The Queen's Gaelic ?

[Lachlan09]

Which is the purest form of Gaelic spoken today ?

I'm not a Gaelic speaker but I recall from my childhood that district differences occurred with words being pronounced differently or even a different local word.

Sgianachs claimed their Gaelic to be the purest whilst Lewis Gaelic had words pronounced differently from mainstream. A word like plaide, would usually be pronounced as phonetic plaatch I believe, but a Leosaich would pronounce as plachit . Also, bainne - milk, would be usually pronounced as bann-yuh but a Leosaich would pronounce as bonn-yuh..

I also recall that Argyll Gaelic was looked down on by Sgianachs and Leosaichs alike. Also, a Sgianach we knew was telling my dad how when someone would speak to her in Argyll Gaelic (which she called mongrel Gaelic), she would tell them For Heavens Sake to Speak English as she couldn't understand a word they were saying.

[Lianachan]

There are indeed numerous regional variations. I would expect that all speakers of those variants would consider their own version the purest, or most correct, one. Certainly, when I lived in Harris people were very disparaging about Lewis Gaelic, and when I lived in Lewis.... well, it was exactly the other way around.

How would you define "purest"?

[tig]

its probably the same as "the queens english".....no one seems to speak it in its pure form

[Scotsgait]

Originally Posted by Lianachan

Certainly, when I lived in Harris people were very disparaging about Lewis Gaelic, and when I lived in Lewis.... well, it was exactly the other way around.

Indeed, something which made for interesting "debates" between my parents !!

[Lachlan09]

Originally Posted by Lianachan

There are indeed numerous regional variations. I would expect that all speakers of those variants would consider their own version the purest, or most correct, one. Certainly, when I lived in Harris people were very disparaging about Lewis Gaelic, and when I lived in Lewis.... well, it was exactly the other way around.

How would you define "purest"?

Well, purest wasn't a word I was using, but was used by Gaels I knew. It was particularly the case in the Gaelic choir I was in (conducted by Archie MacLean - Mod Gold Medallist and Argyll man), where the few non-speakers like me were coached in Gaelic for the songs. There seemed to be a consensus that the best diction and least accented Gaelic, best for choir singing, was the Skye version. Me ? I sang what I was told ! Mind you, when Murdo FJ MacLeod from Harris (Mod Gold Medallist) coached me as a 12 year-old for a local Mod to sing A' Fàgail Bharraidh, I was told that I had somehow picked up a Skye accent !

[JCfromGA]

Language is not stagnate... lest it be dead. One dialect is not better than another. How many different dialects exist in English... so which one is pure... nonsense, language can't stay still... that's why new expressions are always added.... new words are added.

What's the purest American English.... southern, creole, northern, Appalachian?!
What about the dialects in England... which is the purest? purity of language does not exist.

[Lachlan09]

Originally Posted by JCfromGA

Language is not stagnate... lest it be dead. One dialect is not better than another. How many different dialects exist in English... so which one is pure... nonsense, language can't stay still... that's why new expressions are always added.... new words are added.

What's the purest American English.... southern, creole, northern, Appalachian?!
What about the dialects in England... which is the purest? purity of language does not exist.

True and it depends who's setting the standard. Broadcasting is an example of utilising the least accented newscasters etc. BBC English, aka Queen's English, was for many years the standard to which TV newsreaders had to aspire. It was based I believe on an upper middle-class home counties accent. I recall (I'm sure many Scots here will too), Paddie Christie, a charismatic and highly popular Aberdonian newsreader on BBC Scotland in the 1970's/80's. She had a reasonably strong Aberdonian accent, but Scottish viewers had no bother understanding her. Then she was invited (promoted) to join the prime-time all-UK BBC news / magazine programme Nationwide from London. She was sent packing after a very short tenure because the rest of the UK couldn't understand her.

On the other hand, Sue Lawley, who anchored Nationwide, renowned for her faultless BBC way of speaking, astounded everyone live on TV when, for a lighthearted item during the prog, he reverted to her native Brummie (Birmingham) accent ! She had obviously trained hard to lose her natural accent so she'd go further within the Beeb. Nowadays, of course, ethnic and regional origins are recognised more in newscasting.

I wonder what is the US equivalent of BBC English - ie the closest accent to a neutral American accent ?