Saving a dying language

Posted: 31 May 2004

By T.J. Colello - Cape Breton Post

IONA - Cape Breton may be promoted in tourism brochures as a hotbed of the Celtic music revival, but the Gaelic language that underpins the culture is dying, says a new study to be released today in Iona.

The report on the state of the Scottish Gaelic culture in Nova Scotia estimates there are fewer than 500 native Gaelic speakers left on the island, most of them seniors in several small villages.

That’s in sharp contrast to a century ago when the ancient, lilting language was spoken by 50,000 people on the island and in other parts of the province.

‘‘In 1901, Gaelic speakers in some areas of eastern Nova Scotia, particularly in over half of Cape Breton, comprised 75 to 100 per cent of the population,’’ says the study, titled Developing and Preserving Gaelic in Nova Scotia.

But beginning in the 1930s, children were actively discouraged from learning to speak Gaelic as their parents lost confidence in their culture.

The report concludes the Gaelic culture is now in ‘‘a perilous state,’’ and the wavering state of the language has ‘‘reached a critical condition in Nova Scotia.’’

Sam MacPhee, executive director of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Ann’s, agrees with the grim assessment.

“There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of Gaelic speaking families on this island in the last 100 years,” he said. “It’s down to the point where most of the Gaelic speakers are elderly people and it’s in a perilous state.

“My grandfather was a Presbyterian minister who taught and preached in Gaelic. He had four children and none of them had the language — that was not unusual.”

MacPhee believes exposing youth to the language through forms of immersion and classes at an early age is key to a Gaelic revival. He said a memorandum of agreement signed between Tourism and Culture Minister Rodney MacDonald with representatives of the Highland Council of Scotland in 2002 was also a positive step.

“This initiative and the study they’re going to release (today) is certainly the result of that,” said MacPhee. “It’s going to lay out a Gaelic policy for the province and create some stepping stones for getting some work done.

“Our position at the Gaelic College is that we can help promote, teach to some degree, preserve — but for it to be an ongoing, credible initiative, it has to get in the schools.”

Without the language, the authenticity of the popular music produced by Cape Breton bands, such as the Barra MacNeils and the Rankins, will wither, said Hector MacNeil, a teacher at the Gaelic College.

"I think that’s what draws people to the musical tradition. There’s something real that’s coming from a community and people can come here and join into that scene,’’ he said.

"The danger is if the language goes in a couple of decades, you’re going to have just another expression of mass North American music.’’

The study was written by the Gaelic Development Steering Committee, a non-profit group that advocates for the language. It calls for a 20-year strategy to help revive Gaelic, with the hope the language will become ‘‘dominant in some communities.’’

The strategy urges the Gaelic Council to create a series of five-year plans to find Gaelic leaders, increase language education, promote Gaelic arts and seek legal status for the language.

But the study, which was to be released at a news conference in Iona, offers few other specific measures.

MacNeil, who learned Gaelic as a second language, said the provincial government must invest more money if it wants the language to survive.

‘‘We need immersion for adults and children and we need an environment for Gaelic in the community,’’ he said.

‘‘You can’t just produce speakers and send them out into a predominantly English environment.’’

The language is currently taught in four Cape Breton high schools and at the college. But MacNeil said the social use of the language in towns such as Iona, Christmas Island and Mabou is fading.

MacPhee, however, said he was optimistic the Gaelic language can rebound.

“I think that this kind of initiative will get a lot of people thinking about it and doing some work on it,” he said. “I think the future is relatively bright, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

The study will be released 10 a.m. today at Rankin Memorial High School in Iona.

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