← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kevin_O'Keeffe
Thread ID: 16150 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-01-02
2005-01-02 17:18 | User Profile
Info on other endangered languages [url=http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_index.html#class]here[/url].
Irish Gaelic Variant(s): (only) Gaelic, Irish, Erse
Geographical location: the Republic of Ireland: four principal areas in the west, two in Donegal County, one each in Galway and Kerry counties, plus eight small pockets, also in Mayo, Cork, and Waterford counties; formerly also in Northern Ireland
Relationships: /Goidelic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: ENDANGERED [in the Republic of Ireland; EXTINCT in Northern Ireland] (a) children speakers: a number of children learn the language, but they may not become active users (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: 29,000 people in the four principal areas, plus less than a thousand in each of the pockets (1976); perhaps less than 20,000 today (e) degree of speakers' competence: there are not many fully competent speakers among younger generations
Sources: (i) information (about the language): -- (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): a lot (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Desmond Fennell, Reg Hindley
Remarks: The official cencus figures include many English speakers who have learned Irish at school.
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Manx Gaelic Variant(s): Manx
Geographical location: Isle of Man until the death of the last speaker in 1974
Relationships: /Goidelic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: EXTINCT (a) children speakers: (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: native Manx people, though monolingual in English, regard themselves as a separate people; cf. Remarks (e) degree of speakers' competence:
Sources: (i) information (about the language): George Broderick: A handbook of late spoken Manx. Tübingen 1984. (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): quite a lot (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): George Broderick
Remarks: There are people living in the Isle of Man who have studied Manx as a foreign language, but who wish to be called speakers of Manx.
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Scottish Gaelic Variant(s): (only) Gaelic
Geographical location: Scotland: rural areas of the Western Isles (Lewis, Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Barra) and Skye, and a few locations in the rest of the Inner Isles and the Highland mainland (mainly Sutherland, Ross-Cromarty, Inverness, and Argyll counties)
Relationships: /Goidelic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: ENDANGERED (a) children speakers: a number of children learn the language, but they may not become active users (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: 20,000 to 30,000 active users; more than 50,000 others claim knowledge of the language (e) degree of speakers' competence: regular users appear fully competent
Sources: (i) information (about the language): Gaelic and Scotland. Ed. by William Gillies. Edinburgh 1989. | journal Scottish Gaelic Studies. Aberdeen. | journal Scottish language. Aberdeen. (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): a lot (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Derick Thomson (Glasgow)
Remarks:
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Welsh Variant(s): (in Welsh) Cymraeg
Geographical location: Wales: most northern and western parts, plus a small extension to England around Oswestry; early last century almost all of Wales, and also Merseyside and larger areas of Shropshire, England
Relationships: /Brythonic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: ENDANGERED [in Wales; SERIOUSLY ENDANGERED in England] (a) children speakers: many children learn the language, and recent reports indicate that the state of Welsh is slowly getting better, but it is too early to say if this will stop the gradual erosion of the language area (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: official figures range up to 550,000 but the number of regular users may be only half of that (e) degree of speakers' competence: regular users appear fully competent
Sources: (i) information (about the language): Henry Lewis: Die kymrische Sprache. Innsbruck 1989. (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): a lot (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): C. H. Williams
Remarks:
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Cornish Variant(s):
Geographical location: Cornwall, England, until the death of the last speaker, which probably took place in 1777
Relationships: /Brythonic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: EXTINCT (a) children speakers: (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: (e) degree of speakers' competence:
Sources: (i) information (about the language): Glanville Price: The languages of Britain. London 1984. (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): a little (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Glanville Price
Remarks: reports of modern speakers of Cornish actually refer to people who have studied an artificial language based on Cornish, called 'Cornic' by Price (1984)
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Breton Variant(s): (in Breton) Brezhoneg
Geographical location: France: western Brittany, and scattered in eastern Brittany
Relationships: /Brythonic/Celtic/Indo-European
Present state of the language: SERIOUSLY ENDANGERED (a) children speakers: a few children learn the language, but most cease to use it throughout the school years (b) mean age of youngest speakers: (c) distribution by sex: (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: approx. 500,000 regular users; more than a million claim some knowledge of the language (e) degree of speakers' competence: regular users are mostly fully competent, though even they mix French elements in their speech
Sources: (i) information (about the language): Marianne R. Berger: Sprachkontakte in der Bretagne. Tübingen 1988. | Malachy McKenna: A handbook of modern spoken Breton. Tübingen 1988. | Ian Press: A grammar of Modern Breton. Berlin 1986. (ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): a lot (iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Jean Le Dú, Malachy McKenna
Remarks:
Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993