes and supplying teachers. This helped stem the decline of Native Irish Speakers and increase the number of language learners.

The biggest change for the Irish language in the North of Ireland came at the start of the 1970s when a group of Irish speakers came together to form the Shaws Road Gaeltacht. The link to the Shaw's Road site will give you a great insight into the area and language.

A large group of bodies and organisations exist to assist the preservation and promotion of the Irish language in Ireland. A short list would include: Foras na Gaeilge, Iontaobhas na Gaelscolaíochta, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (Education).

If you would like to hear - and even speak! - a few words of Irish, the text below shows a few phrases which you can also listen to and repeat using the sound function.

Words and Phrases

English	Irish	Sound
Hello	Dia duit
My name is Seán (or your name)	Is mise Seán (or your name)
How are you?	Cad é mar atá tú?
I am well	Tá mé go maith
Thank you	Go raibh maith agat
Cheers	Sláinte
Goodbye	Slán

Many thanks to Lingo freelancer Sean McNally for all his help - Go raibh maith agat Sean!

Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic is one of the Celtic group of languages, with Indo-European roots, and is closely akin to Irish. It is generally thought to have been brought from Ireland to Scotland around the 6th Century AD with the establishment of the kingdom of Dàl Riada in what is now Argyll on the west coast of Scotland (Argyll = Earra Ghaidheal, 'the coastland of the Gael'). By the 14th Century, Gaelic had spread to almost the whole of Scotland, with the exception of parts of the south-east and north-east of the country. During the centuries which followed, however, the geographical boundaries of the language gradually receded and today it is spoken mainly in rural communities in the Highlands, and in the islands of the Hebrides. There are also sizeable communities in Scotland's cities, particularly Glasgow, where Gaels have traditionally migrated for employment and further education.

History has not always been kind to Gaelic. The Jacobite campaign, culminating in the Battle of Culloden in 1746, accelerated the disintegration of the traditional Gaelic society, and other factors such as economic hardship and enforced emigration of Gaels (it is estimated that at one time a third of all Gaelic speakers were to be found in Canada, where it is still spoken) contributed to the decline of the language.

The 2001 Census revealed that the number of Gaelic speakers had fallen by 11% over 10 years to a figure of 58,650. The decline in numbers reflects the death of many older speakers but, despite this, the future of Gaelic is far from bleak. It is true that there are more Gaelic learners than ever before and that there are ever increasing educational, artistic and employment opportunities for speakers of the language. The 21st Century so far has seen a flourishing of Gaelic literature, an encouraging increase in Gaelic education, and radio and television programmes are continuing to develop for an increasingly diverse and widespread audience.

Modern Gaelic is characterised by the richness of its vocabulary and idiomatic speech and a person's native area is immediately obvious from his/her pronunciation of certain words. Gaelic language and Gaelic culture are inextricably linked and its beautiful and vibrant music, poetry and song continues to be celebrated both at home and abroad.

A number of bodies actively preserve and promote the Gaelic Language in Scotland, mainly Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Comann na Gàidhlig and An Comann Gaidhealach.

Words and Phrases

Many thanks to Lingo freelancer Jo MacDonald for her kind contribution - tapadh leat Jo!

Welsh

Welsh is closely related to Cornish and Breton, with the current form of the language being directly descended from the language of the sixth century, which derived from the earlier Brittonic. Today Welsh is spoken mainly in the rural north and west of Wales, in rural and industrial areas of south-west Wales, plus in the capital, Cardiff. Numbers of speakers in the rest of Britain are uncertain, but in 1993, S4C, the Welsh-language TV channel published a survey which estimated that there were some 133,000 Welsh-speakers in England, about 50,000 of them in the Greater London area. Interestingly, there is also an important Welsh-speaking colony in Patagonia, in Argentina.

In the early 20th century, Welsh was spoken by almost half the population of Wales. The 1911 Census recorded nearly a million Welsh speakers. After that Census the number of speakers decreased until fairly recently, due to various factors:

• migration from rural to urban areas
• inward migration of English speakers
• increased availability of English-language media
• a general secularisation of society resulting in a decline in chapel attendance, on which many traditional Welsh-medium activities centred.

Encouragingly, the 1991 Census revealed an increase in both the number and percentage of young people who spoke Welsh. For example, between 1981 and 1991, the percentage of children aged 5-9 who spoke Welsh rose from 17.8% to 24.7%, and the percentage of young people aged 10-14 rose from 18.5% to 26.9%. Currently some 20% of people in Wales speak the language and use it in their day-to-day social and business activities. Moreover, this figure is growing, driven mainly by a resurgence of interest amongst young people.

The economic benefits of the Welsh language are also increasingly being recognised, both by employers and by employees, and the language now plays a major part in the economy of Wales. In response to the growing expectations of their customers, more and more employers - in the public, private and voluntary sectors - are becoming aware of the benefits of using the language. For the use of Welsh offers many proven advantages such as improving customer service, attracting new customers, maintaining customer loyalty and goodwill, gaining a marketing edge over competitors and enhancing public relations efforts.

With organisations in all sectors offering more and more bilingual services, they obviously need people with bilingual skills to deliver them. This is one of the major factors which continues to drive the demand for Welsh-medium education and vocational training, as young people and their parents recognise the economic value of the Welsh language.

Welsh is a compulsory subject for all pupils in Wales up to 16 years of age. In Welsh-medium and bilingual schools, Welsh is taught as a subject and the other subjects are taught through the medium of Welsh. In English-medium schools Welsh is taught solely as a subject.

Figures for 2002/03 indicate that a total of 51,977 pupils are taught in classes where Welsh is the sole or main medium of instruction

The fourth TV channel in Wales, S4C, was set up to provide a service in the Welsh language in peak viewing hours. S4C does not produce programmes of its own, instead it commissions programmes in Welsh from the BBC and independent producers and it has particularly developed an international reputation for producing cartoons, such as Fireman Sam, Superted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, etc. TV movies produced for S4C have received good foreign reviews - Hedd Wyn being nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1993 and Solomon and Gaenor being nominated in 1999.

Words and Phrases

Our grateful thanks go to Lingo freelancer David Bullock for his help with this item. Diolch David!

Cornish

Cornish (Kernewek) is descended from the ancient language spoken - long before the Roman conquest - by the Celtic settlers who inhabited Cornwall and indeed most of the British Isles. Cornish belongs to the 'P' Celtic family, otherwise known as "British" or "Brythonic". The P and the Q are used to differentiate between the Brythonic and the Gaelic languages. For example, a word like "Penn" in Cornish would become "Ceann" in Gaelic, so a place name in Scottish such as Kintyre is essentially the same as Pentire in Cornwall.

During the 1960s the Gorsedd of Cornwall and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies founded the Kesva an Taves Kernewek (The Cornish Language Board), with the aim of promoting the use and study of the Cornish language. This organisation subsequently set up the Cornish Language Fellowship (Kowethas: http://www.cornish-language.org/english/aboutkowethas.asp) in 1979 to promote activities in Cornish for the growing numbers of people interested in learning the language, and especially those who wished to use it in everyday life. Eventually the two bodies separated, but they still continue to work together harmoniously in the best interests of the Cornish language.

The Kowethas is a charity (no: 1065527) and receives no financial support from any governmental or other bodies. It is a voluntary society whose funds are raised entirely by its members and through sales and donations. Membership and donations are open to all who supports the aims of the Kowethas and who would like to see the wider use of Cornish in all aspects of Cornish life and work.

The society publishes a monthly Cornish Language publication called 'An Gannas' which consists of a wide variety of articles and features including stories, news, comment, puzzles as well as pages aimed specifically at beginners. Open days, Cornish music events, language classes and performances of plays in Cornish are just some of the many activities run by Kowethas. The Cornish language certainly looks to be in safe hands.

Visit http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8476 to read a summary of the most recent authoritative survey on Cornish('The Cornish Language Study'), which was conducted by Professor Ken MacKinnon in 2000.

Words and Phrases

Breton

Like the other Celtic languages in this feature, Breton descended from the Insular Celtic languages. Its nearest modern-day relation is the Cornish language, then Welsh. Traditionally Breton is spoken in Lower Brittany, and there are still some 300,000 speakers throughout Western - plus some in Eastern - Brittany. Its survival is perhaps surprising, given the number of attempts throughout French history to subdue this Celtic language - indeed it's claimed that there were once signs in public places in France stating: "Il est interdit de cracher par terre ou de parler Breton" (Spitting on the ground and speaking Breton are both prohibited).

However, despite the number of speakers with Breton as their mother tongue, it is still not recognised as an official language. For the French authorities have steadfastly ignored calls for a change in the second article of the constitution which states that "the language of the Republic is French", even though the number of people calling for the repeal of this article is increasing annually. This means that the independent Breton-language immersion schools ("Diwan") cannot be integrated into the state education system. Breton is, however, to be seen on street name signs in some towns in Brittany, such as Quimper and there are also many websites dedicated to maintaining the language. For as is the case with so many minority languages, without the determination and enthusiasm of its safe-keepers - in this case the Breton people - the language might have been consigned to the history books.

Words and Phrases

Manx Gaelic

For information on Manx Gaelic see:

http://dbweb.liv.ac.uk/manninagh/

A sketch of Manx Gaelic

Manx Gaelic, or Gaelg Vanninagh, is a member of the Celtic group of the Indo-European family of languages which also includes languages as Russian, Hindi, German, Spanish, French and of course English, while the Celtic group, once spread throughout Europe, has for many centuries been restricted to the British Isles and north-western France.

The Celtic tongues are themselves divided between two branches each comprising three languages: the Brythonic branch (Welsh, Breton and Cornish) and the Goidelic branch (Irish, Scots and Manx Gaelic). Welsh, Breton, Irish and Scots Gaelic (each with a little more than 250 000, 1,000,000, 30,000 and 80,000 native speakers respectively) are all in slow retreat towards the remoter, westernmost parts of their home areas, pushed further and further back by the huge, irresistible forces of English or French. Cornish, which ceased to be a medium of spoken communication around 1800, is in a somewhat different position as it has been revived during this century and is slowly gaining speakers. But what about Manx?

Manx started off as an offshoot of Old Irish in perhaps the fifth century of our era, when the Island was colonised from Ireland and was probably first written in about 1610 when the then Bishop of Sodor and Mann, John Phillips commissioned a bible translation into Manx, which was eventually completed in 1894. However, the first actual publication in the Manx language came a century later when Bishop Thomas Wilson had his 'Principles and Duties of Christianity' translated into Manx, using a spelling different from Phillips' Welsh-based system. It is this version, slightly modified, which has continued to be used up till now.

Back in those days nearly all of the Island's residents were Manx-speaking, with English being used only by the administration, the educated and those who were sufficiently enterprising to venture across to Britain. It was reported in 1764 that the majority of the inhabitants were ignorant of English, hence the desire for the bible to be translated into Manx. However, in the second half of the eighteenth century the arrival of first smugglers and then tourists to the Douglas area, resulted in an extension of English influence on the Island and reduced the importance of Manx as an everyday spoken language. As a result of these developments, the present-day local accent of Douglas (and Onchan) more closely resembles that of Merseyside than it does the rural parts of the Isle of Man.

The islanders born during the second quarter of the nineteenth century were probably the first truly bilingual generation. With the exception of rural areas of the Island, children born after about 1850 were, for the most part, brought up in the English language, and of the rare native speakers who survived until recent times no one was born later than 1877. The decline of the language can be followed via census papers showing the numbers speaking Manx: (1901) 4,419, (1911) 2,382, (1921) 896, (1931) 531, (1951) 355, (1961) 165, (1971) 284. Some of these speakers may not have been genuine natives and may have been people who had acquired the language more deliberately in adult life.

In spite of the falling numbers, the language is still spoken on the island by inhabitants who, though having themselves learnt the language (with the help of elderly genuine native speakers and also using books and courses), regularly use it to communicate between themselves. By this means the tradition of the spoken Manx tongue has been perpetuated down the years. The success of this continuation can be seen in the census figure for 1971, which shows a 72% increase on the figure just ten years before. In 1981, the language question was not included in the census paper for the first time this century.

Other factors have also helped boost interest in the Manx language - such as the foundation of a society in 1899 aiming to promote and preserve the Manx language. Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh was reborn in the early '60s after a period of lying dormant, and since then has been responsible for the co-ordination of Manx Gaelic activities. Their activities include a continuing programme of publishing and republishing books in and on Manx Gaelic.

In 1985, a resolution in Tynwald (the Island's Parliament) led to the Manx language being given limited official recognition for the first time in Manx history. Moreover, under the government- sponsored Manx Heritage Foundation a Manx Gaelic Advisory Council was set up (Coonceil ny Gaelgey) to regulate and standardise the official use of Manx. 1986 saw Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh open its first ever headquarters - Thie ny Gaelgey - in a former school building at St. Jude's in the north of the Island.

A century ago Manx was proclaimed to be: "a doomed language - an iceberg floating into southern latitudes"; however, today the situation is far more positive. Indeed it could be claimed that Manx Gaelic, having been recorded and documented in the nick of time - not to mention updated to meet at least some of the demands of the twentieth century - will continue to enrich the lives of those islanders who cherish it as perhaps the most vital symbol of Manxness. Providing a small core of enthusiasts can keep up their valuable work, the future of the language looks to be assured for years to come.

Words and phrases

Whilst the spelling system for Manx differs radically from the traditional Gaelic system, the pronunciations of Manx and Scottish Gaelic approximate quite well to each other - for example:

AYR AIN T'AYNS
Father at-us [who] is in
NIAU, CASHERICK DY ROW DT'ENNYM; DY JIG
heaven, hallowed be thy name; come
DTY REERIAGHT; DT'AlGNEY DY ROW JEANT ER Y THALLOO MYR T'EH AYNS NIAU.
thy kingdom; thy will be done on the earth as is it in heaven.
CUR DOOIN NYN ARRAN JIU
Give to-us our bread today,
AS GAGH LAA. AS LEIH DOOIN NYN LOGHTYN,
and every day. And forgive to-us our offences,
MYR TA SHIN LEIH DAUESYN
as are we forgive to-them
TA JANNOO LOGHTYN NYN OI. AS NY
[who] are doing offences our against. And not
LEEID SHIN AYNS MIOLAGH, AGH LIVREY SHIN VEIH OLK.
Lead us in temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen to that!

This brings us neatly to the end of our journey around the Celtic world, and what a fascinating journey it's been - historically, culturally and socially. It's clear that the survival of these "minority" (at least on a world scale) languages is due to a combination of the courage of the patriots who fought so hard to defend them down the years and also the hard work of the staunch supporters who have assumed the mantle of protectors in recent times. As St Patrick himself might have said: "Power to their elbow!"