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| Gaelic Language - In Years Gone By And Today |
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In the tenth and eleventh centuries Scottish Gaelic was at its most popular. These days there is no more than 1.6% that have the ability to converse in the Gaelic language. Nearly all pro- Gaelic speakers may say or may have said that this was the plan of the English - to rid the British Isles of their Gaelic language and replace it by the English language and have the single language spoken throughout the country. In fact, there are various reasons for the decrease of Gaelic as being a key language in Scotland.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries Scottish Gaelic was at its most popular. These days there is no more than 1.6% that have the ability to converse in the Gaelic language. Nearly all pro- Gaelic speakers may say or may have said that this was the plan of the English - to rid the British Isles of their Gaelic language and replace it by the English language and have the single language spoken throughout the country. In fact, there are various reasons for the decrease of Gaelic as being a key language in Scotland. Firstly, by around 1400 the distinction between the Highlands and the Lowlands was firmly established. A scholarly man named John of Fordun had this to say about the differences between the highlanders and the lowlanders in 1380: "The people from the coastal areas tend to be of domestic and civilised conduct, trusty, patient, urbane, reputable in their dress, likeable, as well as quiet, devout in Divine worship, yet continually ready to deny a wrong doing at the hands of their opponents. The highlanders and also people from the islands, in comparison, are a savage and untamed land and peoples, rude and obnoxious and self-sufficient, given to rapine, ease-loving, wise as well as quick to master, comely in person, yet unappealing in apparel, inhospitable to the English men and women too and are also known to be very aggresive in nature. These types of individuals tend to be nonetheless faithful and obedient to their personal king and country, and very easy and quick to submit to regulations, if suitably ruled". Consequently it may be asserted the main cause for the reduction of the Gaelic language was as a result of the break down amongst the various regions of Scotland. And by the sixteenth century the divergence between both was at a record high due to historical factors and a different language spoken. James VI had two key concepts for his Highland policy - one was to help to make an income and the other was to increase the amount of plantation. He suspected that the highlanders and especially the islanders weren't paying their own reasonable taxation and he wanted to adjust this. In 1597 he created three burghs within the Highlands while using the objective of enabling a number of personnel from the lowlanders to rule. There was a lot of disruption to follow. And thus the financial cost of this disruption was high. |