Gaelic Language in Scotland's Largest City Thrives - Linguist Takes Note of Glaswegian Gaelic

In December of last year Transceltic’s Douglas MacQueen reported that the  Scottish government's support for the Gaelic language has seen a big rise in speakers in Glasgow, Scotland's largest city. This reflects a growing trend in other parts of Scotland. Glasgow Gaelic School currently has 505 primary pupils, 237 secondary pupils and almost 60 nursery children – and the numbers are increasing every year. Plans for a second Gaelic school in the South Side to cater for 200 children have been announced with work due to start in 2015. There has been a significant rise in the number of children whose entire school day is spent talking in Gaelic. 

Glaswegians have introduced their own distinctive style of pronunciation into the language. It has been described as Gaelic with a Glasgow accent and this further demonstrates Gaelic is a growing modern living language. The number of Scots Gaelic speakers in Glasgow has reached a critical mass to the point that there is developing a Scots Gaelic Glaswegian dialect. 

Herald Scotland in an article entitled "Research Claims New Gaelic Speakers Are Developing a Glasgow Accent" reports on the findings of the linguist Dr. Claire Nance.  Nance holds a Doctorate in Gaelic and is a lecturer at Lancaster University. The findings of the four year study documanted shifts in vowel usage and intonation between Gaelic speakers in the Hebrides and Glasgow. Nance observed: " I interpreted my findings in a positive way in that Gaelic is being adapted and used for different purposes and for different reasons and in different places. And the world has changed - the future of Scotland is multilingual rather than monolingual so Gaelic is changing and adapting to reflect this.

The Herald article noted the explosion in Gaelic medium education in Scotland.  Going from 24 graduates in 1985 to an astounding 3,000 graduates in 2013.  It appears more and more that the long term viabilty of the Celtic tongue of Scotland is assured.  

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14160121.New_Gaelic_speakers_developi...