Linguae Europaeae

Image Source Eda Derhemi talks with Daryl Rodgers about the coming referendum in Scotland.  When Daryl and I taught for the Italian program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , we never used English. For years our everyday conversations, our meetings, our parties were all conducted naturally in Italian. The friends that we shared were also Italian. But the one time that I heard Daryl speak to somebody in English was enough for me to never forget the beauty of his Scottish accent. It was like something coming directly from a theatrical stage where Douglas of John Home was being recited, or, to be more contemporary, like something similar to Sean Connery’s accent. It also might be that I am in love with the sounds of all the languages of the world, especially the endangered languages of minorities… In fact, I could have interviewed the green ogre Shrek for the purpose of this blog entry (who as I’ve read has expressed his support for the unionists in these word...

by Melissa Puthenmadom With the Scottish independence referendum looming over the horizon—scheduled to take place on September 18, 2014—the presence of Scotland’s regional and minority languages has become more relevant than ever. Today, the only official language in Scotland is English, while Scottish Gaelic and Scots are recognized as regional languages. You might ask: what’s the difference? As with any group of people, language both unites and distinguishes those who speak it. As Scotland considers defining a political identity separate from the United Kingdom, it’s worthwhile to look at both Gaelic and Scots as having unique linguistic merit within Scotland’s cultural landscape and the formation of Scottish identity. The main difference between the languages is that Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language with ties to Old Irish, while Scots is a Germanic language descending from Old English. Image based on http://www.dsl.ac.uk/SCOTSHIST/output4.php?file=NEW-Revised1Introduc...

by Trevor Foley  President Higgins and the Queen together in England Image Source Ready for some action? This September, a referendum in Scotland will be held that will decide whether or not Scotland should become its own independent country or secede from the United Kingdom. No doubt, anyone with even a remote interest in European Politics has had their eyes fixed on the United Kingdom in the last couple of years, and for good reason!  While the idea of Scottish independence from Great Britain, and a peace between England and Northern Ireland have certainly existed for a long time; we have seen the progress in the realization of these two goals speed up because of recent events between Britain and Scotland, and Britain and Ireland respectively. Ireland is close second in hot topics in Europe these days. Historic visits by the Queen of England to Ireland and the President of Ireland to England have served as huge symbolic peace gestures between England and Northern Ire...