A SCHEME to update the Gaelic language by inventing new words, including pizza, yoga and lesbian, has been condemned as an “idiotic, politically driven” ploy by one of Scotland’s leading linguists.

Charles Jones, Forbes professor of English language at Edinburgh University said the scheme, by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), was a waste of money that would have been better spent improving literacy in schools.

A panel of experts was appointed by the SQA to undertake the first review of Gaelic since 1981.

The new words will be used in Higher and Standard grade exams and are expected to be adopted by Gaelic-speaking communities in Scotland and abroad.

“This is a cultural, political exercise. They are trying very hard to give Gaelic status but there are far too few speakers left to justify anything like this. To the best of my knowledge there isn’t a single Gaelic monoglot speaker left, they are all bilingual,” said Jones, an expert in English and Scots language.

“I don’t think this will work despite the efforts of the large industry devoted to making it happen — the Scottish educational system, the local politicians and the Scottish parliament, which has made Gaelic an official language and supports these kinds of endeavours with money.

“We should spend more time making sure our children leave school literate in English. Nearly a third of the children leaving our schools can barely read and write.

“It’s awful. That’s where the money and effort should be going, instead of this very peripheral activity akin to promoting Scottish country dancing.”

Earlier this year Jack McConnell, the first minister, pledged £11.5m a year to fund a Gaelic digital channel, which is due to be launched this autumn.

In April, Gaelic was granted official recognition by the Scottish parliament, leading to the creation of the Bord na Gaidhlig, which has statutory powers to promote the language, culture and education.

This year, the first secondary school in the country to teach in the language will be launched in Glasgow at a cost of £3.5m.

However, there are now fewer than 60,000 Gaelic speakers, at less than 2% of the population, the lowest level ever. It is accepted that for a language to survive, a third of its speakers must be younger than 25. About 20% of Gaelic speakers fall into that age group.

The SQA defended the decision to revise the rules of Gaelic to include tartanised versions of English and foreign words. It also disputed the claim that it was a dying language. “The number of candidates taking Gaelic has increased over the past couple of years,” said a spokesman.

GAELIC UPDATES

New Gaelic words conceived by the panel include:

Cricket - Criogaid
Curry - Coiridh
Fax - Facs
Giro - Dioro
Jeans - Dinichean
Lesbian - Leasbach
Ozone - Oson
Pizza - Piotsa
Quango - Cuango
Video - Bhidio
Vodka - Bhodca
Yoga - Ioga

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