Where do languages go when they die?

We all use language, and most of us grew up surrounded by people who spoke the same way as us. Imagine, if you would, that as you grow older, you notice less and less people speaking that language. Slowly but surely, a new language takes over and you are forced to adapt. The day eventually comes when you are told that you are the only person left who knows this language. There is no one else in the world with whom you can share a conversation in your mother tongue, and when you eventually pass on, that language will go with you.

What would that feel like? I think a likely word to describe it would be: lonely.

People so often take language for granted. It may feel like simple words, but language is essential to all cultures in the world. For this week, let’s look at an interesting example.

The Celts were a group of peoples found all across Europe. The oldest archaeological evidence we have of them comes from Austria and is dated to around 700 BCE. Celtic culture is still well-known to this day—ever seen this triple spiral (above) before? There’s some Celtic culture right there. Ever heard of druids? There’s some more.

If the Celts were so widespread in Europe, the continent historians love to talk about the most, then why don’t they take more of a center stage? Well, the Celts have had the repeated misfortune of being overtaken by larger empires. The Celts in mainland Europe were beaten down by the Romans, while those in the British Isles received the same treatment from the English.

But we’re talking about languages here. The Celtic languages are just as diverse as the people themselves. The most commonly known Celtic languages are Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Breton, and Cornish. Only one of these is still recognized as a national language today. When we look at Britain, we typically think of English, and the idea of there being so many different languages clustered there feels strange considering what the world is like today. So what happened?

The English language happened.

As the Anglo-Saxons dominated the British Isles, their English tongue spread and the many Celtic languages shrunk. The more Britain unified, the more standardized English became. Britain’s schools taught English only and so children from Ireland, for example, needed to learn fluent English if they wanted to get anywhere in life. Similar plights fell upon the Scottish Gaelic language as well as others.

The case of the Celtic languages has shown that, even in a place like Europe, languages can still disappear. The Cornish language’s last native speaker is believed to have died in the 18th century. The last native speaker of Manx died as recently as 1974. The convenience of a single unified language such as English came with a price to be paid, that being the degradation of other languages like these.

But all is not lost. For some time now, there has been a push to preserve and reclaim pieces of the Celtic identity. This “Celtic Revival” has focused on the arts, and through that, we can also see attempts to save these languages. Languages like Cornish and Manx have been revived by people in the modern day to the best of their ability. The same has been done to an even greater degree for Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The fight to preserve the Celtic languages continues across the world.

There’s one interesting anomaly to examine: the Welsh language. Unlike other Celtic languages, Welsh has retained a sizable population for centuries; hundreds of thousands still speak it today in Wales, with many more around the globe. Why is this? One likely reason would be the Welsh translation of the Bible. As we know, religion was a big deal in medieval times, and so because of the existence of a Bible in their mother tongue, the Welsh didn’t need to feel pressured to fully adopt English in order to practice their faith.

There are thousands of languages in the world today, but so few of them maintain any kind of prominence. More and more unprotected languages die out as time progresses. Where do languages go when they die, then? Well, while a few are lucky enough to be revived, let us not forget that they are the exception. Most languages will be gone forever once lost. Holding onto them is the only way we can protect that living history.

How much is a language worth to you?

— r

Further reading:

“Scotland’s Art | The Celtic Revival,” published by the National Galleries of Scotland on YouTube, if you’d like a closer look at the Celtic Revival and why art is so important for its goals.

Sorosoro’s article on the Celtic languages’ decline and revival—in addition, their website and program is all about preserving endangered languages.

“Should Gaelic Live?” by Keren Rice is a great read if you’re curious about the value of languages and why they might be worth fighting for.

“Schooling, the Gaelic League, and the Irish language revival in Ireland 1831–1922” by Brendan Walsh is appropriate for if you’d like to learn how the Irish language has managed to survive in spite of English dominance.

“The Lightening Veil: Language Revitalization in Wales” by Colin H. Williams is another study looking at a specific language, this time the curious case of Welsh.