XPost: soc.culture.welsh, soc.culture.cornish, soc.culture.irish   
   XPost: soc.culture.scottish   
   From: allan@noemail.co.uk   
      
   "Chess One"  wrote in message   
   news:_QYwi.712$1e.196@trndny06...   
   >   
   > "The Highlander"  wrote in message   
   > news:48q7c3hb12ilm8mm3i9n9ku6lijoagomt6@4ax.com...   
   >>   
   >>>>>> Scottish Gaelic has of habitual speakers now just 30,000 persons.   
   >>   
   >> A total of 58,652 people speak Gaelic in Scotland today according to   
   >> the last Government Census. Lots more living outside Scotland also   
   >> speak Gaelic, especially in major centres like London, England and of   
   >> course overseas in Nova Scotia, Canada where the language is still   
   >> spoken on a daily basis, and almost anywhere else where Gaels recently   
   >> settled.   
   >   
   > Actually, while that number is true, there are 'habitual users', that is,   
   > those who elect to speak that way, and there is 'speak' as in understand   
   > Gaelic.   
      
   The figure Highlander gave is for people who can actually speak Gaelic. The   
   figure for those who have some knowledge of the language, that is they can   
   maybe understand Gaelic or read or write some Gaelic, is a bit higher. If   
   memory serves me well it is around the 90,000 mark or so.   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> There are also many people, paricularly in the US who have learned   
   >> Gaelic through evening classes in centres like Seattle and in Boston   
   >> where there is a Gaelic-speaking population, mostly Nova Scotians who   
   >> moved to the US to find work; etc.   
   >   
   > Yes - and interestingly they have preserved more of the old ways -   
   > especially the music culture than Scotland has itself - you might add   
   > Newfoundland to the list. I think only Ireland has managed to preserve it   
   > folk music relatively unscathed - or so says Doogie MacClane.   
      
    I think you are grossly exaggerating the demise of Scottish traditional   
   music.   
      
      
      
   >> There has been a steady decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in   
   >> Scotland in the last hundred years. There were 230,806 Gaelic speakers   
   >> in Scotland in 1901 according to the Census. There are a number of   
   >> reasons for this decline, including economic ones, but it is hoped   
   >> that with more support this decline will be halted.   
   >   
   > The inverse has happened in Cornwall, where study of Cornish language is   
   > making great strides. What inhibits it's further popularity seem to be   
   > excessive straining of the politicos to encourage les autres.   
      
   Of course there has been a massive percentage increase in the number of   
   Cornish speakers but it started from a base figure of more or less zero!   
   Good though the news is the actual numbers of Cornish speakers who can speak   
   effectively though is tiny. Thought to be no more than three or four   
   hundred. Though there are considerably more learners who can stumble through   
   a few sentences. Compare that with the 50,000 or so speakers of Gaelic! Plus   
   in the Western Isles there is still a substantial and hopefully sustainable   
   community who still live in the Gaelic medium.   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> According to the last Census, although there was a fall in the number   
   >> of Gaelic speakers from 65,978 (1991) to 58,652 (2001), the rate of   
   >> decline was not as steep as it was between 1981 and 1991 when the   
   >> number of Gaelic speakers fell from 79,307 to 65,978. In addition to   
   >> the people in Scotland who are able to speak Gaelic and were recorded   
   >> in the last Census, there is another group of people who can read,   
   >> write or understand Gaelic - there are 33,744 of them according to the   
   >> last Census.   
   >>   
   >> Gaelic is still strongest in the Western Isles and West Highlands.   
   >> However, there are a significant number of Gaelic speakers in some of   
   >> Scotland's cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness and almost   
   >> half of the Gaelic speakers in Scotland now stay out with the   
   >> traditional heartland areas (the local authority areas: Na h-Eileanan   
   >> Siar, Highland and Argyll and Bute).   
   >   
   > Ay, I know it - I lived in the highlands - the least populated per sq mile   
   > in all Europe. The Grampians provide a little insulation to the madding   
   > crowd. Sometimes in the high west you can 10 miles inland and look down   
   > into the lock   
      
   As long as there is a canal there :-)   
      
      
      
    Allan   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)