Language of Scotland

Since the United Kingdom lacks a codified constitution, there is no formal official language. Scotland has three officially recognised languages, however, English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots. English de facto is the main language and almost all Scots speak Scottish Standard English as a first language. Scots and Gaelic were recognised under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ratified by the UK in 2001, and the Scottish Executive is committed, based on the UK's undertakings, to providing support based on Part II of the Charter in the case of Scots and Part II plus 39 out of the 65 provisions outlined in Part III of the Charter in the case of Gaelic [3].

Over the past century the number of native speakers of Gaelic [4], a Celtic language similar to Irish, has declined from around 5% to just 1% of the population almost always on a fully bilingual basis with English. Gaelic is spoken most in the Western Isles, where the local council uses the Gaelic name- Comhairle nan Eilean Siar ("Council of the Western Isles"). Under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 which was passed by the Scottish Parliament to provide a statutory basis for a limited range of Gaelic language service provision, English and Gaelic receive "equal respect" but do not have equal legal status [5]. It is estimated by the General Register Office for Scotland that 30% of the population are fluent in Scots, a West Germanic sister language to English. However, it is still disputed by some whether Scots is a language in its own right or merely a dialect of English.