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Scottish Gaelic (/ ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k /, GAL-ik; endonym: Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ⓘ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx, developed out of Old Irish ...
According to the 2001 census Scottish Gaelic has 58,652 speakers (roughly 1% of the population of Scotland). In total 92,400 people aged three and over in Scotland had some Gaelic language ability in 2001. [25] 15,723 of these reside in the Outer Hebrides, where the language is spoken by the majority of the population. [26]
Canadian Gaelic dialects of Scottish Gaelic are still spoken by Gaels in parts of Atlantic Canada, primarily on Cape Breton Island and nearby areas of Nova Scotia. In 2011, there were 1,275 Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia, [20] and 300 residents of the province considered a Gaelic language their "mother tongue." [21]
Glasgow Gaelic is an emerging dialect, described as "Gaelic with a Glasgow accent", [2] of Standard Scottish Gaelic. [3] It is spoken by about 10% of Scottish Gaelic speakers, making it the most spoken Dialect outside of the Highlands .
The Gaelic languages have been in steep decline since the beginning of the 19th century, when they were majority languages of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands; today they are endangered languages. [ 91 ] [ 92 ] As far back as the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366, the English government had dissuaded use of Gaelic for political reasons. [ 93 ]
Today, they are restricted to the northwestern fringe of Europe and a few diaspora communities. There are six living languages: the four continuously living languages Breton , Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Welsh , and the two revived languages Cornish and Manx .
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.
The first reliable statistics on the prevalence of Gaelic in Scotland begin in the 1690s. At that time around 25–30% of the country spoke Gaelic. [32] By the time the first Census of Scotland asked the population about its ability to speak Gaelic in 1881, that figure had been whittled down to merely 6%.