Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic, also known as Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced by Gaelic-language placenames. In the 2011 census of Scotland, 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) reported as able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides. Gaelic is also spoken in the Inner Hebrides and on the island of Islay off the south coast of Scotland, and by some people on the Scottish mainland, particularly in the Highlands. There are also speakers of Gaelic in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The language is an official language of Scotland, though it has been in decline. In 2018, the Scottish government announced that it was committed to reviving the language, with a target of having one million Gaelic speakers by 2050. Gaelic has a rich literary tradition, and has been used in many different ways over the centuries. It was the everyday language of the people of Scotland until the early 17th century, when it began to be replaced by English. Today, Gaelic is used mainly in speech and in writing, in the form of poetry, songs, and prayers. It is also used in some schools and universities as a medium of instruction, and in the media. The Scottish Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters, as opposed to the 26 in the standard English alphabet. The Gaelic alphabet is also used for writing in Irish and Manx. Gaelic is a phonetic language, which means that words are pronounced as they are written. There are no silent letters, and every letter has a different sound. The stress in a Gaelic word usually falls on the first syllable. Gaelic has a number of dialects, which can be divided into two main groups: Highland Gaelic and Lowland Gaelic. Highland Gaelic is spoken in the Highlands and Islands, and is the more traditional form of the language. Lowland Gaelic is spoken in the Lowlands, and is more influenced by English. Gaelic grammar is very different from that of English. For example, there are no articles (a, the), and there are three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns change their form depending on whether they are the subject or object of a sentence, and on whether they are singular or plural. The verb system in Gaelic is also different from that of English. There are two main tenses (present and past), and the verb changes its form to agree with the subject. There are also a number of other tenses, such as the future, the conditional, and the subjunctive. Gaelic has a rich vocabulary, with many words that have no direct equivalent in English. For example, there are a number of words meaning "to know", including "a' dol", "a' feuchainn", and "a' nochd". There are also a number of words for "to see", including "a' sealltainn", "a' coimhead", and "a' faicinn". Gaelic is a living language, and is in use by a small but growing number of people in Scotland and around the world. There are a number of organizations that promote the use of Gaelic, such as Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Comunn Gàidhlig na h-Alba. There are also a number of Gaelic-medium schools, and a Gaelic-language television channel, BBC Alba.