CARRY ON STREAMIN from EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB Probably the best folk club in the world! Dateline: Wednesday 22 July 2020 Volume 1.04 language bodies will outlive the actual speaker SCOTTISH GAELIC group and the Scottish people will soon only CARRY ON STREAMIN IN CRISIS? have Gaelic as a heritage language." You may recognise in our banner a A MAJOR NEW STUDY published Scottish Gaelic is not a core curricular subject ‘reworking’ of the of the Carrying earlier this month, has found that in Scotland as Irish Gaelic is in Ireland Stream festival which EFC’s late chair, Paddy Bort, created shortly after the Scottish Gaelic is rarely used by although Prof Ó Giollagáin said there were death of Hamish Henderson. younger generations following its identifiable similarities between what was accelerated decline as the community happening in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd and After Paddy died in February 2017, vernacular since the early 1980s. The the experience in the Irish Gaeltacht. “The EFC created the Paddy Bort Fund study, conducted in the Gaelic-speaking similarities relate to a process of demographic (PBF) to give financial assistance to communities of the Western Isles, Staffin in the contraction and loss of social densities of folk performers who, through no fault Isle of Skye and the Isle of Tiree in Argyll and speakers in the vernacular areas and to the of their own, fall on hard times. Bute, concluded that in 10 years’ time English similar irrelevance of formal public supports No-one contemplated anything like the will supplant spoken Gaelic because the Gaelic and provision for the Gaelic communities. coronavirus. Now we need to communities are collapsing. Prof Ó Giollagáin said authorities in both replenish PBF and have set a target of Carried out by academics at the University of jurisdictions should acknowledge the severity (at least) £10 000. the Highlands and Islands and Soillse, a multi- of the threat faced by both languages. “Political There are two strands to Carry On institutional research project that includes leaders and governmental bodies in both Streamin - this publication and our Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye, the study - entitled, jurisdictions should admit publicly the level of YouTube channel where you will find, "The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular crisis faced by the Gaelic communities and every fortnight, videos donated by Community: A Comprehensive Sociolinguistic consult with each other about devising feasible some of the best folk acts around. Survey of Scottish Gaelic" - noted how the measures to help the Gaels in the current Gaelic-speaking community had fallen to just predicament." Please donate to PBF as best you can, 11,000 people, the majority of whom were over using the PayPal links we provide. 50 years old. Gaelic language use no longer Ed: So, after many years of support with aid extends beyond what the study describes as, from The European Charter for Regional or “fragile and marginal social networks”. Minority Languages (ECRML), an EU programme supporting minority languages The study's lead author, Professor Conchúr Ó throughout Europe, and the promotion of Giollagáin, who is Director of the Language Gaelic in education by the Scottish Sciences Institute at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, said: government, will Scottish Gaelic be allowed to “This is a more severe crisis than the Irish just fade away and die? What went wrong? Gaeltacht. The Gaelic communities are smaller, more dispersed and collapsing and moving into The ECRML was adopted in 1992 under the the final phase of language shift to English, auspices of the Council of Europe to protect which will culminate in 10 years’ time in the and promote historical regional and minority monolingualisation of community language languages in Europe. Ireland has not been able practice." to sign the Charter on behalf of the Irish language (although a minority language) as it Some 80% of the resident population reported an is defined as the first official language of the ability to speak Scottish Gaelic in the 1981 census state. The United Kingdom has ratified the but this had declined to 52% by the 2011 census. Charter in respect to (among other languages) During this period a net loss of 9,660 Gaelic Welsh in Wales, Scots and Gaelic in Scotland, speakers was recorded, with those aged from three and Irish in Northern Ireland. to 17 years experiencing a fall of 41%. To see Scottish census information about Scots Prof Ó Giollagáin added: "Without radical Gaelic go here action the remaining Gaelic-speaking communities do not have the demographic or Click here PayPal to donate societal resources to sustain a communal to the Paddy Bort Fund. presence beyond the next 10 years. Gaelic will cease to exist as a community language in any And click here to go to EFC’s part of Scotland. Language policy and official YouTube channel. http://efc1973.com/home :: https://www.facebook.com/Edinburgh-Folk-Club-155304611154742/ :: @edfolkclub Please note that Edinburgh Folk Club cannot accept responsibility for the content of third party websites displayed in this newsletter and offers all content in good faith. CARRY ON STREAMIN from EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB Probably the best folk club in the world! Dateline: Wednesday 22 July 2020 Volume 1.04 taobh a deas Glàschu far an robh sinn a’ Ar cànan agus ar fuireach, neo anns an sgoil agam. coimhearsnachd (Our Fad mo bhèatha, tha ùidh mhòr air a bhith agam anns na h-òrain Gàidhlig agus language and our dh’ionnsaich mi iomadh òran bho’m community) mhàthair, agus bho m’ sheanmhair nuair a bha mi ann am Barraidh airson saor- Tha Magaidh NicAonghais a laithean. Sheinn mi gu tric anns na ’sgrìobhadh ... conseirtean sgoile ann am Pàisling ach cha O chionn goirid, chuir UHI agus Soillse (a do chord sin ìdir rium oir bha mo multi-institutional research collaboration) charaidean air fad a’ smaontinn gu’ robh Maggie MacInnes (pic by Elaine rannsachadh ùr a mach mu dhéidhinn mi gu math neònach ann a bhith seinn Livingstone) Gàidhlig anns na coimhearsnachdan agus anns a’ chànan sin. Bha a’ mhór chuid a’ bha mi glè dhuilich a’ leughadh. Bha iad Is mise Magaidh NicAonghais. Rugadh smaointinn gur ann as Èirinn a bha mi a’ smaointinn gum bi Gàidhlig marbh anns agus thògadh mi ann an Glàschu ach tha agus cha robh eolas idir aca mu Ghàidhlig na coimhearsnachdan Ghàidhlig ann an mo mhathair à Barraidh agus m’athair à Albannach. Bha mi caran diùid agus cha deich bliadhna eile as aonais gum bi Glaschù le a phàrantan à Barraidh. Nuair a robh e furasda dhòmhsa a bhith eadar- atharraichean mòra air an cur an gniomh. bha mi òg, bha Gàidhlig gu leor anns an dhealaichte. Bha mi cho ìosal nuair a bha mi a’ taigh againn ach cha robh Gàidhlig leaghadh sin ach, a bheil seo ceart? Agus timcheall oirnn anns a coimhearsnachd (a ’leantainn thairis air ...) ma tha, dè nì sinn? http://efc1973.com/home :: https://www.facebook.com/Edinburgh-Folk-Club-155304611154742/ :: @edfolkclub Please note that Edinburgh Folk Club cannot accept responsibility for the content of third party websites displayed in this newsletter and offers all content in good faith. CARRY ON STREAMIN from EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB Probably the best folk club in the world! Dateline: Wednesday 22 July 2020 Volume 1.04 Aig an aon àm, bha mi cìnnteach gun robh Cha bhi e furasda agus feumaidh sinn a analysing the seriousness of the situation na h-òrain agam cho breagha agus cho bhith ag obair còmhla ri na Riaghaltasan in 2016, Professor Ó Giollagáin concluded Albannach. Tha mi a’ smaointinn gum agus anns na coimhearsnachdan gus ar that those in positions of leadership were biodh e air a bhith nas fhearr dhomhsa cànan agus ar cultar Gàidhlig a chur air part of a ‘no-choice scenario’. While this agus airson na cànain nam biodh Gàidhlig talamh shàbhailte airson ùine fhada. Tha may be true in terms of socio-linguistic (mar roghainn)air a bhith air a theagasg mi an dochas gum bi sibh den aon policy-making, it does not provide a anns na sgoiltean air feadh Alba neo fiu’s bheachd mu tha Gàidhlig agaibh neo blanket excuse for the rapid demise of any rudeigin mu dhéidhinn Gàidhlig neo nacheil…… Bu dùal a bhith seinn … language. There have also been earlier eachdraidh na Gaidhealtachd. studies, such as Nancy Dorian (1981) and Ken MacKinnon’s surveys, yet even An diugh, tha Foghlam tro Mheadhan na WHAT CAN WE DO TO Dorian’s book title (‘Language Death’) Gàidhlig againn agus tha sin cudthromach didn’t raise the alarm – or were folk airson na canain a chumail beò airson PREVENT THIS DEATH? leaving it all to Donald Stewart, MP for bliadhnaichean ri thighinn. A bharrachd Prof Margaret Bennett writes ... the Western Isles who worked tirelessly air a sin, tha na àireamh de luchd- on the Gaelic Language Bill he proposed ionnsachaidh gu math falainn agus tha in 1980? Ceòl Gàidhlig gu math laidir air feadh an t-saoghail. Ach càite bheil na duine, gu h- It is already well-documented that the araid an oigridh, fileanta Gàidhlig ga Scottish Education Act of 1872 was the cleachdadh taobh muigh Foghlam, a most deadly blow to all languages as well Mhedia agus Ceòl neo Drama Ghàidhlig? as dialects of the British Isles. Nevertheless, native speakers, particularly Tha e soilleir dhomsa gum bi e parents and teachers, were free to make cudthromach Gàidhlig a’ bhrosnachadh choices that could have made a difference, anns na coimhearsnachdan Gàidhlig agus had they heeded the ‘diagnosis’ or the anns na coimhearsnachdan eile cuideachd countless warnings and cautions for over a gu h-araid timicheall nan sgoiltean The importance of diagnosis has century, yet the ‘refusal to engage with Gàidhlig.