Why is Gaelic Language dying?

Answer 1

Firstly, there are three different 'Gaelic languages'. One is ''Irish' or 'Irish Gaelic', another is Scottish Gaelic', , and the third is 'Manx' or 'Manx Gaelic'. And there is some disagreement as to whether they are all dying out or only one. two. or none of them.

Manx died out in the twentieth century because Man is a small island under heavy English influence (although some people on the island have revived it recently) .

Scottish Gaelic has declined under English influence and because people in the Lowlands now have little interest in a language which in modern times has been associated mainly iwth Highland culture. The number of people in Scotland who say they can speak any Scottish Gaelic is under 100,000 and continues to decrease. Outside the Western Isles, there are very few places with many speakers, and many people do not see it as a useful language or part of Scottish culture outside the Highlands and Isles.

Irish became a minority language in the nineteenth century, again due to English rule and what was seen as the greater prestige and usefulness of English. With the Gaelic Revival and Irish independence, an attempt was made to prevent it dying out in the 'Gaeltacht' regions that are still Irish-speaking and to revive it in the areas where it had already been replaced by English. This revival has been successful insofar as there are now more people with some knowledge of the language; up to 40% of the population claim to have some knowledge of Irish and probably about 10% are fluent. However, English is still seen as more useful and is the first language of the majority, with the Gaeltacht having decreased in size even since independence.

The decline of the language started with the Cromwellian wars, was worsened by the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) and the resultant emigration to anglophone America, Canada and Australia.

No one seriously believes the statistics put out by the government. Research indicates that the number of actual Irish speakers between 10,000 to 20,000. A government report on the state of the language (leaked to the media) predicted the language will be dead in 20 years, if present trends continue. The language is not used by young people among themselves. When a young Irish male was asked if he would ask a girl to dance (in Irish). He replied, "That wouldn't be cool." That's the latest challenge to the survival of Irish. Lest I be labelled anti-language, I actually know Irish and would like to see it survive, but sadly I don't see that happening.

It is dying because deep down the majority of Irish people don't see any reason to maintain the language, it's all image over substance. Go to Ireland and see how much the language is used. Or better yet, learn some Irish and try to use it. Ireland is part of the Anglo-American culture now and (sadly for the Gaelic) they seem OK with that.

Actually, there are serious problems with the figure you quote of 10,000 to 20,000. Firstly, it is for native, Gaeltacht area, speakers, not for everyone fluent in the language, which obviously would be far higher, being commonly quoted as perhaps 10% of the population. Nor is 10 to 20 thousand the only figure out there even for that category of speaker. The fact is that nobody can be sure how many such speakers there are. Try reading such papers as Fearghal Ó Béarra's on the dynamics of language change in Irish; even though it is a pessimisti one he believes the number of native speakers is much higher than what you quote.

I would agree that under the pressure of Anglicisation, the Gaeltachtaí are shrinking. It is not my opinion that Irish is about to die, but I do think that unless something is done to address current trends, a situation will larise within the next few decades where there are no predominantly Irish-speaking areas remaining even in the current fíor-Ghaeltacht, and the time of Irish could be drawing to a close. After that we sadly cannot rule out language death.