Gaelicisation

Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man.

"Gaelic", as a linguistic term, refers to the Gaelic languages but can also refer to the transmission of any other Gaelic cultural feature such as social norms and customs, music and sport.

Examples of Gaelicisation in history include the Picts, Hiberno-Normans,Scoto-Normans and Norse-Gaels.

Today, Gaelicisation, or more often re-Gaelicisation, of placenames, surnames and given names is often a deliberate effort to help promote the growth of the modern languages and try to counteract centuries of Anglicisation.

The Manx language, which is very similar to Irish, has undergone a major revival very recently, despite the language being so rarely used that it even being mislabelled extinct by a UN report as recently as 2009. The decline of the language was primarily as a result of stigmatisation and high levels of emigration to England.

There are now primary schools teaching in only Manx Gaelic, after efforts mainly modelled on the Irish system. The efforts have been widely praised, with further developments such as using technology to teach the language being put into place.

Estimates of native speakers of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland in 2000 range from 20,000 to 80,000. According to the 2006 census for the Republic, 85,000 people use Irish daily outside of school and 1.2 million use Irish at least occasionally. In the 2011 Census, these numbers increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, respectively. Active Irish speakers probably comprise 5 to 10 per cent of Ireland's population.

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