The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-05-29
THE CELTIC LANGUAGE.

THE CELTIC LANGUAGE.
The Extent to Which 1t Is Still Spoken in the
British Isles.
At recent meeting of the Statistical
Society in London, Mr.. E. G. Raven
stein, F. r. G.. S., read paper "On the
Geographical Distribution Of the Gel
tic-Speaking Population of the British
Isles. Mr.. Rayenstein stated that the
census, on the whole, presented very
fair picture of the linguistic condition
Of Ireland. In 1851 there were few
counties in which the old language of
the country had altogether died out.
The localities in which at the present
day Irish continued to be the language
of the majority were remote, their area
was comparatively limited, and their
population was less dense than in the
more fertile English-speaking districts.
In 1851 those localities formed an area
of 1926 square miles, with /, 1923 1888 in.
habitants, OF, whom 920.856 or. 3d. per
cent. spoke Irish. In 1871 their area
was 5,293 square miles, their population
545, 658 souls, and the number of persons
able to speak Irish only, 343, 297, or 62.9
per cent. Probably not 5000 persons
throughout Ireland were able to read
an Irish book, and not a single Irish
newspaper was being published. The
Commissioners of National Education
had, however complied with the re-
quest of the Society for the Preserva-
ton OF the Irish Language that Irish
should be placed on the programme of
the national schools, and en- q footing
equal to that of Latin or Greek. In
the Isle OF Man 256 per cent. Of the
population still understood Manx. Not
quite 9 per cent. of the total population
OF Scotland was able to speak Gaelic,
and eight-tenths OF these were distribut-
ed over nearly half the area of the coun-
try, where they were in majority. In
the more remote parts Of the Highlands
and in the Hebrides, Gaelic still main
tanned it's ground; but, wherever Gael
and Saxon met face to face, the latter
ended by forcing his language upon his
only too'willing fellow countryman.
The appreciation in which English was
held by the Highlander might be gath
cred from the fact that, when he desired
to say something exceptionally severe,
he said: "May you never speak cor
rect English" Of all the Celtic speak
ing races in the United Kingdom, the
Welsh were the most important, and, in
the maintenance of their own language,
they showed by far the greatest amount
of vitality. Including $4,000 Welsh in
England, there we're 1,Oo6, 100 Welsh
speaking people in Great Britain. The
English portion of Flintshire had 49,
Ill inhabitants, of whom 9O.3 per cent.
spoke Welsh. Denbigshire, with the
exception of a limited territory, includ-.
ing Wrexham, was wholly Welsh. Rad
norshire, linguistically, was portion of
England and not of Wales A small
portion of Western Shropshire was
Welsh. In Montgomeryshire Welsh
was visibly losing ground. Carmarthen-
shire was far more intensely Welsh in
it's northern and English in it's south
ern half. Cardiganshire was Welsh
throughout. In Carnarvon English was
understood by many, but spoken by
very few, Welsh maintaining it's ground
among young and old. Merionethshire
was quite as Welsh as Carnarvon,
though knowledge of English was
more general. Anglesey was thorough
ly Welsh. Breconshire was much in
fuenced by it's contact with English
speaking districts, but for the present
the language Of the majority was Welsh.
OF Monmouthshire only small por-
ton of the extreme west was Welsh. In
Glamorganshire English was perhaps
more generally. spoken than in any
other part of Wales, but the language
of the religious services was mainly
Welsh. The total number of persons
in the United Kingdom still speaking q
Celtic tongue was: Irish Gaelic, 067,-
6O6; Manx, 1880; Scotch Gaelic, $685.
256; Welsh, 1,0O6,100; total, 2,19.450,
OF, nearly Z per cent. of the population
of the British Isles. In conclusion,
Mr.. Ravenstein expressed strong
opinion that the children of the per-
sons WHO did not know English had a
just claim to be instructed in the only
language which they understood.