{{Bilgi Kutusu Dil
|Dilin adı=İrlandaca
|Kendi dilindeki adı=Gaeilge 
|ülkeler= İrlanda
|kişi sayısı= 1 milyona yakın
|sıra=ilk 100 de değil
|dil ailesi=Hint-Avrupa Dilleri<br>
:Kelt<br>
::'''İrlandaca'''
|resmi= İrlanda <br> Avrupa Birliği
|alfabe=Latin alfabesi
|kurum=-
|iso1=ga|iso2=gle|SIL=-
|wikidili=ga
}}
thumb|300px|İrlanda'da İrlandaca konuşma oranı

'''İrce''' Hint-Avrupa dil ailesinin Kelt koluna ait dildir. İrlanda Cumhuriyeti'nin ve Birleşik Krallık'a bağlı Kuzey İrlanda'in resmî dilidir.

İrlandacayı yalnızca İrlandada yaşayan İrlandalılar konuşur.Ülkede İngilizce daha yaygındır.

Kategori:Hint-Avrupa dil ailesi
Kategori:Kelt dilleri
Kategori:Doğal diller
Kategori:Nesli tehlike altında olan diller
Kategori:İrlanda'daki diller
Kategori:Birleşik Krallık'taki diller
Kategori:Kuzey İrlanda

ang:Īrisc sprǣc

eo:Irlanda lingvo
es:Idioma irlandés

fo:Írskt (mál)

frp:Gaèlico irlandês
fur:Lenghe irlandese
ga:Gaeilge
gd:Gàidhlig na h-Èireann

gv:Yernish

hsb:Iršćina

kab:Tirlandit

{{Infobox Language
  |name=Irish
  |nativename=''''
  |pronunciation=ˈgeːlʲɟə
  |states=Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom (especially Northern Ireland), Canada (Permanent North American Gaeltacht) 
  |region=Gaeltachtaí, but also spoken throughout Ireland
  |speakers= 355,000 fluent or native speakers <small>(1983)</small><ref>Ethnologue, [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=gle Gaelic, Irish: a language of Ireland]</ref></br>1,860,000 some knowledge <small>(2006)</small>
  |script=Latin (Irish variant)
  |familycolor=Indo-European
  |fam2=Celtic
  |fam3=Insular Celtic
  |fam4=Goidelic
  |nation=Ireland <br /> Northern Ireland <small>(UK)</small> European Union
  |agency=Foras na Gaeilge
  |iso1=ga
  |iso2=gle
  |iso3=gle
}}
right|thumb|300px|Percentage of Irish speakers by [[Counties of Ireland|county of the Republic; the six Northern counties have been considered as one.]]

'''Irish''' () is a Goidelic language of the Irish. Irish is now spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population – mostly in the ''Gaeltacht' – but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and it is an official language of the European Union. Irish is also an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland.

Estimates of fully native speakers range from 20,000 to 50,000 people <ref>[http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#IGaelic Endangered languages in Europe: report<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs estimated in 2007 that 17,000 people lived in areas where Irish was the community language, and a further 10,000 in areas where it is partly the community language<ref>[http://www.oceanfm.ie/onair/donegalnews.php?articleid=000002629 Welcome to Ocean fm<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. But since Irish is an obligatory subject in schools, many more are reasonably fluent second-language speakers. Furthermore, a much larger number regularly regard themselves as competent to some degree in the language: 1,656,790 (41.9% of the total population aged three years and over) regard themselves as competent Irish speakers.<ref name="census2006">{{cite web
|title=Census 2006 – Principal Demographic Results
|url=http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final%20Principal%20Demographic%20Results%202006.pdf
|publisher=Central Statistics Office
|format=PDF
|accessdate=2007-06-19}}</ref> Of these, 538,283 (32.5%) speak Irish on a daily basis, 97,089 (5.9%) weekly, 581,574 (35.1%) less often, 412,846 (24.9%) never, and 26,998 (1.6%) didn't state how often.

The number of inhabitants of the official-designated Gaeltacht regions of Ireland is 91,862, as of the 2006 census. Of these, 70.8% aged three and over speak Irish and approximately 60% speak Irish on a daily basis.<ref name=census2006/>

The 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 (10.4%) people "had some knowledge of Irish". Combined, this means that around one in three people (~1.8 million) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish to some extent.

On official language of the European Union. The new arrangements came into effect on 1 January 2007, and Irish was first used at a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, by Minister Noel Treacy, T.D., on 22 January 2007.

== Names of the language ==
=== In English ===
The language is usually referred to in English as ''Irish'', sometimes as ''Gaelic'' or ''Irish Gaelic''. The term ''Irish Gaelic'' is often used when English speakers discuss the relationship among the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Manx). Scottish Gaelic is often referred to in English as simply ''Gaelic''. The archaic term ''Erse'' (from ''Erische''), originally a Scots form of the word ''Irish'' applied in English-speaking Scotland (by Lowlanders) to all of the Goidelic languages, is no longer used for any Goidelic language, and in most current contexts is considered derogatory.<ref>Door Raymond Hickey, 2002, A Source Book for Irish English, John Benjamins Publishing Company: Netherlands</ref><ref>Door Christopher Whyte, 2004, Modern Scottish Poetry, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh</ref>

=== In Irish ===
In the  (the official written standard) the name of the language is  (), which reflects the southern Connacht pronunciation.

Before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled ; originally this was the genitive of , the form used in classical Modern Irish.<ref></ref> Older spellings of this include  in Middle Irish and  in Old Irish. The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ''dh'' in the middle of ''Gaedhilge''.

Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht  mentioned above, include  () or  () in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and  ()<ref></ref><ref></ref> in Munster Irish.

== Official status ==
=== In Ireland ===
Irish is given recognition by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Ireland (with English being a second official language). Since the foundation of the civil service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.).<ref></ref> Proficiency in just one official language for entrance to the public service was introduced in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the Language Freedom Movement.

While the First Official Language requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also ''Gardaí (police) was introduced in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. All official documents of the Irish Government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (this is according to the official languages act 2003, which is enforced by "an comisinéir teanga", the language ombudsman).

The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on a degree course in the NUI federal system, must pass the subject Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE/GCSE Examinations. Exemption are made from this requirement for students born outside of the Republic and students diagnosed with having dyslexia. <ref>http://www.nui.ie/entry/</ref>

In 1938, the founder of Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect.

The National University of Ireland, Galway is required to appoint a person who is competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3).<ref>Irish Statue Book, [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA35Y1929S3.html University College Galway Act, 1929]. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.</ref> It is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?maincat=10861&pcategory=10861&ecategory=10876&sectionpage=13637&language=EN&link=link001&page=1&doc=29800
|title=Minister Hanafin publishes University College Galway (Amendment) Bill 2005
|date=12 December 2005
|publisher=Department of education and Science
|accessdate=2007-06-19}}</ref>

Even though modern parliamentary legislation is supposed to be issued in both Irish and English, in practice it is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" be provided of any law in one official language be translated immediately into the other official language—if not already passed in both official languages.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/html%20files/Constitution%20of%20Ireland%20(Eng).htm
|title=Constitution of Ireland
|date=1 July 1937
|publisher=Government of Ireland
|accessdate=2007-06-19}}</ref>

=== In Northern Ireland ===
thumb|left|200px|A sign for the Department of Culture, Leisure, and Arts in Northern Ireland, in English, Irish, and [[Ulster Scots language|Ulster Scots.]]
  	
Prior to the establishment of the Northern Ireland state in 1921, Irish Gaelic was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. This policy continued in spite of attempts in the 1930s to restrict it further in the curriculum. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had a measure of devolved government. During those years the political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), were hostile to Gaelic. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and the Irish language was banned from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the Northern Ireland state.<ref>http://www.gppac.net/documents/pbp_f/part1/7_changi.htm Changing History - Peace Building in Northern Ireland

By Mari Fitzduff</ref> The language received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the Good Friday Agreement.<ref name="belfast">[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/agreement.htm#rights Belfast Agreement - Full text - Section 6 (Equality) - "ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES"]</ref>  The British government promised to create legislation encouraging the language as part of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.<ref name=bbc13dec2006>{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6177321.stm
|title=Irish language future is raised
|date=13 december 2006
|publisher=BBC News
|accessdate=2007-06-19}}</ref>

=== In the European Union ===
While an official language of the European Union, only co-decision regulations must be produced in Irish for the moment, due to a renewable five-year derogation on what has to be translated, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. Any expansion in the range of documents to be translated will depend on the results of the first five-year review and on whether the Irish authorities decide to seek an extension. 
The Irish government has committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs [http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/spotlight/irish_en.htm]

Before Irish became an official language on treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU had been translated into Irish.

== Gaeltacht ==

thumb|Official Gaeltacht areas
There are parts of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional, Tyrconnell (); and Mayo (), Meath (), Waterford (), and Cork ().

To summarise the extent of the survival: (See Hindley, 'The Death of the Irish Language')
Irish remains as a natural vernacular in the following areas: south Connemara, from a point west of Spiddal, covering Inverin, Carraroe, Rosmuck, and the islands; the Aran Islands, with the exception of the town of Kilronan on Inishmore; northwest Donegal in the area around Gweedore, including Rannafast, Gortahork, the surrounding townlands and Tory Island; in the townland of Rathcarn, Co. Meath.

Gweedore (), County Donegal is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland.

The numerically and socially strongest Gaeltacht areas are those of South Connemara, the west of the Dingle Peninsula and northwest Donegal, in which the majority of residents use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as the  ("true Gaeltacht") and collectively have a population just under 20,000.

130px|thumb|left|"Caution Children"
Irish summer colleges are attended by tens of thousands of Irish teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to ''céilithe'' and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged.

According to data compiled by the Irish Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in officially Gaeltacht areas possess a fluency in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments a "complete and absolute disaster". ''The Irish Times'' (January 6, 2002), referring to his analysis, which was initially published in the Irish language newspaper ''Foinse'', quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but the number now is between 20,000 and 30,000."

== Dialects ==
There are a number of distinct Newfoundland, in eastern Canada, is also seen to have a minor dialect of Irish, closely resembling the Irish spoken during the 16th to 17th centuries (See Newfoundland Irish).

=== Munster dialects ===

Munster Irish is mainly spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Kerry (), Ring () near Dungarvan () in County Waterford () and Muskerry () and Cape Clear Island () in the western part of County Cork (). The most important subdivision in Munster is that between Decies Irish (''Na Déise'') (spoken in Waterford) and the rest of Munster Irish.

Some typical features of Munster Irish are:
# The use of personal endings instead of pronouns with verbs (know as ''an fhoirm tháite''), thus "I must" is in Munster , while other dialects prefer  ( means "I"). "I was and you were" is  in Munster but  in other dialects.
# Use of absolute/dependent forms of verbs that are not included in the Standard. For example, "I see" in Munster is  (this is the absolute form), whereas "I do not see" is  (this is the dependent form, after particles such as ''ní''). ''Chím'' is replaced by ''feicim'' in the Standard. Similarly, the traditional form preserved in Munster  I give/ has become / in the Standard;  I get/ has become /; and  I say/ has become /.
# In front of nasals and ''ll'' some short vowels are lengthened while others are diphthongised.
# A copular construction involving  is frequently used. Thus ''is Éireannach mé'' is more likely to be ''Éireannach is ea mé'' in Munster.
# The dative singular remains in use. The dative singular varies from the nominative in the case of many feminine nouns: ''ag an bhfuinneoig'' "at the window", ''don mhnaoi'' "to the woman", ''lem charaid'' "with my friend", where the nominatives would be ''fuinneog'', ''bean'' and ''cara'' respectively. 
# Both masculine and feminine words are subject to lenition in the dative: ''sa tsiopa'', "in the shop", compared to the Standard ''sa siopa'' (the Standard lenites only feminine nouns in the dative). 
# Eclipsis of f after ''sa'': ''sa bhfeirm'', "in the farm", instead of ''san fheirm''.
# Stress is often on the second syllable of a word, e.g.  ("pin"), as opposed to  in Connacht and Ulster.
# The vigesimal counting system is still often used, eg ''deich is cheithre fichid'' "ninety".

=== Connacht dialects ===

The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found in morphology essentially a Connacht dialect; but shows an affinity in vocabulary with Ulster Irish, due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following the Plantation of Ulster.

There are features in Connemara Irish outside the official standard—notably the preference for verbal nouns ending in , e.g.  instead of , "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings give Connemara Irish its distinct sound. Distinguishing features of this dialect include the pronunciation of broad ''bh'' as , rather than as  in Munster. For example  ("my boat") is pronounced  in Connacht and Ulster as opposed to  in the south. In addition Connacht and Ulster speakers tend to include the "we" pronoun rather than use the standard compound form used in Munster e.g.  is used for "we were" instead of  elsewhere.

=== Ulster dialects ===

Linguistically the most important of the Ulster dialects today is that of the Rosses (), which has been used extensively in literature by such authors as the brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna, locally known as Jimí Fheilimí and Joe Fheilimí. This dialect is essentially the same as that in Gweedore ( = Inlet of Streaming Water), and used by native singers Enya () and Máire Brennan and their siblings in Clannad ( = Family from the Dobhar[a section of Gweedore]) Na Casaidigh, and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh from another local band Altan.

Ulster Irish sounds very different and shares several unusual features with Scottish Gaelic, as well as having lots of characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today Northern Ireland, it is probably an exaggeration to see Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. For instance, Scottish Gaelic has many non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish.

One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish is the use of the negative particle  in place of the Munster and Connacht version . Even in Ulster, —most typical of Scottish Gaelic—has largely ousted the more common  (except in  "is not") in northernmost dialects (e.g. Rosguill and Tory Island).<ref></ref><ref></ref>

=== An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ===
''An Caighdeán Oifigiúil'' ("The Official Standard"), often shortened to ''An Caighdeán'', is the standard language, and was introduced in the 1950s/1960s in an attempt to make Irish easier to learn, as it was composed using elements of the Munster and Ulster dialects, but strongly based on the dialect of Connacht. It is the form of Irish that is taught in most schools in Ireland. The Connacht dialect was, immediately prior to the Official Standard, regarded as ungrammatical, or grammatically innovative, in many points; yet, those points have been adopted into the Official Standard. Examples could be adduced: the verb "to see" traditionally had an absolute/dependent contrast, still preserved in Munster and Ulster Irish. I see should therefore be ''do-chím'' or'' at-chím'' (the prefix is often dropped: ''chím''), with the negative being ''ní fheicim'', the interrogative being ''an bhfeicim?'' and the negative interrogative being ''ná feicim?'' But the Connacht dialectal use of ''feicim'' for the absolute form has been adopted into the Standard. 

The dialects of Irish native to Leinster, the fourth province of Ireland, became extinct during the 20th century, but records of some of these were made by the Irish Folklore Commission among other bodies prior to this.

The present-day Irish of Meath (in Leinster) is a special case. It belongs mainly to the Connemara dialect. The Irish-speaking community in Meath is mostly a group of Connemara speakers who moved there in the 1930s after a land reform campaign spearheaded by Máirtín Ó Cadhain (who subsequently became one of the greatest modernist writers in the language).

What has been called "Dublin Irish" and "Gaelscoil Irish" is also spoken in the capital and amongst the students of Irish-speaking schools throughout the country. This is, arguably, simply the national standard of Irish, or ''An Caighdeán Oifigiúil'' but with strong influence from English in the form of idioms and expressions.

=== Comparisons ===
The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in defining standard Irish. A good example is the greeting "How are you?". Just as this greeting varies from region to region, and between social classes, among English speakers, this greeting varies among Irish speakers:

* Ulster:  ("What is it as you are?" Note:  or  and sometimes  are alternative renderings of )
* Connacht:  ("What way [is it] that you are?")
* Munster:  or  ("How are you?")
* "Standard" Irish:  ("How are you?")

In recent decades contacts between speakers of different dialects have become frequent and mixed dialects have originated. With the growth in the Irish language media—and in particular the television channel TG4—it has become much easier for speakers of different dialects to understand one another, although this is mostly seen in the younger generations.

== Linguistic structure ==
The features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the orthography, the two different forms for "to be", and noun genders. However, initial mutations are found in other Italian and Sardinian dialects, as an independent development. They are also found in some West African languages.

=== Syntax ===

Word order in Irish is of the form VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) so that, for example, "He hit me" is  [hit-past tense]  [he]  [me].

One aspect of Irish syntax that is unfamiliar to speakers of other languages is the use of the Spanish and Portuguese (see Romance copula), although this is only a rough approximation.

=== Morphology ===

Another feature of Irish grammar that is shared with other Celtic languages is the use of prepositional pronouns (), which are essentially conjugated prepositions. For example, the word for "at" is , which in the first person singular becomes  "at me". When used with the verb  ("to be")  indicates possession; this is the equivalent of the English verb "to have".

{|cellspacing="7"
|||"I have a book."||(Literally, "there is a book at me.")
|-
|||"You have a book."
|-
|||"He has a book."
|-
|||"She has a book."
|-
|||"We have a book."
|-
|||"You (plural) have a book."
|-
|||"They have a book."
|}

=== Orthography and pronunciation ===
thumb|"Gaelach" in the [[Gaelic script.]]

The written language looks rather daunting to those unfamiliar with it. Once understood, the orthography is relatively straightforward. The acute accent, or  (´), serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality. For example, in Munster Irish (Kerry), ''a'' is  or  and ''á'' is  in "law" but in Ulster Irish (Donegal), ''á'' tends to be .

Around the time of World War II, Séamas Daltún, in charge of  (the official translations department of the Irish government), issued his own guidelines about how to standardise Irish spelling and grammar. This de facto standard was subsequently approved of by the State and called the Official Standard or .

It simplified and standardised the orthography. Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one or more were selected.

Examples:
*  →  , "Irish language" ( or  is still used in books written in dialect by Munster authors, or as a facetious name for the Munster dialect)
*   →  , "Louth"
*   →  , "food" 

The new spelling often ignores aspects of Ulster and Munster pronunciation that were better served by the older spelling. In standard Irish, ''bia'', "food", has the genitive ''bia''. But in Munster Irish, the genitive is pronounced <ref></ref>. For this reason, the spelling  is still used by the speakers of some dialects, in particular those that show a meaningful and audible difference between  (nominative case) and  (genitive case) "of food, food's". In Munster, the latter spelling regularly produces the pronunciation  because final ''-idh, -igh'' regularly delenites to ''-ig'' in Munster pronunciation. Another example would be the word ''crua'', meaning "hard". This pronounced <ref></ref> in Munster, in line with the pre-Caighdeán spelling, ''cruaidh''. In Munster, ''ao'' is pronounced  and ''aoi'' pronounced <ref></ref>, but the new spellings of ''saoghal'', "life, world", genitive: ''saoghail'', have become ''saol'', genitive ''saoil''. This produces irregularities in the matchup between the spelling and pronunciation in Munster, because the word is pronounced , genitive <ref></ref>. This pronunciation can only be derived from the pre-Caighdeán spelling. ''Tinn'', "sick", was written ''teinn'' in the old spelling, and is still pronounced so in Munster--the Cork pronunciation is <ref></ref>. Numerous other examples could be cited.

Modern Irish has only one dot-above diacritic, called a  or  (often shortened to ), derives from the ''punctum delens'' used in medieval manuscripts to indicate deletion, similar to crossing out unwanted words in handwriting today. From this usage it was used to indicate the zero) in Old Irish texts.

Lenition of ''c'', ''p'', and ''t'' was indicated by placing the letter ''h'' after the affected consonant; lenition of other sounds was left unmarked. Later both methods were extended to be indicators of lenition of any sound except ''l'' and ''n'', and two competing systems were used: lenition could be marked by a  or by a postposed ''h''. Eventually, use of the  predominated when texts were writing using Gaelic letters, while the ''h'' predominated when writing using Roman letters.

Today the Latin-8 character sets (see Latin Extended Additional chart).<ref>Unicode 5.0, . Retrieved on 2007-10-13.</ref>

=== Mutations ===

In Irish, there are two classes of initial consonant mutations:

* Lenition (in Irish,  "softening") describes the change of stops into fricatives. Indicated in old orthography by a  written above the changed consonant, this is now shown in writing by adding an -''h'':
**  "throw!" —  "I threw" (this is an example of the lenition as a past-tense marker, which is caused by the use of , although it is now usually omitted)
**  "market", "market-place", "bargain" —  "the man of the street" (word for word "Timothy of the market-place"; here we see the lenition marking the genitive case of a masculine noun)
**  "Seán, John" —  "O John!" (here we see lenition as part of what is called the vocative case — in fact, the vocative lenition is triggered by the  or vocative marker before )

* Nasalisation (in Irish,  "eclipsis") covers the voicing of voiceless stops, as well as the true nasalisation of voiced stops.
**  "father" —  "our Father"
**  "start",  "at the start"
**  "Galway" —  "in Galway"

== History ==

Written Irish is first attested in Old Irish, dating from the sixth century, used the Middle Irish, dating from the tenth century, is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the famous Ulster Cycle. Early Modern Irish, dating from the thirteenth century, was the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland, and is attested by such writers as Geoffrey Keating.

From the eighteenth century the language went into a decline, rapidly losing ground to English due in part to restrictions dictated by British occupation - a conspicuous example of the process known by linguists as Great Irish Famine (1845-1849).