Celtic Language Family: Cornish, Irish, Welsh, Manx, Breton

The languages **Cornish, Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Breton** belong to the **Celtic language family**—a branch of the Indo-European family.

Two Subgroups

• Goidelic (Gaelic / Q-Celtic): **Irish** (Gaeilge), **Scottish Gaelic** (Gàidhlig), **Manx** (Gaelg).
• Brythonic (Brittonic / P-Celtic): **Welsh** (Cymraeg), **Breton** (Brezhoneg), **Cornish** (Kernewek).

Status

• Welsh: ~900k speakers; official in Wales; growing.
• Irish: ~1.8M claim ability; ~70k daily; official in Ireland/EU.
• Breton: ~200k; endangered; France not ratified European Charter.
• Cornish: Revived; ~3k speakers; UNESCO "awakening."
• Manx: Revived after 1974 last native speaker; ~2k; UNESCO "revitalized."

All descend from **Proto-Celtic** (c. 1000 BCE). Continental Celtic (Gaulish, Celtiberian) extinct. Insular Celtic = Goidelic + Brythonic.