Today's Sunday Times reports on a scheme to add several new words to Gaelic, as recommended by a panel constituted by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). Words proposed include such essentials as Pizza (Piotsa), Curry (Coiridh), and Lesbian (Leasbach). The Sunday Times managed to find a leading Scottish linguist, Charles Jones, to rail against the idea, although he managed to stop short of calling it "political correctness gone mad".
Points of interest in the article are the facts that there are fewer than 60,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland, which is less than two percent of the population, and that for a language to survive a third of those who speak it need to be under 25, whereas about 20 percent of Gaelic speakers are in that age bracket. We also learn that in April (last year) Gaelic was given official recognition by the Scottish Parliament, leading to the setting up of the Bord na Gaidhlig, to promote the language.
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