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Shelta (/ˈʃɛltə/;[2] Irish: Seiltis)[3] is a language spoken by Mincéirí (Irish Travellers), particularly in Ireland and the United Kingdom.[4] It is widely known as the Cant, to its native speakers in Ireland as de Gammon or Tarri, and to the linguistic community as Shelta.[5] Other terms for it include the Seldru, and Shelta Thari, among others. The exact number of native speakers is hard to determine due to sociolinguistic issues[5] but Ethnologue puts the number of speakers at 30,000 in the UK, 6,000 in Ireland, and 50,000 in the US. The figure for at least the UK is dated to 1990. It is not clear if the other figures are from the same source.[6]
Linguistically Shelta is today seen as a mixed language that stems from a community of travelling people in Ireland that was originally predominantly Irish-speaking. The community later went through a period of widespread bilingualism that resulted in a language based heavily on Hiberno-English with heavy influences from Irish.[5] As different varieties of Shelta display different degrees of anglicisation, it is hard to determine the extent of the Irish substratum. The Oxford Companion to the English Language puts it at 2,000–3,000 words.[4]
^Shelta at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^Bauer, Laurie (2007). The Linguistics Student's Handbook. Edinburgh University Press / Oxford University Press. doi:10.1017/S0332586509002078. ISBN 9780195332841. S2CID 143915949 – via Internet Archive.
^"shelta". tearma.ie – Dictionary of Irish Terms – Foclóir Téarmaíochta. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
^ abMcArthur, T., ed. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-214183-X.
^ abcKirk, J.; Ó Baoill, D., eds. (2002). Travellers and Their Language. Queen's University Belfast. ISBN 0-85389-832-4.
^"Shelta". Ethnologue. 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
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