A native’s view…

THE EFFORTS of Àdhamh O’Broin to preserve our native Argyll Gaelic dialect is to be applauded.

To all intents and purposes, he is an outsider, yet he has taken on the challenge. Often it takes a perspective from elsewhere to appreciate what others who are closer cannot see.

I should offer a little of my own background by way of context. I am from Loch Fyne-side - with ancestry from both sides of the loch too long and complicated to explain.

My maternal grandfather, Duncan Sinclair, was born in 1907 and farmed at Brenchoille near Auchindrain until 1946, when he moved to Glensluain Farm, Strachur. I recall him saying that he spoke nothing but Gaelic un- til he went to school, at which point it was actively discouraged. His folks wouldn’t speak Gaelic to the children at home in case they couldn’t speak English and ‘wouldn’t get on’ in life.

By the time he passed away in 1988, he had remnants of the language - occasionally used to rebuke unruly grandchildren, and regularly deployed in one-sided arguments with Margaret Thatcher, who was - fortunately for her - behind a TV screen. What he did remember clearly, however, were songs.

We grew up knowing even less, just the odd word and phonetically-learned songs, but that was it. What was stronger was the culture that was as much a part of our heritage as the language.

These days I see working populations falling across Argyll, people from other parts moving in, shinty clubs struggling for players and our wider cultural heritage becoming ever more diluted. An increasingly homogenised ‘culture’ is perhaps an inevitable consequence of the modern, social media-driven world.

But that does not mean the culture that existed for the previous 1,500 years or more should be forgotten. It is ever more important today to remember from where we have come.

Which is why I would encourage anyone who has knowledge of Argyll Gaelic, no matter where they might be in the world, to speak to Àdhamh O’Broin.