Mu Ar Dèidhinn | About Us

Carson a bu chòir dhuinn Gàidhlig a bhrosnachadh? | Why support Scottish Gaelic?

Bidh cuid de dhaoine – a’ mothachadh nach eil a’ Ghàidhlig tùsanach ann an Ceanndachaidh, agus nach eil ach glè bheag de Cheanndachaidhich ga bruidhinn an-diugh – a’ faighneach carson a tha sinn feumach air ath-bheòthachadh na Gàidhlig an seo ann an Ceanndachaidh.

San fhìrinn, ged nach eil mòran daoine aig a bheil Gàidhlig a’ fuireach ann an Ceanndachaidh san latha an-diugh, ‘s ann ann am beul-aithris a tha e gun robh a’ Ghàidhlig an làthair an seo on ochdamh linn deug, nuair a thàinig a’ chiad luchd-imriche Eòrpach thar nam Beanntaichean Apalàiteach. A-rèir an t-seanachais aig mòran teaghlaichean Ceanndachaidhach, bha cuid dhen na daoine sin à Gàidhealtachd na h-Alba; nan robh, b’ e Gàidheil (buill den mhuinntir aig a bheil a’ Ghàidhlig gu h-eachdraidheil) a bh’ annta, no a bh’ anns na sinnsearan aca. Mar sin – air son cuid dhiubh, co-dhiù – is coltach (no, co-dhiù, ‘s dòcha) gum b’ e Gàidhlig na h-Alba an cànan a bh’ aca on ghlùin.

Nuair a ràinig na luchd-labhairt Gàidhlig sin Ceanndachaidh, am measg daoine eile aig an robh Gàidhlig na h-Èireann, Cuimris, Gearmailtis, Fraingis, Beurla Ghallda, Beurla Shasannach, agus teangannan Eòrpach eile, bha daoine a’ fuireach ann mu thràth: na Tearagaidh, na Seathanaidh, na Iùitidh, agus na Tiogasàdh, nam measg – is gach muinntir dhiubh leis a’ chànan tùsanach aice fhein.

Thar nan linntean, dh’fhàs a’ Bheurla na bu treasa na gach cànan eile san sgìre, oir bha na Sasannaich (agus leotha-san a’ chumhachd dhen Ìmpireachd Bhreatanaich) – agus, às an dèidh, luchd nan Stàitean Aonaichte (leis an ìmpireachd aca fhèin) – an aghaidh neo-eisimeileachd culturach nan tùsanach ‘s nam buidhnean-imriche eile, an dà chuid. Chreid tòrr dhaoine aig an robh cumhachd ann an soisealtachd cholonaidhich ann an cùis na gealachd, agus anns a’ Bheurla mar chànan na cinne-gile – baoth-chreideamh cunnartach a tha sinne airson ceartachadh.

Mar sin, beag air bheag, chuireadh crìochd air a h-uile cànan Ceanndachaidheach eile a bha air bhith ann san ochdamh-linn-deug, gus nach robh ach cha mhòr a’ Bheurla a-mhàin air fhàgail aig toiseach an fhiceadamh-linn.

An-diugh, air sgàth imreachd san linn sin agus o chionn nas giorra, tha Ceanndachaidh, gu fortanach, iomadh-chànanach a-rithist – ach tha Gàidhlig fhathast a dhìth air a’ mheasgachadh.

‘S e an t-amas againne, ged-tà, a’ Ghàidhlig ath-bheòthachadh mar chànan Ceanndachaidheach!

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Some people – observing that Scottish Gaelic is not an indigenous language of Kentucky, and that very few Kentuckians speak it today – ask why we need to promote Gaelic here in Kentucky.

In truth, although not many people who speak Gaelic live in Kentucky today, it is held in oral tradition that Gaelic was present here from the eighteenth century, when the first European immigrants came over the Appalachian Mountains. According to the oral histories of many Kentucky families, some of the people in question came from historically Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland. If so, they were Gaels (members of the traditionally Gaelic-speaking ethnic group), or the descendants of Gaels. Thus, for at least some of them, Gaelic might well have been their first language.

When those Gaelic speakers reached Kentucky, in the company of other people who spoke Irish, Welsh, German, French, Scots, English, and other European languages, people were already living here – the Cherokee, Shawnee, Yuchi, and Chickasaw, among them – each with their own indigenous language.

Over the centuries, English grew stronger than every other language in the region, because the English (and with them the power of their empire) – and, after them, the people of the United States (with their own empire) – opposed the cultural autonomy of both the Indigenous people and the other immigrants. Many people who held power in colonial society believed in the cause of whiteness, and in English as the language of the white race – a flawed and dangerous belief system we hope to correct.

Thus, little by little, every eighteenth-century Kentuckian language died out, such that practically only English remained at the start of the twentieth century.

At present, because of immigration in that century and more recently, Kentucky is, fortunately, multilingual again – but Gaelic is still absent from the gestalt.

Our goal, however, is to revive Scottish Gaelic as Kentuckian language!