Scottish Gaelic language Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic or just Gaelic (Gàidhlig; SAMPA: /"gAlIk/) is a member of the Goidelic branche of Celtic languages. The Goidelic (northern) branch includes Scottish and Irish Gaelic as well as Manx Gaelic, and is distinct from the Brythonic branch which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish.
Scottish Gaelic is the traditional language of the Gaels, the race of Celtic Scots now mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and the historical language of most of Scotland. As such, it occupies a special place in Scottish culture, and is recognised by most Scots, whether they speak Scottish Gaelic or not, as being a priceless part of the nation's culture. Gaelic has a rich oral tradition (beul aithris), having been the language of the bardic culture of the Highland clans for several centuries. The language suffered as the Highlanders and their traditions were persecuted, especially after Culloden and since the Highland Clearances, but despite lingering prejudices, the language is now achieving greater cultural and official recognition.
Scottish Gaelic may be more correctly known as Highland Gaelic to distinguish it from the now defunct Lowland Gaelic. Lowland Gaelic was spoken in the southern regions of Scotland prior to the introduction of Scots. There is, however, no evidence of a linguistic border following the topographical north-south differences. Similarly, there is no evidence from placenames of significant linguistic differences between, for example, Argyll and Galloway.
There is also a Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia.
| Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig na h-Alba) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Scotland, Canada |
| Region: | Scottish Highlands, Nova Scotia |
| Total speakers: | 61,000 |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European Celtic Insular Goidelic Gaelic |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Scotland |
| Regulated by: | Bòrd na Gàidhlig |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | gd |
| ISO 639-2 | gla |
| SIL | GLS |
The Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters (the usual 26 except j, k, q, v, w,
x, y, and z). The letters of the alphabet were traditionally named
after trees: ailm (elm), beith (birch), coll (hazel), dair (oak), and
so on, but sadly, this custom is no longer followed.
The letter
The quality of consonants is partially indicated by the vowels surrounding them. The vowels are classified as caol ("slender", i.e. e and i) or leathann ("broad", i.e. a, o and u). The spelling rule is
In most cases, however, the rule has no effect on pronunciation.
For example, plurals in Gaelic are often formed with the suffix -an. For example, bròg (shoe)
and brògan (shoes); however, to comply with the spelling rule, taigh (house) must become
taighean (houses).
In changes promoted by the Scottish Examination Board from 1976 onwards, certain modifications
were made to this rule. For example, togte (rather than the traditional togta) is allowed.
Using the spelling rule, it is sometimes unclear whether a vowel has been introduced for its own pronunciation or for its effect upon a consonant. In cases where the vowel should be pronounced the fada is used in Irish to make it clear, but in Scottish Gaelic it represents the length of the vowel sound (with a few exceptions to distinguish syntax).
Consonants can also be mutated by a following h.
Unstressed vowels which are omitted in speech (see Pronunciation) can
be omitted in informal writing. e.g.,
Most letters are pronounced similarly to other European languages,
although
The lenited consonants have special pronunciations: mh is /v/ or
silent; ch is /x/; dh is / j\\ / or /G/; th is /h/, /?/ or silent.
There are a few general features worth noting.
Gaelic is an inflected language. Nouns indicate
their relationships with a number of grammatical cases
(nominative, dative, genitive, and vocative), and
verbs are conjugated to indicate tense
(simple tenses are past, future, and subjunctive; compound tenses are
continuous present, past, and future), mood
(indicative, infinitive, imperative), and voice
(active, passive).
Gaelic has a number of interesting grammatical features:
Gaelic has a range of definite articles but no indefinite article:
(i). For masculine, singular, nominative nouns use an, am, and an t-:
Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish, although most dialects are not mutually comprehensible.
the closest is the dialect spoken in Donegal, as illustrated by the sentence "How are you?"
Note that lenited consonants, which can be silent, glottal stops, or act to lengthen a vowel, are
written in Gaelic but omitted in the corresponding Irish words when silent
(in the same sense that the t in the English word often is "silent").
After centuries of official discouragement, Gaelic is achieving a degree of official recognition. As well as being taught in schools, including some in which it is the medium of instruction, it is also used by the local council in the Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean. The BBC also operates a Gaelic language radio station Radio nan Gaidheal (which regularly transmits joint broadcasts with its Irish counterpart Raidió na Gaeltachta), and there are also television programmes in the language on the BBC and on the ITV commercial channels, usually subtitled in English. The ITV franchisee in the north of Scotland, Grampian Television, has a studio in Stornoway.
However, a separate Gaelic language TV service, similar to S4C in Wales and TG4 in Ireland, has been under consideration. As in Wales, the showing of programmes in the language as regional opt-outs on the main channels has been regarded as inadequate for the 60,027 who speak it, and as an annoyance to some of the English or Scots speaking 4,900,004 who do not. In fact, this annoyance is largely assumed: the evidence is that at least one Gaelic television programme produced by the BBC attains viewing figures in excess of the number of Gaelic speakers that could view it in Scotland. No complaints are being received by the BBC about Gaelic-language television programmes on BBC TV channels, perhaps because subtitling them in English makes them equally accessible to non-Gaelic speakers.
Gaelic road signs are gradually being introduced throughout the
Highlands. In many cases, this has simply meant adopting the correct
spelling of a name but, even here, anti-Gaelic prejudice has had to be
overcome.
Most non-Gaels are unaware of the extent to which anti-Gaelic
prejudice and sheer racism are prevalent in Scotland. Newspaper
columnists regularly mock Gaelic language and culture, propagating
stereotypes in a way which would be unimaginable for other groups, and
openly call for all funding to be cut.
The Ordnance Survey has acted in recent years to correct many of
the mistakes that appear on maps. They announced in 2004 that they
intended to make amends for a century of Gaelic ignorance and set up a
committee to determine the correct forms of Gaelic place names for their maps.
Historically, Gaelic has not received the same degree of official recognition from the UK Government as Welsh. With the advent of devolution, however, Scottish matters have finally begun
to receive greater attention, and a draft Gaelic Bill has now been published by the Scottish Parliament.
The key provisions of the Bill are:
The Education Act of 1872, which completely ignored Gaelic, and led to
generations of Gaels being forbidden to speak their native language in
the classroom, is now recognised as having dealt a major blow to the
language.
The first solely Gaelic medium secondary school will open in Glasgow
in 2005 (several Gaelic medium primary schools and partially Gaelic
medium secondary schools already exist).
In Nova Scotia, there are somewhere between 500 and 1,000 native speakers, most of them now elderly. In May 2004, the Provincial government announced the funding of an initiative to support the language and its culture within the province.
The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic.
The Columba Initiative, also known as Iomairt Cholm Cille, is a body that seeks to promote links between speakers of Gaelic and Irish.
Gaelic has a number of unique personal names, such as Donnchadh, Dòmhnall. Some names were borrowed from Norse:
Somhairle, Tormod. There are also distinctly Scottish Gaelic forms of names with cognates in other European languages: Eòghan, Iain, Catrìona, Anna.
The vocative form of some Gaelic names has given rise to various Anglicised forms:
Several colours give rise to common Scottish surnames: bàn (Bain - white), ruadh (Roy - red), dubh (Dow - black), donn (Dunn - brown).
The majority of Gaelic's vocabulary is native Celtic. There is a number of borrowings from Latin, especially in the religious domain (eaglais, Bìoball), Norse (eilean, sgeir), Scots (sgealp, briogais) and, in common with other European languages, neologisms tend to be formed from Greek and Latin roots (telebhisean). A worrying trend for some Gaelic speakers is the increasing use of English words within a Gaelic grammar. Verbs like "watch-igeadh" (watching) and "catch-eadh" (catching) are commonly used on Leòdhas (Lewis).
Going in the other direction, Gaelic has influenced Scots (gob) and English, particularly Scottish Standard English. Loanwords include: whisky, slogan, brogue, jilt, clan, strontium, as well
as familiar elements of Scottish geography like ben (beinn), glen (gleann) and loch.
Source: An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Alexander MacBain.
This is an Article on Scottish Gaelic language. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Scottish Gaelic language Orthography
(slender to slender and broad to broad).
This means that an interior consonant group must be surrounded by vowels of the same quality to indicate its pronunciation unambiguously, since
some consonants change their pronunciation depending on whether they are surrounded by broad or
slender vowels: e.g., compare the t in slàinte (/sla:ntSe/) and bàta (/ba:ta/).
Once Gaelic orthographic rules have been learned, the written language can be seen to be quite phonetic. However this is not generally apparent to those who try to apply English spelling rules to try to decipher Gaelic pronunciations from text. Hence the widespread mispronunciation of Gaelic personal names, such as Seònaid when they are used by English speakers.Pronunciation
Consonant Normal H-Mutated
Broad Slender Broad Slender
b b b v v
c k ky kh khy
d d j * y
f f f silent silent
g g gy * y
(Knowledge of this fact alone would help avoid many a mispronunciation
of Highland placenames. e.g. Mallaig is /"malek/. Note, though, that
when a placename consists of more than one word in Gaelic, that the
Anglicised form can have stress elsewhere: Tyndrum (/tVin"drVm/) <
Taigh an Droma (/t2i an "droma/).
tarbh (bull) — /tar@v/
Proto Indoeuropean but was lost in the centre where the languages have
changed most.
duine — /dunj@/
duine — /"dunj@/
Grammar
tha taigh agam — I have a house (lit. a house is at me)
For example:
Grammatical emphasis carries over into other situations:
tha mise sgìth — I am tired
Articles
The form of the (definite) article depends on the number, gender,
case, and initial letter of the noun.
(ii). When the noun can be lenited, a' is used in two cases:
(iii). For feminine, genitive singular it is na, and na h-:
(iv). For plurals (nominative and dative), the situation is simpler. The article is
normally na, but is na h- if the noun begins with a vowel:
(v). The form of the genitive plural (nan or nam) just depends on whether the noun
begins with a labial:
Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
However, there are some important differences. The most obvious is that the accent, or fada, is written as a grave accent in Scottish Gaelic, as opposed to the acute accent of Irish, hence the word for "welcome" is written as fàilte in Scottish Gaelic and in Irish as fáilte. Also, the negative participle in Scottish Gaelic is cha(n) eil whereas in standard Irish it is níl, (a contraction of chan eil), as illustrated by the sentence "I have no money" (cha is still a legitimate Irish word, though):
Some words have "a" in Irish but "u" in Scottish Gaelic, for instance the word for the English language Béarla in Irish and Beurla. This is due to a spelling reform and standardisation which has taken place in Ireland under the auspices of the Irish government during the 20th century.
ENGLISH IRISH SCOTTISH GAELIC
Gael Gael Gaidheal
day lá latha''
night oíche oidhche
inside isteach a-steach
school scoil sgoil
child páiste pàisde
authority údarás ùghdarras
office oifig oifis
open oscailte fosgailte
year bliana bliadhna
radio raidió radio
government rialtas riaghaltas
parliament parlaimint pàrlamaid
island oileann eilean
ENGLISH IRISH GAELIC
in i ann
minister aire ministear
road bóthar rathad
cold (illness) slaghdán cnatan
talking caint bruidhinn
(Scottish) Highlands Garbhchríocha (na hAlban)
Gaidhealtachd* (na h-Alba)
Wales An Bhreatain Bheag** A' Chuimrigh
island oileann eilean
Official Recognition
Following a consultation period, in which the government received many
submissions, the majority of which asked that the bill be
strengthened, a revised bill was published with the main improvement
that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutary (rather than advisory).Place names
Personal Names
The most common form of Gaelic surname is, of course, those beginning with mac (son (of)), such as Mac Gille Eathainn (MacLean). The female form is nic, so Catriona MacPhi is properly called in Gaelic, Catrìona Nic a'Phì. Loanwords
See also
External Links