The future of the Celtic languages

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The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Viridzen » 2014-06-07, 16:43

(Am I even welcome here anymore? Nevertheless.)

I couldn't find a thread about the future of the Celtic languages. If there is one, feel free to delete this one if at all possible. All I could find was "Irish in 100 years", which doesn't include all the Celtic languages. Therefore, I decided I would like to talk about this.

I'm not going to bother posting my own opinions on this until others come along, because it's no use.

So... commence.
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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-06-07, 22:09

Viridzen wrote:(Am I even welcome here anymore? Nevertheless.)


Why wouldn't you be?

Viridzen wrote:I couldn't find a thread about the future of the Celtic languages. If there is one, feel free to delete this one if at all possible. All I could find was "Irish in 100 years", which doesn't include all the Celtic languages.


Interested parties speculated in that thread on many of the Celtic languages' prospects, not just Irish, but I have no objection to a new thread for this.

Viridzen wrote: Therefore, I decided I would like to talk about this.

I'm not going to bother posting my own opinions on this until others come along, because it's no use.

So... commence.


Well, if you want to talk about it maybe you should start. I've given my opinion on Irish in the thread you mentioned (here, for anyone else reading this who wants to see it). I'm not really qualified to say what I think of the others, I'm worried for Scots Gaelic, Manx is re-establishing itself and it's going well from what I can tell, but the enthusiasm for it could wane, who knows. Cornish is in a similar position to Manx (though perhaps not quite as far along). I really don't know much about the situation of Breton and Welsh, but it seems that Breton has a (comparatively) large number of speakers but a rapidly aging population while Welsh seems to be the most stable (speakers of all ages).

There's a fear among some in the Irish language community that Irish will become (or has already become) so Anglicised as to be a markedly different kind of Irish from that of the previous generation, and that this is likely to continue until we have a kind of Irish-English creol or something.

księżycowy

Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby księżycowy » 2014-06-07, 22:13

I know I've written my thoughts around here somewhere for at least Irish. At least I think. :whistle:

I'll see if I can drum anything up in any of the old threads.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Lazar Taxon » 2014-06-07, 22:23

Ciarán12 wrote:I really don't know much about the situation of Breton and Welsh, but it seems that Breton has a (comparatively) large number of speakers but a rapidly aging population while Welsh seems to be the most stable (speakers of all ages).
From what I've read, the Breton-speaking population, though reasonably large, is diffused over western Brittany and essentially has no place where it's the majority, and a lot of efforts to support or revive the language have been hampered by France's constitutional monolingualism.
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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-06-07, 22:33

Lazar Taxon wrote:From what I've read, the Breton-speaking population, though reasonably large, is diffused over western Brittany and essentially has no place where it's the majority, and a lot of efforts to support or revive the language have been hampered by France's constitutional monolingualism.


I had heard of the French language policy hindering the development of minority languages in France, but I didn't realise there was no area where Breton was a majority.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-07, 22:33

Just my opinion:

If they won't stop trying to promote Irish
then eventually it'll become something like Hebrew today, so a few modifications here and there.

And for the other Celtic languages, au revoir, they'll just die out.

Ciarán12

Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-06-07, 22:48

Levike wrote:Just my opinion:

If they won't stop trying to promote Irish
then eventually it'll become something like Hebrew today, so a few modifications here and there.



I've heard that comparison before, but I don't know anything about Modern Hebrew vs Biblical Hebrew, so I can't really comment. As far as I'm aware though, the re-birth of Hebrew as Modern Hebrew came about in a completely differnt way to how Irish is likely to develop - for one thing, it was able to be successfully revived as the spoken language of the majority because they settlers spoke a variety of other languages and they needed a lingua franca to glue the country together (whereas in Ireland we already have a lingua france - English - so there's no communicative need for Irish), and secondly I've heard Biblical Hebrew was intentionally re-engineered conlang-style to make it easier (or more European), and although there are accusations that the official standard form of Irish has been engineered to a degree (some would say to make it easier for learners), I doubt it's on anything like the same scale.

Levike wrote:And for the other Celtic languages, au revoir, they'll just die out.


Out of curiosity, why so? I think each of the Celtic languages is in a different position and the factors involved in their survival vary from language to languge. For example, I think the Manx and Cornish revivals could do well, as I don't think there is going to be any increasing pressure on them - their whole worlds were English speaking before they made the progress they've made so far, and that didn't stop them being revived, so how could English suddenly become a problem now?

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Viridzen » 2014-06-07, 23:13

Alright, now I'll say mine... (I don't know very much about the situation, so correct any mistakes I've made)

[flag=]ga[/flag] I'm not sure what to say about Irish. I read something about the revival of Irish, which also had mixed opinions. It said that the way it's taught in schools isn't very good, and most of the people who say they can speak actually can't. Also, not many people go to Gaelscoileanna, Irish immersion schools, and I'm assuming the schools are expensive. However, I think there is a lot of cultural pride in Ireland (from what I hear), and people wanting to distance themselves from the British, so they would probably also learn Irish; I think most of the people who said they could speak Irish who actually couldn't belong to this group.

[flag=]gd[/flag] Scottish is dying out fast and dwindling very much; also, since the Lowlands are primarily Scots-speaking (and perhaps more Anglo-Saxon culturally than the Gaels of the Highlands), they wouldn't have/want much to do with Scottish Gaelic.

[flag=]gv[/flag] I actually think this language's future is promising. People are regaining their cultural identity in the Isle of Mann, which is also the smallest Celtic nation, making revival quicker. I also personally think the pronunciation is more logical, relating to the spelling, though, of course, it could be better.

[flag=]cy[/flag] This language, as was said, has the most secure future. It's spoken by Welsh people on a large scale internationally, too. Also, the Welsh resisted the Anglo-Saxon invasion the longest (which is why it's not part of England, but its own nation), so they had more time to develop their language, and the language never went extinct or had its population reduced as much as the Gaelic languages.

[flag=]kw[/flag] I'm sad about this one. There are only 2000 speakers of it in all of Cornwall. Though it has a standard, not every Cornish speaker uses it. It's sad that a neighbourhood in Cornwall would, if they wanted to say "I'm proud of my Cornish heritage" (as an example), they'd say it and write it all different ways, and a lot of them would probably have to use English. If there's a standard used at schools and businesses, but a family uses a different version of Cornish at home with their child, then that child will basically have to re-learn their own native language to go to school or get a job. But, it's still relatively recent that people actually decided to get the revival going, so we'll see if people start to agree in the future.

[flag=]br[/flag] I've noticed that the Bretons are proud of their nation—when I was in Washington, D.C., I saw a moving food truck that sold crêpes, and it had a Breton flag on it, even where nobody would recognise it—and at least in the west of Brittany, there is a large concentration of Breton speakers, but the French government will not at all allow them to have public schooling in it, and so they must be bilingual. Also, signs that try to have Breton on them are defaced, just like Cornish signs in Cornwall.

Altogether, I think the Celtic languages are going to come back to life, but slowly.

Oh, almost forgot:
I'm not sure. I don't think Gaulish will get a ton of proponents overnight, and very, very few people so far even know it's being revived. The Yahoo! discussion group for it isn't very active, either. But, I quite like it. I think should be revived, and whole-heartedly support it, as with all the other Celtic languages.
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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-07, 23:18

@Ciarán12:

About the modifications thing:
I meant that people will in a degree try to simplify it.
For example maybe they'll change the word order to make it sound more natural to them.
Or the pronunciation to resemble English more.
Basically I'm saying that there is and will be too much influence on Irish.

For the other ones, it's mainly because of English.
Why would people be forced to learn an old almost dead language
when they already have one, in which they can communicate.

I view it as an unnecessary measure to complicate our lives.
But then I don't know how the locals feel about it.

I personally would prefer my child to learn an important language like German or French.
I wouldn't support any revival.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Jurgen Wullenwever » 2014-06-07, 23:34

Levike wrote:Why would people be forced to learn an old almost dead language
when they already have one, in which they can communicate.

I view it as an unnecessary measure to complicate our lives.
But then I don't know how the locals feel about it.

I personally would prefer my child to learn an important language like German or French.
I wouldn't support any revival.

So you would not have your children learn Hungarian or Romanian? :shock:

For my part, I am a traditionalist, so I would like people to keep their own languages, instead of switching to some widespread world language.
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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Viridzen » 2014-06-07, 23:42

Levike wrote:Why would people be forced to learn an old almost dead language when they already have one, in which they can communicate.

I view it as an unnecessary measure to complicate our lives.
But then I don't know how the locals feel about it.

It's about national identity. People whose national identity and language are threatened try to keep it in any and every way, and feel strongly about it. This is how I am, as well as many others, about Pennsylvania German.
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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-07, 23:53

Jurgen Wullenwever wrote:So you would not have your children learn Hungarian or Romanian? :shock:
Of course I want them to learn both.

I meant that besides the national language and you're child's native language
they should be taught only useful languages.

For example if my child, besides Hungarian and Romanian, had to learn German that would be okay.

But if someone felt like teaching them Transylvanian German,
just to revive it or for any crazy cultural reasons, I would be totally opposed to that.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-08, 0:00

Viridzen wrote:It's about national identity. People whose national identity and language are threatened try to keep it in any and every way, and feel strongly about it. This is how I am, as well as many others, about Pennsylvania German.
As I said, I don't really know how they feel about it.

But if let's say someone spoke English all his life, from the minute he was born,
how would he feel attached to this wannabe revived language.

Wouldn't he feel more comfortable/represented by English?

Ciarán12

Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-06-08, 0:04

Viridzen wrote:
[flag=]ga[/flag] It said that the way it's taught in schools isn't very good, and most of the people who say they can speak actually can't.


I agree.

Viridzen wrote:Also, not many people go to Gaelscoileanna, Irish immersion schools, and I'm assuming the schools are expensive.


Actually, lots of people go to Gaelscoileanna and there is always more demand than there are school places, so the trend is that they are speading. Also, they are not expensive as they are state-funded.

Viridzen wrote:However, I think there is a lot of cultural pride in Ireland (from what I hear), and people wanting to distance themselves from the British, so they would probably also learn Irish; I think most of the people who said they could speak Irish who actually couldn't belong to this group.


That's true, but as you said, a lot of those people can't actually speak it. Irish is complicated and most people have no idea how to learn a language properly, and their only experience of learning Irish will have been their failure to do so in school.

Viridzen wrote:[flag=]gd[/flag] Scottish Gaelic is dying out fast and dwindling very much; also, since the Lowlands are primarily Scots-speaking (and perhaps more Anglo-Saxon culturally than the Gaels of the Highlands), they wouldn't have/want much to do with Scottish Gaelic.


Well, the Lowlanders would be primarily English-speaking now I would imagine, not Scots-speaking. Also, I don't get the impression that the lowland/highland divide is having a serious impact of the numbers of Anglophone Scottish people who take up Scottish Gaelic as a second language. I could be wrong though.

Viridzen wrote:[flag=]gv[/flag] I actually think this language's future is promising. People are regaining their cultural identity in the Isle of Mann, which is also the smallest Celtic nation, making revival quicker. I also personally think the pronunciation is more logical, relating to the spelling, though, of course, it could be better.


Ha! No freaking way is Manx more logically spelt than the other Gaelic languages. Manx uses a sort of vaguely-based-on-English system and has inherrited many of English's nonsensical spelling norms. Then it has had to go outside that to represent some features not present in English, and has completely omitted certain features that are present in the language form the spelling system entirely. It's awful.

Viridzen wrote:[flag=]cy[/flag] Also, the Welsh resisted the Anglo-Saxon invasion the longest (which is why it's not part of England, but its own nation)


Resisted longer than who? All of the Celtic nations still have a nation to some degree, and if you're talking about political autonomy, then both Scotland and Ireland have more autonomy than Wales.

Viridzen wrote:so they had more time to develop their language


What do you mean?

Viridzen wrote:, and the language never went extinct or had its population reduced as much as the Gaelic languages.


Only Manx and Cornish have ever been deemed "extinct", and there are those who would argue (if somewhat feably) that Manx didn't actually die out.

Viridzen wrote:
[flag=]kw[/flag] I'm sad about this one. There are only 2000 speakers of it in all of Cornwall.


That's 2000 more than there were 100 years ago.

Viridzen wrote: Though it has a standard, not every Cornish speaker uses it. It's sad that a neighbourhood in Cornwall would, if they wanted to say "I'm proud of my Cornish heritage" (as an example), they'd say it and write it all different ways, and a lot of them would probably have to use English.


Most of them would probably use English, but it's a remarkable improvement that any of them might use Cornish at all now. Also, I think the differences are mainly in the spelling, and I think that's sorted out now. I think the spelling differences that linger will fade out now that a standard has been established.

Viridzen wrote: If there's a standard used at schools and businesses, but a family uses a different version of Cornish at home with their child, then that child will basically have to re-learn their own native language to go to school or get a job. But, it's still relatively recent that people actually decided to get the revival going, so we'll see if people start to agree in the future.


I think this was just a teething problem with the revival, I see them getting past this pretty soon.

Viridzen wrote:Oh, almost forgot:
I'm not sure. I don't think Gaulish will get a ton of proponents overnight, and very, very few people so far even know it's being revived. The Yahoo! discussion group for it isn't very active, either. But, I quite like it. I think should be revived, and whole-heartedly support it, as with all the other Celtic languages.


I'm not sure there is anyone left with an sentimental attachment to that language or its culture. Are there any people left that still identify as Gaulish?

Levike wrote:@Ciarán12:

About the modifications thing:
I meant that people will in a degree try to simplify it.
For example maybe they'll change the word order to make it sound more natural to them.
Or the pronunciation to resemble English more.
Basically I'm saying that there is and will be too much influence on Irish.


You're probably right about all that. Luckily, the language has survived in a more or less pure form well into the age of information technology and I think there will always be people around trying to cleanse the language of Anglacisms.

Levike wrote:For the other ones, it's mainly because of English.
Why would people be forced to learn an old almost dead language
when they already have one, in which they can communicate.


Like I said, 100% of the people on the Isle of Man and in Cornwall spoke English and didn't speak Manx or Cornish before their revivals*, and that didn't stop them then, so I don't see why it would suddenly be an issue now. I think the spread of English is causing harm to the other languages though. I've even hear some radicals say that perhaps Irish needs to die out before people can properly appreciate it and that it can then be revived fully.

*EDIT: That's not actually true in the case of Manx, there were still some native speakers alive when their revival began.

Levike wrote:I view it as an unnecessary measure to complicate our lives.


Try to imagine it with English replacing Hungarian and Romanian everywhere where they are spoken.

Levike wrote:But then I don't know how the locals feel about it.


Some feel as you do, many don't though.

Levike wrote:I personally would prefer my child to learn an important language like German or French.
I wouldn't support any revival.


They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Anyway, to me that sounds like murdering a several thousand year old language, culture and identity for the sake if temporary prosperity. If I were your child and you had refused to pass on my heritige to me because you thought it was pointless I would dissown you as my father.

Levike wrote:
But if let's say someone spoke English all his life, from the minute he was born,
how would he feel attached to this wannabe revived language.

Wouldn't he feel more comfortable/represented by English?


As someone in that exact situation, absolutely not. I feel robbed of my heritage.

Levike wrote:But if someone felt like teaching them Transylvanian German,
just to revive it or for any crazy cultural reasons, I would be totally opposed to that.


What's so crazy about doing something like that for cultural reasons? Maybe you would feel different if all your ancestors were Transylvanian German speakers and there was still a strong sense of Transylvanian German identity in Transylvania (and among your friends and family), and if the language you spoke was the language imposed upon you by foreign invaders to your country who thought your ancestors and their culture was "primitive", "sub-human" even. Maybe if your history with them was characterised by centuries of violence committed against your people by the people who forced that language on your ancestors. Maybe you might feel different then.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-08, 0:36

Ciarán12 wrote:They don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Well, if you're not into languages, I doubt you want to learn more of them.
Especially one, only for cultural reasons.
Anyway, to me that sounds like murdering a several thousand year old language, culture and identity for the sake if temporary prosperity. If I were your child and you had refused to pass on my heritage to me because you thought it was pointless I would disown you as my father.
Just because I didn't teach you a bunch of words?
As someone in that exact situation, absolutely not. I feel robbed of my heritage.

So lemme understand, you spoke only and exclusively English
and were introduced to this supposed-to-be-revived language
and you feel that it's a very important part of your heritage
only because once a long time ago people used to speak it.
If the language you spoke was the language imposed upon you by foreign invaders to your country who thought your ancestors and their culture was "primitive", "sub-human" even. Maybe if your history with them was characterised by centuries of violence committed against your people by the people who forced that language on your ancestors. Maybe you might feel different then.
Does Magyarisation say something to you? :whistle:
Probably a lot of us would have normally been Romanians
if it wasn't for the funny Hungarian policy.
But you don't see many of us embracing Romanian culture, more the opposite.

Even my family name is Romanian.
Now when I was doing my Hungarian citizenship they asked me like 5 times if I want to change it.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-06-08, 0:50

Levike wrote:
Ciarán12 wrote:They don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Well, if you're not into languages, I doubt you want to learn more of them.
Especially one, only for cultural reasons.


There are many benefits to multilingualism. Raising your child in a multilingual environment is likely to make them better at learning other languages (you yourself are a good example). Also, I was proposing that you raise your child with the heritage language, not just that they be encouraged to learn it as a second language.

Levike wrote:Just because I didn't teach you a bunch of words?


If you think that's all a language is I think you're on the wrong forum buddy.

Levike wrote:So lemme understand, you spoke only and exclusively English
and were introduced to this supposed-to-be-revived language
and you feel that it's a very important part of your heritage
only because once a long time ago people used to speak it.


I feel that a) a language is an entire way of thinking and perceiving the world, it represents who you are every time you speak and forges how you think, so it is important, and b) it is the most beautiful and amazing part of the culture that has survived on this island for thousands of years and I am connected to those people by that language. This is a culture I still feel part of - it's music, religion, art, sport, food, and all the intangible qualities that make a people a people are still alive and I have been raised with them (and they have been hard fought for), but without the language it feels like the heart has been cut out of the country. I don't want to be part of the spoils of a war waged on my culture by a bunch of dead English cunts.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Saim » 2014-06-08, 7:13

Levike, I think in the case of the Hungarian population of Transylvania they've been there for longer and they're mostly descended from Hungarian settles rather than Magyarised Romanians. This would be vaguely comparable to the "British" settler population of Northern Ireland who to this day identify little with Gaelic culture. Correct me if I'm wrong, but language shift started in Ireland I think in the 19th century when Hungarians were already established in Transylvania.

As for the Celtic languages, if the current language policy doesn't change there's no hope for them:

1. Scottish Gaelic is either seen as a nuisance or as a folkloric symbol rather than as a living language - why else would there only be immersion schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh and not Highland areas where there are still living native speakers?
2. Irish has a small core of defenders but most Irish don't seem to really grasp the implications of saving it (i.e. making it the dominant language of Ireland).
3. Although Welsh is increasing in total speakers in terms of actual natives things are looking pretty dire. This is in part I think because of the same mistake as in Scottish Gaelic language planning - most of the Welsh immersion schools are in English-speaking areas. Minority languages need to be analised as primarily social phenomena in order to save them - it's no good giving them bits and pieces of institutional support here and there without working on their actual social use.
4. Breton is totally invisible in administration and the media and mostly invisible in education. If Brittany doesn't secede from France there's no real way to engage in a constructive language policy instead of the ethnocidal nonsense that's been foisted upon them.

In the case of Cornish and Manx anything that'll be "revived" will be an artificial hybrid, a kind of relexified English. Just look at how Modern Hebrew has been shaped by Yiddish and other European languages in practically all aspects of the language.

Another important problem I would point out is that even among language activists the goal is often "bilingualism", which makes little sense as a goal because on a societal level all it is is the first step towards language shift. Thus the conceptual emphasis needs to be on the normalisation of Celtic languages (i.e. becoming the dominant languages in their territory) rather than any equality with English (two languages cannot be equal in a single society) - this is difficult to convince people of though because English is the cool "world language" that's above all criticism.

Levike wrote:Just because I didn't teach you a bunch of words?


Languages are not taught, they are lived. Living languages are much too complex and too important in our thoughts and culture for them to be boiled down as "a bunch of words".

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-08, 11:15

Saim wrote:Levike, I think in the case of the Hungarian population of Transylvania they've been there for longer and they're mostly descended from Hungarian settles rather than Magyarised Romanians. This would be vaguely comparable to the "British" settler population of Northern Ireland who to this day identify little with Gaelic culture. Correct me if I'm wrong, but language shift started in Ireland I think in the 19th century when Hungarians were already established in Transylvania.

Of course, we've been settling it since the X century.

I was just saying that the few who have been magyarised
don't really feel linked to the Romanian culture.

And it goes both ways.
They know what their original heritage is, but to them it has zero importance.

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Viridzen » 2014-06-08, 16:31

Ciarán12 wrote:Actually, lots of people go to Gaelscoileanna and there is always more demand than there are school places, so the trend is that they are speading. Also, they are not expensive as they are state-funded.

I was going based on the statistics I saw, that said only about 6% of people in Ireland go to them. Also, since they were called "private schools", I figured that meant "expensive". I go to a private school, and it really is expensive, but maybe it's a different kind? I wouldn't exactly know without researching it more.

Ciarán12 wrote:Well, the Lowlanders would be primarily English-speaking now I would imagine, not Scots-speaking. Also, I don't get the impression that the lowland/highland divide is having a serious impact of the numbers of Anglophone Scottish people who take up Scottish Gaelic as a second language. I could be wrong though.

What I meant was that they are traditionally Scots-speaking, even though they mostly use English now. I also meant that, in the Lowlands, they are mostly of the Germanic, Scots-speaking culture with perhaps more ancestral ties to the Picts than to the Gaels, whereas the Highlands are culturally Gaelic, even though they all share a Scottish national identity.

Ciarán12 wrote:Ha! No freaking way is Manx more logically spelt than the other Gaelic languages. Manx uses a sort of vaguely-based-on-English system and has inherited many of English's nonsensical spelling norms. Then it has had to go outside that to represent some features not present in English, and has completely omitted certain features that are present in the language form the spelling system entirely. It's awful.

Well, when I tried to learn it, the spelling was closer to what I was used to as an English-speaker, and at least you could see why they spelt something a certain way, which is more than I can say about Irish or Scottish Gaelic spelling (who have strange vowel combinations that no English speaker could possibly decipher, and about 8 values for some of those combinations).

Ciarán12 wrote:Resisted longer than who? All of the Celtic nations still have a nation to some degree, and if you're talking about political autonomy, then both Scotland and Ireland have more autonomy than Wales.

The Anglo-Saxons were never able to conquer Wales. They conquered Dumnonia and possibly Cumbria, and the Vikings also conquered parts of Scotland, but Wales wasn't conquered until the Anglo-Normans did in the 12th or 13th century. (I hope my facts aren't way off.)

Ciarán12 wrote:What do you mean?

Well, while Cornish, Cumbric, Scottish, etc. were being influenced by Germanic languages in the first millenium, Welsh didn't have that kind of contact until the 12th century, and was able to develop as a (relatively) pure Celtic language longer.

Ciarán12 wrote:Most of them would probably use English, but it's a remarkable improvement that any of them might use Cornish at all now. Also, I think the differences are mainly in the spelling, and I think that's sorted out now. I think the spelling differences that linger will fade out now that a standard has been established.

I think this is what might happen. Languages that are so minutely divided and in such small land areas usually mix together.

Ciarán12 wrote:I'm not sure there is anyone left with an sentimental attachment to that language or its culture. Are there any people left that still identify as Gaulish?

Well, there's this, and a few people in the area (look around to find links to other people who say they are Gaulish, especially you can find them in the comments section), but I wouldn't say it's enough to make France or Belgium a Celtic nation, or for them to even be recognised as a minority.


Ciarán12 wrote:
Levike wrote:
But if let's say someone spoke English all his life, from the minute he was born,
how would he feel attached to this wannabe revived language.

Wouldn't he feel more comfortable/represented by English?


As someone in that exact situation, absolutely not. I feel robbed of my heritage.

I also feel "robbed of my heritage", just to offer another response to your question of how people feel about it.
Please, correct my errors. S'il vous plaît, corrigez mes erreurs.
C2: [flag=]en[/flag] B1: Focusing on: [flag=]fr[/flag] (A2), [flag=]got[/flag]

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Re: The future of the Celtic languages

Postby Levike » 2014-06-08, 17:40

Viridzen wrote:
Ciarán12 wrote:As someone in that exact situation, absolutely not. I feel robbed of my heritage.
I also feel "robbed of my heritage", just to offer another response to your question of how people feel about it.
But how can you feel connected to it, if it is not your mother-tongue.

Don't you feel something more for English,
since its the language of your childhood, the language you've been raised in?


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