language in the USA

[OC Richard]

I was woefully not surprised to see Gaelic unlisted.

I did see "Irish Gaelic" listed when I viewed the Wyoming page. Why Wyoming? Because the state pages only show the 50 most common languages, and in a state like California with several hundred languages, Gaelic would be ranked less than 50th and not show up. But in states with less total languages Gaelic can "make the cut".

A while back I saw a world language map from 1900 (as I recall) which showed sizable areas of Scottish Gaelic both in Nova Scotia and North Carolina. This map, as I recall, showed the most-spoken language of each area, meaning that at that time, in areas of North Carolina, more people spoke Gaelic than English or any other language! However I just tried Googling for that map and didn't come up with it.

As to why I posted this on this forum, this is the forum for any sort of random non-kilt things, isnt' it?

[piperdbh]

That would probably have been in eastern North Carolina, specifically around the Cape Fear River, with maybe a few speakers left in the Appalachians, at the other end of the state.

[davidlpope]

That would probably have been in eastern North Carolina, specifically around the Cape Fear River, with maybe a few speakers left in the Appalachians, at the other end of the state.

Right. Scots Gaelic was spoken primarily in the Cross Creek/Campelltown area near present-day Fayetteville. This area was settled by Highlanders.

[Nick the DSM]

Right. Scots Gaelic was spoken primarily in the Cross Creek/Campelltown area near present-day Fayetteville. This area was settled by Highlanders.

Even into the early twentieth centure Gaelic was spoken and churches gave out...um, sermons? in Gaelic.