Hi, Gerry:
 
Gaelic, Scots-Gaelic, and Manx form the Goidelic branch of the Celtic language family.  Welsh, Breton, and Cornish form the Brythonic branch of the Celtic language family.  Celtic, is a branch of the Indo-European language family, as are Germanic, Italic, Slavic, Baltic, Indo-Aryan, Iranic, Tocharian, Hellenic, etc.  Indo-European is a branch of the proposed Nostratic macro-family.  So, in answer to your question below, generally speaking, people who speak Gaelic are Celts.
 
Hope this helps:
 
Andy Howey
-----Original Message-----
From: Geraldine Reinhardt [mailto:waluk@...]
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 10:58
To: ehlsmith@...
Cc: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Nostratica] Re: English & Gaelic [was Re: Swedish?]

If Gaelic is a Celtic language, then are Gaelic speaking people Celts?

Gerry

----- Original Message -----
From: <ehlsmith@...>
To: "Gerry" <waluk@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 10:41 AM
Subject: English & Gaelic [was Re: Swedish?]


> --- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, "Gerry" <waluk@...> wrote:
> > You mean that British is actually southern Celtic?  Am I
> misinformed about Irish folks speaking Celtic?  Then what do the
> Irish speak?  Gaelic? 
>
> Gerry,
>
> From http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ELI/sa/thesis3.html -
> "The English language was imposed upon the Gaelic speaking populace 
> of Ireland over a span of 700 years. The most important period
> insofar as the dissemination of the language was concerned was the
> mid-seventeenth century, which saw colonisation of Ulster by British
> immigrants and the (relatively) rapid spread of English through the
> country. Today, only about 2% of the population use Gaelic on a
> regular basis."
>
> Gaelic is a Celtic language.
>
> Ned Smith
>
>
>




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