Gaelic

Michael Rosenis in conversation with Gaelic language expert Roddy Maclean about the status of Gaelic in Scotland. Roddy explains its origins as one of the Indo-European languages, a Celtic language, we characterized by sound differences. One group is called P-Celtic, the other is called Q-Celtic, and Gaelic's in the Q-Celtic group. Traditionally Gaelic has been spoken The Highlands - the Gàidhealtachd but it's growing in popularity in Scottish cities these days with new learners and schoolchildren helping boost the language. A few decades ago there were fears the language would die out.
Among the facts Michael picks up is that Gaelic has no single word for Yes or No and that the landscape of the Highlands can be better understood by understanding the origin of Gaelic place names. He also gets to hear some of his work performed in Gaelic by some Glasgow schoolchildren

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Produced in partnership with The Open University