Today, Gaelicisation, or more often re-Gaelicisation, of
placenames,
surnames and
given names is often a deliberate effort to help promote the languages and to counteract centuries of
anglicisation.
Isle of Man Manx, a language that is very similar to
Irish, has undergone a major revival in recent years, although Manx is so rarely used that it was even mislabelled as extinct by a
United Nations report as recently as 2009. The decline of the language on the island was primarily as a result of
stigmatisation and high levels of
emigration to
England. The efforts have been widely praised, with further developments such as using technology to teach the language being put into place.
Ireland Estimates of numbers of native speakers of Irish in the
Republic of Ireland in 2000 ranged from 20,000 to 80,000. According to the 2006 census for the Republic, 85,000 people used Irish daily outside of school and 1.2 million used Irish at least occasionally. In the 2011 Census, these numbers increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, respectively. Active Irish speakers probably comprise 5 to 10 per cent of Ireland's population. In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. The dispersed but large, educated and middle-class urban Gaeilgeoir community enjoys a lively cultural life and is buoyed by the growth of
Irish medium education and
Irish-language media. In some official
Gaeltachtaí (Irish-speaking regions) areas, Irish remains a vernacular language alongside English. In
Northern Ireland, the Gaelicisation process is significantly slower and less-supported than elsewhere on the island and the status of the
Irish language in Northern Ireland is the subject of heated political debates.
Scotland In Scotland,
Scottish Gaelic and traditional Gaelic customs such those manifested at the
Highland Games, with traditional sports such as the
caber toss, are mainly restricted to the
Highlands and islands. In the 21st century,
Scottish Gaelic literature has seen development and challenges within the area of prose fiction publication, and phrases such as
Alba gu bràth may be used today as a catch-phrase or rallying cry. Gaelicised areas are referred to as
Gàidhealtachd. ==See also==