Re: SF with a multiplicity of human languages

In article <eve4oj$2aln$1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Matthias Warkus <Warkus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
James Nicoll wrote:
Also somewhat disappointingly, I may outlive the various branches of
Gaelic native to Canada. It tends to survive in small enclaves whose economies
are dismal and if you want a job, you pretty much need to speak one of the two
official languages.

Can you confirm or deny the factoid that at one particular point there
were more Gaelic than English speakers in what is today the province of
Québec? I was told that shortly after my arrival but I never found a
reliable source.

That's new to me.

As I recall, the traditional friendship between Scots and the
French meant that Scots show up in Quebec before 1756 so it's at least
_possible_ that that story is true for some period before the British
took over. It's also possible that the numbers involved were very small.

I think the peak for Gaelic in Canada was in the 19th century
and was something like a quarter million people (Mind you, I have no
idea how many people, if any, still speak Bungie, which I think technically
is or was kind of a Gaelic language, except for the bits that are Cree).

I do recall an amusing story* where a French priest was suspected
by people on the British side of having dark connections because he spoke
fluent Gaelic, at the time widely reputed to be almost impossible for
someone not raised in the language to master. As I recall, it turned out
that the priest was not so much an agent of Satanic forces as he was a
Scotsman who had moved to France.

* From Peter C. Newman's books on the Hudson's Bay Company.



--
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.

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