XPost: soc.culture.irish, soc.culture.scottish, soc.culture.british   
   XPost: uk.politics.misc   
   From: ciaran@ciaran.com   
      
   allan connochie wrote:   
   > "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   
   >   
   >   
      
   They were just silly questions in the context.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)