93-689: Parliament House ( Scottish Gaelic : Taigh na Pàrlamaid ), located in the Old Town in Edinburgh , Scotland , is a complex of several buildings housing the Supreme Courts of Scotland . The oldest part of the complex was home to the Parliament of Scotland from 1639 to 1707, and is the world's first purpose-built parliament building. Located just off the Royal Mile , beside St Giles' Cathedral , Parliament House
186-461: A corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket . A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the structure. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger" in England. The technique of corbelling , where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside
279-442: A 19% fall in bilingual speakers between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses. Michelle MacLeod of Aberdeen University has said that there was no other period with such a high fall in the number of monolingual Gaelic speakers: "Gaelic speakers became increasingly the exception from that point forward with bilingualism replacing monolingualism as the norm for Gaelic speakers." The Linguistic Survey of Scotland (1949–1997) surveyed both
372-549: A Pictish substrate. In 1018, after the conquest of Lothian (theretofore part of England and inhabited predominantly by speakers of Northumbrian Old English ) by the Kingdom of Scotland , Gaelic reached its social, cultural, political, and geographic zenith. Colloquial speech in Scotland had been developing independently of that in Ireland since the eighth century. For the first time,
465-515: A central feature of court life there. The semi-independent Lordship of the Isles in the Hebrides and western coastal mainland remained thoroughly Gaelic since the language's recovery there in the 12th century, providing a political foundation for cultural prestige down to the end of the 15th century. By the mid-14th century what eventually came to be called Scots (at that time termed Inglis ) emerged as
558-805: A challenge to revitalization efforts which occur outside the home. Positive engagements between language learners and native speakers of Gaelic through mentorship has proven to be productive in socializing new learners into fluency. In the 2022 census, 3,551 people claimed Gaelic as their 'main language.' Of these, 1,761 (49.6%) were in Na h-Eileanan Siar, 682 (19.2%) were in Highland, 369 were in Glasgow City and 120 were in City of Edinburgh; no other council area had as many as 80 such respondents. Gaelic has long suffered from its lack of use in educational and administrative contexts and
651-463: A cue from 16th-century practice, the Paris-trained designers of 19th-century Beaux-Arts architecture were encouraged to show imagination in varying corbels. A corbel table is a projecting moulded string course supported by a range of corbels. Sometimes these corbels carry a small arcade under the string course, the arches of which are pointed and trefoiled. As a rule, the corbel table carries
744-541: A dialect known as Canadian Gaelic has been spoken in Canada since the 18th century. In the 2021 census , 2,170 Canadian residents claimed knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, a decline from 3,980 speakers in the 2016 census . There exists a particular concentration of speakers in Nova Scotia , with historic communities in other parts of Canada having largely disappeared. Scottish Gaelic is classed as an indigenous language under
837-489: A full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people. The 2011 UK Census showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write
930-577: A language ideology at odds with revitalization efforts on behalf of new speakers, state policies (such as the Gaelic Language Act), and family members reclaiming their lost mother tongue. New learners of Gaelic often have a positive affective stance to their language learning, and connect this learning journey towards Gaelic language revitalization. The mismatch of these language ideologies, and differences in affective stance, has led to fewer speaking opportunities for adult language learners and therefore
1023-786: A national centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, based in Sleat , on the Isle of Skye . This institution is the only source for higher education which is conducted entirely in Scottish Gaelic. They offer courses for Gaelic learners from beginners into fluency. They also offer regular bachelors and graduate programs delivered entirely in Gaelic. Concerns have been raised around the fluency achieved by learners within these language programs because they are disconnected from vernacular speech communities. In regard to language revitalization planning efforts, many feel that
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#17328482512661116-544: A process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly under way during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten. Bilingualism in Pictish and Gaelic, prior to the former's extinction, led to the presence of Pictish loanwords in Gaelic and syntactic influence which could be considered to constitute
1209-600: A proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in Barvas , Lewis , with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in Ardnamurchan , Highland , with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes. Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in
1302-566: A series of changes. A new Court of Exchequer was built, and in 1808, when the Inner house was split into two divisions, the new courtroom for the Second Division was created to the west of Parliament Hall. Two courtrooms for Lords Ordinary were added south of Parliament Hall in 1818-20. By 1830 the east range, the Court of Exchequer, was complete and by 1838 the south range was built providing courtrooms for
1395-536: A situation where new learners struggle to find opportunities to speak Gaelic with fluent speakers. Affect is the way people feel about something, or the emotional response to a particular situation or experience. For Gaelic speakers, there is a conditioned and socialized negative affect through a long history of negative Scottish media portrayal and public disrespect, state mandated restrictions on Gaelic usage, and highland clearances . This negative affect towards speaking openly with non-native Gaelic speakers has led to
1488-510: A storage space. In 1662 the legal registers of Scotland were removed from the 'register house' in Edinburgh Castle to the Laigh Hall, as were parliamentary and other records in 1689. The national records would continue to be stored in the Laigh Hall until 1789. Edinburgh's infamous Maiden guillotine was also stored in the Laigh Hall at one point. The two-storey south-east wing, known as
1581-605: A translation of the New Testament. In 1798, four tracts in Gaelic were published by the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, with 5,000 copies of each printed. Other publications followed, with a full Gaelic Bible in 1801. The influential and effective Gaelic Schools Society was founded in 1811. Their purpose was to teach Gaels to read the Bible in their own language. In the first quarter of
1674-483: A wall out from the vertical, has long been used as a simple kind of vaulting , for example in many Neolithic chambered cairns , where walls are gradually corbelled in until the opening can be spanned by a slab. Corbelled vaults are very common in early architecture around the world. Different types may be called the beehive house (ancient Britain and elsewhere), the Irish clochán , the pre-Roman nuraghe of Sardinia , and
1767-474: A wall support a projecting wall or parapet , has been used since Neolithic (New Stone Age) times. It is common in medieval architecture and in the Scottish baronial style as well as in the vocabulary of classical architecture , such as the modillions of a Corinthian cornice . The corbel arch and corbel vault use the technique systematically to make openings in walls and to form ceilings. These are found in
1860-694: Is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family ) native to the Gaels of Scotland . As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx , developed out of Old Irish . It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by the Gaels of both Ireland and Scotland until well into
1953-530: Is a notable example, with 85 of its original 91 richly carved corbels still surviving). Similarly, in the Early English period corbels were sometimes elaborately carved, as at Lincoln Cathedral , and sometimes more simply so. Corbels sometimes end with a point apparently growing into the wall, or forming a knot, and often are supported by angels and other figures. In the later periods the carved foliage and other ornaments used on corbels resemble those used in
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#17328482512662046-490: Is a significant step forward for the recognition of Gaelic both at home and abroad and I look forward to addressing the council in Gaelic very soon. Seeing Gaelic spoken in such a forum raises the profile of the language as we drive forward our commitment to creating a new generation of Gaelic speakers in Scotland." Bilingual road signs, street names, business and advertisement signage (in both Gaelic and English) are gradually being introduced throughout Gaelic-speaking regions in
2139-723: Is also the headquarters of the Faculty of Advocates , the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet , and the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland . Other buildings in the complex include the Advocates Library and the Signet Library . The entire complex is a Category A Listed building . In the 17th century, the Parliament of Scotland did not have a dedicated permanent home. Between 1438 and 1561, it had usually met in
2232-411: Is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken. Many historians mark the reign of King Malcolm Canmore ( Malcolm III ) between 1058 and 1093 as the beginning of Gaelic's eclipse in Scotland. His wife Margaret of Wessex spoke no Gaelic, gave her children Anglo-Saxon rather than Gaelic names, and brought many English bishops, priests, and monastics to Scotland. When Malcolm and Margaret died in 1093,
2325-660: Is the seat of the Court of Session , the highest civil court of Scotland . Most of the work of the High Court of Justiciary , the supreme criminal court of Scotland, takes place in the Justiciary Building in the Lawnmarket . Parliament Hall now remains open as a meeting place for lawyers. Robert Reid designed the exterior of the building (1803-10 and 1827-38). He gave the whole complex an overall unified Classical façade on
2418-810: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , which the UK Government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language-development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig . The Scottish Parliament is considering a Scottish Languages Bill which proposes to give the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland. Aside from "Scottish Gaelic", the language may also be referred to simply as "Gaelic", pronounced / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / GAL -ik in English . However, "Gaelic" / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik also refers to
2511-548: The Outer Hebrides , accommodation ethics exist amongst native or local Gaelic speakers when engaging with new learners or non-locals. Accommodation ethics, or ethics of accommodation, is a social practice where local or native speakers of Gaelic shift to speaking English when in the presence of non-Gaelic speakers out of a sense of courtesy or politeness. This accommodation ethic persists even in situations where new learners attempt to speak Gaelic with native speakers. This creates
2604-659: The Scottish Lowlands . Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in Aberdeenshire (+526), North Lanarkshire (+305), the Aberdeen City council area (+216), and East Ayrshire (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), Moray (+0.16%), and Orkney (+0.13%). In 2018,
2697-499: The Tolbooth in Edinburgh , a building which also housed the burgh council of Edinburgh and the Court of Session . From 1563 onwards Parliament regularly met in the chamber of the Court of Session, which was situated in the central aisle of St Giles' Cathedral . This chamber was becoming inadequate by the 1630s due to the increasing number of members of parliament. It was clear that Parliament required more suitable accommodation, there
2790-525: The capitals of columns . Throughout England, in half-timber work, wooden corbels ("tassels" or "braggers") abound, carrying window-sills or oriel windows in wood, which also are often carved. The corbels carrying balconies in Italy and France were sometimes of great size and richly carved, and some of the finest examples of the Italian Cinquecento (16th century) style are found in them. Taking
2883-498: The gutter , but in Lombard work the arcaded corbel table was used as a decoration to subdivide the storeys and break up the wall surface. In Italy sometimes over the corbels will form a moulding, and above a plain piece of projecting wall forming a parapet . The corbels carrying the arches of the corbel tables in Italy and France were often elaborately moulded, sometimes in two or three courses projecting over one another; those carrying
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2976-501: The machicolations of English and French castles had four courses. In modern chimney construction, a corbel table is constructed on the inside of a flue in the form of a concrete ring beam supported by a range of corbels. The corbels can be either in-situ or pre-cast concrete. The corbel tables described here are built at approximately ten-metre intervals to ensure stability of the barrel of refractory bricks constructed thereon. Corbelling, where rows of corbels gradually build
3069-759: The significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education since that time is unknown. Gaelic Medium Education is one of the primary ways that the Scottish Government is addressing Gaelic language shift. Along with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig policies, preschool and daycare environments are also being used to create more opportunities for intergenerational language transmission in the Outer Hebrides. However, revitalization efforts are not unified within Scotland or Nova Scotia, Canada. One can attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig ,
3162-570: The tholos tombs (or "beehive tombs") of Late Bronze Age Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean. In medieval architecture , the technique was used to support upper storeys or a parapet projecting forward from the wall plane, often to form machicolations (openings between corbels could be used to drop things onto attackers). This later became a decorative feature, without the openings. Corbelling supporting upper stories and particularly supporting projecting corner turrets subsequently became
3255-558: The 1706-07 session. With the Acts of Union 1707 , the Parliament of Scotland was dissolved, and Parliament House ceased to be used for its main original purpose. From then onwards the building was primarily used by the courts as the seat of the Court of Session , the High Court of Justiciary , the Admiralty Court , and the Court of Exchequer . The national records of Scotland were moved from
3348-472: The 17th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names. In the 2011 census of Scotland , 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) reported being able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides . Nevertheless, there is a language revival , and
3441-434: The 19th century Parliament Hall was also, as the property of the town council, the main public hall of Edinburgh for the hosting of civic receptions. During music festivals held in 1815, 1819, and 1824, the hall hosted performances of George Frideric Handel 's Messiah and Joseph Haydn 's The Creation . A civic banquet was also held there during the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. The early 19th century saw
3534-587: The 19th century, the SSPCK (despite their anti-Gaelic attitude in prior years) and the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed 60,000 Gaelic Bibles and 80,000 New Testaments. It is estimated that this overall schooling and publishing effort gave about 300,000 people in the Highlands some basic literacy. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of
3627-404: The 2011 Census. The 2011 total population figure comes from table KS101SC. The numbers of Gaelic speakers relate to the numbers aged 3 and over, and the percentages are calculated using those and the number of the total population aged 3 and over. Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had
3720-407: The 4th–5th centuries CE, by settlers from Ireland who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast in present-day Argyll . An alternative view has been voiced by archaeologist Ewan Campbell , who has argued that the putative migration or takeover is not reflected in archaeological or placename data (as pointed out earlier by Leslie Alcock ). Campbell has also questioned
3813-559: The Bible; the lack of a well known translation may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic. Counterintuitively, access to schooling in Gaelic increased knowledge of English. In 1829, the Gaelic Schools Society reported that parents were unconcerned about their children learning Gaelic, but were anxious to have them taught English. The SSPCK also found Highlanders to have significant prejudice against Gaelic. T. M. Devine attributes this to an association between English and
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3906-487: The Court of Session when Parliament was not sitting. The main feature of Parliament Hall is the elaborate oak trussed flat roof supported on carved stone corbels . It was constructed in 1637 by John Scott, the Edinburgh master wright. In the 17th and 18th centuries the walls were hung with tapestries and portraits of Scottish monarchs . The stained glass Great Window, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach and Max Emanuel Ainmiller ,
3999-588: The EU's institutions. The Scottish government had to pay for the translation from Gaelic to other European languages . The deal was received positively in Scotland; Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said the move was a strong sign of the UK government's support for Gaelic. He said; "Allowing Gaelic speakers to communicate with European institutions in their mother tongue is a progressive step forward and one which should be welcomed". Culture Minister Mike Russell said; "this
4092-538: The Forth–Clyde line and along the northeastern coastal plain as far north as Moray. Norman French completely displaced Gaelic at court. The establishment of royal burghs throughout the same area, particularly under David I , attracted large numbers of foreigners speaking Old English. This was the beginning of Gaelic's status as a predominantly rural language in Scotland. Clan chiefs in the northern and western parts of Scotland continued to support Gaelic bards who remained
4185-652: The Gaelic Act falls so far short of the status accorded to Welsh that one would be foolish or naïve to believe that any substantial change will occur in the fortunes of the language as a result of Bòrd na Gàidhlig 's efforts. On 10 December 2008, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the Scottish Human Rights Commission had the UDHR translated into Gaelic for
4278-744: The Gaelic aristocracy rejected their anglicised sons and instead backed Malcolm's brother Domnall Bán ( Donald III ). Donald had spent 17 years in Gaelic Ireland and his power base was in the thoroughly Gaelic west of Scotland. He was the last Scottish monarch to be buried on Iona , the traditional burial place of the Gaelic Kings of Dàl Riada and the Kingdom of Alba. However, during the reigns of Malcolm Canmore's sons, Edgar, Alexander I and David I (their successive reigns lasting 1097–1153), Anglo-Norman names and practices spread throughout Scotland south of
4371-648: The High Court of Justiciary, replacing the 17th century Inner House courtroom in the Treasury wing with two new Inner House courts. The Lords Ordinary finally moved out of Parliament Hall in 1844 when four new courtrooms were built on the site of the 1818-20 courts. The bank building of 1827-29 on the east of the site was incorporated into the courts in 1881-6. In 1907-09 the Outer House Courts due south of Parliament Hall were remodelled and extended. Today, Parliament House
4464-601: The Highland and Island region. In 1616, the Privy Council proclaimed that schools teaching in English should be established. Gaelic was seen, at this time, as one of the causes of the instability of the region. It was also associated with Catholicism. The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709. They met in 1716, immediately after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715 , to consider
4557-416: The Highlands and Islands, including Argyll. In many cases, this has simply meant re-adopting the traditional spelling of a name (such as Ràtagan or Loch Ailleart rather than the anglicised forms Ratagan or Lochailort respectively). Some monolingual Gaelic road signs, particularly direction signs, are used on the Outer Hebrides , where a majority of the population can have a working knowledge of
4650-695: The Inner Hebridean dialects of Tiree and Islay, and even a few native speakers from Western Highland areas including Wester Ross , northwest Sutherland , Lochaber and Argyll . Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle (the North Channel ) linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct, though native speakers were still to be found on the Mull of Kintyre , on Rathlin and in North East Ireland as late as
4743-410: The Irish language ( Gaeilge ) and the Manx language ( Gaelg ). Scottish Gaelic is distinct from Scots , the Middle English -derived language which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the early modern era . Prior to the 15th century, this language was known as Inglis ("English") by its own speakers, with Gaelic being called Scottis ("Scottish"). Beginning in
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#17328482512664836-407: The Laigh Hall to General Register House in 1789. From 1707 until 1844 the Lords Ordinary of the Court of Session sat in Parliament Hall, and as their courtroom the hall came to be known as the Outer House , while the judges of the Court of Session hearing appellate cases sat in one of the ground floor chambers in the south-east Treasury wing, which came to be known as the Inner House . Until
4929-631: The Treasury, contained an entrance lobby on the ground floor, with the Court of Session occupying the two ground floor chambers. The upper floor contained the Treasury Room (used by the Treasurer and the later Treasury Board), the Council Chamber (used by the Privy Council ), and the Exchequer Room (used by the Court of Exchequer ). During parliamentary sessions all of these rooms would have been used by committees. Scottish Gaelic language Scottish Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / , GAL -ik ; endonym : Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic ,
5022-428: The UK Government as Welsh . With the advent of devolution , however, Scottish matters have begun to receive greater attention, and it achieved a degree of official recognition when the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act was enacted by the Scottish Parliament on 21 April 2005. The key provisions of the Act are: After its creation, Bòrd na Gàidhlig required a Gaelic Language Plan from the Scottish Government. This plan
5115-581: The Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in Stornoway , the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011. The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is Kilmuir in Northern Skye at 46%. The islands in the Inner Hebrides with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are Tiree (38.3%), Raasay (30.4%), Skye (29.4%), Lismore (26.9%), Colonsay (20.2%), and Islay (19.0%). Today, no civil parish in Scotland has
5208-589: The Western Isles. The Scottish Qualifications Authority offer two streams of Gaelic examination across all levels of the syllabus: Gaelic for learners (equivalent to the modern foreign languages syllabus) and Gaelic for native speakers (equivalent to the English syllabus). An Comunn Gàidhealach performs assessment of spoken Gaelic, resulting in the issue of a Bronze Card, Silver Card or Gold Card. Syllabus details are available on An Comunn's website. These are not widely recognised as qualifications, but are required for those taking part in certain competitions at
5301-466: The age and reliability of the medieval historical sources speaking of a conquest. Instead, he has inferred that Argyll formed part of a common Q-Celtic -speaking area with Ireland, connected rather than divided by the sea, since the Iron Age. These arguments have been opposed by some scholars defending the early dating of the traditional accounts and arguing for other interpretations of the archaeological evidence. Regardless of how it came to be spoken in
5394-408: The annual mods . In October 2009, a new agreement allowed Scottish Gaelic to be formally used between Scottish Government ministers and European Union officials. The deal was signed by Britain's representative to the EU, Sir Kim Darroch , and the Scottish government . This did not give Scottish Gaelic official status in the EU but gave it the right to be a means of formal communications in
5487-413: The bill be strengthened, a revised bill was published; the main alteration was that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutory (rather than advisory). In the committee stages in the Scottish Parliament, there was much debate over whether Gaelic should be given 'equal validity' with English. Due to executive concerns about resourcing implications if this wording was used, the Education Committee settled on
5580-625: The census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, Gaelic medium education in Scotland has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014. Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home. The effect on this of
5673-419: The cities and professors of Celtic from universities who sought to preserve the language. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 provided universal education in Scotland, but completely ignored Gaelic in its plans. The mechanism for supporting Gaelic through the Education Codes issued by the Scottish Education Department were steadily used to overcome this omission, with many concessions in place by 1918. However,
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#17328482512665766-450: The concept of 'equal respect'. It is not clear what the legal force of this wording is. The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament unanimously, with support from all sectors of the Scottish political spectrum, on 21 April 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, it will ultimately fall to BnG to secure the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland. Some commentators, such as Éamonn Ó Gribín (2006) argue that
5859-444: The dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, and also mixed use of English and Gaelic across the Highlands and Islands. Dialects of Lowland Gaelic have been defunct since the 18th century. Gaelic in the Eastern and Southern Scottish Highlands, although alive until the mid-20th century, is now largely defunct. Although modern Scottish Gaelic is dominated by the dialects of the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Skye, there remain some speakers of
5952-478: The early architecture of most cultures, from Eurasia to Pre-Columbian architecture . A console is more specifically an S-shaped scroll bracket in the classical tradition, with the upper or inner part larger than the lower (as in the first illustration) or outer. Keystones are also often in the form of consoles. Whereas "corbel" is rarely used outside architecture, "console" is widely used for furniture , as in console table , and other decorative arts where
6045-415: The entire region of modern-day Scotland was called Scotia in Latin, and Gaelic was the lingua Scotica . In southern Scotland , Gaelic was strong in Galloway , adjoining areas to the north and west, West Lothian , and parts of western Midlothian . It was spoken to a lesser degree in north Ayrshire , Renfrewshire , the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire . In south-eastern Scotland, there
6138-431: The first time. However, given there are no longer any monolingual Gaelic speakers, following an appeal in the court case of Taylor v Haughney (1982), involving the status of Gaelic in judicial proceedings, the High Court ruled against a general right to use Gaelic in court proceedings. While the goal of the Gaelic Language Act was to aid in revitalization efforts through government mandated official language status,
6231-479: The initiatives must come from within Gaelic speaking communities, be led by Gaelic speakers, and be designed to serve and increase fluency within the vernacular communities as the first and most viable resistance to total language shift from Gaelic to English. Currently, language policies are focused on creating new language speakers through education, instead of focused on how to strengthen intergenerational transmission within existing Gaelic speaking communities. In
6324-437: The language. Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people. This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and Bòrd na Gàidhlig took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed. The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ( Na h-Eileanan Siar ), where
6417-412: The language. These omit the English translation entirely. Bilingual railway station signs are now more frequent than they used to be. Practically all the stations in the Highland area use both English and Gaelic, and the use of bilingual station signs has become more frequent in the Lowlands of Scotland, including areas where Gaelic has not been spoken for a long time. Corbel In architecture ,
6510-477: The late 15th century, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse ("Irish") and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis . Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a separate language from Irish, so the word Erse in reference to Scottish Gaelic is no longer used. Based on medieval traditional accounts and the apparent evidence from linguistic geography, Gaelic has been commonly believed to have been brought to Scotland, in
6603-400: The members of Highland school boards tended to have anti-Gaelic attitudes and served as an obstacle to Gaelic education in the late 19th and early 20th century. Loss of life due to World War I and the 1919 sinking of the HMY Iolaire , combined with emigration, resulted in the 1910s seeing unprecedented damage to the use of Scottish Gaelic, with a 46% fall in monolingual speakers and
6696-723: The mid-20th century. Records of their speech show that Irish and Scottish Gaelic existed in a dialect chain with no clear language boundary. Some features of moribund dialects have been preserved in Nova Scotia, including the pronunciation of the broad or velarised l ( l̪ˠ ) as [w] , as in the Lochaber dialect. The Endangered Languages Project lists Gaelic's status as "threatened", with "20,000 to 30,000 active users". UNESCO classifies Gaelic as " definitely endangered ". The 1755–2001 figures are census data quoted by MacAulay. The 2011 Gaelic speakers figures come from table KS206SC of
6789-532: The modern era. Some of this was driven by policy decisions by government or other organisations, while some originated from social changes. In the last quarter of the 20th century, efforts began to encourage use of the language. The Statutes of Iona , enacted by James VI in 1609, was one piece of legislation that addressed, among other things, the Gaelic language. It required the heirs of clan chiefs to be educated in lowland, Protestant, English-speaking schools. James VI took several such measures to impose his rule on
6882-730: The motif appears. The word corbel comes from Old French and derives from the Latin corbellus , a diminutive of corvus (" raven "), which refers to the beak-like appearance. Similarly, the French refer to a bracket-corbel, usually a load-bearing internal feature, as a corbeau (" crow "). Norman ( Romanesque ) corbels often have a plain appearance, although they may be elaborately carved with stylised heads of humans, animals or imaginary "beasts", and sometimes with other motifs (The Church of St Mary and St David in Kilpeck, Herefordshire
6975-614: The north side. This Parliament Square façade was strongly influenced by the Adam style , in particular their unexecuted designs for the quadrants of the Old College of the University of Edinburgh . The façade is a Classical, 3-storey, 31- bay , symmetrical U-plan, with a central advanced 5-bay pedimented hexastyle portico , a cornice and balustraded parapet with decorative panels inset, some surmounted by stone sphinxes . The Advocates Library
7068-434: The number of speakers of the language under age 20 did not decrease between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. In the 2022 census of Scotland , it was found that 2.5% of the Scottish population had some skills in Gaelic, or 130,161 persons. Of these, 69,701 people reported speaking the language, with a further 46,404 people reporting that they understood the language, but did not speak, read, or write in it. Outside of Scotland,
7161-687: The official language of government and law. Scotland's emergent nationalism in the era following the conclusion of the Wars of Scottish Independence was organized using Scots as well. For example, the nation's great patriotic literature including John Barbour's The Brus (1375) and Blind Harry's The Wallace (before 1488) was written in Scots, not Gaelic. By the end of the 15th century, English/Scots speakers referred to Gaelic instead as 'Yrisch' or 'Erse', i.e. Irish and their own language as 'Scottis'. A steady shift away from Scottish Gaelic continued into and through
7254-459: The outcome of the act is distanced from the actual minority language communities. It helps to create visibility of the minority language in civil structures, but does not impact or address the lived experiences of the Gaelic speaker communities wherein the revitalization efforts may have a higher return of new Gaelic speakers. Efforts are being made to concentrate resources, language planning, and revitalization efforts towards vernacular communities in
7347-551: The overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the Highlands (5.4%) and in Argyll and Bute (4.0%) and Inverness (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is Glasgow with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers. Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in
7440-459: The prosperity of employment: the Highland economy relied greatly on seasonal migrant workers travelling outside the Gàidhealtachd . In 1863, an observer sympathetic to Gaelic stated that "knowledge of English is indispensable to any poor islander who wishes to learn a trade or to earn his bread beyond the limits of his native Isle". Generally, rather than Gaelic speakers, it was Celtic societies in
7533-454: The reform and civilisation of the Highlands, which they sought to achieve by teaching English and the Protestant religion. Initially, their teaching was entirely in English, but soon the impracticality of educating Gaelic-speaking children in this way gave rise to a modest concession: in 1723, teachers were allowed to translate English words in the Bible into Gaelic to aid comprehension, but there
7626-574: The region, Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the eighth century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. During the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than as the kingdom of the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly,
7719-453: The remainder funded by public subscription from the citizens of Edinburgh. Parliament House was built between 1632 and 1640 on the west side of the sloping ground between St Giles’ Cathedral and the Cowgate which was occupied by the burial grounds of St Giles'. The burial grounds had ceased to be used for burials in 1566 (with the exception of the burial of John Knox in 1572). Three manses on
7812-489: The site which were occupied by the ministers of St Giles' were demolished to accommodate the new building. Although Parliament House was not completed until 1640 it hosted the 1639 session of Parliament, which opened on 12 August 1639. The building was built on an L-shaped plan, with the main block having three storeys, with the Parliament Hall and the Laigh Hall or Laigh House on the upper two storeys, and below these there
7905-547: The west of the north end of Parliament Hall is the Signet Library. It is a private library, funded by members of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet , who are generally practising solicitors . Construction began in 1810 to a design by Robert Reid, and it presents a classical front to Parliament Square. Beneath Parliament Hall is the Laigh Hall, the original use of which remains unclear, although it may have been used for subsidiary parliamentary meetings or perhaps as
7998-469: Was a desire to restore St Giles’ solely to its original function as a place of worship, and Charles I requested that the burgh council provide a more commodious building. In March 1632, the council commissioned the building of a purpose-built parliamentary chamber, designed by James Murray , the King's Master of Works . The building cost £127,000 Scots , most of which came from Edinburgh's common good fund , with
8091-399: Was accepted in 2008, and some of its main commitments were: identity (signs, corporate identity); communications (reception, telephone, mailings, public meetings, complaint procedures); publications (PR and media, websites); staffing (language learning, training, recruitment). Following a consultation period, in which the government received many submissions, the majority of which asked that
8184-478: Was an undercroft . The two-storey south-east wing, known as the Treasury, contained chambers on each floor. The facade, overlooking Parliament Yard (later Parliament Square ), was of ashlar , while the remainder of the building was rubble -built with ashlar dressings. The principal entrance was surmounted by a pediment containing the Royal Arms of Scotland , between statues of Justice and Mercy , beneath which
8277-587: Was erected in 1868 and commemorates the establishment of the College of Justice by James V in 1532. Charles I became the first monarch to attend Parliament in the hall when he was present at the August-November 1641 session. The future monarchs James VII and Anne attended the 1681 session. Parliament Hall was also the venue for the parliamentary debates on the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England during
8370-488: Was founded in 1682, and is located in the William Henry Playfair -designed building (1830) to the west of the south end of Parliament Hall. It remains a heavily used legal resource. As well as collecting legal works, it was also a deposit library , and in 1925 the non-legal books in their collection were given to the new National Library of Scotland , which is located next to the library, on George IV Bridge . To
8463-542: Was long suppressed. The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic. Gaelic, along with Irish and Welsh, is designated under Part III of the Charter, which requires the UK Government to take a range of concrete measures in the fields of education, justice, public administration, broadcasting and culture. It has not received the same degree of official recognition from
8556-506: Was no further permitted use. Other less prominent schools worked in the Highlands at the same time, also teaching in English. This process of anglicisation paused when evangelical preachers arrived in the Highlands, convinced that people should be able to read religious texts in their own language. The first well known translation of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic was made in 1767, when James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced
8649-426: Was the Latin inscription ' Stant His Felicia Regna' ("Kingdoms stand happy by these virtues") . The statues, which were the work of Alexander Mylne, were removed around 1824, when the entrance doorway was demolished. They were recovered in 1909 and now stand inside Parliament House. Parliament Hall, measuring 122 feet (40 m) by 49 feet (12 m), was used as the parliamentary chamber during sessions of parliament, and by
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