Editing Dialect continuum (section)

=== Goidelic continuum ===

The [[Goidelic languages]] consist of [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scottish Gaelic]] and [[Manx language|Manx]]. Prior to the 19th and 20th centuries, the continuum existed throughout Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mac Eoin|first=Gearóid|chapter=Irish|pages=101–44|title=The Celtic Languages|editor-first=Martin J. |editor-last=Ball |publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=1993|isbn=978-0-415-01035-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McManus|first=Damian|chapter=An Nua-Ghaeilge Chlasaiceach |pages=335–445|editor=K. McCone |editor2=D. McManus |editor3=C. Ó Háinle |editor4=N. Williams |editor5=L. Breatnach |title=Stair na Gaeilge in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta|location=Maynooth|publisher=Department of Old Irish, St. Patrick's College|year=1994|isbn=978-0-901519-90-0|language=Irish}}</ref> Many intermediate dialects have become extinct or have died out leaving major gaps between languages such as in the islands of [[Rathlin]], [[Isle of Arran|Arran]] or [[Kintyre]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=McLeod |first=Wilson |date=2017 |title=Dialectal diversity in contemporary Gaelic: perceptions, discourses and responses |url=https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pfrlsu/documents/PFRLSU/W._McLeod_Dialectal_Diversity.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214181549/https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pfrlsu/documents/PFRLSU/W._McLeod_Dialectal_Diversity.pdf |archive-date=Feb 14, 2022 |website=University of Aberdeen}}</ref> and also in the [[Counties of Ireland|Irish counties]] of [[County Antrim|Antrim]], [[County Londonderry|Londonderry]] and [[County Down|Down]].

The current Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland are also separated by extinct dialects but remain mutually intelligible.