--- In
cybalist@egroups.com, "M G" <fresco@...> wrote:
>
> > >........Celtic languages
> .....what is going to happen to Urse,
> Scots Gaelic, Breton, Manx and .... Cornish
>
> U R S E ?
>
> Please excuse my ignorance.
>
> Where was (or is ?) spoken URSE ?
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Marcus Prometheus.
I think 'Urse' is how one or more other European languages spell
'Erse', i.e., Irish, the Celtic language native to Ireland. Even
though Erse has official status in Ireland, and is taught in the
schools, English continues to make its inroads.
Dolly Pentreath, who died in the 1770s, is usually said to have been
the last native speaker of Cornish. This is the Celtic language of
Cornwall (in England). Dr. Johnson interviewed her. Manx, as I
remember, had its last authentic native-speaker die in the 1940s.
There are modern attempts at revival, but this is more of a hobbyist
than a native-speaker.
Gaelic, the Scots Celtic language, will probably go extinct; it has
very few native speakers mostly strewn out in the Isles, and they all
learn English to get jobs on the mainland of GB.
Breton, the Celtic language of Brittany (in France), could go either
way.
As I posted earlier, Welsh seems to have the best chance of
surviving.
Interestingly, it's North Welsh that enjoys full native-speaker-ship,
in that this is the language that's spoken at home, church, school,
at
the market and on the job, and now, in the University and on
television. But it is South Welsh that's the official language, but
those who speak it tend to be fully bilingual, or speak it rather
badly.