[LINK] "Pride in language, culture comes into full flower in Cape Breton"

[rfmcdonald]

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald's John Demont describes the scale of the Scots Gaelic revival in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton. I'm inclined to think it much too late--had it been this time last century, when there were tens of thousands of Gaelic-speakers living and passing on their language to their children, the irreversible shift to English wouldn't have happened. Still, if locals want to keep Scots Gaelic as a garnish, perhaps a badge of identity, why not?

Last week, proof of Gaelic’s reflowering was on full display on the grounds of the provincial legislature.

There, youthful members of the Gaelic College’s Young Heroes immersion program sang old Gaelic tunes and helped raise the flag marking Gaelic Awareness Month across Nova Scotia.

If he were a little younger, MacKenzie — whose mother comes from a well-known Mabou bag-piping clan and whose father is a Gaelic speaker and teacher from South Uist, Scotland — could have been right there with them.

Like his two brothers, the acclaimed fiddler and piper also speaks fluent Gaelic.

Increasingly, he’s got company.

The 2011 Canadian census showed that 1,275 Nova Scotians — the bulk in Cape Breton — identified themselves as Gaelic speakers.

On one hand, that’s a thin sliver of the 24,303 Gaelic speakers identified in the 1931 census.

On the other hand, it’s nearly triple the level of a decade ago.

What’s more, that number doesn’t include all 2,000 folks enrolled in Gaelic language programs around the province.

Or the thousands more people who may only speak a few words of the language but share a deepening connection to the Gaelic culture and ethos.