About East Perthshire Gaelic
What is it?
East Perthshire Gaelic is the native gaelic dialect of the East of Perthshire. It is likely that the dialect is no longer spoken in the area, with the last speaker likely having passed by now. It was once the dialect of some of the most important figures in Gaelic writing and prose and the Perthshire area was the home of many cultural and historical events that have left a mark on all of Scotland.
Why are dialects and languages important?
Imagine if you were to go to Australia and everyone sounded like a Londoner, or you made your way to New York for that trip of a life time, only to be greeted by Recieved Pronunciation. Imagine your dismay. This is the issue that is facing the Gaels at this time. Whilst the language itself is in grave danger due to historical oppression and the actions of governments in the past, the current state of Gaelic is one of slowly boiling uniformity. Whilst no "standard" exists in Gaelic, certain dialects have always taken prestige over others and with the advent of the television and the radio, a de facto standard termed "mid minch" has begun to take over. Now mid minch is by no means bad or ugly in any way, but as with the example at the start, total uniformity is a sad thing indeed.
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Another argument is that every dialect or language is unique to its place and its people, allowing insight into different ways of thinking and living, as well as connecting us with the stories and world of the people from the past. Without that language to link us, it merely becomes a translation, unable to grasp the true essence of the stories. That is an incredibly sad fate.
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A little about language prejudice
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I have spent a lot of time going through books from the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s, which often talked about the different dialects, the way people spoke and their thoughts and criticisms of them.
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One theme that stuck out to me was the that some Gaelic was considered "good" or "fine"
others, such as East Perthshire or Perthshire in general, were considered, at best "bad" and at worst "the barberous speech of the tinkers" or something to that effect.
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We see such thinking even today in the movement of people trying to protect and promote Scots. Theirs too is considered a "poor English substitute" that needs to be rectified.
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As I live in Japan these days, I am privy to similar ideas relating to dialects. Speakers of the Kansai dialects of Japanese were considered to be uncouth and the speakers of other dialects are still looked down upon.
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I am reminded of one episode where a taxi driver was relating his experiences of taking people around Tokyo and lamenting that they had not yet fixed their speech to reflect that of the standard, the speech of the capital.
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As humans, we always want to be accepted, well most of us, whereever we happen to be and when there is pressure from one group who happen to control much of the media and politics, as well as the greater culture, maintaining and enjoying your own language can soon become a heart wrenching experience.
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What happened to the dialect?
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Over the span of two centuries, the dialect sharply fell out of use due to many factors.
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One major factor was the war on highland culture after the Jacobite rebellions. This factor is not unique to Perthshire but played a significant role in Perthshire Gaelic and the change of the greater culture.
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Another factor was language creep. Over time, Scots (and more commonly now Scottish English) took over. Many were convinced that their Gaelic didn't matter as English was the language that would give them access to wider opportunities.
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Something else that potentially played a role was linguistic superiority. The dialect of East Perthshire was, for many a pundit, seen as a corrupted tongue and was not held in high esteem compared to some other dialects. Even now, the closer you speak to the "literary" form of Gaelic, the closer you are to a genuine form of the language.
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Another issue that arose was the deaths of speakers during the Great War or WW1, as well as people forced to migrate to places such as Australia and Canada due to poverty or through the actions of landowners during the Clearances.
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