--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "nicky <eysiz@...>" <eysiz@...> wrote:

> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
> wrote:
> > nicky wrote:
> > >
> > > does anyone here understand Irish gaelic
> > > spelling? i've read somewhere thet Caitlín is
> > > pronounced koytleen, but my girlfriend says
> > > it's more like ['ka:tli:n]...
> > > Thanks, nicky
> >
> > If you study the language, you'll learn its orthography. You can
> find a
> > historical discussion of how it works in *The World's Writings
> Systems*.
>
>
> oh, right. I'll check at the seminar tomorrow!
> thanks. sure I'd also love to study the language....
>

Celtic (especially Gaelic) spelling sticks to eccentric and archaic
spelling with a sectarian(?) rigour, as tho archaism was somehow
confused with lifeblood and authenticity, such that this very
statement faces possible vitriol & denial. Those whose cultures have
been suppressed and abandoned cling conservatively and self-
destructively to counter-productive orthographies, but to criticise
it is a bit like criticising the consequences of poverty - an
uncertain but, at times, necessary occupation. Welsh and Manx have
been saved some of the extremes of this tendency, perhaps due,
ironically, to suppression of writing/long periods without a written
form, thus, for example, making Manx the most phonetic of the three
Gaelic scripts, despite being a recently 'revived' language (but
thereby the only one not in decline), but it regularly receives
(partially inaccurate) accusations of 'anglicisation'/foreign
influence from inefficient, traditionalist authoritarian
orthographers from among its Gaelic neighbours. The political
parallels seem oddly lost on otherwise expert and radical Gaelic
speakers (rather like the current fashion in contemporary local
nature management for 'native species at all costs,' a virtually, if
unintentionally, Nazi approach to the environment, when you think
about it). The Cornish language enthusiasts, more progressive, in
contrast, but similarly lacking the urbanity of cosmopolitan 'cool,'
war over different spelling systems like splitting dog-house
political parties. As with other ethnic and aboriginal minorities, it
takes a deep understanding of the consequences of long-term
oppression for Celts to avoid the twin pit-falls of a) embarrassment
and shame, and b) acceptance of inferior inherited habits, both with
ourselves and our linguistic heritage. If and where this is achieved,
it opens a door to an ancient, seminal culture of an oft hidden,
global influence, fired with aboriginal authority and wisdom.

Richard Comaish