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“The Gaelic Crisis” published
July 2, 2020
The results of Soillse’s Islands Gaelic Research Project have been published in book form.
The book, ‘The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community: A Comprehensive Sociolinguistic Survey of Scottish Gaelic’, is available from the Gaelic Books Council.
Evaluating the research, the authors’ main findings show that the language is in crisis, and that within remaining vernacular communities of Scotland, the social use and transmission of Gaelic is at the point of collapse.
The authors urge a radical new approach to vernacular Gaelic revitalisation and propose a new agenda and strategy for Gaelic revitalisation in the islands. They argue for a dynamic language-in-society model that is based on a community development trust for the Gaelic-speaking community and is under the direct control of the community.
The writing team of Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, Gòrdan Camshron, Pàdruig Moireach, Brian Ó Curnáin, Iain Caimbeul, Brian MacDonald and Tamás Péterváry has also compiled a bilingual research digest of the findings and recommendations. This is available here as an online PDF.
Additional statistical data not included in the full book is also available online via these webpages of the UHI Language Sciences Institute.
A highly condensed (3-page) research note can be accessed online here.
Launch of major new study: 02/07/20
June 30, 2020
Researchers from the University of the Highlands and Islands Language Sciences Institute and Soillse will launch a new book on Thursday 2 July 2020.
‘The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community: A comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of Scottish Gaelic’ is the most comprehensive social survey on the state of Gaelic communities ever conducted. The book presents new sociolinguistic research about Gaelic communities in the Western Isles, in Staffin in the Isle of Skye and in the Isle of Tiree.
In addition to in-depth analysis of the use and transfer of Scottish Gaelic as a community language, the book presents contemporary data on the societal and spatial extent of Gaelic speakers and Gaelic speaking in the remaining vernacular communities in Scotland.
Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, Professor of Gaelic Research at the University of the Highlands explained the motivation behind the new book: “It is important that we are clear about the immense scale of the challenges involved in reversing the ongoing decline in the use of Gaelic in these areas”.
The book, ‘The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community: A Comprehensive Sociolinguistic Survey of Scottish Gaelic’, is available from the Gaelic Books Council.
Pre-order: The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community
June 12, 2020
Now available for pre-order from the Gaelic Books Council:
https://gaelicbooks.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1688&search=gaelic+crisis
This book presents the findings of the comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of the Gaelic vernacular communities, carried out by the Islands Gaelic Research Project at the Soillse sociolinguistic partnership. The survey modules examined: census demolinguistics; preschoolers’ language practice; teenager data; three indicative communities; speaker typologies, providing qualitative and quantitative information on community, family, school and individual language acquisition and practice.
Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal – Scottish resource
March 17, 2020
The Scottish resource development element of the Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal project is now complete, with 15 hours of community-based video recordings, with Clilstore transcripts, now online on the webpages of the University of the Highlands and Islands Language Sciences Institute. Irish partners are working on a parallel collection of Irish Gaeltacht recordings.
The Scottish recordings feature speakers from four different islands – Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist – with four speakers from each island. They can be accessed via this link:
This project receives financial support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge.
“Mediating Multilingualism” Project
January 30, 2020
The UHI Language Sciences Institute, with support from Soillse and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, is leading on this project to develop links with Indian colleagues engaged in researching multilingualism and endangered languages in that country. In the first year of the project, 2018-2019, a colloquium was held at Amity University, Haryana, (the lead Indian institutional partner), as part of a fact-finding tour which also included visits to Centres for Endangered Languages at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. A full account, with links to presentations is available in this Soillse report.
In the second year, the focus is on fieldwork which tests out new recording methods and assistive dissemination platforms, as well as the development of a research agenda with a focus on the societal context of language endangerment.
The Mediating Multilingualism project is supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund.
This video reports on the International Language Fest for Indigenous and Endangered Languages held at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, as part of the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages. The film is multilingual and presented in Gaelic, while being fully subtitled in English. The main film lasts under 12 minutes, and is preceded by a two and a half minute introduction, and followed by a discussion (6 minutes) and brief postscript.
Dà-chànanas, Seargadh Inntinn & a’ Ghàidhlig: Report
December 2, 2019
The Soillse Small Research Fund project led by Strathclyde University on Bilingualism, Dementia and Gaelic is now complete.
The final report is available here.
There is also an article available on The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/bilingualism-and-dementia-how-some-patients-lose-their-second-language-and-rediscover-their-first-126631
Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal: Hughena MacDonald
November 7, 2019
Here’s another sample from the Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal pilot project in which the UHI Language Sciences Institute with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Soillse, together with Irish partners, embark on recording the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. In this example of fieldwork Archie Campbell interviews Hughena Macdonald, from Iochdar in South Uist, in her home. Retracing her life history and involvement in Gaelic community life and events, they found plenty to talk about, and their conversation here is presented in two parts.
The videos can be viewed directly via the links below:
The Clilstore transcripts (with embedded video) can be found here:
Transcript Part 1
Transcript Part 2
The project has funding support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge.
Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal – Tommy MacDonald
October 13, 2019
Here’s another sample from the Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal pilot project in which the UHI Language Sciences Institute with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Soillse, together with Irish partners, embark on recording the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. In this first example of fieldwork Archie Campbell interviews Tommy Macdonald, from Howmore in South Uist, in his home. Retracing his life history and involvement in Gaelic community life and events, they found plenty to talk about, and their conversation here is presented in two parts.
The videos can be viewed directly via the links below:
The Clilstore transcripts (with embedded video) can be found here:
Transcript Part 1
Transcript Part 2
The project has funding support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge.
Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal – second sample
September 4, 2019
Here’s another sample from the Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal pilot project in which the UHI Language Sciences Institute with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Soillse, together with Irish partners, embark on recording the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. This film was made in an initial training session, and builds on the model of the Saoghal Thormoid series. This time it’s Pàdruig Moireach who’s answering the questions.
The project has funding support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge.
The video can be viewed directly on YouTube, or on Clilstore with accompanying transcript.
New book by Stuart Dunmore
August 8, 2019
Soillse Research Associate and former doctoral student Dr Stuart Dunmore’s new book, Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland has been released by Edinburgh University Press today, 8th August 2019 (https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-language-revitalisation-in-gaelic-scotland.html). The book builds on Dunmore’s PhD research, which examined outcomes of Gaelic-medium education (GME) in Scotland among the first individuals to come through the system in the 1980s and 1990s. GME has been offered in Scottish primary schools since 1985.
Situated within the interrelated disciplines of sociolinguistics and sociology of language, Stuart’s book explores the language use and attitudinal perceptions of a sample of 130 adults who received GME at primary school. As the first students to have received a bilingual education are now in their late 20s and 30s, this volume offers a timely examination of the long-term outcomes of the system in its earliest years, and of the future prospects for Gaelic language maintenance and revitalisation in Scotland.
The book presents in-depth discussion and analysis of narratives in order to demonstrate former Gaelic-medium students’ present-day relationships to the languages they speak, offering fascinating insights into the possible reasons – historical, ideological and personal – for these relationships. This book presents the first open assessment of the outcomes of Gaelic-medium education in Scotland, and offers suggestions for individuals and policymakers seeking to revitalise languages internationally.
Endorsements:
“With Scottish Gaelic in decline for almost a millennium, Dunmore’s book fills a crucial gap in our understanding of the long-term social and linguistic outcomes of Gaelic medium education. It will inform policy makers and activists in Scotland and worldwide, where revitalization efforts are underway to create new speakers and domains through schooling.”
– Professor Emerita Suzanne Romaine, University of Oxford
Dunmore’s study reports at a time when the fortunes of Gaelic are challenged by formidable social, economic and political changes in wider society. The recently improving provisions of infrastructure, cultural support, and new opportunities for the language come at a very late stage in its history, and had they been implemented much earlier, they might, in all fairness, have given the language and its speakers a much firmer base on which to maintain its culture and place in what I have called ‘runaway language-shift’. This will call for its own study of external forces. What Stuart Dunmore has provided here, however, is the corresponding, penetrating and long called-for study of the internal motivations and attitudes of the new ex-GME generation, in which, importantly, we hear the actual voice of that generation itself. I am delighted to commend this study as an essential read for all those interested in the future prospects of Gaelic in Scotland, and to language planners and policymakers in particular.
– Professor Kenneth MacKinnon, University of Aberdeen / University of Exeter
Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal – Sample
July 31, 2019
Here’s an early sample from a pilot project in which the UHI Language Sciences Institute with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Soillse, together with Irish partners, embark on recording the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. This film was made in an initial training session, and builds on the model of the Saoghal Thormoid series. The project has funding support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge.
The video can be viewed directly on YouTube, or on Clilstore with accompanying transcript.
Indian links
April 2, 2019
Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, University of the Highlands and Islands Gaelic Research Professor and Director of the Language Sciences Institute, and Gordon Wells, Soillse Manager, spent a week in March visiting Indian universities as part of the Global Challenge Research Fund “Mediating Multilingualism” project. This follows a collaboration agreement between UHI and Amity University Haryana through which Professor Udaya Narayana Singh, formally director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, will help UHI and Soillse engage with the network of Centres for Endangered Languages (CFELs) across India.
The tour started with a two-day colloquium at Amity University, at which both Soillse representatives gave presentations alongside many other speakers. In opening remarks Gordon Wells observed, “In the UK, and perhaps also Ireland, recognition and acceptance of multilingualism in culture and society is an ongoing challenge. How India handles these issues on a much wider scale is of keen interest to us.”
The colloquium was followed by a trip to Kolkata, where the Island Voices “Gaelic Journey” film was shown at the CFEL in Jadavpur University, at the kind invitation of Professors Mahidas Bhattacharya and Samir Karmakar, before Conchúr Ó Giollagáin spoke on the topic of “Minority Bilingual Acquisition”.
The final venue on the tour was Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan, established by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, which houses another CFEL, where both speakers were again given a warm reception for their presentations on Video Ethnography and Gaelic Cultures.
A full account of the Amity University Colloquium by Professor Esha Jainiti has been published on Asian Community News here.
Links to talks and presentations by both Soillse speakers over the full tour are given below.
Conchúr Ó Giollagáin
Amity, 18/03/19: Mediating multilingualism in a local community context – a sharing of innovation and expertise between Scotland, Ireland, and India
Amity, 19/03/19: Demolinguistic surveys on the Gaelic groups in Scotland and Ireland
Jadavpur, 20/03/19: Minority bilingual acquisition: the challenge
Santiniketan, 23/03/19: The Gaelic cultures of Scotland and Ireland
Gordon Wells
Amity, 18/03/19: Island Voices Language Capture and Curation Project
Amity, 19/03/19: Video documentation: some remarks
Jadavpur, 20/03/19: Gaelic Journey
Santiniketan, 23/03/19: Island Voices: language capture and curation project, and video ethnography case study
LEACAG Grammar Guidance
March 9, 2019
The DASG team at Glasgow University have now published the LEACAG Grammar Guidance on their website. This was developed in a collaborative project with Edinburgh University and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. You can access the link to the guidance here.
Small Research Fund 2019
January 24, 2019
Soillse is pleased to announce the 2019 call for applications to the Small Research Fund. The deadline for 2019 applications has been set for 31st March 2019. Further information for applicants is available here, and the application form here.
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Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 2018 – Presentations
September 3, 2018
Congratulations to the University of Edinburgh on the success of the Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 2018 Conference. Between Professors and PhDs there were at least 15 presentations from Soillse associates past and present. Several of these are now available online through the links below.
Comasan labhairt ann an Gàidhlig. Nicola Carty, Oilthigh Ghlaschu
Reachdais air foghlam Gàidhlig: Èifeachd agus buaidh. An t-Ollamh Rob Dunbar, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann
Luchd-ionnsachaidh dualchasaich. Michelle NicLeòid agus Marsaili NicLeòid, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain
“All Bishops, No Congregation”
August 31, 2018
Soillse Director Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin delivered the final lecture at the MIME project conference on “Interdisciplinarity and the Future of Multilingualism Research” in Berlin this week. His presentation is available here.
Small Research Fund 2018
April 16, 2018
Following the receipt of ongoing support from the Scottish Funding Council, Soillse is pleased to announce the re-commencement of an annual call for applications to the Small Research Fund. The deadline for 2018 applications has been set for 10th May 2018. Further information for applicants is available here, and the application form here.
LATEST NEWS: The deadline for applications has been extended to 31/05/18
BBC reports – Gaelic in Stornoway
March 23, 2018
Two Gaelic news items here about Inge Birnie’s research work:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/naidheachdan/43498181
http://www.bbc.co.uk/naidheachdan/43509171
New post – Research Fellow (Sociolinguistics)
January 31, 2018
The University of the Highlands and Islands has advertised a new post here:
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/staff/vacancies/research-fellow-sociolinguistics.html
The University of the Highlands and Islands is an integrated university encompassing both further and higher education. Based in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, its distinctive partnership of 13 independent colleges and research institutions is locally based and rooted in communities, but with national and international reach, as part of a regional university structure.
To support its work it is recruiting to the following role within the university’s new Language Sciences Institute (LSI), located in Inverness.
Research Fellow in Sociolinguistics
£35,696 – £41,382
The primary focus of the research position is to participate in Language Sciences Institute research projects and to assist the Professor of Gaelic Research, the LSI director, in developing the research activities of the Institute.
The successful candidate will be expected to have appropriate experience of conducting high-quality research in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics or in other disciplines relevant to remit the LSI.
The closing date is 22nd February 2018.
Interviews will be held on 5th March 2018 in Inverness.
Further information here.
New book
December 5, 2017
A new book is published today – “New Speakers of Minority Languages” – with chapters on Gaelic by three Soillse research associates. The writers are Nicola Carty, Stuart Dunmore, and Cassie Smith-Christmas.
Here’s the link.
Projects with Manchester University
September 11, 2017
Through the Small Research Fund Soillse has enabled the development of research projects and relationships with a number of universities outside the original partnership. The University of Manchester is one such partner, where Dr Sarah MacQuarrie, in collaboration with Fiona Lyon, has conducted two projects relating to Gaelic Medium Education.
Links to summary reports of both projects are provided below.
- Seeking teachers’ views regarding literacy resources in Gaelic Medium Education (2014-2015)
- Measuring teacher support for standardised assessment in Gaelic Medium Education (2016-2017)
Article on Family Language Policy
July 31, 2017
Soillse Research Associate Dr Cassie Smith-Christmas (University of Limerick) has published a new article on Family Language Policy, based in part on work supported by the Soillse Small Research Fund: ‘One Cas, Two Cas’: Exploring the affective dimensions of family language policy, available online.
New Publications
June 13, 2017
Soillse has recently published online several reports of projects funded by the Small Research Fund. These can be found on the “Publications” tab under Education and Communities.
Under Education, Strathclyde University’s report “Transformative Pedagogies for Gaelic Revitalisation” presents the findings from a small-scale study of teachers’ views on the potential of translanguaging as a classroom pedagogy in Gaelic-medium education (GME).
Under Communities, Heriot-Watt University’s report “‘New Speakers’ of Gaelic from outside the UK” presents the results of a small-scale investigation into the backgrounds, experiences and views of a group of ‘new speakers’ of Gaelic currently living in Scotland who originally come from countries other than the United Kingdom.
Both these projects were conducted in collaboration with Edinburgh University staff.
Also under Communities, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig have released a volume of transcripts in printable format of the “Saoghal Thormoid” series of conversations recorded and placed online last year. This collection is accompanied by a new Foreword by Soillse Director and UHI Gaelic Research Professor, Conchúr Ó Giollagáin.
Meeting in Tiree
May 11, 2017
Information on a meeting in Tiree here. 16/05/17 at 1900.
What are your views on the state of Gaelic locally?
Meeting in Staffin
May 4, 2017
Information about a meeting in Staffin here. 10/05/17 at 1900.
What are your opinions on the state of Gaelic in the area?