|
I think we can state that anyone who wished to argue that a majority of Scots spoke Gaelic in the mid-eighteenth century would be struggling to provide even a shred of credible evidence to support that,which is why no linguist would ever make such an argument.Unless you have some reliable evidence detailing the demographics of Scotland during the latter middle ages you are only dealing in conjecture as to whether Gaelic was spoken by a majority of Scots.I take the view that by the mid fifteenth century there must have been about an equal number of Scots and Gaelic speakers because around 1400 john of Fordoun stated "the people occupying the coast and the lowlands speak a Teutonic tongue,and the people of the Highlands and islands use the Scottish language (Gaelic)".On the basis of that evidence from a contemporary it would be difficult to believe that within the nation as a whole Gaelic was any more widely spoken that Scots,or Inglis as it was termed at that time,and given that the fifteenth century was a period of consolidation for the nobility and crown when their influence spread throughout Scotland it is probable that the high water mark of Gaelic had passed.
|