Scottish Gaelic Language
| Scottish Gaelic | |
|---|---|
| Gàidhlig | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈkaːlikʲ] |
| Native to |
United Kingdom Canada |
| Region | Scotland; Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia in Canada |
| Ethnicity | Scottish people |
|
Native speakers
|
57,000 in Scotland (2011) 87,000 people aged three and over in Scotland reported having some Gaelic language ability in 2011. |
|
Indo-European
|
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Early forms
|
Primitive Irish
|
| Scottish Gaelic orthography (Latin script) | |
| Official status | |
|
Recognised minority
language in |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | gd |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | scot1245 |
| Linguasphere | 50-AAA |
1891 distribution of English and Gaelic in Scotland
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2001 distribution of Gaelic speakers in Scotland
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic (Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlikʲ]), is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish.
The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, with the Outer Hebrides being the main stronghold of the language. The census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, a decline of 6,226. Only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased.
Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. However, it is classed as an indigenous language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which the British government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, "with a view to securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland".
Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of "Gaelic languages" in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia (mostly in Cape Breton Island, Antigonish and Pictou) and Prince Edward Island.
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