[BRIEF NOTE] Two sorts of Canadian Gaels
Jan. 20th, 2006 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldI was quite familiar with the existence of Canadian Gaelic. Personal experience, mainly: As Michael Kennedy observed in 2002 writing for the Institute of Island Studies, "[t]wo thirds of the immigrants to [Prince Edward] Island were Celts and more specifically Gaels." The only reason my late maternal grandmother didn't learn the language--she said--was that her parents didn't want her to be able to eavesdrop on the neighbourhood gossip.
Until recently, though, I knew nothing about the existence of Newfoundland Irish, even though thaty language was and is of comparable vitality to the Scots Gaelic. I wonder why this is. Did I just not pick up on this? Does Newfoundland's late addition to the Canadian confederation mean that certain of its attributes weren't picked up by non-Newfoundlander Canadians? Was the Irish language less prestigious than Scots Gaelic? I've no idea.
Until recently, though, I knew nothing about the existence of Newfoundland Irish, even though thaty language was and is of comparable vitality to the Scots Gaelic. I wonder why this is. Did I just not pick up on this? Does Newfoundland's late addition to the Canadian confederation mean that certain of its attributes weren't picked up by non-Newfoundlander Canadians? Was the Irish language less prestigious than Scots Gaelic? I've no idea.
