October 12.
From the agitated attacks on Gaelic and Scots by Dr Murray Porteous
and John Lonie (October 1), and D A Smith (October 5) it would seem that
English is seriously threatened.
Gaelic and Scots are not dialects of any other languages. They are
languages in their own right, and most certainly not dialects of modern
English.
Dr Porteous declares that Gaelic is foisted upon the Irish people. By
whom, I wonder? Perhaps the same source that foists German on the
Germans and French on the French.
John Lonie declares that ''Gaelic has no relevance to 95% of Scots,
and never had''.
Robert the Bruce spoke Gaelic, which was his mother's tongue, plus
French and English acquired at Edward's court.
All Bruce's exploits were recorded by Barbour in the Scots tongue
around 1340. We were a fine multilingual bunch then, and for many years
to come until the defeat at Culloden.
After that the Gaelic language was suppressed on pain of deportation
or death and the Scots language was demeaned as a poor and uncouth
English.
It is understandable that the people in the ''scruffy town of
Stornoway'' (Mr Lonie's description, not mine), being bilingual, raised
a protective barrier against his English-language superiority. Or
perhaps they were just speaking their native language and unaware of his
existence.
It would be a tragedy if Scotland, admired for its educational system;
for being the cradle of Christian civilisation; for its egalitarian
acceptance of other cultures and languages, including English, should be
allowed to descend to talking to itself in an imported and imposed
language.
Nina MacAulay,
9 Cnoc Glas,
Drumbeg,
Sutherland.
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