ABSTRACT
The surviving Celtic languages fall into two groups: (a) the Brythonic (or Brittonic or British) group (Ternes 2011); and (b) the Gaelic (or Goidelic or Irish) group. The two are very distinct and have been mutually unintelligible for well over a millennium. To the Brythonic group belong Welsh, spoken widely in Wales, and Breton, spoken in the west of Brittany. Cornish, the language of Cornwall, which was very similar to Breton, died out as a natural language in the eighteenth century. To the Gaelic group belong Irish (or Irish Gaelic), spoken mainly in the west of Ireland, and Scottish Gaelic, spoken mainly in the west of Scotland. Manx, the Gaelic language of the Isle of Man, died out as a natural language in the twentieth century. Celtic languages are also spoken in the Americas, as a result of the modern diaspora of Celtic-speaking peoples, so that, for example, there are Welsh/Spanish bilinguals in Patagonia in Argentina, and Scottish Gaelic/English bilinguals in Nova Scotia in Canada.
