A Basic History of Celtic Languages
Many people are surprised to learn that Celtic languages are still spoken. Although they are still around, all those that are not yet extinct—Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton—are all endangered. Two good sites for information about the status of all the Celtic languages are the UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages: Europe (Tapani Salminen, 1993-1999: http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_... and Christopher Gwinn’s website devoted to the Gaulish language, http://members.nbci.com/gaulishweb/.
Irish Gaelic, usually simply called Irish, has survived as a native language in the west of the Republic of Ireland (Éire), although it has died out in Northern Ireland. Irish speakers in Ireland are estimated to number approximately 20,000 or less.
Scottish Gaelic is usually referred to as Gaelic and is spoken in the Western Isles of Scotland, especially the Outer Hebrides. There are about 50,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland.
Welsh is still spoken in Wales, especially the north and west, and even in parts of England, though it is rare there. There are approximately total 550,000 Welsh speakers.
Breton has survived in Brittany, the northwest of France, where there are about 500,000 speakers.
Manx Gaelic was spoken on the Isle of Man and is officially extinct, as of 1974.
Cornish was spoken in Cornwall, England (the southwest part of the country) and has been extinct since around 1777.
Cumbrian was spoken in the Cumbria region, or northern England and southern Scotland. It has been extinct since approximately the 10th century.
Gaulish was both spoken on the European Continent and has been extinct for some time, since the middle of the first millennium.
Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family. Two good sites for learning about the Celtic language family, and the world language family tree are: http://www.krysstal.com/langfams.html and http://members.nbci.com/gaulishweb/. There are two current main divisions within the Celtic branch: Q-Celtic and P-Celtic. Q-Celtic refers to the Goidelic (often referred to generally as “Gaelic”) languages: Irish, Gaelic and Manx. P-Celtic covers the Brythonic (“British”) ones: Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Cumbrian. Gaulish is also considered a P-Celtic language, although it is on the same level as Goidelic and Brythonic in the Celtic family tree. It is the only Continental Celtic language mentioned here, as the others are all considered Insular Celtic (even Breton, which actually originated in Southwestern England).
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