XPost: soc.culture.irish, soc.culture.scottish, soc.culture.british   
   XPost: uk.politics.misc   
   From: allan@EASYNET.CO.UK   
      
   "Ciaran"  wrote in message   
   news:45B3893B.30403@ciaran.com...   
   > allan connochie wrote:   
   >> "Ciaran"  wrote in message   
   >> news:45B29F21.5030605@ciaran.com...   
   >>> allan connochie wrote:   
   >>>>> "That is how we feel about Scottish Gaelic. We have to fight for it   
   >>>>> again. A tremendous blow was inflicted on the Gaelic language and   
   >>>>> culture at Culloden and the Highland Clearances. The language and   
   >>>>> culture were devastated.   
   >>>> Actually no the language wasn't devastated by Culloden. The population   
   >>>> of the Highlands and hence the actual number of Gaelic speakers rose   
   >>>> sharply in the century after Culloden. Likewise even after the period   
   >>>> commonly called The Clearances the language was still very strong. A   
   >>>> more significant turning point may well have been in the 1880s when the   
   >>>> Education Act insisted that English was the to be the language of   
   >>>> education and supposed furtherment. Gaelic in the end was totally   
   >>>> excluded for a short period only (unlike Scots which was virtually   
   >>>> excluded for a century) and the authorities (by authorities I mean   
   >>>> Scottish) realised total exclusion was impracticle. It was let back   
   >>>> into the system but remained greatly neglected and in reality   
   >>>> discouraged. Hence many Gaels themselves gradually threw off their own   
   >>>> language (just as many Lowlanders discarded Scots) because of the lure   
   >>>> of English combined with the neglect and low esteem the authorities   
   >>>> gave to the traditional languages of Scotland.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Allan   
   >>> So the crime of more recent origin - all the more reason for just   
   >>> compensation for the wrongs done to the Scots.   
   >>   
   >> Wrong and ill conceived education policies may be a mistake but is it a   
   >> crime? Who is the guilty party who should give any compensation? And more   
   >> interestingly who is the wronged party who should receive it? Are you   
   >> really suggesting that the Scottish people should pay themselves   
   >> compensation for their parents/gran-parents/great grand-parents turning   
   >> away from Scots and Gaelic? Isn't that a bit silly?   
   >>   
   >> Allan   
   > Alba as a separate nation should have full title to its lands including   
   > the North Sea oilfields that are within its then recognised sea boundary.   
   > Go back and read the context of my original post which you have snipped   
   > out.   
      
   So you aren't going to answer my questions then?   
      
   Anyway what bit would I have wanted to snip out? I wasn't referring to the   
   political situation and besides I already vote SNP and have done so for more   
   years than I like to think - but that is not the point. I'm just a sucker   
   for facts. I commented that your assertion that after Culloden and the   
   Clearances the Gaelic language was devastated. That is simply not true! The   
   number of Gaels within Scotland shot up after the 45 rebellion. There was a   
   massive population explosion. Even for the bulk of the Clearances period the   
   total population was still rising rapidly and the Gaelic language was still   
   very much alive and kicking well into the second half of the 19thC. The   
   great slump in speakers was a later phenomena.   
      
   Allan   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)