much unmarked snippage ahead, responding only to the occasional bit that strikes me
FWIW, this might have been the case in Scotland (though I doubt it) but an extensive indigenous literature survives in Ireland. I had the impression that indigenous writings were common throughout the Gaeltacht and not just an Irish phenomenon, but it may be the Scots experience differed.
Literacy was common in Ireland not just among church scribes, but also among lay poets and lawyers. It was by no means universal, but then again, neither was literacy pretty much anywhere else.
Widespread literacy is a very recent phenomenon. For most of written history, writing has been a skill of a minority. That said, there are records of legal schools in Gaelic Ireland which taught writing.
I'd dispute that. Scottish and Irish spelling systems are clearly related. Manx looks nothing like either of them.
I'd argue they remained pretty much the same language until about 1600, when political changes separated the speakers and destroyed the written elites who kept them in common communication.
Celtic Australia Day clearer copy 898Hey you! Watch it! I'll have you know I sound nothing like The Big Yin as I come from the East of Scotland and my accent is originally from Midlothian but has...
Just to nitpick, Irish became compulsory in 1922, a bit before mid-century.
It was systemised long before the spelling reform. It was simplified in 1948.
My feeling is that its like the metric system. Those who remember the old money complain about change, the younger generation couldn't give a toss.
-- 'Donegal: Up Here It's Different' © Fˇachad—ir
