Language
Today the principal languages of Comrie are English, Gaelic and Scots.
Historically, Comrie and the surrounding area has been part of the Gàidhealtachd. A statistical account of the Comrie Parish from 1799 recites that "The common language of the people is Gaelic and all the natives understand it; but many, especially the old, do not understand English". Gaelic appears to have remained the primary language during the early part of the Nineteenth Century, as the following passage written in 1828 from Mr.Mushet, local minister at the time, describing the annual celebration of the sacrament of the lord's supper testifies "The Lord favoured us (blessed be His name) with fair and seasonable weather. We had near eleven tables in Irish (Gaelic). Each table contained forty-eight persons or thereabout, and we had only two tables and some few persons at the third in English". As with the rest of Scotland however, the process of language shift away from Gaelic and towards English, facilitated by the Highland Clearances and the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872, was apparently well established by the late 19th Century. Indeed, by 1891 census estimates suggested that only 17.9% of the population of Comrie were native Gaelic speakers. In 1901 only 8.3% of the population were native Gaelic speakers, while only 4.5% of the population had Gaelic as their sole language. The most recent census data for 2002 shows that less than 5% of the population are Gaelic speakers.
The decline of Gaelic speakers in the area can be largely attributed to The Highland Clearances (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadach nan Gàidheal) in the 18th and 19th Centuries, which saw people in the smaller satellite settlements of the village (located in the surrounding mountains and glens) forcibly displaced from their homes, and many forced to emigrate to Canada, Australasia and North America. In addition, the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 led to generations of Gaels forbidden from speaking their native language in the classroom, and punished for doing so. As with the rest of Scotland (excluding the North-west), Gaelic speakers have struggled to retain their language through the generations, though Comrie retains a larger than average number of speakers.
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