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PRESENT LIMITS OF THE CELTIC LANGUAGE IN SCOTLAND. 178
Nous devons à l'obligeance de M. James A. H. Murray, membre de la Société
philologique de Londres, la permission de reproduire ici ce qu'il a écrit sur
la délimitation des langues celtique et anglaise en Ecosse, dans son érudite
monographie des dialectes anglo-écossais: The Dialect ofthe Southern Counties
of Scotland; its pronunciatlon, grammar and historical relations, vij-251 p.
in-8, Londres, Asher, 1873.
Bien que ces pages ne soient pas inconnues à plusieurs de nos lecteurs, et
notamment à nos lecteurs écossais, il nous a semblé utile de les mettre à
portée du public celtique tout entier, et nous désirons que le travail de M.
Murray sur l'Ecosse suscite des travaux analogues dans les autres pays
celtiques. Aujourd'hui en effet que les langues celtiques reculent si
promptement devant les progrès grandissants de l'Anglais dans les Iles
Britanniques, du Français sur le continent, il importe de marquer l'étendue
précise de leur domaine. Nous serions heureux de publier dans cette revue des
recherches analogues sur la géographie des langues irlandaise, galloise et
bretonne, et nous attirons sur ce point l'attention de nos lecteurs que leurs
voyages ou leurs relations mettent en état d'observer l'état linguistique des
pays-frontière, ne fût-ce que pour quelques villages. Ces notes, auxquelles
nous offrons volontiers l'hospitalité de la Revue, se compléteraient l'une et
l'autre et permettraient de faire pour les autres pays celtiques ce que M.
Murray a fait avec tant de zèle et de succès pour l'Ecosse.
Nous n'ignorons pas que ces recherches sont délicates et qu'elles demandent
souvent une sorte d'enquête. Là où l'usage de deux langues se rencontre et se
confond, il faut observer ou savoir de personnes dignes de foi:
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 179
1° De quelle langue les habitants se servent le plus volontiers entre eux, en
l'absence d'étrangers;
2° Quelle langue on parle de préférence aux enfants;
3° Par l'intermédiaire de quelle langue on enseigne la langue de l'État dans
les écoles;
4" Dans quelle langue on prêche à l'église;
Et, si les deux langues sont employées à des offices différents;
5" A quelles heures se célèbrent les divers offices, par quelles classes
de la société ils sont principalement suivis, et dans quelle proportion;
Enfin si la langue de l'État (anglais ou français, suivant le pays) a
remplacé la langue celtique, il faut s'informer, et autant que possible
auprès des ecclésiastiques eux-mêmes;
6° Depuis quelle époque la langue celtique a disparu du service religieux.
Tels sont les principaux points qui doivent attirer l'attention dans
une enquête de ce genre et d'après lesquels on peut établir avec quelque
certitude une frontière linguistique.
M. Murray s'était entouré de ces précautions et de beaucoup d'autres
encore, et les noms de ses correspondants sont une garantie que l'enquête a
été menée avec toute la rigueur possible. Aussi n'est-ce pas pour diminuer le
mérite de son travail, mais pour rendre hommage à un savant modeste (dont
l'œuvre est restée inconnue à M. Murray et au public britannique), que nous
mentionnerons un travail antérieur sur le même sujet. Il y a plus de vingt
ans, un savant allemand qui s'est occupé avec beaucoup de zèle de géographie
linguistique, M. Nabert, avait parcouru la plus grande partie de l'Ecosse
pour dresser cette délimitation des langues que M. Murray nous donne à son
tour. M. Nabert n'a pas, à notre connaissance, publié le résultat des
observations qu'il a faites allant de village en village, mais c'est sur ses
indications qu'a été dressée la ligne de partage entre les langues anglaise
et scoto-gaelique dans la carte linguistique des Iles Britanniques du grand
atlas de M. Berghaus", et il faut dire à l'honneur de M. Nabert que la
ligne de démarcation qu'il donnait coïncide dans son ensemble (et sauf
quelques points) avec celle de M. Murray.
La partie principale de l'ouvrage de M. Murray est formée par une
grammaire comparative des dialectes anglo-écossais de l'Ecosse du Sud et de
l'Est, sujet étranger à nos études; mais cette grammaire est pré-
I. H. Berghaus: Physicalischer Atlas, VIII Abth.: Ethnographie, carte
n" 12, cf. texte p. 17, col. 1. — Nous citons d'après la deuxième
édition, Gotha, 1852.
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180 Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland.
cédée d'une longue introduction historique d'un intérêt beaucoup plus
général. Nous devons y signaler notamment les pages consacrées à l'établissement
des Anglais dans le Nord de la Grande-Bretagne, au progrès fait par leur
langue aux dépens du celtique, aux vicissitudes par lesquelles le nom de Scot
et d'Écossais, originairement réservé aux Gaels des Hautes-Terres, est arrivé
à désigner le peuple et la langue d'origine germanique du Nord de la Tweed,
et enfin celles où M. Murray montre avec une grande vraisemblance une
influence phonétique et psychologique exercée par le celtique sur les
dialectes anglais parlés en Écosse. Cet essai intéresse au même titre le
philologue que l'historien et nous y renvoyons le lecteur qui s'intéresse de
plus près à l'histoire et à la langue de l'Ecosse celtique.
Les personnes qui possèdent le volume de M. Murray trouveront des
modifications et des additions dans le texte que nous reproduisons: nous les
devons à l'auteur lui-même, qui a bien voulu corriger les épreuves de cet
extrait. C'est également sous ses yeux et par ses soins qu'a été dressée la
carte linguistique de l'Ecosse celtique qui accompagne le numéro de la Revue.
H. G.
The extent to which the Gaelic is still spoken in Scotland has been already
referred to. Having found, while engaged in the preparation of this work,
that there exists no accurate account of the limits within which the old
tongue is now confined, at the suggestion of some ofthe members ofthe
Philological Society, I issued in 1869-1870, a series of inquiries to
clergymen and others residing along what, from Personal examination, I knew
to be the linguistic frontier, accompanied by sketch maps of their respective
districts, upon which I asked them to lay down the approximate limits of the
Gaelic. These inquiries were in every instance most courteously and fully
answered, and I have here to acknowledge the great obligations under which I
lie to the various gentlemen who so warmly responded to my requests ' . When
arrange-
I. These are the Rev. Wm. Ross, of Chapelhill Manse, Rothesay, a
native of Caithness, to whom I am mainly indebted for notes upon Caithness
and the other counties N. of the Murray Firth, and also on the islands and
coasts of the Clyde; the Rev. Colin Mackenzie, of Ardclach, and Rev. John
White, Moyness, for the counties of Nairn and Elgin; the Rev. Waher Gregor,
of Pittsligo (Editor of the “Banffshire Dialect”), and James Skinner, Esq.,
Factor to the Duke of Richmond for Elgin and Banff; the Rev. Robt. Neil, of
Glengairn (through Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Crathie), for Aberdeenshire; the Rev.
Neil Mc Bride, of Glenisla, for N. W. of Forfar, and adjacent parts of
Aberdeen and Perthshires; the Rev. Samuel Cameron, of Logierait, Rev. Dr Mc
Donald, of Comrie, Rev. Hugh Mc Diarmid, of Callander, for the adjoining
parts of Perthshire; the Rev.
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 181
ments were being made for the census of 1871 , the Philological Society memorialized
the Home Office with a view to have the linguistic statisiics of Great
Britain collected in the returns, as is so admirably done in Russia, Austria,
and other Continental countries. Had this been acceeded to, very much more
minute information than is here communicated would have been within our
reach. But as no attention was paid to the suggestion, these notes will in
some measure do for the Gaelic what would have been possible also for Irish,
Welsh, and the Norman French of the Channel Isles. The general resuit is seen
in the Map, where, however, it is to be observed that the outside limits of
the Gaelic are shown, that is, every district is included in which Gaelic is
still spoken by any natives, regardless of the fact, that English may there
be spoken by the majority of the people. To a distance of ten miles probably,
ail round the frontier, Gaelic may be considered to be the language of a
decreasing minority, especially in the towns; in almost every part of the
Highlands, English is now more or less understood and spoken, though in the
extreme west, and especially in the Islands, many persons may be found who
know nothing but the native tongue. “From Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis,
there is very little English; individuals may be found who speak it, but not
a community. “ These facts, which could not easily be shown on the map, are
detailed in the following notes, whence also it can be seen how steadily the
Celtic has been retreating backwards step by step within living memory. The
traditional Highland boundary line, as it existed to 1745, is also known to
us, and affords the same evidence as to the retreat of the Gaelic frontier.
The linguistic boundary is formed by a wide curve, extending from the head of
the Murray Firth by the N.E. corner of Perthshire to the Firth of Clyde; of
the three natural divisions of Scotland, the Gaelic area does not now touch
the Southern, cuts off the larger part of the Central, and the whole of the
Northern, with exception of the N.E. point of Caithness, and the Orkney and
Shetland Isles, which have long been Teutonic 1. On the other hand it includes a portion
of the N.E. of Ire-
W. Mackintosh, of Buchanan, for the W. part of Stirlingshire; the Rev. Duncan
Campbell, of Luss, for the district between Loch Lomond and Loch Long; and
the Rev. Neil Mackenzle, of Kilchrenan, formerly misslonary In St. Kllda, for
that island, and other western parts. To the Revs. W. Ross, Neil Mc Bride,
and Walter Gregor (Member of the Philological Society), I am specially
indebted for much generai assistance in addition to the information as to
their own districts.
1 . The Orkneys were certainly occupied by Celts at the date of their
conquest by the Scandinavians in the
9th century; as to the Shetlands, more remote from the Scottish mainland, the
question is doubtful. At least the Celtic language utterly disappeared from
the isles, in which dialects of the Norse lingered till within the memory of
very old peo-
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182 Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland.
land, the dialect of which is identical with that of the opposite coast of
Kintyre (or Cantire). More particularly, the line may be drawn from a point
on the Murray Firth, about three miles W. of the town of Nairn, southwards
towards Loch Clans, and S.E. to Geddes, thence S. and E. by the S.W. boundary
of the parish of Auldearn, and so onto Coulmony on the Findhorn, whence S.E.
to the Knock of Murray. Thence across the Spey, midway between Cromdale and
Ballindulloch, to Lyne on the Avon, and along the southern watershed of Glen Livet
to Aberdeenshire; across Strath Don, nearly in the line of the road from
Inverness to Balmoral, to a point on the Dee, about four miles above
Ballater. South of the Dee, the Gaelic has retreated about seven miles
farther west, so that the line leaves that river about four miles above
Balmoral, and runs south over the Grampians, to the boundary between Perth
and Forfar (no part of the latter county being Gaelic), which it follows as
far as Mount Blair, thence across Glen Shee and Strath Airdle, the lower part
of which is now English, and S.W. across the moors to the Tay between Dunkeld
and Dowally. From Dunkeld by Birnam Hill, and the southern watershed of
Strath Bran to Glen Almond, thence south by the head of Glen Turritt to
Comrie. From Comrie, along the braes of Doune to the Teith, three or four
miles below Callander, and so on by the north side of Lake of Monteith to
Gartmore, where the boundary leaves Perthshire. In Stirlingshire, from
Gartmore to Rowardennan on Loch Lomond, and across that lake by Glen Douglas
to Loch Long. In the Clyde, the line may be carried directly down by the east
of Bute, Arran, and Cantire. But this includes extensive districts in which
it is hard to say how far the Gaelic is to be considered native, inasmuch as
it would certainly have been already extinct there but for fresh accessions
of Celts from more inland districts. One correspondent, a native of Arran,
says the line should proceed “from Arroquhar to Dunoon, and from Dunoon to
Kames Castle (leaving out the Toward district as no longer Gaelic); from
Kames, across the narrow part of Bute (Gaelic being no longer native in the
south half of Bute) to Arran, so as to include that island,
ple lately alive, though for several centuries this Norns had been waning
before the English introduced by fishermen and other settlers from the
Scottish mainland. The present dialect of these islands is not really descended
from the Norns; it is merely an English dialect which has displaced the
other, adopting (in Shetland especially) a few of its words and forms. In
Caithness, it is now certain that the Norse was completely driven out by the
Celtic, as it was in Sutherland, in Lewis and other of the Hebrides, and the
Isle of Man. The present Teutonic dialect of Caithness is not descended from
the Scandinavian or connected with it; it is the Scotch of Banff and Aberdeen
on the opposite side of the Murray Firth, which has been introduced by
fishermen who have settled on the coast of Caithness during the last three
centuries; before this language, the Gaelic, after having conquered the
Scandinavian, and recovered the whole of Caithness, is now again retreating.
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 183
and thence to the Mull of Kintyre;... even in some districts within the line,
such as Dunoon and south end of Kintyre, Gaelic is almost extinct. Another, who is minister of the Free Gaelic
Church in Rothesay, says, “In Bute, and the district on the shores of Cowall,
from Inverchaolin, by Toward, Dunoon, Sandbank, Kilmuu, and Strone, English
prevails, but a few natives and a considerable immigrant population still
speak Gaelic. Of the native farmers in the Isle of Bute, probably ten can speak
Gaelic. A small portion of the Gaelic-speaking people in the town of Rothesay
are also natives, but the large body consists of immigrants. Gaelic is still
preached in the Established Church at North Bute, also occasionally at Port
Bannatyne, while there is regular Gaelic service in the Established and Free
Gaelic churches in Rothesay. The Gaelic population in North Bute is almost
entirely immigrant. About 1843-5, the estate of Skipness was sold, and the
new proprietor cleared away a large part of the inhabitants, who came over
and settled in Bute. In the district from Inverchaolain to Strone, along the
shore, a few natives still speak the language; there is a considerable Gaelic
population in Kilmun, and a few in Sandbank; in Dunoon there are said to be
upwards of 200 Gaelic-speakers, but chiefly immigrant. It is curious to
observe the nature of the change going on along the border line: the Gaelic
people are gradually going to the principal towns in their neighbourhood,
while Lowlanders who have been successful in business in the towns, or
farmers from the south, go to occupy farms or residences within the Gaelic
area. This change has taken place extensively in the district from Otter
Ferry on Loch Fyne round to Loch Long... I do not think Gaelic is extinct
anywhere in Kintyre. Even in the farming district of Southend, a few natives
still speak it; and in Campbellton, I think a majority of the people use the
ancient tongue, so that the line may safely pass south of the peninsula.“
In Caithness, at the other extremity of the line, the boundary is drawn “from
the mouth of the water of Forss, west of Thurso, by the village of Hallkirk,
and to the N.E. of Harpsdale, along the road to Achkeepster, and thence by a
gentle curve to Bruan Head. “The majority of the people in the village of
Lybster, and in Mid Clyth and East Clyth, speak English. In Caithness, Gaelic
is regularly preached in Dunbeath, Latheron, Lybster, Halsary,Westerdale,
Hallkirk, Reay, and occasionally in Bruan. In Ross-shire the district from
Tain to Tarbat Ness, and along the coast to Invergordon, is chiefly Gaelic.
The Gaelic School Society occupies two stations in this peninsula, one at
Hilton and Balintore, and another at Inver. The district from Cromarty
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184 Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland.
southward along the shore to near Avoch, is chiefly English, local tradition
stating that it has been so since the time of James VI, when a number of
people from the south settled here (see Hugh Miller's “Schools and
Schoolmasters”) '. But there is a large Gaelic congregation at Resolis, and
smaller ones at Fortrose and Avoch.
In the County of Nairn, Auldearn has been an English parish for many generations.
In the town of Nairn, Gaelic preaching was given up in the parish church in
1854, upon petition of the parishioners; it is still partly used in the Free
Church for the sake of old people, but these are chiefly immigrants from the
parishes of Ardersier, Petty, etc., who have settled in the town. In the
parish of Ardclach, a few natives speak Gaelic, and for the sake of old
people it is preached in the Free Church, but has been discontinued for ten
or twelve years in the parish church 2. In the other parishes of this county,
Gaelic is still preached for the sake of the old people, but the Celtic is “gradually
disappearing, most of the young people being quite ignorant of it.” The
traditional Highland boundary passes through the town of Nairn, and its mixed
population wasalready a matter of note in the reign of James VI, if we may credit
a story told of that monarch after his accession to the English throne. His
courtiers are said to have boasted in his presence of the size of London in
comparison with any town in Scotland, but the King declared that there was in
the North of Scotland a town so large, that the people at one extremity of it
spoke a different language from those at the other!
In the lower division of Elginshire, Gaelic is extinct, but is still preached
in the parishes of Cromdale, Abernethy, and Duthil, in the upper part of the
county; in Banffshire it is used in divine service only at Kirkmichael and
Tomantoul. “No Gaelic has been spoken in any part of Inveravon for very many
years, nor in Glen Livet for upwards of forty years at least; even in
Tomantoul, I am told by natives that the children now cannot speak one word
of it, and that in thirty years or less it will be quite lost.”
1. Inverness has also a large English population, which local tradition
attributes to a garrison left by Cromwell. Extraordinary ideas are current as
to the purity of the Inverness English, the most that can be said for which
is, that it is Book-English and not Lowland Scotch. But “it is not correct to
consider Inverness as an English town, isolated and surrounded by the Gaelic;
the latter has still a firm hold of a large part of the town; in at least
four churches Gaelic is the language used, and that for people born and
brought up in the town.”
2. Over ail the Highlands nearly, it will be found that the Gaelic
lingers in the Free Churches, long after it disappears from the Established
Churches. The Celtic population took an intense interest in the Non-intrusion
struggle and when that culminated in the disruption of the national Church in
1843, the Highlanders almost to a man joined the Free Church. There was
consequently no longer any need for Gaelic to be preached in the Established
Churches.
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 185
In Aberdeenshire, Gaelic is not now used in the public worship of any church.
Down to the Disruption in 1843, it was partly used in the parish churches of
Braemar, Crathie, and Glengairn, and in the parish church at Ballater at the
Communion only; but in all these it has been disused since 1845, and in the
Free Churches since 1850. In the Roman Catholic Chapels it has been obsolete
for a much longer period. It is still used in ordinary conversation by a
considerable proportion of the population of Glengairn, Crathie, and Braemar;
it is the first language learnt in a very few familles, but every child above
ten years of age may be said to understand English. It is nearly, but not
altogether extinct in Strathdon; but has not been used in Glenbucket for a
long time past. Towie and Glentanner, although their topical names are ail
Gaelic, have been considered as below the Highland line for several
centuries. None of the natives there know anything of Gaelic, which is fast
disappearing even in Braemar.
Although a portion of Forfarshire was included within the Highland boundary,
and the local names are Celtic, Gaelic is not spoken in any part of the
county; nor has it been used in public worship in any parish since the
Reformation at least (except in Dundee, where there is a Gaelic church for
immigrants, as in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London).
In Perthshire, Gaelic is commonly spoken in the upper part of Glen Shee and
Strath Ardle; but “in the Free Church of Kirkmichael, Strath Ardle, there has
been no Gaelic preached for several years, and it is going and almost gone in
the Established Church '. ”It has for some time been used in divine service,
in summer only, in the parish of Logierait, and “is or ought to be used in
whole or part in every parish in the Presbytery of Weem.” It has been quite
disused at Dowally, but is partly used at Little Dunkeld. “In the parishes of
Comrie and Callander, Gaelic is much spoken, and frequently preached in;
Aberfoyle has a Gaelic-speaking minister, and he till recently officiated
half the Sabbath in Gaelic; but now only occasionally. These parishes lie
along the frontier line; inward, and completely or nearly quite Celtic are
Balquhidder, Killin, Kenmore, Weem, etc.”
In Stirlingshire, Buchanan parish, which extends along the whole east
1. An Address to Highlanders respecting their native Gaelic, showing its
superiority over the artificial English, etc., by Archibald Farquharson.
Edinburgh, Maclachlan and Stewart, 1868. Referring to Strath Ardle, the
writer says, “Although my native country, I am quite ashamed of them.” Who
wrote the inscription “Mile failte” (a thousand welcomes) on the top of the
arch at Kirkmichael, on the occasion of a certain gentleman up the country
taking home his English bride? I passed under it, and expressed my
astonishment to see it, as the children spoke nothing but English in the
street.
Rev. Celt. II
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 186
side of Loch Lomond, and across to Loch Katrine, is the only part in which
Gaelic is spoken, though there is now “probably not a person in the parish
who cannot understand and speak English. No Gaelic is spoken below the pass
of Balmaquha. Between that and Rowardennan, Gaelic is used in some familles,
and is in pretty common use above Rowardennan. But it has long ceased to be taught
in school, and has not been used in church for half a century, with the
exception of an annual sermon at Inversnaid, discontinued in i868.” West of
Loch Lomond, Gaelic is extinct among the natives of Luss, but there is a
constant influx of slate quarriers, servants, etc., who speak Gaelic, from
Argyllshire. English alone has been used in church for fifty years, the last
Gaelic minister having been Dr. Stewart, one of the translators of the Gaelic
Bible. Even he, in the latter part of his ministry, had a Gaelic service only
once a month. In Arroquhar, Gaelic is still in generai use, but receding.
Divine service is regularly in Gaelic and English.
With regard to the identity of dialect between the Scottish Highlands and a
part of Ulster (a point to which my attention was first called by H.I.H.
Prince Lucien Bonaparte), I have been favoured with information from the Rev.
Classon Porter, of Larne, and Robt. Mac Adam, Esq., of Belfast, an eminent
Celtic scholar, and well acquainted with the dialectical divisions of the
Irish. The district in question is “the Glens of Antrim,” opposite to
Kintyre, with the adjacent Isle of Rachrin (anglicized Rathlin); the area has
been much circumscribed within living memory, but still extends from
Cushendall on Red Bay, northward to near Fair Head, and inland over the
mountainous district, to a breadth of 8 or 10 miles. “The people are
evidently the same as those of Argyll, as indicated by their names, and for
centuries a constant intercourse has been kept up between them. Even yet the
Glensmen of Antrim go regularly to the Highland fairs, and communicate
without the slightest difficulty with the Highlanders. Having myself conversed
withboth Glensmen and Arranmen, I can testify to the absolute identity of
their speech.” — R. Mac Adam, Esq. The Celtic of all the rest of Ulster,
viz., in Donegal, and isolated patches in Derry, Tyrone, and south of Armagh,
differs considerably from the Scottish Gaelic, and is truly an Irish dialect.
But there is not the slightest reason to deduce the Glensmen from Scotland;
they are a relic of the ancient continuity of the population of Ulster and
Western Scotland.
The most advanced outpost of the Celtic in the Old World is the Isle of St.
Kilda, lying far out in the Atlantic, to the west of the Hebrides. The
language is entirely Gaelic, none of the natives knowing any English
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Present Limits of the Celtic Language in Scotland. 187
but the little that they may be taught by their minister or missionary. All
the topical names are Celtic, and the Northmen seem never to have reached the
island. The Gaelic has the dialectic peculiarity, that l is pronounced
instead of r, as in Harris, which strikes the hearer very strangely at first.
Such are the limits within which the Scottish Gaelic is now spoken; its
recession within living memory aids us at least in depicting the successive
steps by which it has receded during the six or eight centuries since it
occupied ail the territory north of Forth. At the War of Independence, I
think it probable that it extended to Stirling, Perth, and the Ochil and
Sidlaw Hills, and that north of the Tay the “Inglis“ was limited to a very
narrow strip along the coast. Galloway and Carrick in the S.W. were also
Gaelic till the i6th century; and it is probable that we are to look to the
Reformations and to the use of the Lowland Scotch in public worship and the
parish schools, for its disappearance there. The origin of this division of
the Erse stock is involved in obscurity, but according to Mr. Skene {The Four
Ancient Books of Wales, vol, I, p. 42) they were a residuum of the Irish
Scots, who devastated Britannia in the closing years of the Roman rule, A. D.
^60 et seq., and succeeded in effecting settlements among the Britons, not
only in this S.W. corner of Scotland, but also on the west coast of Wales,
whence they were at length expelled by “Cunedda and his sons “450-500. Their
occupation of this part of Scotland has left abundant traces; in the west
part of Dumfrieshire, in Kirkudbright, Wigton, and South of Ayrshire, not
only the names of places, but the native personal names are of Scoto- Irish
origin, contrasting strongly with the Teutonic nomenclature of Eastern Dumfries
and Roxburghshire.
Celtic scholars distinguish three dialects in the Scottish Gaelic, a
Northern, a Central, and a South-western. The Northern division, comprising
Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, and North Hebrides, is distinguished by its “narrow,
sharp, and arid” pronunciation, its consonantal character, and tendency to
suppress guttural sounds, as in mac, pasgadh, deagh, which are pronounced {mak, pɑskgav,
tjee.əv)
for (makhk, paskgagh, tjee-agh). “The pronunciation gives reason to think
that the inhabitants spoke some Northern language at one time.” Probably this
is due to the great influence of the Norse in these parts. In the
South-western division, comprising Argyle, Perth, and the Southern Isles,
long ê (ee) is used for long i (ii) of the central division; the language is
most vocal, “the swelling sound of the terminations adh and agh are scarcely
audible after a broad vowel; the words are generally pronounced with amazing
rapidity, falling from the mouth with a kind of jerk, and such heedlessness
that it is not easy sometimes for a stranger to catch the nature of the sound
1. “The northern variety is that which is easiest for a Sasunnach to acquire
and understand, the South-western cornes nearest to the Irish and the
language of the old Celtic literature.
James A. H. Murray.
1. Principles of Gaelic Grammar, by John Forbes, F.E.I.S. Edinburgh, 1848.
The introduction contains a short sketch of the characteristics of the three
dialects.
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