Scottish Gaelic in Canada - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Canadian Gaelic or Cape Breton Gaelic , locally just Gaelic or The Gaelic, refers to the dialects of Scottish Gaelic that have been spoken continuously for more than 200 years on Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

and in isolated enclaves on the Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

mainland. To a lesser extent the language is also spoken on nearby Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

, Glengarry County

Glengarry County, Ontario

thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...

in present-day Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

and by emigrant Gaels

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

living in major Canadian cities such as Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. At its peak in the mid-19th century, Gaelic, considered together with the closely related Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, was the third most spoken language in Canada after English

Canadian English

Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...

and French

French in Canada

French is the mother tongue of about 7.0 million Canadians . Most native French speakers in Canada live in Quebec, where it is the majority and sole official language. About 80% of Quebec's population are native francophones, and 95% of the population speak French as their first or second language...

. The language has sharply declined since that period, however, and is now nearly extinct

Language death

In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...

. Recently, efforts have been made to revitalise the language.

Early speakers

In 1621, King James VI of Scotland

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

allowed privateer William Alexander

William Alexander (the younger)

Sir William Alexander was the founder, in 1629, of the Scottish colony at Port-Royal, now the site of modern Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. He also built forts in Cape Breton then in Port Royal. He was the son of colonizer William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, but predeceased his father and...

to establish the first Scottish colony overseas. The group of Highlanders

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

– all of whom were Gaelic-speaking – settled at what is presently known as Port Royal

Port Royal, Nova Scotia

Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...

, on the western shore of Nova Scotia. Within a year the colony had failed. Subsequent attempts to relaunch it were cancelled when in 1631 the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on March 29, 1632. It returned New France to French control after the English had seized it in 1629. It also provided France with compensation for goods seized during the capture of New France....

returned Nova Scotia to French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

rule.

Almost a half-century later, in 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

was given exclusive trading

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

rights to all North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n lands draining into Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

– about 3.9 million km² (1.5 million sq mi – an area larger than India). Many of the traders were Orcadians

Orkney Islands

Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...

and Scottish Highlanders, the latter of whom brought Gaelic to the interior. Those who intermarried with the local First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

people passed on their language, with the effect that by the mid-18th century there existed a sizeable population of Métis

Anglo-Métis

A 19th-century community of the Métis people of Canada, the Anglo-Métis, more commonly known as Countryborn, were children of fur traders; they typically had Orcadian, Scottish, or English fathers and Aboriginal mothers. Their first languages were generally those of their mothers: Cree, Saulteaux,...

traders with Scottish and aboriginal ancestry, and command of spoken Gaelic.

Settlement

Cape Breton remained the property of France until 1758 (although mainland Nova Scotia had belonged to Britain since 1713) when Fortress Louisbourg fell to the British, followed by the rest of New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

in the ensuing Battle at the Plaines d'Abraham

Battle of the Plains of Abraham

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...

. As a result of the conflict Highland regiments who fought for the British

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

secured a reputation for tenacity and combat prowess. In turn the countryside itself secured a reputation among the Highlanders for its size, beauty, and wealth of natural resources.

They would remember Canada when in 1762 the earliest of the Fuadaich nan Gàidheal (Scottish Highland Clearances

Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...

) forced many Gaelic families off their ancestral lands. The first ship loaded with Hebridean colonists arrived on "St.-John's Island" (Prince Edward Island) in 1770, with later ships following in 1772, and 1774. In 1773 a ship named "The Hector" landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, with 169 settlers mostly originating from the Isle of Skye. In 1784 the last barrier to Scottish settlement – a law restricting land-ownership on Cape Breton Island – was repealed, and soon both PEI and Nova Scotia were predominantly Gaelic-speaking. It is estimated more than 50,000 Gaelic settlers immigrated to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island between 1815 and 1870.

With the end of the American War of Independence, immigrants newly arrived from Scotland would soon be joined by Loyalist

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

emigrants escaping persecution from American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Partisans

Patriot (American Revolution)

Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...

. These settlers arrived on a mass scale at the arable lands of British North America

British North America

British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...

, with large numbers settling in Glengarry County

Glengarry County, Ontario

in present-day Ontario, and in the Eastern Townships

Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...

of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

Red River colony

In 1812, Lord Selkirk of Scotland obtained 300000 square kilometres (115,830.6 sq mi) to build a colony at the forks of the Red River

Red River of the North

The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...

, in what would become Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. With the help of his employee and friend, Archibald McDonald

Archibald McDonald

Archibald McDonald was Chief Trader for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Langley, Fort Nisqually and Fort Colville and one-time deputy governor of the Red River Settlement.-Early life:...

, Selkirk sent over 70 Scottish settlers, many of whom spoke only Gaelic, and had them establish a small farming colony there. The settlement soon attracted local First Nations groups, resulting in an unprecedented interaction of Scottish (Lowland

Lowland

In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...

, Highland

Scottish Highlands

, and Orcadian), English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

, Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

, French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

, Ojibwe, Saulteaux

Saulteaux

The Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.-Ethnic classification:The Saulteaux are a branch of the Ojibwe nations. They are sometimes also called Anihšināpē . Saulteaux is a French term meaning "people of the rapids," referring to...

, and Métis

Métis people (Canada)

The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

traditions all in close contact.

In the 1840s, Toronto Anglican

Anglican Church of Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...

priest Dr John Black was sent to preach to the settlement, but "his lack of the Gaelic was at first a grievous disappointment" to parishioners. With continuing immigration the population of Scots colonists grew to more than 300, but by the 1860s the French-Métis outnumbered the Scots, and tensions between the two groups would prove a major factor in the ensuing Red River Rebellion

Red River Rebellion

The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...

.

The continuing association between the Selkirk colonists and surrounding First Nations

First Nations

groups evolved into a unique contact language. Used primarily by the Anglo-

Anglo-Métis

and Scots-Métis traders, the "Red River Dialect"

Bungee language

Bungi is a creole of Scottish English strongly influenced by Orcadian, Gaelic, Cree and Ojibwe, and spoken by the Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba, Canada...

or Bungee was a mixture of Gaelic and English with many terms borrowed from the local native languages. Whether the dialect was a trade pidgin

Pidgin

A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...

or a fully developed mixed language

Mixed language

A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...

is unknown. Today the Scots-Métis have largely been absorbed by the more dominant French-Métis culture, and the Bungee dialect is most likely extinct

Language death

Nineteenth century

By 1850, Gaelic was the third most-common mother tongue in British North America

British North America

after English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, and is believed to have been spoken by more than 200,000 British North Americans at that time. A large population who spoke the related Irish Gaelic

Newfoundland Irish

Newfoundland Irish is an extinct dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was very similar to Munster Irish, as spoken in the southeast of Ireland, due to mass immigration from the counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork.-Irish settlement...

immigrated to Scots Gaelic communities and to Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

settlements in Newfoundland. In PEI and Cape Breton

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

there were large areas of Gaelic monolingualism, and communities of Gaelic-speakers had established themselves in northeastern Nova Scotia (around Pictou and Antigonish); in Glengarry, Stormont, Grey, and Bruce Counties in Ontario; in the Codroy Valley

Codroy Valley

The Codroy Valley is a valley in the southwestern part of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.The Codroy Valley is a glacial valley formed in the Anguille Mountains, a sub-range of the Long Range Mountains which run along Newfoundland's west coast...

of Newfoundland; in Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Eastern Quebec

Eastern Townships

.

At the time of Confederation in 1867 the most common mother tongue among the Fathers of Confederation was Gaelic. In 1890, Thomas Robert McInnes

Thomas Robert McInnes

Thomas Robert McInnes or Tòmas Raibeart Mac Aonghais was a Canadian physician, Member of the House of Commons, Senator, and the sixth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia....

, an independent Senator

Canadian Senate

The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...

from British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

(born Lake Ainslie

Lake Ainslie

Lake Ainslie on Cape Breton Island is one of the largest natural freshwater lake in Nova Scotia. The Southwest Margaree River starts at the lake and empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

, Cape Breton Island) tabled a bill entitled "An Act to Provide for the Use of Gaelic in Official Proceedings." He cited the ten Scottish and eight Irish senators who spoke Gaelic, and 32 members of the House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

who spoke either Scottish or Irish Gaelic. The bill was defeated 42–7. Despite the widespread disregard by government on Gaelic issues, records exist of at least one criminal trial conducted entirely in Gaelic, c.1880–1900 in Baddeck, and presided over by Chief Justice Seumas Mac Dhòmhnaill.

Linguistic features

The phonology

Phonology

Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...

of some Canadian Gaelic dialects have diverged in several ways from the standard Gaelic spoken in Scotland, while others have remained the same. Gaelic terms unique to Canada exist, though research on the exact number is deficient. The language has also had a considerable effect on Cape Breton English.

Phonology

l̪ˠ → w

The most common Canadian Gaelic shibboleth

Shibboleth

A shibboleth is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important...

, where broad /l̪ˠ/ is pronounced as [w]. This form was well-known in Western Scotland where it was called the glug Eigeach ("Eigg cluck"), for its putative use among speakers from the Isle of Eigg

Eigg

Eigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...

n̪ˠ → m

When /n̪ˠ/ occurs after a rounded

Roundedness

In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. That is, it is vocalic labialization. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed...

vowel, speakers tend to pronounce it as [m].

n̪ˠ → w

This form is limited mostly to the plural ending -annan, where the -nn- sequence is pronounced as [w].

r → ʃ

This change occurs frequently in many Scotland dialects when "r" is realized next to specific consonants; however such conditions are not necessary in Canadian Gaelic, where "r" is pronounced [ʃ] regardless of surrounding sounds.

Vocabulary

feirmeireachd verb to farm.

lodan noun a velvet offering pouch for church.

mogan noun a term which refers to a heavy ankle sock sold with a rubberized sole that was sold in Cape Breton four decades ago. The term also refers to a pull-on leg warmer for use when wearing the kilt in cold climates.

pàirc-coillidh (or pàirce-choilleadh) noun a wooded clearing burnt for planting crops, literally "forest park".

dreag noun a will-o'-the-wisp
Will-o'-the-wisp
A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...

.

sgeatadh verb an gaelicization of the English verb "to skate".

seant (pl. seantaichean) noun a gaelicization of the English noun "cent". The term "dolair" is used in Canada and the U.S. instead of the word "nota", which refers to a British pound. "Sgillinn" is used both in Canada, the US, and Scotland to refer to coins.

smuglair noun a gaelicization of the English word smuggler.

ponndadh verb a gaelicization of the English verb "to pound". That this may have been used in Cape Breton instead of "bualadh" is evidence of the heavy reliance on English loan words.

trì sgillinn phrasal noun a nickel. (literally "three pence

Penny Scots

Penny was used in Scottish parlance for money generally; for example, a "penny-fee" was an expression for wages, a "penny-maister" would be a town treasurer, and a "penny-wedding" was one where every guest contributed to pay for the thing...

").

sia sgillinn phrasal noun a dime. (literally "six pence").

tastan phrasal noun twenty cents. (literally "a shilling").

dà thastan agus sia sgillinn phrasal noun fifty cents. (literally "two shillings and six pence").

còig tastan phrasal noun a dollar. (literally "five shillings").

stòr noun a gaelicization of the English noun "store". Although the word stòr does refer to a storage building as well as wealth, the Gaelic term "bùth" is far more common among Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton today.

taigh-obrach noun workhouse (penitentiary).

bangaid noun a banquet.

Na Machraichean Mòra noun The Canadian Prairies.

buna-bhuachaille noun common loon.

Gaelic in Nova Scotia English

boomaler noun a boor, oaf, bungler.
sgudal noun garbage (sgudal).
skiff noun a deep blanket of snow covering the ground. (from sguabach or sgiobhag).

Arts and culture

A. W. R. MacKenzie founded the Nova Scotia Gaelic College

Nova Scotia Gaelic College

The Nova Scotia Gaelic College is located in the community of St. Ann's, in Victoria County, Cape Breton Island.The college was founded in order to preserve the Gaelic culture of Cape Breton Island.-External links:*...

at St Ann's

St. Ann's, Nova Scotia

Not to be confused with present-day Englishtown, Nova Scotia, which was formerly known as Saint Anne.St. Anns is a Canadian rural community located in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the southwestern shore of St...

in 1939. St Francis Xavier University

St. Francis Xavier University

St. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...

in Antigonish

Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Antigonish is a Canadian town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous highland games in North America.-History:...

has a Celtic Studies department with Gaelic-speaking faculty members, and is the only such university department outside Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

to offer four full years of Scottish Gaelic instruction. The Atlantic Gaelic Academy in Nova Scotia offers a four year program as well. Eòin Baoideach of Antigonish published the monthly Gaelic magazine An Cuairtear Òg Gaelach ("The Gaelic Tourist") around 1851. The world's longest-running Gaelic periodical Mac Talla (Echo), was printed by Eòin G. MacFhionghain for eleven years between 1892 and 1904, in Sydney

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....

. Eòin and Seòras MacShuail, believed to be the only black

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

speakers of Goidelic languages

Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...

in Canada, were born in Cape Breton and in adulthood became friends with Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

, who in 1896 wrote Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon...

, which featured an isolated Gaelic-speaking African-Canadian cook originally from Cape Breton.

Many English-speaking artists of Canadian Gaelic heritage have featured Canadian Gaelic in their works, among them Alistair MacLeod

Alistair MacLeod

Alistair MacLeod, OC is a noted Canadian author and retired professor of English at the University of Windsor.- Academic career :...

(No Great Mischief
No Great Mischief
No Great Mischief is a 1999 novel by Alistair MacLeod.The novel opens in the present day, with successful orthodontist Alexander MacDonald visiting his elderly older brother Calum in Toronto, Ontario...

), Ann-Marie MacDonald

Ann-Marie MacDonald

Ann-Marie MacDonald is a Canadian playwright, novelist, actor and broadcast journalist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. The daughter of a member of Canada's military, she was born at an air force base near Baden-Baden, West Germany....

(Fall on Your Knees
Fall on Your Knees
Fall on Your Knees is a novel by Canadian playwright, actor and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald. The novel takes place in late 19th and early 20th centuries and chronicles four generations of the complex Piper Family. It is a story of "inescapable family bonds, terrible secrets, and of miracles"...

), and D.R. MacDonald (Cape Breton Road ). Gaelic singer Mary Jane Lamond

Mary Jane Lamond

Mary Jane Lamond is a Canadian celtic folk musician who performs traditional Canadian Gaelic folk songs from Cape Breton Island. She was born in 1960 in Kingston, Ontario, graduated from Westmount High School in Montreal and then the Celtic Studies program at St...

has released several albums in the language, including the 1997 hit Hòro Ghoid thu Nighean, ("Jenny Dang the Weaver"). Cape Breton fiddling

Cape Breton fiddling

Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish...

is a unique tradition of Gaelic and Acadia

Acadia

Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...

n styles, known in fiddling circles worldwide.

Several Canadian schools use the "Gael" as a mascot, the most prominent being Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

in Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

. The school cheer of Queen's University is "Oilthigh na Bànrighinn a' Bhànrighinn gu bràth!"
Oil Thigh
The Oil Thigh is the name given to the anthem and fight song of Queen's University and its sports teams, the Queen's Gaels. Although the song's official title is Queen's College Colours, it is almost universally referred to by the first words of the Gaelic chorus.-Etymology:Oilthigh is the...

("The College of the Queen forever!"), and is traditionally sung after scoring a touchdown in football

Canadian football

Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

matches. The university's team is nicknamed the Golden Gaels

Queen's Golden Gaels

The Queen's Gaels are the athletic teams that represent Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Team colours are blue, red, and gold. Its main home is Richardson Memorial Stadium on West Campus....

.

The Gaelic character of Nova Scotia has influenced that province's industry and traditions. Glen Breton Rare

Glen Breton Rare

Glen Breton Rare is a Canadian single malt whisky. It is distilled and produced by Glenora Distillers of Glenville, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada.-Information:...

, produced in Cape Breton, is one of the very few single malt whiskies to be made outside of Scotland. Gaelic settlers in Windsor

Windsor, Nova Scotia

Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...

adapted the popular Gaelic sport shinty

Shinty

Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...

(shinny) to be played on ice wearing skates, the precursor to modern ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

.

The first Gaelic language film to be made in North America, Faire Chaluim MhicLeòid ("The Wake of Calum MacLeod") is a six-minute short filmed in Cape Breton.

Reasons for decline

Despite the long history of Gaelic in Canada, the fluent population started to decline after 1850. This drop was a result of prejudice

Prejudice

Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...

(both from outside, and from within the Gaelic community itself), aggressive dissuasion in school and government, and the perceived prestige

Prestige (sociology)

Prestige is a word commonly used to describe reputation or esteem, though it has three somewhat related meanings that, to some degree, may be contradictory. Which meaning applies depends on the historical context and the person using the word....

of English.

Gaelic has faced widespread prejudice in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

for generations, and those feelings were easily transposed to British North America

British North America

. In 1868, the Scottish-American Journal mockingly reported that "...the preliminary indispensables for acquiring Gaelic are: swallowing a neat assortment of nutmeal-graters, catching a chronic bronchitis, having one nostril hermetically sealed up, and submitting to a dislocation of the jaw."

That Gaelic had not received official status in its homeland made it easier for Canadian legislators to disregard the concerns of domestic speakers. Legislators questioned why "privileges should be asked for Highland Scotchmen in [the Canadian Parliament] that are not asked for in their own country?". Politicians who themselves spoke the language held opinions that would today be considered misinformed; Lunenburg

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...

Senator Henry A. N. Kaulbach, in response to Thomas Robert McInnes

Thomas Robert McInnes

Thomas Robert McInnes or Tòmas Raibeart Mac Aonghais was a Canadian physician, Member of the House of Commons, Senator, and the sixth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia....

's Gaelic bill, described the language as only "well suited to poetry and fairy tales." The belief that certain languages had inherent strengths and weaknesses was typical in the 19th century, but has been wholly refuted by modern linguistics

Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

.

Around 1880, Am Bàrd Mac Dhiarmaid from The North Shore

Inverness County, Nova Scotia

Inverness County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Its territory is almost contiguous with the Municipality of Inverness County, which only excludes the town of Port Hawkesbury and First Nation reserves.-History:...

, wrote An Té a Chaill a' Ghàidhlig (The Woman who Lost her Gaelic), a humorous song recounting the growing phenomenon of Gaels shunning their mother-tongue.

Chuir mi fàilte oirr' gu càirdeil:

"Dé mar a tha thu, seann leannan?"

Gun do shìn mi mo làmh dhi,

's thug mi dha dhe na crathadh.

...

Fhreagair ise gu nàimhdeil:

"You're a Scotchman I reckon.

I don't know your Gaelic,

Perhaps you are from Cape Breton."

I welcomed her with affection:

"How are you old sweetheart?"

I held out my hand,

But she ignored it.

...

She answered haughtily:

"You're a Scotchman I reckon.

I don't know your Gaelic,

Perhaps you are from Cape Breton."

With the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

the Canadian government attempted to prevent the use of Gaelic on public telecommunications systems. The government believed Gaelic was used by subversives affiliated with Ireland, a neutral country tolerant of the Nazis. In Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton where the Gaelic language was strongest, it was actively discouraged in schools with corporal punishment

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...

. Children were beaten with the maide-crochaidh (en: hanging stick) if caught speaking Gaelic.

Job opportunities for monolingual Gaels were few and restricted to the dwindling Gaelic-communities, compelling most into the mines

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

or the fishery

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

. Many saw English fluency as the key to success, and for the first time in Canadian history Gaelic-speaking parents were teaching their children to speak English en masse. The sudden stop of Gaelic intergenerational transmission, caused by shame and prejudice, was the immediate cause of the drastic decline in Gaelic fluency in the 20th century.

Ultimately the population dropped from a peak of 200,000 in 1850, to 80,000 in 1900, to 30,000 in 1930 and 500–1,000 today. There are no longer entire communities of Canadian Gaelic-speakers, although traces of the language and pockets of speakers are relatively commonplace on Cape Breton, and especially in traditional strongholds like Christmas Island, The North Shore

Inverness County, Nova Scotia

, and Baddeck.

Outlook and development

The last fluent Gaelic-speaker in Ontario, descended from the original settlers of Glengarry County

Glengarry County, Ontario

, died in 2001.

The oft-quoted statistic that "Scots Gaelic is spoken by more people in Cape Breton than in Scotland" is false. As of 2001 the official UK estimation is 58 652 Gaelic speakers; a figure possibly fifty times larger than the most optimistic Canadian statistic. Despite this, in the past twenty years interest in the language has grown considerably, in parallel to a similar build on the opposite side of the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. Although not on the scale of the Scotland

Scotland

revival (for example there are not yet Canadian Gaelic-language immersion schools

Language immersion

Language immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...

), several government initiatives have been undertaken to assess the current state of the language and language-community.

With Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

being home to between 500 and 1,000 native Gaelic speakers, most of whom now elderly and all of whom being direct decendents of the 18th and 19th Century Highland Clearances

Highland Clearances

, the provincial government announced in May 2004 the funding of an initiative to support the language and its culture within the province, however Gaelic holds no official status under federal, provincial, or municipal law. But, as in Scotland, bilingual street signs also are in place in areas of Northern Eastern Nova Scotia and in Cape Breton. Nova Scotia also has the 'Comhairle na Gàidhlig' (The Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia), a non-profit society dedicated to the maintenance and promotion of the Gaelic language and culture in Maritime Canada.

In Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, the Colonel Gray High School now offers both an introductory and an advanced course in Gaelic; both language and history are taught in these classes. This is the first recorded time that Gaelic has ever been taught as an official course on Prince Edward Island.

Maxville Public School in Maxville, Glengarry

Glengarry County, Ontario

, Ontario

Ontario

, Canada offers Scottish Gaelic lessons weekly.

The province of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

is host to the 'Comunn Gàidhlig Bhancoubhair' (The Gaelic Society of Vancouver), the Vancouver Gaelic Choir, the Victoria Gaelic Choir, as well as the annual Gaelic festival 'Mòd Vancouver'. The city of Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

's Scottish Cultural Centre also holds seasonal Scottish Gaelic evening classes.

Government

A Gaelic Economic-impact Study completed by the Nova Scotia government in 2002 estimates that Gaelic generates over $23.5 million annually, with nearly 380,000 people attending approximately 2,070 Gaelic events annually. This study inspired a subsequent report, The Gaelic Preservation Strategy, which polled the community's desire to preserve Gaelic while seeking consensus on adequate reparative measures. These two documents are watersheds in the timeline of Canadian Gaelic, representing the first concrete steps taken by the provincial government to recognize the language's decline and engage local speakers in reversing this trend. The documents recommend Community development

Community development

Community development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities....

, strengthening education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, legislating road signs and publications, and building ties between the Gaelic community and other Nova Scotia "heritage language" communities (Mi'kmaq

Mi'kmaq language

The Mi'kmaq language is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 9,100 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Míkmaw...

and Acadian French

Acadian French

Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...

).

Increased ties were called for between Nova Scotia and Scotland, and the first such agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding, was signed in 2002. The most recent step initiated by the government, and arguably the most significant, has been to create the Oifis Iomairtean na Gàidhlig (Office of Gaelic Affairs), the provincial department charged with promoting and engaging the province's Gaelic-speaking community. Established in December 2006, the mission of the Oifis is to collaborate with Nova Scotians in the renewal of Gaelic language and culture in the Province. One of the Office's first moves was to recruit a fluent Gaelic speaker from the Scottish Gàidhealtachd

Gàidhealtachd

The Gàidhealtachd , sometimes known as A' Ghàidhealtachd , usually refers to the Scottish highlands and islands, and especially the Scottish Gaelic culture of the area. The corresponding Irish word Gaeltacht however refers strictly to an Irish speaking area...

to live and work in Cape Breton and assist with ongoing language learning activities.

Education

Today over a dozen public institutions offer Gaelic courses, (such as a Canadian History course in Gaelic at North Nova Education Centre, Nova Scotia) in addition to advanced programmes conducted at Cape Breton, St Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier University

, and Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's University (Halifax)

Saint Mary's University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The school is best known for having nationally lead programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies as well, one of the best football and Men's hockey programs in Canada .The campus is situated in Halifax's...

Universities, and the Atlantic Gaelic Academy. The Atlantic Gaelic Academy offers a Gaelic program, with levels from Beginner to Advanced Plus, through in-person classes at various locations, and "live" distance-learning classes. Gaelic courses at public schools are increasingly popular. The Nova Scotia Highland Village offers a bilingual interpretation site, presenting Gaelic and English interpretation for visitors and offering programmes for the local community members. The Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts

Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts

The Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts is a Canadian educational institution located in the community of St...

in St. Ann's

St. Ann's, Nova Scotia

offers Gaelic summer classes.

Sponsored by local Gaelic organizations and societies, ongoing Gaelic language adult immersion classes involving hundreds of individuals are held in over a dozen communities in the province. These immersion programs focus on learning language through activity, props and repetition. Reading, writing and grammar are introduced after the student has had a minimum amount of exposure to hearing and speaking Gaelic through everyday contextualized activities. A recently established organization, FIOS (Forfhais, Innleachd, Oideachas agus Seirbhisean) focuses on the criteria and development of language learning programs at the community level using immersion methodologies. The grouping of immersion methodologies and the Gaelic arts in the immersion environment is referred to in Nova Scotia as Gàidhlig aig Baile.

Gaelic Place-names in Canada

Names in Cape Breton Island (Eilean Cheap Breatainn)

Broad Cove: An Caolas Leathann
Glendale
Inverness County, Nova Scotia
Inverness County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Its territory is almost contiguous with the Municipality of Inverness County, which only excludes the town of Port Hawkesbury and First Nation reserves.-History:...

: Bràigh na h-Aibhneadh
Inverness
Inverness, Nova Scotia
Inverness is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia. In 2001 its population was 2,496.Located on the west coast of Cape Breton Island fronting the Gulf of St...

: Baile Inbhir Nis or An Sithean
Judique
Judique, Nova Scotia
Judique is a small community located in Inverness County on the Ceilidh Trail on the western side of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada....

: Siùdaig
Mabou
Mabou, Nova Scotia
Mabou -Mȧbu is a small Canadian rural community located in Inverness County on the west coast of Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. The population in 2001 was 1,289 residents....

: Màbu or An Drochaid
Southwest Margaree
Margaree River
The Margaree River is a river on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The northeast branch of the river derives from the watershed of the Cape Breton Highlands, while the Southwest Margaree flows northeast from Lake Ainslie. The two branches join at Margaree Forks...

: Bràigh na h-Aibhne
Whycocomagh
Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia
Whycocomagh is a small Canadian rural community in the province of Nova Scotia. The population in 2001 was 854 residents. It is located on the eastern edge of Inverness County in the central part of Cape Breton Island. The community sits on the northwestern shore of St. Patrick's Channel, an arm...

: Hogamah
Baddeck
Baddeck, Nova Scotia
Baddeck is a Canadian village in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.It is the county's shire town and is situated on the northern shore of Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island...

: Badaig
Iona
Victoria County, Nova Scotia
Victoria County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.The shire town and largest municipality is the village of Baddeck.-History:Named after Queen Victoria, it was established by statute in 1851...

: Sanndraigh
The North Shore: An Cladach a Tuath
St Ann's
St. Ann's, Nova Scotia
Not to be confused with present-day Englishtown, Nova Scotia, which was formerly known as Saint Anne.St. Anns is a Canadian rural community located in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the southwestern shore of St...

: Baile Anna
Christmas Island
Christmas Island, Nova Scotia
Christmas Island, Nova Scotia is a community of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Canada. It has a post office, a firehall and a very small population. The post office of Christmas Island gets postcards from around the world during Christmas time so they can get the...

: Eilean na Nollaig
Big Beach
Big Beach, Nova Scotia
Big Beach is a community located on the north side of the Boisdale Hills on the east side of the Great Bras D'Or Lake on Provincial Route 223, which runs from Leitches Creek to Little Narrows, through Central Cape Breton Island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia...

: An Tràigh Mhòr
Grand Mira: A' Mhira Mhòr
Big Pond
Big Pond, Nova Scotia
Big Pond is a community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada on the south shore of Bras d'Or Lake. Big Pond is approximately in the center between the communities of St...

: Am Pòn Mòr
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond, Nova Scotia
Loch Lomond is a community located in Richmond County, Nova Scotia. It is named after Loch Lomond in Dunbartonshire, Scotland....

: Loch Laomainn
Marion Bridge
Marion Bridge, Nova Scotia
Marion Bridge is a Canadian rural community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.The community is named for the eponymous bridge that crosses the Mira River; Marion Bridge being approximately mid-way between the river's source in Grand Mira and its discharge point at Mira Gut...

: Drochaid Mhira
Sydney
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....

: Baile Shidni
Grand River
Richmond County, Nova Scotia
Richmond County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Named in honour of Sir Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, who was Governor General of British North America 1818-1819, Richmond County was created in 1835....

: Abhainn Mhòr
Port Hastings
Port Hastings, Nova Scotia
Port Hastings is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia.The community is located at the eastern end of the Canso Causeway on Cape Breton Island.-History:The community was previously known as Plaster Cove....

: Còbh a' Phlàstair
Port Hawkesbury
Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia
-Historical residents:*Henry Nicholas Paint , member of Parliament for Richmond county, merchant and land owner. His family received land grants at Belle Vue on the Strait of Canso in 1817 and at Point Tupper in 1863, and did much to develop the local communities in the area.*Arthur John Langley ...

: Baile a' Chlamhain or An Gut

Names in mainland Nova Scotia (Tìr Mór na h-Albann Nuaidh)

Antigonish
Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Antigonish is a Canadian town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous highland games in North America.-History:...

Am Baile Mòr
Arisaig Àrasaig
Giant's Lake: Loch an Fhamhair
Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

Halafacs
New Glasgow
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait....

Am Baile Beag or Glaschu Nuadh

Elsewhere in Canada

Glengarry County, Ont.
Glengarry County, Ontario
thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...

Siorrachd Gleanna Garadh
Bruce County, Ont.
Bruce County, Ontario
Bruce County is a county in western Ontario, Canada, and includes the Bruce Peninsula. As of 2006, the population was 65,349. The area was . The county seat is Walkerton, Ontario. It is located at ....

Siorramachd Bhruis
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

Alba Nuadh or Alba Ùr
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

Talamh an Èisg or Eilein a' Trosg
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

: Eilean Eòin or An t-Eilean Dearg; Eilean a' Phrionnsa
Lewes, Prince Edward Island
Lot 60, Prince Edward Island
Lot 60 is a township in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is part of St. John's Parish.According to the Canada 2001 Census:*Population: 320*% Change : -3.6*Dwellings: 153*Area : 82.76*Density : 3.9...

An Tuirc
Calgary, Alta.
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

Calgarraidh
Stornoway, Quebec
Stornoway, Quebec
Stornoway is a small village of 600 people. It is a municipality in Quebec, in the regional county municipality of Le Granit in the administrative region of Estrie...

Steòrnabhagh

External links

Comhairle na Gàidhlig - The Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia (Canada)
Comunn Gàidhlig Bhancoubhair - The Gaelic Society of Vancouver (Canada)
BBC - Beag air Bheag
A Bit of Grammar
Gàidhlig Learner's Resource
Stòr-dàta Briathrachais Gàidhlig
Litir do Luchd-Ionnsachaidh

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early speakers

Settlement

Red River colony

Nineteenth century

Linguistic features

Phonology

Vocabulary

Gaelic in Nova Scotia English

Arts and culture

Reasons for decline

Outlook and development

Government

Education

Gaelic Place-names in Canada

See also

External links