Re: History of the Breton Language

"John" <guinnog@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:t%y6f.166583$RW.121698@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Adam Whyte-Settlar wrote:
> > "Michilín" <micheil@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:4358fce8.4716862@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> >>Posters can use Gaelic and Scots according to the group charter -
> >>English is available for those who would prefer to be English, usually
> >>referred to as Britclones in this group. People like you.
> >
> >
> > And me apparently.
> >
> > A W-S
>
> And me. Gaelic is less spoken in Scotland than some Asian languages.
> Worldwide, less than Esperanto.

There are various points here but, apart from the nuumbers not really
mattering anyway, the actual numbers you have stated don't match up. 
Where
did you get your stats from?  I suggest that you are grossly
over-estimating
the size of the ethnic immigrant population in Scotland, and also
forgetting
that it is not a single homogenous group anyway. It's been estimated that
the most significant linguistic group is the Pakistani one of which there
are around 21,000 speakers and these figures include both Punjabi and Urdu
combined.  I can't remember the exact figures of hand but the numbers of
fluent Gaelic speakers is around 50,000 with something like 90,000 having
some knowledge of the language, whilst the government estimates there are
around 1.5 million people who speak Scots to some extent, and I'd imagine
that just about everyone would be able to understand Scots up to a point.
So
the most common minority languages in Scotland are in fact the recognised
homegrown minority languages Scots and Gaelic and not any particular Asian
language.

It's not the point though is it?  I would defend your right not to have to
speak Scots or Gaelic all the way but of course no-one is suggesting that
you should anyway, and I certainly wouldn't agree that anyone not speaking
Scots or Gaelic is a Britclone so can understand your reply to the post
above. However the post from the Real McCoy stated that 'we speak English
here' so one has to ask the questions..........who are we, where is here,
and why do some people seem threatened when a language other than English
is
either used or discussed?

Allan