Celtic influence

[G Halliday]

<JoatSimeon at aol.com> wrote
Subject: Re: Celtic influence

> -- Lothian was settled by Angles at the same time as the settlements further
> south. The Lowlands were Lallans-speaking by the early medieval period.  The
> line of division with Gaelic then remained fairly stable until the early
> modern period.

This is incorrect. Gaelic was widely used south of the Highland line in the
middle ages particularly in Galloway and it would seem, Fife. Nicolaisen's
"Gaelic Place-names in Southern Scotland" Studia Celtica V is a good place
to start for understanding a complex linguistic situation. He claims that
only in parts of Lothian was there a "mere sprinkiling of Gaelic speakers".
Areas of "full-scale settlement of Gaelic speakers for a long period"
include Kirkudbright, parts of Ayrshire, Dumfries, Dumbarton, Stirling, West
Lothian. There is some evidence that there was still some Gaelic in Carrick
in Burns' time.

There have been recent claims that the glottal stop which has become
widespread in Britain this century in lower class speech spread originally
from west central Scotland.

A case could be made for influence from the (former) neighbouring Argyll
Gaelic dialects that were spoken the other side of the Clyde which are
characterised by this feature ;-).

George Halliday