Editing Dialect continuum (section)

==Europe==

[[File:Dialect continua in Europe.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Major dialect continua in Europe in the mid-20th century{{sfnp|Chambers|Trudgill|1998|p=6}}{{efn|[[Carpathian Ruthenia]] is mistakenly excluded from North Slavic on the map, even though [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], an East Slavic dialect group on the transition to West Slavic, is spoken there.}}]]

Europe provides several examples of dialect continua, the largest of which involve the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Romance languages|Romance]] and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] branches of the [[Indo-European language family]], the continent's largest language branches.

The Romance area spanned much of the territory of the [[Roman Empire]] but was split into western and eastern portions by the [[Slav Migrations]] into the Balkans in the 7th and 8th centuries.

The Slavic area was in turn split by the [[Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin]] in the 9th and 10th centuries.

=== Germanic languages ===
[[File:West Germanic dialect continuum (according to Wiesinger, Heeringa & König).png|350px|thumb|The varieties of the continental West Germanic dialect continuum after 1945:<ref>W. Heeringa: ''Measuring Dialect Pronunciation Differences using Levenshtein Distance.'' University of Groningen, 2009, pp. 232–234.</ref><ref>Peter Wiesinger: ''Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte.'' In: Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand (Hrsg.): ''Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung,'' 2.&nbsp;Halbband. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983, ISBN 3-11-009571-8, pp. 807–900.</ref><ref>Werner König: ''dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache.'' 19. Auflage. dtv, München 2019, {{isbn|978-3-423-03025-0}}, pp. 230.</ref><ref>C. Giesbers: ''Dialecten op de grens van twee talen.'' Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2008, pp. 233.</ref>

{{legend|#df772a|[[Frisian languages|Frisian]]}}
{{legend|#8c506e|[[Low Franconian]]}}
{{legend|#3e9abc|[[Low Saxon]]/[[Low German]]}}
{{legend|#f5ef47| [[Central German]] (part of [[High German languages|High German]])}}
{{legend|#ecca09| [[Upper German]] (part of [[High German languages|High German]])}}]]

==== North Germanic continuum ====

The [[Norwegian dialects|Norwegian]], [[Danish dialects|Danish]] and [[Swedish dialects]] comprise a classic example of a dialect continuum, encompassing Norway, Denmark, Sweden and coastal parts of Finland. The Continental North Germanic standard languages ([[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]) are close enough and intelligible enough for some {{Who|date=July 2024}} to consider them to be dialects of the same language, but the Insular ones ([[Faroese language|Faroese]] and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]) are not immediately intelligible to the other North Germanic speakers.

==== Continental West Germanic continuum ====

Historically, the [[Dutch dialects|Dutch]], [[Frisian languages|Frisian]], [[Low German|Low Saxon]] and  [[German dialects|High German dialects]] formed a canonical dialect continuum, which has been gradually falling apart since the [[Late Middle Ages]] due to the pressures of modern education, standard languages, migration and weakening knowledge of the dialects.<ref name="Niebaum">{{cite book | chapter = Het Oostnederlandse taallandschap tot het begin van de 19de eeuw
| given = Herman | surname = Niebaum | pages = 52–64
| title = Handboek Nedersaksische taal- en letterkunde
| editor-given = Jurgen | editor-surname = Van der Kooij
| publisher = Van Gorcum | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-90-232-4329-8
}} p. 54.</ref>

The transition from German dialects to Dutch variants followed two basic routes: 
* From [[Central German]] to Southeastern Dutch ([[Limburgish]]) in the so-called [[Rhenish fan]], an area corresponding largely to the modern [[Lower Rhine region|Niederrhein]] in which gradual but geographically compact changes took place.{{sfnp|Chambers|Trudgill|1998|p=92}}
* From Low Saxon{{efn|In this context, "A group of related dialects of [[Low German]], spoken in northern Germany and parts of the Netherlands, formerly also in Denmark." (Definition from [[wikt:Low Saxon|Wiktionary]])}} to Northwestern Dutch ([[Hollandic]]): This sub-continuum also included [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] dialects up until the 17th century, but faced external pressure from [[Standard Dutch]] and, after the collapse of the [[Hanseatic League]], from [[Standard German]] which greatly influenced the vocabularies of these border dialects.<ref name="Niebaum"/>

Though the internal dialect continua of both Dutch and German remain largely intact, the continuum which historically connected the Dutch, Frisian and German languages has largely disintegrated. Fragmentary areas of the Dutch-German border in which language change is more gradual than in other sections or a higher degree of [[mutual intelligibility]] is present still exist, such as the [[Aachen]]-[[Kerkrade]] area, but the historical chain in which dialects were only divided by minor isoglosses and negligible differences in vocabulary has seen a rapid and ever-increasing decline since the 1850s.<ref name="Niebaum"/>

[[Standard Dutch]] was based on the dialects of the principal [[Brabantian dialect|Brabantic]] and [[Hollandic dialect|Hollandic]] cities. The written form of [[Standard German]] originated in the [[East Central German]] used at the [[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] of the [[kingdom of Saxony]], while the spoken form emerged later, based on North German pronunciations of the written standard.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Carol |last1=Henriksen |first2=Johan |last2=van der Auwera |pages=1–18 |title=The Germanic Languages |editor1-first=Ekkehard |editor1-last=König |editor2-first=Johan |editor2-last=van der Auwera |publisher=Routledge |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-415-05768-4 }} p. 11.</ref> Being based on widely separated dialects, the Dutch and German standards do not show a high degree of [[mutual intelligibility]] when spoken and only partially so when written. One study concluded that, when concerning written language, Dutch speakers could translate 50.2% of the provided German words correctly, while the German subjects were able to translate 41.9% of the Dutch equivalents correctly. In terms of orthography, 22% of the vocabulary of Dutch and German is identical or near-identical.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Cross-border intelligibility – on the intelligibility of Low German among speakers of Danish and Dutch |pages=273–295 |chapter-url=http://www.let.rug.nl/gooskens/pdf/publ_ZDL_2009b.pdf |last1=Gooskens |first1=Charlotte |last2=Kürschner |first2=Sebastian |editor1-last=Lenz |editor1-first=Alexandra N. |editor2-last=Gooskens |editor2-first=Charlotte |editor3-last=Reker |editor3-first=Siemon |title=Low Saxon dialects across borders – Niedersächsische Dialekte über Grenzen hinweg |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Steiner |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-515-09372-9 }}</ref><ref>Gooskens & Heeringa (2004)</ref>

==== Anglic continuum ====
The [[Anglic languages|Germanic dialects spoken on the island of Great Britain]] comprise areal varieties of English in England and of [[Scots language|Scots]] in Scotland. Those of large areas north and south of the border are often mutually intelligible. In contrast, the [[Orcadian dialect]] of Scots is very different from the dialects of [[English in southern England]]—but they are linked by a chain of intermediate varieties.

=== Romance languages ===
====Western Romance continuum====
[[File:Romance languages accurate.png|thumb|300x300px|Romance languages in Europe]]
The western continuum of [[Romance languages]] comprises, from West to East: in Portugal, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]; in Spain, [[Galician language|Galician]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]] or [[Asturian language|Asturian]], Castilian or [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]] and [[Catalan Language|Catalan]] or [[Valencian language|Valencian]]; in France, [[Occitan Language|Occitan]], [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]], standard [[French language|French]] and [[Corsican Language|Corsican]] which is closely related to Italian; in Italy, [[Ligurian language|Ligurian]], [[Piedmontese language|Piedmontese]], [[Lombard language|Lombard]], [[Emilian dialects|Emilian]], [[Romagnol dialects|Romagnol]], [[Italian language|Italian]] Gallo-Picene, [[Venetian language|Venetian]], [[Friulian language|Friulian]], [[Ladin language|Ladin]]; and in Switzerland, [[Lombard language|Lombard]] and [[Romansh language|Romansh]]. This continuum is sometimes presented as another example, but the major languages in the group (i.e. Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian) have had separate [[standard language|standards]] for longer than the languages in the Continental West Germanic group, and so are not commonly classified as [[dialect]]s of a common language.

Focusing instead on the local Romance lects that pre-existed the establishment of national or regional standard languages, all evidence and principles point to ''Romania continua'' as having been, and to varying extents in some areas still being, what [[Charles Hockett]] called an L-complex, i.e. an unbroken chain of local differentiation such that, in principle and with appropriate caveats, intelligibility (due to sharing of features) attenuates with distance. This is perhaps most evident today in Italy, where, especially in rural and small-town contexts, local Romance is still often employed at home and work, and geolinguistic distinctions are such that while native speakers from any two nearby towns can understand each other with ease, they can also spot from linguistic features that the other is from elsewhere.

In recent centuries, the intermediate dialects between the major Romance languages have been moving toward [[language death|extinction]], as their speakers have switched to varieties closer to the more prestigious national standards. That has been most notable in France,{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} owing to the French government's [[Language policy in France|refusal to recognise minority languages]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/le-senat-dit-non-a-la-charte-europeenne-des-langues-regionales_1712811.html|title=Le Sénat dit non à la Charte européenne des langues régionales|website=Franceinfo |date=27 October 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231203070556/https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/le-senat-dit-non-a-la-charte-europeenne-des-langues-regionales_1712811.html |archive-date= Dec 3, 2023 }}</ref> but it has occurred to some extent in all Western Romance speaking countries. Language change has also threatened the survival of stateless languages with existing literary standards, such as Occitan.

The Romance [[languages of Italy]] are a less arguable example of a dialect continuum. For many decades since Italy's unification, the attitude of the French government towards the ethnolinguistic minorities was copied by the Italian government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/italy.php?aid=519|title=Italy : 5.1 General legislation : 5.1.9 Language laws|publisher=Council of Europe/ERICarts|website=Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe |date=September 18, 2013 |access-date=26 February 2014|archive-date=2 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302163710/http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/italy.php?aid=519|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/italiano_dialetti/Cerruti.html|title=Italiano e dialetto oggi in Italia |website=Treccani |date=26 January 2011 |first1=Massimo |last1=Cerruti |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221023143019/https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/italiano_dialetti/Cerruti.html |archive-date= Oct 23, 2022 }}</ref>

====Eastern Romance continuum====

The eastern Romance continuum is dominated by [[Romanian language|Romanian]]. Outside Romania and Moldova, across the other south-east European countries, various Romanian language groups are to be found: pockets of various Romanian and Aromanian subgroups survive throughout [[Bulgaria]], [[Serbia]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Greece]], [[Albania]] and [[Croatia]] (mostly in [[Istria]]).

=== Slavic languages ===

Conventionally, on the basis of extralinguistic features (such as writing systems or the former western frontier of the Soviet Union), the North Slavic continuum is split into East and West Slavic continua. From the perspective of linguistic features alone, only two Slavic (dialect) continua can be distinguished, namely North and South,<ref>[[Peter Trudgill]]. 2003. ''A Glossary of Sociolinguistics''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 36, 95-96, 124-125.</ref><ref>[http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/slavic_eurasia_papers/no10/Maps.pdf#page=4][[Tomasz Kamusella]]<span>. 2017. Map A4, Dialect Continua in Central Europe, 1910 (p 94) and Map A5, Dialect Continua in Central Europe, 2009 (p 95). In: Tomasz Kamusella, Motoki Nomachi, and Catherine Gibson, eds. 2017. </span>''Central Europe Through the Lens of Language and Politics: On the Sample Maps from the Atlas of Language Politics in Modern Central Europe''<span> (Ser: Slavic Eurasia Papers, Vol 10). Sapporo, Japan: Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University.</span></ref><ref>{{cite web|first = Tomasz|last = Kamusella |url = https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/12905/The_Triple_Division_of_the_Slavic_Langua.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |author-link =Tomasz Kamusella|date = 2005|title =The Triple Division of the Slavic Languages: A Linguistic Finding, a Product of Politics, or an Accident?|format=Working Paper |id = 2005/1|location = Vienna|publisher = Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen}}</ref> separated from each other by a band of non-Slavic languages: Romanian, Hungarian and German.

==== North Slavic continuum ====

The North Slavic continuum covers the [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] and [[West Slavic languages]]. East Slavic includes [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]; West Slavic languages of [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Silesian language|Silesian]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], and [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper]] and [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]. [[Eastern Slovak dialects|Eastern Slovak]] and [[Pannonian Rusyn]] stand out as sharing features with Slovak, Polish and Rusyn, thus serving as a transition between West and East Slavic languages.

==== South Slavic continuum ====
{{Further|Pluricentric language#Serbo-Croatian}}
[[File:South_Slavic_dialect_continuum.svg|thumb|right|200px|South Slavic dialect continuum with major dialect groups]]
All South Slavic languages form a dialect continuum.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |year=1998 |orig-year=1st pub. 1987 |title=The Cambridge encyclopedia of language |location=Cambridge, New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=25 |oclc=300458429}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Friedman |first=Victor |author-link=Victor Friedman |year=1999 |title=Linguistic emblems and emblematic languages: on language as flag in the Balkans |series=Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics; vol. 1 |location= Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures |page=8 |oclc=46734277}}</ref> It comprises, from West to East, [[Slovenia]], [[Croatia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Montenegro]], [[Serbia]], [[North Macedonia]], and [[Bulgaria]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Alexander |first=Ronelle |year=2000 |title=In honor of diversity: the linguistic resources of the Balkans |series=Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics; vol. 2 |location=Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures |page=4 |oclc=47186443}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Kristophson, Jürgen |title=Vom Widersinn der Dialektologie: Gedanken zum Štokavischen |trans-title=Nonsense of Dialectology: Thoughts on Shtokavian |language=de |journal= Zeitschrift für Balkanologie |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=180 |year=2000 |issn=0044-2356}}</ref> Standard [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] are each based on a distinct dialect, but the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian [[differences between Serbo-Croatian standard varieties|standard varieties]] of the [[Pluricentric language#Serbo-Croatian|pluricentric]] [[Serbo-Croatian language]] are all based on the same dialect, [[Shtokavian dialect|Shtokavian]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |editor1-last=Krause |editor1-first=Marion |editor2-last=Sappok |editor2-first=Christian |title=Slavistische Linguistik 2002: Referate des XXVIII. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens, Bochum 10.-12. September 2002 |series=Slavistishe Beiträge; vol. 434 |publisher=Otto Sagner |pages=97–148 |language=de |chapter=Pro und kontra: "Serbokroatisch" heute |trans-chapter=Pros and cons: "Serbo-Croatian" today |chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430499.PRO_UND_KONTRA_SERBOKROATISCH.PDF |location=Munich |year=2004 |isbn=978-3-87690-885-4 |oclc=56198470 |ssrn=3434516 |id={{CROSBI|430499}} | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601174051/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430499.PRO_UND_KONTRA_SERBOKROATISCH.PDF|url-status=live |archive-date=1 June 2012 |url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430499.PRO_UND_KONTRA_SERBOKROATISCH.PDF  |access-date=9 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Blum |first=Daniel |year=2002 |language=de |title=Sprache und Politik : Sprachpolitik und Sprachnationalismus in der Republik Indien und dem sozialistischen Jugoslawien (1945–1991) |trans-title=Language and Policy: Language Policy and Linguistic Nationalism in the Republic of India and the Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991) |series=Beiträge zur Südasienforschung; vol. 192 |location=Würzburg |publisher=Ergon |page=200 |isbn=978-3-89913-253-3 |oclc=51961066}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gröschel |first=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Gröschel |year=2009 |language=de |title=Das Serbokroatische zwischen Linguistik und Politik: mit einer Bibliographie zum postjugoslavischen Sprachenstreit |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian Between Linguistics and Politics: With a Bibliography of the Post-Yugoslav Language Dispute |series=Lincom Studies in Slavic Linguistics; vol 34 |location=Munich |publisher=Lincom Europa |pages=82–83 |isbn=978-3-929075-79-3 |oclc=428012015 |lccn=2009473660 |ol=15295665W}}</ref> 
Therefore, [[Croats]], [[Serbs]], [[Bosniaks]] and [[Montenegrins]] [[Language secessionism#In Serbo-Croatian|communicate fluently]] with each other in their respective [[standard language|standardized varieties]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |year=2010 |language=hr |title=Jezik i nacionalizam |trans-title=Language and Nationalism |url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/475567.Jezik_i_nacionalizam.pdf |url-status=live |series=Rotulus Universitas |location=Zagreb |publisher=Durieux |pages=74–77 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3467646 |isbn=978-953-188-311-5 |lccn=2011520778 |oclc=729837512 |ol=15270636W |id={{CROSBI|475567}} |archive-date=1 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601175359/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/475567.Jezik_i_nacionalizam.pdf |access-date=15 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pohl |first=Hans-Dieter |editor1-last=Ohnheiser |editor1-first=Ingeborg |title=Wechselbeziehungen zwischen slawischen Sprachen, Literaturen und Kulturen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart : Akten der Tagung aus Anlaß des 25jährigen Bestehens des Instituts für Slawistik an der Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 25–27 Mai 1995 |series=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Slavica aenipontana; vol. 4 |publisher=Non Lieu |pages=205–219 |language=de |chapter=Serbokroatisch – Rückblick und Ausblick |trans-chapter=Serbo-Croatian – Looking backward and forward |location=Innsbruck |year=1996 |oclc=243829127}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Šipka|first=Danko|author-link=Danko Sipka|year=2019|title=Lexical layers of identity: words, meaning, and culture in the Slavic languages|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=166|doi=10.1017/9781108685795|isbn=978-953-313-086-6|s2cid=150383965|lccn=2018048005 |oclc=1061308790|quote=lexical differences between the ethnic variants are extremely limited, even when compared with those between closely related Slavic languages (such as standard Czech and Slovak, Bulgarian and Macedonian), and grammatical differences are even less pronounced. More importantly, complete understanding between the ethnic variants of the standard language makes translation and second language teaching impossible", leading Šipka "to consider it a pluricentric standard language}}</ref> In [[Croatia]], native speakers of Shtokavian may struggle to understand distinct [[Kajkavian]] or [[Chakavian]] dialects, as might the speakers of the two with each other.<ref>{{cite book|last=Škiljan |first=Dubravko| author-link=Dubravko Škiljan |year=2002 |language=hr |title=Govor nacije: jezik, nacija, Hrvati |trans-title=Voice of the Nation: Language, Nation, Croats |series=Biblioteka Obrisi moderne |location=Zagreb |publisher=Golden marketing | page=12 |oclc=55754615}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=Paul-Louis |title=Le serbo-croate (bosniaque, croate, monténégrin, serbe): de l'étude d'une langue à l'identité des langues |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian): from the study of a language to the identity of languages |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/slave_0080-2557_2002_num_74_2_6801 |language=fr |journal=Revue des études slaves |volume=74 |issue=2–3 |page=315 |year=2003 |issn=0080-2557}}</ref> Likewise in [[Serbia]], the [[Torlakian]] dialect differs significantly from Standard Serbian. Serbian is a Western South Slavic standard, but Torlakian is largely transitional with the Eastern South Slavic languages (Bulgarian and Macedonian). Collectively, the Torlakian dialects with Macedonian and Bulgarian share many grammatical features that set them apart from all other Slavic languages, such as the complete loss of its [[grammatical case]] systems and adoption of features more commonly found among [[analytic languages]].

The barrier between ''East South Slavic'' and ''West South Slavic'' is historical and natural, caused primarily by a one-time geographical distance between speakers. The two varieties started diverging early on ({{Circa|11th century CE}}) and evolved separately ever since without major mutual influence, as evidenced by distinguishable [[Old Bulgarian|Old Slavonic]], while the western dialect of common Old Slavic was still spoken across the modern Serbo-Croatian area in the 12th and early 13th centuries. An intermediate dialect linking western and eastern variations inevitably came into existence over time – [[Torlakian dialect|Torlakian]] – spoken across a wide radius on which the tripoint of [[Bulgaria]], [[North Macedonia]] and [[Serbia]] is relatively pivotal.

=== Uralic languages ===

The other major language family in Europe besides Indo-European are the [[Uralic languages]]. The [[Sami languages]], sometimes mistaken for a single language, are a dialect continuum, albeit with some disconnections like between [[North Sami language|North]], [[Skolt Sami language|Skolt]] and [[Inari Sámi language|Inari Sami]]. The [[Baltic-Finnic languages]] spoken around the [[Gulf of Finland]] form a dialect continuum. Thus, although [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Estonian language|Estonian]] are considered as separate languages, there is no definite linguistic border or isogloss that separates them. This is now more difficult to recognize because many of the intervening languages have declined or become extinct.

=== 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.