XPost: soc.culture.welsh, soc.culture.cornish, soc.culture.irish   
   XPost: soc.culture.scottish   
   From: Féach@d.óir   
      
   Scríobh "Westprog" :   
   >   
   >It doesn't change my original belief, based on informal observation, that   
   >written Scots is used for novels, poetry and local matters. It isn't used   
   >for physics textbooks, bus timetables, or tax forms. And the Irish   
   >experience IMO indicates that associating a language with every topic of   
   >misery, boredom and the government doesn't for some reason lead to its   
   >popularity.   
      
   Yes, let's look at the Irish experience. Compare the Irish experience   
   north and south of the border since 1922. In Donegal the language was   
   supported by government, taught in schools, and literature was   
   available in the language, from novels and poetry to dog license   
   applications. Meanwhile across the border from Tyrone to Antrim, the   
   language was not officially supported. Anecdotally at least, it was   
   actively opposed.   
      
   The Gaeltachts in Donegal are living things, native speakers use the   
   language there every day. Johnny McAleer, the last native speaker of   
   Tyrone Irish, died in 1970. The last Antrim native speakers died in   
   the 1950s. Bella McKenna, the last native speaker on Rathlin, the last   
   speaker of East Ulster dialect, the language spoken by Eoin O'Neill,   
   died in 1985. Today, the enthusiastic amateurs learning Irish in   
   Northern Ireland study Donegal Irish, the West Ulster Dialect.   
      
   There is something immensely sad in knowing we lost a language, that   
   its last speaker is gone. There is a cold comfort in knowing that in   
   some cases at least, we captured some of them speaking on tape before   
   they went. Language deserves to be spoken, not studied by academics in   
   dusty archives.   
      
   I don't know if a ceadúnas madra will help save the language. The   
   theory is that it keeps the language visible, allows speakers to use   
   their own language in dealing with their government instead of being   
   forced to use English in every official transaction. I do know a   
   ceadúnas madra isn't enough on its own. and I know the galltacht will   
   piss and moan at every effort to keep the language alive and visible,   
   from the ceadúnas madra to the budgets for TG4 and RnaG to roadsigns   
   to gaelscoileanna to the cost of software that can render fadas and   
   tax exemptions to bean a tí.   
      
   But for some of us, the money is worth it is it means we never see the   
   day when someone posts on usenet the date on which the last native   
   Irish speaker died.   
      
      
   --   
   'Donegal:  Up Here It's Different'   
   © Féachadóir   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)