Gaelic in Kiravia

Flag of the Kiravian Gaelic language

Map showing the official status of Gaelic across eastern Great Kirav

Gaelic in Kiravia is the most widely-spoken non-Coscivian language in the country, and the third most-spoken when both first- and second-language speakers are included. Gaelic in Kiravia includes modern Kiravian Gaelic (Gaelige Cíaribheach), the dominant native variety spoken and written across the Federacy; Classical Gaelic, which is the liturgical language of the Insular Apostolic Church; Gáran Gaelic as spoken in New Ardmore; and various immigrant varieties of Gaelic brought via migration from other Gaelic-speaking regions, most prominently Fiannrian Gaelic. Gaelic-speakers live throughout the Kiravian Federacy, and Gaelic-speaking communities can be found in all regions, but are most heavily concentrated in eastern and northern Great Kirav, especially the Far Northeast Peninsula and the Eastern Highlands.

Despite being a minority language, Gaelic has always enjoyed high prestige in Kiravia and is widely studied as a second language. Gaelic literature (often in translation) and Gaelic-language music are part of Kiravian mainstream culture, and are considered as much a part of Kiravian heritage as their counterparts in Coscivian languages. Centuries of institutional support for the language (especially by state governments and the Apostolic Church), strong support for multilingualism and localism in Kiravian society in general, high Gaelic literacy rates, and intense pride in the language on the part of its speakers has enabled the language to flourish up to the present day. In contrast to many other minority languages in the world (including many of the larger Coscivian vernacular languages), the Gaelic-speaking population in Kiravia has experienced consistent growth in the modern era, with a strong cohort of monolinguals.

Contents

• 1 Official Status
• 2 Education
  • 2.1 Gaelic-medium education
    • 2.1.1 Higher Education
  • 2.2 Gaelic as a course of study
• 3 Mass media
  • 3.1 Television
  • 3.2 Radio
  • 3.3 Internet
• 4 Society and Culture
  • 4.1 Language Contact
• 5 Kiravian Gaelic

Official Status

Gaelic is the sole official language of the states of Dunlévia, Mariavia, Arkelly, Kintyre, {Potatostan}, and New Ardmore. In Ilánova, Irovasdra, and Arkvera it is co-official with Kiravic Coscivian, and both enjoy roughly equal use as the government's working languages. Gaelic is also co-official in Kastera and Kiorgia, but in a more secondary capacity. Several other states, including Hiterna and Serikorda designate Gaelic as an "additional" official language or accord it some other form of statewide status, and provide extensive services in Gaelic, but do not use it as a working language.

Gaelic also has official status on the local level in municipalities with high concentrations of Gaelic-speakers. In some states, such as Kaviska and Trinatria, the state government extends a certain degree of support for Gaelic in these localities, such as printing electoral ballots in the language. In others, such as Andrēdan and Kannur, no such support is given.

Although Gaelic does not have official status at the federal level, the federal government makes extensive accommodations for Gaelic and its speakers. {Elaborate on this}

Education

Gaelic-medium education

More Kiravian students receive their education in Gaelic than any other language besides Kiravic Coscivian.

In Hiterna, Devahoma, and Serikorda, Gaelic-medium schools are governed by entirely separate school boards. Serikorda and Devahoma each have a single, statewide Gaelic School Division, and Hiterna has five regional Gaelic School Districts. In Serikorda, the Gaelic School Division generally limits admission to students from Gaelic-speaking households or Gaelic ethnic backgrounds, while in Hiterna and Devahoma the Gaelic school boards have trended toward a more inclusive admissions policy aimed at promoting the language and its culture to Coscivian-speaking students.

There are also several hundred Gaelic immersion schools (bunscoileanna) across the Federacy, many of which are located outside the Gaelic heartland of northern-eastern Great Kirav. The bunscoileanna are typically private (though some public ones exist in Irovasdra), and are operated by Gaelic community foundations or the Insular Apostolic Church. Originally intended to serve ethnically Gaelic families who had shifted to Coscivian, these schools now attract a diverse student body including many Ĥeiran Coscivians, Féinem, and .... It has been reported that one bunscoil on Ansalon Island in Valēka has enrolled students of Urcean, Hekuvian, Azikorian, Kulukusi Punthite, and Monteangeline origin.

Higher Education

There are a number of Gaelic-speaking colleges and universities in Kiravia. The most prestigious are the University of the Holy Trinity in Crúachan, Dunlévia, and St. Ailerán's University in Ilánova. The state universities of the five Far Northeastern states where Gaelic is the sole official language all use Gaelic as their language of administration and instruction.

Society and Culture

- stuff here -

Ethnic vs. Linguistic Gaels

Between the Xth and Yth centuries in Kiravia, Gael was first and foremost a linguistic designation. Speaking Gaelic as a native language made one a Gael, while people of Gaelic descent who had shifted to Coscivian were instead considered Féinem or simply Coscivians. This thinking is still the norm in the Eastern Highlands, where movement between different ethnosocial groups can be quite fluid. In the rest of contemporary Kiravia, a distinction is drawn between Gaeilgeoir ("Gaelophone", Coscivian: Gélahostuv) and Gael ("ethnic Gael", Coscivian: Gélav).

Language Contact

Due to the frequency of contact between Gaelic-speakers have with speakers of Coscivian languages, and the [high degree to which they share the same social space or whatever in urban areas], the bidirectional effects of language contact are evident in both Gaelic and Kiravic Coscivian.

The influence of Coscivian languages on the vocabulary, syntax, and style of Kiravian Gaelic accounts for much of the difference between Kiravian and Fiannrian Gaelic.

{Féinem Coscivian and Gaelic loans into Kiravic, e.g. práta, portán, fovar, 'śgríuv. Also pronunciation of á as "aw in law" rather than "ow in tower". Also the other way to pronounce it and Gaelic's influence on that.}

Kiravian Gaelic

> Two main standardisations. Gaelic A (preferred in Ilánova, Mariavia, Dunlévia, Arkelly, half of Irovasdra, and then through Kastera all the way out to Devahoma) and Gaelic B (preferred in Kintyre and Potatostan, Serikorda, Fariva, half of Irovasdra, and down through the Eastern Highlands and by the Southern Gaels) Gaelic A is preferred in downstate Kaviska, while Gaelic B is preferred upstate. Gaelic B is preferred out in the Northern Isles for some dumbass reason.

> Kiravian Gaelic can be written either in the Latin script or in the Ĥeiran script, which is a variant of the Coscivian script also used to write the Ĥeiran Coscivian languages. In non-electronic settings, Gaelic when rendered in the Latin script almost always appears in the Insular or uncial type, which is considered a separate script for official purposes. The Insular script is preferred in homogeneously Gaelic communities, for reading literature, and by most Gaelic newspapers, while the Ĥeiran script is preferred in communities where Gaels share space with Ĥeiran Coscivians and Féinem, in urban settings, and for ecclesiastical use in Apostolic congregations with mostly Coscivian parishoners.