Editing Scottish Gaelic (section)

==Status==
{{anchor|Status}}

The [[Endangered Languages Project]] lists Gaelic's status as "threatened", with "20,000 to 30,000 active users".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/pdf/doi/10.4324/9780203645659.ch3|doi=10.4324/9780203645659|title=Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages|year=2008|last1=Moseley|first1=Christopher|isbn=9781135796419|access-date=26 January 2020|archive-date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126133737/https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/pdf/doi/10.4324/9780203645659.ch3|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Scottish Gaelic |url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/gla |website=Endangered Languages Project |access-date=14 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011125129/http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/gla |archive-date=11 October 2017 }}</ref>{{better source needed|? no source cited on the website, possibly crowdsourced info|date=July 2017}} UNESCO classifies Gaelic as "[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger|definitely endangered]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/endangered-gaelic-on-map-of-world-s-dead-languages-1-830316 |title='Endangered' Gaelic on map of world's dead languages |first=John |last=Ross |work=The Scotsman |date=19 February 2009 |access-date=25 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025185446/http://www.scotsman.com/news/endangered-gaelic-on-map-of-world-s-dead-languages-1-830316 |archive-date=25 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Number of speakers===
{{see also|List of Scottish Gaelic-speaking people}}
{{Gaelic demographics}}
The 1755–2001 figures are census data quoted by MacAulay.{{r|MacAulay1992|page=141}} The 2011 Gaelic speakers figures come from table KS206SC of the 2011 Census. The 2011 total population figure comes from table KS101SC. The numbers of Gaelic speakers relate to the numbers aged 3 and over, and the percentages are calculated using those and the number of the total population aged 3 and over.

Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had a full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scotland's Census at a glance: Languages |url=https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/census-results/at-a-glance/languages/ |website=Scotland's Census |access-date=7 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=2011: Gaelic report (part 1) |url=https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/media/cqoji4qx/report_part_1.pdf |website=Scotland's Census |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref>

===Distribution in Scotland===

[[File:WIKITONGUES- Iain speaking Scottish Gaelic.webm|thumb|A Scottish Gaelic speaker, recorded in [[Scotland]].]]

{{anchor|Current distribution in Scotland|reason=Old section name (may be linked); "current" doesn't mean anything concrete.}}
The [[2011 UK Census]] showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write the language.<ref>[http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-web/data-warehouse.html 2011 Census of Scotland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604200212/http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-web/data-warehouse.html |date=4 June 2014 }}, Table QS211SC. Viewed 23 June 2014.</ref> Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030405062501/http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp Scotland's Census Results Online (SCROL)], Table UV12. Viewed 23 June 2014.</ref> This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and {{lang|gd|Bòrd na Gàidhlig}} took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Census shows decline in Gaelic speakers 'slowed' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24281487 |access-date=23 June 2014 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705191626/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24281487 |archive-date=5 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ({{lang|gd|Na h-Eileanan Siar}}), where the overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the [[Highland (council area)|Highlands]] (5.4%) and in [[Argyll and Bute]] (4.0%) and [[Inverness]] (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is [[Glasgow]] with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers.
[[file:Cumbernauld Gaelic Choir at Rotary event in 2021 2.jpg|left|thumb|Cumbernauld Gaelic Choir in 2021]]
Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in the Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in [[Stornoway]], the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |title=Census shows Gaelic declining in its heartlands |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24955839 |access-date=23 June 2014 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=15 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705190857/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24955839 |archive-date=5 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is [[Kilmuir, Skye|Kilmuir]] in Northern [[Isle of Skye|Skye]] at 46%. The islands in the [[Inner Hebrides]] with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are [[Tiree]] (38.3%), [[Raasay]] (30.4%), [[Skye]] (29.4%), [[Lismore, Scotland|Lismore]] (26.9%), [[Colonsay]] (20.2%), and [[Islay]] (19.0%).

Today, no [[Civil parishes in Scotland|civil parish]] in Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in [[Barvas]], [[Isle of Lewis|Lewis]], with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in [[Ardnamurchan]], [[Highland (council area)|Highland]], with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes.

Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in the [[Scottish Lowlands]]. Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in [[Aberdeenshire]] (+526), [[North Lanarkshire]] (+305), the [[Aberdeen City Council|Aberdeen City council area]] (+216), and [[East Ayrshire]] (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), [[Moray]] (+0.16%), and [[Orkney Islands|Orkney]] (+0.13%).{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

In 2018, the census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, [[Gaelic medium education in Scotland]] has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pupil Census Supplementary Data |url=https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus |website=The Scottish Government |access-date=20 May 2019 |date=7 December 2011 |archive-date=9 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709123743/https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus |url-status=dead }}</ref> Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home.<ref name="O'Hanlon 2012">{{Cite thesis |last=O'Hanlon |first=Fiona |year=2012 |title=Lost in transition? Celtic language revitalization in Scotland and Wales: the primary to secondary school stage |publisher=The University of Edinburgh }}</ref> The effect on this of the [[#Education|significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education]] since that time is unknown.

=== Preservation and revitalization ===
[[Scottish Gaelic-medium education|Gaelic Medium Education]] is one of the primary ways that the Scottish Government is addressing Gaelic language shift. Along with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig policies, preschool and daycare environments are also being used to create more opportunities for intergenerational language transmission in the Outer Hebrides.<ref name="McEwan-Fujita-2022">{{Cite book |last=McEwan-Fujita |first=Emily |title=The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780748637102-013/html |chapter=9. Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Gaelic Communities |date=2022-03-02 |pages=172–217 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-3710-2 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9780748637102-013 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219230007/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780748637102-013/html |url-status=live }}</ref> &nbsp;However, revitalization efforts are not unified within Scotland or Nova Scotia, Canada.<ref name="Mcewan-Fujita-2005">{{Cite journal |last=Mcewan-Fujita |first=Emily |date=2005-01-01 |title=Neoliberalism and Minority-Language Planning in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl.2005.2005.171.155/html |language=en |issue=171 |pages=155–171 |doi=10.1515/ijsl.2005.2005.171.155 |s2cid=144370832 |issn=1613-3668 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219230010/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl.2005.2005.171.155/html |url-status=live }}</ref> One can attend [[Sabhal Mòr Ostaig]], a national centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, based in [[Sleat]], on the [[Isle of Skye]]. This institution is the only source for higher education which is conducted entirely in Scottish Gaelic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dachaigh – Sabhal Mòr Ostaig |url=https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/ |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=www.smo.uhi.ac.uk |language=gd-GB |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219230001/https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They offer courses for Gaelic learners from beginners into fluency. They also offer regular bachelors and graduate programs delivered entirely in Gaelic. Concerns have been raised around the fluency achieved by learners within these language programs because they are disconnected from vernacular speech communities.<ref name="McEWAN-FUJITA-2010">{{Cite journal |last=McEWAN-FUJITA |first=Emily |date=2010-01-15 |title=Ideology, affect, and socialization in language shift and revitalization: The experiences of adults learning Gaelic in the Western Isles of Scotland |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0047404509990649/type/journal_article |journal=Language in Society |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=27–64 |doi=10.1017/S0047404509990649 |s2cid=145694600 |issn=0047-4045}}</ref><ref name="Ó Giollagáin-2020">{{Cite book |last=Ó Giollagáin |first=Conchúr |url=https://doi.org/10.57132/mpub.14497417 |title=The Gaelic crisis in the vernacular community : a comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of Scottish Gaelic |date=2020 |publisher=Aberdeen University Press |others=Gòrdan Camshron, Pàdruig Moireach, Brian Ó Curnáin, Iain Caimbeul, Brian MacDonald, Tamás Péterváry |isbn=978-1-85752-080-4 |location=Aberdeen, Scotland |doi=10.57132/mpub.14497417 |oclc=1144113424 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117111555/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1144113424 |archive-date=17 November 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> In regard to language revitalization planning efforts, many feel that the initiatives must come from within Gaelic speaking communities, be led by Gaelic speakers, and be designed to serve and increase fluency within the vernacular communities as the first and most viable resistance to total language shift from Gaelic to English.<ref name="Mcewan-Fujita-2005" /><ref name="McEWAN-FUJITA-2010" /> Currently, language policies are focused on creating new language speakers through education, instead of focused on how to strengthen intergenerational transmission within existing Gaelic speaking communities.<ref name="Mcewan-Fujita-2005" />

=== Challenges to preservation and revitalization ===
In the [[Outer Hebrides]], accommodation ethics exist amongst native or local Gaelic speakers when engaging with new learners or non-locals.<ref name="McEWAN-FUJITA-2010" /> Accommodation ethics, or ethics of accommodation, is a social practice where local or native speakers of Gaelic shift to speaking English when in the presence of non-Gaelic speakers out of a sense of courtesy or politeness. This accommodation ethic persists even in situations where new learners attempt to speak Gaelic with native speakers.<ref name="McEWAN-FUJITA-2010" /> This creates a situation where new learners struggle to find opportunities to speak Gaelic with fluent speakers. [[Affect (psychology)|Affect]] is the way people feel about something, or the emotional response to a particular situation or experience. For Gaelic speakers, there is a conditioned and socialized negative affect through a long history of negative Scottish media portrayal and public disrespect, state mandated restrictions on Gaelic usage, and [[Highland Clearances|highland clearances]].<ref name="McEwan-Fujita-2022" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Prebble |first=John |title=The Highland Clearances |publisher=Penguin |year=1969 |isbn=0140028374 |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex}}</ref><ref name="McEwan-Fujita-2011">{{Cite journal |last=McEwan-Fujita |first=Emily |date=2011-01-01 |title=Language revitalization discourses as metaculture: Gaelic in Scotland from the 18th to 20th centuries |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271530910000571 |journal=Language & Communication |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=48–62 |doi=10.1016/j.langcom.2010.12.001 |issn=0271-5309 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308104845/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271530910000571 |url-status=live }}</ref> This negative affect towards speaking openly with non-native Gaelic speakers has led to a language ideology at odds with revitalization efforts on behalf of new speakers, state policies (such as the Gaelic Language Act), and family members reclaiming their lost mother tongue. New learners of Gaelic often have a positive affective stance to their language learning, and connect this learning journey towards Gaelic language revitalization.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2011-01-05 |title=Reversing Language Shift: The Social Identity and Role of Scottish Gaelic Learners (Belfast Studies in Language, Culture and Politics) by Alasdair MacCaluim |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00407_2.x |journal=Journal of Sociolinguistics |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=266–269 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00407_2.x |last1=Dorian |first1=Nancy C. |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219230011/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00407_2.x |url-status=live }}</ref> The mismatch of these language ideologies, and differences in affective stance, has led to fewer speaking opportunities for adult language learners and therefore a challenge to revitalization efforts which occur outside the home. Positive engagements between language learners and native speakers of Gaelic through mentorship has proven to be productive in socializing new learners into fluency.<ref name="McEWAN-FUJITA-2010" /><ref name="McEwan-Fujita-2011" />