Proto-Celtic Roots
The Celtic languages are one of the most important chapters of European language, yet that chapter is at the precipice. Only six Celtic languages are spoken today with any native currency, all of them Insular Celtic languages, and no Celtic language can be described as "thriving." Manx and Cornish are virtually dead; Breton may die within our lifetimes; Welsh soon after our lifetimes; Scots Gaelic is in sharp decline; and Irish, also in decline, sits at the cliffedge, its fate still undecided.