Celtic Languages

(versión en español)

 Eluned Morgan

Celtic Languages stem from the Indo-European family of languages, and six of the main Celtic languages survived to the modern period.  These can be divided into two categories or 'branches'  - the Goidelic languages, and the Brythonic languages. Although related, both groups are linguistically distinct and speakers from one group cannot understand the languages of the other group.

Goidelic languages include Scottish Gaelic (spoken in the Scottish highlands and Isles), Irish (spoken in Ireland) and Manx Gaelic (once spoken on the Isle of Manx), and are therefore closely related to each other.  Whilst the Goidelic languages span the more northern parts of the British Isles and Ireland, Brythonic languages span the more southern parts of the UK and northern France.  Breton is spoken in Brittany, on the North-west peninsula of France), Cornish (spoken in Cornwall, in the South West of England) and Welsh (spoken in Wales).

Further afield, and more distantly related, the pan-Celtic movement also includes Asturian and Galician (spoken in Spain) which are also minority languages with Celtic roots in what is know as the "old Celtic" language - from which all modern Celtic languages descend.[1]

These Celtic languages, (with the exception of Manx) are classed as minority languages in the European Union, defined by Article 1 Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority Languages as "languages that are (i) traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population; and (ii) different from the official language(s).." [2] These languages do not constitute working languages of the EU.

Origin

The Celtic languages have a long history beginning in the Central European area at around 1000 BC. Three hundred years of migration resulted in their spread across a territory that encompassed much of Europe. There is evidence of their expansion as far as Scotland in the north, to Tuscany in the South, Portugal in the West and Galatia / Anatolia (Modern day Turkey) in the East,[3] - and so far beyond those countries which are recognised as Celtic countries today.

The centuries 700 BC - 200 AD saw a movement of Celtic people further west and into the British Isles as a consequence of the rise and expansion of the Roman civilisation in the Mediterranean and beyond.[4]  This movement continued after the departure of the Romans from Britain in the 5th Century A.D due to the new threat of the Germanic tribes.  The Celtic peoples became increasingly isolated and pooled into the northern and Western parts of Britain, the Breton areas of France and Celtiberian Spain. [5]

Although the Celts were not a uniform group to begin with, they did speak a related set of languages, however with the increased geographical dispersion of the Celtic people came the increased isolation of these peoples and the evolution of distinct languages.  The Old Celtic languages which survived through to the Middle Ages are limited to Britain, Ireland and Brittany, and these constitute the Celtic languages with which we are familiar today.

The Brythonic Languages

Welsh

The language spoken today is descended directly from Early Welsh - which emerged as a distinct tongue as early as the 6th Century AD.  It is thus the oldest living language of Great Britain and among the oldest in Europe.[6]

At the start of the C20 almost half the population of Wales spoke Welsh.  However the numbers decreased steadily thereafter for various reasons including migration patterns of Welsh speakers out of Wales and also from rural to urban areas and the inward migration of English speakers to Wales.  The increasingly pervasive influence of the English media was also a central reason and a general trend towards the secularisation of society also weakened the foundations of Welsh speaking society as the chapel had traditionally formed the pivot of many Welsh language societies. By 1991 only 18.7% of the population spoke Welsh (or 508,098 people).[7]

Despite the gloomy outlook of this downward trend, the 1991 census also produced evidence of a slowdown in the rate of decline, suggesting the situation was stabilising.  Furthermore there had actually been an increase in the number of young people who spoke the language.  Significantly the 2001 Census showed that the numbers of Welsh speakers had actually increased by 2% since 1991.  Currently 20.5% of the population of Wales (about 595,132 people) speak Welsh with a further 28.4% able to understand, which has been cautiously interpreted as evidence of an encouraging trend towards recovery.

There are numerous factors which can be said to have played an essential part in this trend.  Amongst the most important of these has been the passing of Language acts, in particular the Welsh Language Act of 1993.  This Act placed the Welsh Language on equal footing with English in the public sphere in Wales - guaranteeing rights and established the Welsh Language Board to promote and facilitate its use.  The Welsh

Assembly Government, established following a referendum in 1997, has committed to promoting a bilingual Wales in the recent publication Iaith Pawb and an extra £27million has been committed to the project.

Cornish

Cornish is certainly the weakest of the Brythonic languages  - by the 16th century English had become the main language of literature of Cornwall and even Latin ceased to be used.  By the 18th Century few people spoke Cornish and by the end of the century the language was not spoken by anyone. 

Having become extinct, there followed at the start of the 19th Century a 'revival' whereby the language was reinvented by academics and other members of society - and the language was put together little by little, drawing heavily from the other Brythonic languages - Welsh and Breton. 

Within Cornwall today it is estimated that there are about 1,000 speakers in total.  A great victory for supporters of the Cornish activists was achieved in November 2002 when, following sustained pressure upon the UK government, it was announced that the Cornish language would be recognised by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (under part II).  This step acknowledged for the first time the symbolic importance of the language for Cornish identity.[8]

Breton

There are no official figures for the number of people who speak Breton, as the censuses in France do not record any linguistic data.  However the EBLUL notes that various polls have estimated that there are 300 000 Breton speakers, with many more being able to understand. Furthermore, the Observatory of the Breton language board has counted 8500 adults attending Breton language courses of various kinds. [9]

Breton has no legal status in France, and the French government's attitude towards the language has been described as a  'hostile tolerance'.  The government has refused to sign the Council of European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages, and also derogates the language from Article 27 of the Pact of Civil and Political rights, as well as  Article 30 of the Convention of the Rights of a Child (concerning right to use the mother tongue.)

The Goidelic Languages

Scottish Gaelic

The 2001 Census revealed a continued decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland.  It is estimated that there are currently 58,650 Gaelic speakers in Scotland today - 10% less that in 1991, which means for the first time it has fallen below 60,000 - the threshold below which it is thought that it is not possible for a language to survive.[10]

Supporters of the language however point to the fact that the rate of decline has slowed and also to the increase in Gaelic medium education. Although Scottish Gaelic currently has no legal or official status, it is recognised, and there is a minister for the Gaelic language within the Scottish parliament. Signs in the building are bilingual and correspondence is accepted and replied to in either Gaelic or English. A Scottish language bill is currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament and therefore the language is may well see a revival with time.

Irish Gaelic

Prior to the arrival of the English and Scottish settlers in the C16 and early C17 Ireland was predominantly a Gaelic speaking Catholic country, but from the C18 onwards English gained ground, in particular due to migratory factors, the great famine and the urbanisation of the country.  Despite the strong involvement of the Protestant north in the revival of Irish during the 19th Century, the current data suggests that it is predominantly those who are Catholics who claim Irish language ability.  The use of the Gaelic Language is inextricably linked to the wider political issues in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland: The 2001 census revealed that there were 167,490 people in Northern Ireland claiming knowledge of the language (this was equivalent to about 10.4% of the population and included varying degrees of competence - less than half of these (4.6%) are able to read, write and speak and understand Irish).  Prior to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the UK government did not grant any official status to the Irish language.  The agreement however granted it legal protection and a promise to promote the language as reflected by the British government ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in 2001.  The Good Friday agreement also established a body for the promotion of Irish and Ulster Scots. [11]Irish is also enjoying a large revival in schools and some teach the whole curriculum through the medium of the language. 

The Republic of Ireland: Irish is spoken throughout the republic of Ireland.  The 1996 Census reported that just over 1.43 million people have the ability to speak Irish (43% of the relevant population).[12] The Irish-speaking heartland is called the Gaeltacht and the percentage of the population purporting to speak Irish in this area is very high at 76.3% however the area is not densely populated.[13] 

The high (census) figure however masks variable levels of competence and frequency of use and it is important to be aware of the distinction between those who can speak Irish and those who do actually speak it.  Based on adults only, it has been estimated that only 70,950 people speak Irish every day (20,813 of them in the Gaeltacht).  Taking the population of the state as a whole, it is thought that only about 5% have a high active competence in Irish, a further 10% have a good competence, while 20 -30% have only a lower passive ability in the language.[14] This figure however excludes the large numbers of Irish speakers who are children.   It has been noted that one of the main aspects of the Irish language revival in recent years has been the steady growth of the Gaelscoileanna (Irish medium schools).  Between 1990 - 2001 the number of students in Irish-medium education increased from 15,990 to 28,501[15], which may have wide ranging implications for the use of Irish amongst adults in years to come.

The (1937) Constitution of Ireland states that Irish is the first official language, however English is also an official language. A separate government department is responsible for the Irish language. Two state boards function under its aegis, one for developing Irish-speaking districts, and one for promoting Irish language throughout the country[16].  The Official Languages (Equality) Bill 2002 is currently on its second reading in the Irish Seanad with the purported aim to "promote equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use..." (of the English and Irish languages).  The Bill, in essence, specifies certain services and that the state and semi-state bodies should provide to the public in Irish.[17] The Bill however has already been strongly criticised by ministers for being too limited in its scope although it has been accepted by many that if it becomes law it could serve as a foundation for further language rights in the future.

Manx

Manx Gaelic became extinct in the last century. The last native speaker of the Manx Language died 1974. Since then however there have been efforts to revive the language and many people have begun to learn it at school or college. Manx has been formally taught in schools since 1992, but is not compulsory. English is therefore the main language spoken on the Isle of Man. [18]

Languages are a vulnerable heritage. It was once noted that "Nothing is more unobtrusive than a dying language. It simply ceases to be talked about."[19]  Some of these Celtic Languages have displayed a remarkable resilience in having survived over the centuries.  Many have been suppressed in the past and often tolerated at best. Over the years the nature of the threat to Celtic languages has changed considerably and perhaps the main challenge facing these languages today is simply the difficulty of coexisting in the shadow of a strong majority languages such as English and French.

In recognition of this situation fact an Intergroup on Regional and Minority Languages was set up in the European Parliament in 1983. This group comprises a (cross-party) group of MEPs concerned with lesser-used languages, who try to find ways to improve the EU's support for them. Since it's onset, the group's efforts have led to the adoption of 6 Resolutions and secured increasing levels of funding (growing from €0.1m in 1983 to 4.0m in 1998) for minority languages over the period 1981 - 2000 as well as the publication of various reports.