HIGHLANDERS
The Highlands and
Islands of Scotland: Celtic Culture and Gaelic Language.
Since the 18th
century, Scottish Gaelic has been driven almost to extinction. It survives on
remote islands like Barra in the Outer Hebrides.
Outsiders, “people without the island” as they locals say, often think the
Highlanders sound Irish. In fact, much of the Highland culture does come from
Ireland, the kilt, the bagpipes, even the Irish surname prefix, mac. And on Barra, the Highland game of shinty, very like the Irish sport, hurling
is taught by the local priest, Father Colin MacInness:
When we here a Gaelic speaker speaking in English, he would more resemble Irish
because the source is the same as regards the Irishman as it is for the
Highlander/ Islander, that is Gaelic.
And it has the same
rhythm and very often similarity of construction and so on.
The English spoken here
is a beautiful sweet sounding rolling, soft type of English. It is a very
comforting sound compared with the whiskied, fast
moving accents you get from the cities and towns.
The people of Barra speak Gaelic as freely as English but their language
faces extinction. It is in remote place like Barra
that you can see the wounds inflicted by world English on a traditional local
culture.
Our spirit in the
Highlands and Islands is something superbly, supremely ours. We are, like all
minority groups, a small freshwater loch being invaded by a huge ocean and we
are authentically Celtic, Gaelic and have a distinct culture which has
contributed a lot in the past and I am sure will contribute a lot to our
future.
Gaelic is their
ancestral tongue but even here when the game gets exciting, they drop into
English. “Go on, Tammy, go on!”
INDIAN ENGLISH
With its 14 competing
linguistic traditions, India needs a link language, and English has some
advantages over Hindi.
English is considered in
some ways a neutral language. If Hindi is imposed in someone, it is somebody’s
first language. Or if let’s say if another Indian language, or another African
language is imposed on somebody, they have certain privileges, they are the
native speakers.
English from that point
of view, in the local context now, post-independence context, is neutral.