Chapter Five 97

With the gradual cutting of funding for minority language projects in the late eighties and nineties, Acadian language and culture in the Tignish area began to fade away again. Preparations for the community’s Bicentennial in 1999 and the bicentennial year itself have revived them somewhat. Nevertheless this revival may not last. Perhaps the culture as a whole was too near the verge of extinction by the time help came from the federal government. One could sum up the present situation by stating that the Acadians have survived as a distinct society in the Tignish area, but will likely not survive as a linguistic minority for more than another generation unless the present trend is altered.

At the end of this two—hundred-year journey, let us briefly consider where Tignish stands today. The materials, especially historical documents, we need have been scattered along the way. What is needed is to bring them together and expand on them a little.

On the most elementary level of survival, descendents of the two founding groups are not only still here, but form the majority of the population and manage its institutions. it is still possible, even easy, to recognize liish or Acadians as such in the street. Both lrish and Acadians hav e kept much of their ethnic identity. Only one person remains who once spoke Irish Gaelic - and she is l04 at the time of writing. Many Acadians have lost their ancestral language to a greater or lesser extent, but they retain some of their folkways and (usually) their attachment to the Church. The two groups have not fused, but work together most of the time, though one can still hear mutterings and complaints from one group about the other. The slogan chosen for the Bicentennial year is ”Together for the centuries". It illustrates how united the community is in spite of anything that may at times disturb it.