Why is the Alba party pronounced Alaba?

[ssd]

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@forfucksakenett

There's a Scottish poet lady on Twitter and Tik Tok who was talking about the word for the extra vowel we use. Totally fascinating!

They were getting a lot of stick for not pronouncing it correctly which is fair enough. If you are going to use a Gaelic word you should probably pronounce it correctly. (Says me who has pronounced it incorrectly ever since I first heard it 😃)

I think the word is 'epenthetic'.

@AnnieHooo

Salmond doesn't give a toss about the Gaelic language. It does feel like he's kind of using the word Alba to attract the Braveheart saltire waving tartan clad bams.

This

I follow a lot of Braveheart zoomer groups and as far as I can see the mouth breathing bams are mostly dedicated to the Church of St Nicola.

There are nearly 90,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland and about 60 Gaelic schools in Scotland with kids learning the language. I don't think there's a link that will tell you their addresses but I do think it's safe to assume that they are somewhat spread throughout Scotland.

Well I know no gaelic speakers or schools and I've lived in Scotland most of my life - I knew one gaelic speaker but he died years ago aged 95 and originated from Argyll.
I've always thought Scotland was a very divided country also living on a false view of their history - Church of Scotland, Catholic, Wee frees - still animosity despite hardly anyone going to church.
Sectarianism rife in the central belt.
The above post demonstrating that wherever the poster is they have no clue about my part of Scotland.
Do Aberdonians care about southerners? Glasgwegians and Edinburgh have an ongoing competition to be the best. Highlanders very separate.
We are a very ununited country. Unfortunately the cities call the shots.

I can only imagine the 90,000 Gaelic speakers are like the 'People of Scotland' that NS always speaks of - supposedly unanimously following her every statement - when in fact wanting independence is roughly 50:50.
Slange Var - there you go it's 90,001

@MoiraNotRuby

I've learnt something new today! Never heard anyone say it.

Is this why film becomes fillum in Ireland?

Yes, that's right!

@BlackForestCake check out the Alba election William Wallace stuff - cringey

I'll be saying Alba. For me to try to say it with a Gaelic pronunciation would be affected in the extreme.

Honestly, I find the Gaelic signs, the Gaelic schools (in the central belt) etc try-hard and nationalist driven. The people I know who send their kids to Gaelic school are dyed in the wool nationalists who bleat on about 'being from' the Western Isles despite having been born and raised in Edinburgh. I'm not saying Gaelic isn't important to those who speak it or that it isn't part of Scotland for some but it's not part of my experience of Scotland and it does feel a bit foisted upon me. I do recognise my deep anti-nationalist feelings probably play a part in my eye rolling at it.

It would be like those affected people who pronounce foreign words with a dramatic accent in amongst an English sentence. Most prevalent with Italian words 😃

Ah yes, my parent's favourite 'rest - rong' which makes me murderous

Yes!

I can only imagine the outcry if all pupils learned gaelic like they do in Ireland.

It would be ridiculous. And I say that as someone whose mother spoke Gaelic before English.

It’s just more harking back to the past which doesn’t serve Scotland well.

Exactly. I want Scotland to look forwards and outwards - it's why I voted remain while England insisted on taking its ball and going home.

The Gaelic language has nothing to do with my Scottishness. I've never knowingly met anyone who speaks it. It's obviously not the past for those who speak it, but for me, it doesn't feel representative of 21st century Scotland.

I think political parties cynically use it to try to stir up sentiment, not realising that it probably turns off as many as it speaks to.

I believe Labour brought in the Gaelic on signs idea to compete for nationalist votes against rising SNP popularity.
No consideration of what is in the best interests of everybody. Which is the case for much of this.

Worked well for Labour didn't it

I do believe you when you say you don't know anyone who speaks Gaelic, @SoMuchForSummerLove . But I wonder if you've heard people speaking it and not realised? Would you recognise it if you heard it? I'm from the Highlands, but have spent brief spells living in more than one Scottish city, and heard it many times; in shops/bus stops/on the street etc. I'm not saying it's prevalent, but to insinuate it isn't spoken except in the Highlands is a bit much.

I also don't think speaking Gaelic, or Scots, or Doric, makes you any more Scottish than someone who doesn't.

I think it would be great for all children in Scotland to learn a second language from very early on, as it's been proven that being bilingual is massively helpful to educational development. I can't see any argument against being smarter AND getting a free language which may (or may not) enhance your job prospects later. For that reason I intend to put my children through Gaelic medium, and would do so even if I had no Gaelic myself. If Gaelic wasn't available, I'd put them through French/German/Spanish medium, even if I thought they'd never use the language again. Like you, I don't agree with forcing it on people, but, given free choice, why wouldn't you give your kids this amazing kickstart?

Possibly @FeistySheep !

I did once have an English person ask if my friends and I were speaking Gaelic as she couldn't catch a word we were saying, but it turns out we were just all speaking super fast as is the Scottish way

I think it would be great for my kids to learn a second language, - my husband is doing that now - but I can't see me steering them towards one where they're unlikely to get to talk with other speakers of it.

It's obviously not the past for those who speak it, but for me, it doesn't feel representative of 21st century Scotland.

I think a school system which immerses them in another language from age 3, turns them into official native speakers of that language by age 10 and gives their brains the plasticity to take on more languages with far more ease than the standard model of starting high-school French or German aged 12, absolutely should be representative of 21st-century Scotland and the ambitions the country should have for its children.

I would much rather my child learned French from an early age.

Perhaps @fungussingstheblues but I can't see it happening now unless there's a huge parental campaign for it. I'd rather my kids learned a language they could use out in the world, rather than one that is, to all intents and purposes for the vast majority of Scots, dead.

@SoMuchForSummerLove, it is happening now. It's exactly the path my DC have taken, despite me and DH having no Gaelic background. Our DC are now native speakers.

@WouldBeGood agree that French from a young age would be more useful in world terms. But we don't have a pool of native French-speaking teachers available to do this. We do have Gaelic teachers, and learning any language at all at a young age gives kids an amazing advantage. It really doesn't matter what the language is - it's the facility and flexibility it gives to the brain.

Ok, well it's not happening where we live. Glad for you if that's what you wanted for your children.

I get that it’s good to pronounce Alba and Barcelona correctly as that’s respectful to the language from which they originate, so why is it ok to pronounce the English word ‘film’ as ‘filum’?
I get that we have accents, dialects etc, I just don’t get why we get so sniffy about it. ( native Doric spikker here)

The area I grew up in spoke a Celtic language similar to Welsh. But not since the 18th century. Not sure why anyone would want to turn the clock back so far.