1881 language [Gaelic] map of the British Isles

1881 language [Gaelic] map of the British Isles

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How about today? How’re the celtic languages doing? How effective are the efforts to revive them? …. Welsh is doing well, it’s taught in most [if not all] Welsh schools aswell as some English schools. If you go to Northern Wales you hear spoken Welsh pretty commonly and all Welsh roadsigns are Bilingual by law.

Manx is also having a successful revival, with widespread education and recognition. Despite the Isle of Man’s relatively small size there are Manx radio stations and a school which teaches mostly in Manx. Considering the language was nearly dead 50 years ago this is brilliant to see.

Cornish is less successful, it is taught in clubs and societies but all Government funding has been dropped for it. There are a few hundred fluent speakers but it’s very rare to hear spoken in public. Cornish is the only living Celtic language still spoken in Mainland England, and has been after Cumbric died in the 13th century.

Scottish Gaelic (not to be confused with Scots) is also on the up, it is taught in a lot of Scottish schools and spoken natively in the Western Isles. Recently it has gained a lot of recognition and popularity.

Overall its very heartwarming to see such successful revival efforts. Cornish is the only one at risk of being lost, which is a great shame since Cornish is one of only 3 Brithonic languages still alive (The others being Welsh and Breton), Brithonic languages were the Original languages spoken in Great Britain before the Germanic conquests. The other Celtic languages spoken in Great Britain (Manx and Scots Gaelic) are Gaelic, and originated in Ireland’

The Latvian Russian Language Referendum 2012 - asking whether the Russian Language should be given official language status ; and the use of the Russian language at home in Latvia (2011)

The Latvian Russian Language Referendum 2012 - asking whether the Russian Language should be given official language status ; and the use of the Russian language at home in Latvia (2011)

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‘The Russian language in Latvia is not only the language of ethnic Russians, but also of ¾ of Belorussians, 2/3 of Ukrainians, 4/5 of Jews, more than ½ of Poles’–mahendrabirbikram

1910 Languages of Central Europe (without borders)

1910 Languages of Central Europe (without borders)

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‘Reddish hues are Germanic languages, bluish ones are Romance, green Slavic.

The big light pink blob in the center is High German. To the north of it, darker pink, Low German and, further north and darker, Danish. The reddish hue on the border between Danish and Low German, and also in the Netherlands, is Frisian. Continuing counterclockwise you have Dutch, French, Italian; then purple is probably Friulian, which here is counted as a separate language while things like Lombardian are grouped as dialects of Italian.

Next comes Yugoslavian, including Slovenian and Bosnio-Croat-Montenegro-Serbian. Brown is Hungarian, light green is Slovakian, the green almost entirely surrounded by German is Czech, the green entirely surrounded by German is Sorbian, the green with lots of small German enclaves is Polish. The yellowish tone in the northeast is likely Lithuanian’–eukubernetes

Ethnolinguistic structure of eastern territories of the Kingdom of Prussia in years 1816-1831

Ethnolinguistic structure of eastern territories of the Kingdom of Prussia in years 1816-1831

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‘As for West Slavs in Pommerania, those would be Slovincians or other Pommeranian groups that hadn’t been assimilated by the 1830s.

Lithuanian minority in East Prussia was quite huge, they were the majority in the countryside around Tilsit, and Tilsit itself acted as a big Lithuanian cultural centre at the time. Lithuanian was banned in Imperial Russia, so they printed the books in Tilsit and smuggled it across the border.

And it isn’t that different than the situation just before WW1 or WW2 even, as even up to 1945, Lithuanians formed a big minority in eastern East Prussia while Polish speaking Mazurians were a large minority along the Polish border (southern East Prussia)‘–Vitaalis

How long the Irish (Gaeilge) language survived in Irish counties

How long the Irish (Gaeilge) language survived in Irish counties

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‘Save this language … I’m trying, Duolingo has Irish I was doing quite well. But it’s tough due to the way the language is structured it’s not intuitive to a native English speaker. Like anything it takes practice and if you stop you lose your momentum … Learning the language online does not save any language. It’s a nice thing to tell yourself, but in reality if one would want to help, one would have to take a lot of money anc create economic and cultural resource in Ireland - that basically means create job opportunities etc. And that’s nearly impossible for individuals to casually support’

Aboriginal Languages of Australia [the Tindale Map] - published in 1974 by Norman B Tindale, it took 50 years to complete, and obliterated the idea that Australia was Terra Nullius (‘No Mans Land’)

Aboriginal Languages of Australia [the Tindale Map] - published in 1974 by Norman B Tindale, it took 50 years to complete, and obliterated the idea that Australia was Terra Nullius (‘No Mans Land’)

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‘Imagine the knowledge this country has lost due to lack of respect for Aboriginal people. You don’t survive 40-65,000 years in a country like this without a few good ideas.

Also consider how they got here well before other cultures started navigating around the seas. They either had to set off with a large number of people and “hope” to find something or someone found something, went back, got more people and then returned’–adventofcodeaddict

The Languages of India (1862)

The Languages of India (1862)

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‘It’s interesting to see how many there are. I’m sure there are thousands of sub-dialects in those families.

A friend at college is Tamil he would often discuss how he is not Indian. He did that because I asked he wasn’t angry it was a historical discussion. He even said look at how his Indian friend has light skin and a large nose (compared to his) just like I did. It was true there is a sharp contrast between north Indians and the southern Dravidian speaking peoples’–dghughes

Dissemination of the German Language (1913)

Dissemination of the German Language (1913)

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‘People, cultures, and languages all move and change, and it’s never about one factor. Who/what would you blame for English being the primary language in the US? There is no one firm answer. There was a long series of events that led to that, and it may well change again. Likewise, in what is now Germany, 100 years ago, I don’t think people would guess that English, Turkish, and Arabic would be so widely spoken, yet they are. 100 years ago, who would have expected most people in the Philippines to speak English?’–Von_Kissenburg