Scottish Gaelic: Heritage Language Development – Revival, Maintenance & Continuance

Prepared for presentation at International Heritage Language Conference, June 21, 2012

By Michael McIntyre

Abstract

The borders of the Scottish Gaelic world have shrunk before the continually erosive power of the “killer language” English. The Gaelic language now faces the possibility of language death. With a movement that has gathered momentum since the recent opening of the Scottish parliament for the first time in more than 300 years, Scottish Gaels have begun to build an educational system to revive and maintain Scottish Gaelic, as well as loosely coordinate activities outside of formal educational institutions. Several organizations contribute to the governance of Gaelic education, with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig (The Gaelic Board) taking the lead as an advisory, if not a supervisory, body.

Background

– Celtic language – “c-celtic”– Co-dialectal with Irish / Irish Gaelic– Once dominant language in Scotland– gradually marginalized & stigmatized over

centuries (starting officially, perhaps, with Statutes of Iona, 1609)

Current Situation• 60,000 speakers• 1.2% of Scottish

population (which totals about 5 million)

• Devolution – process by which Scottish Parliament enjoys greater powers within United Kingdom in regards to “internal” governance

• Present Scottish government ‘Gaelic friendly'

Gaelic Act

• Passed 2005• Establishes Bòrd na Gàidhlig• Provides for Funding for formal education first

time in 400 yrs• Mandates regional “plans”

Gaelic Medium Schools

• 60 schools (or units)• 2,200 students• Full immersion > dual language immersion

Gaelic efforts related to world-wide movement of indigenous language revival and maintenance

• Catalan• Maori• Native American• Native Hawaiian• Welch • Basque• Hebrew

Population: heritage language education

• Native speakers– literate– non-literate– “Courses for Native speakers will promote oral fluency

and literacy in Gaelic as one of their two major languages.

• Learners– “Courses for learners will provide opportunities to

acquire oral fluency and literacy in Gaelic as a second language” (Scottish Qualifications Authority, 1988)

Learners

• Possessors of heritage but not native speakers– within Scotland (primarily - In the environment of

the heritage)1. Children & grandchildren of speakers; 2. descendents further removed

• Location– outwith Scotland

1. descendents further removed2. Children & grandchildren of speakers

Formal Educational programs

• bun sgoil – elementary school (dual immersion)• àrd sgoil – high school level (dual immersion)• Sabhal Mòr Ostaig – Gaelic college on the Isle of

Skye (pictured above)– Degrees in Gaelic language, culture, education, media &

environmental studies• Other Gaelic programs - various colleges &

universities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen)– sometimes more 'about' the language than

learning/acquiring the language

Non-formal educational venues

• TIP (Total Immersion Plus) – intensive, 6 week long immersion course oriented towards oral competency

• Gaelic in the Family – program aimed at teaching domain of domestic Gaelic (language of the home, childcare, language of affection, etc)

• Ulpan – immersion program adopted from Hebrew language program in Israel

• Sabhal Mòr Ostaig short courses – summer and other holidays (Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye)

• Atlantic Gaelic Academy (Nova Scotia online and on-ground adult education courses)

• Immersion weekends / weeks (either through above venues or organized separately)

• Private tutors

Artistic expression– An Leabhar Mòr - pan-

Gaelic collaboration– Taigh ùr (poem) – Reframing: what it means

to be “Gaelic” – once geographically based; increasingly language based (Caimbeul, 2004)

– A.P. Caimbeul - primacy to language rather than geography

•

media

• media –– Film– Bbc alba– Radio nan gaidheal

• literary arts– Poetry– novels

• music

TV: Luch is Famh (Mouse and Mole)

Purposes of heritage language program

– Continuation - intergenerational transmission the 'problem' with which they are wrestling

– Building a Gaelic friendly environment• adult education• road signs• propagandizing re: • increasing visibility of gaelic

•

Orthographic conventions• Regularize written form of language (old variants to single

contemporary)

• Establish forms for borrowed words– Zoo > sutha (no z in Gaelic) – Taxi > tacsaidh (no x in Gaelic)– Ham > hama (no h except for phono-syntactical signal &

borrowed words)• Establish & regularize rules for accented vowels (à, è, ì, ò,

ù), which indicates the “length” of the vowel -- which affects meaning, e.g.– bata (stick) > bàta (boat)

Old spelling Contemporary

Air a son (because) airson

maduinn (morning) madainn

aobhar (reason) adhbhar

Modernizing the language

• Stor-data – online database of contemporary Gaelic

• Cothrom (“Opportunity”) Magazine• Contemporary dictionaries• Examples of new constructions:– Keyboard > meur-chlàr (finger board)– Computer > compiutar – Downloading -- luchdachadh-a-nuas; (sometimes,

donnloadachadh)

Obstacles• Swamped in English language environment, including

media - decline of Gaelic became precipitous w/ modern media

• Entrenched views that Gaelic is not to be taught in schools (high regard for education - just not Gaelic ed.)

• View that Gaelic is spoken language/not written (English is for writing; writing is done in English)

• “Courtesy” of Gaelic culture – disinclination to speak Gaelic in presence of non-Gaelic speakers

• What is the 'use' of Gaelic?

Challenges

• Tug and pull of identities – British? Scottish? Gaelic? Fully participating in English-language culture, European & world social and economic communities but wanting to maintain self of cultural self.

• Non-Gaelic residents in Islands & Highlands / newcomers ("white settlers“ / “incomers”)

• Original 'natives' • - some Gaelic speaking• -- some not, even of Gaelic speaking parents• Gaelic speakers in non-Gaelic regions > cities / overseas • Gaelic learners w/ various levels of proficiency

Gaelic - the language and the culture

• Revitalizing the language involves more than instruction in the language, qua language.

• Instruction in the language encompasses a broad array of measures aimed at decolonizing

Decolonizing

• Reconnecting to "our language as an uninterrupted link to our histories, to the ownership of our lands, to our abilities to create and control our own life and death to our sense of balance, among ourselves and with the environment, to our authentic selves as a people" (Smith, 1999, p. 73).

• Becoming part of the conversation re: Gaelic language & culture

Methods of Decolonizing

• Claiming• Testimonies /

remembering: – Gaelic writing• story telling • History• Reading

• Reframing – positioning within North Atlantic & European communities• Envisioning the future• Democratizing,

networking, negotiating• (Smith, 1999)

Decolonizing within Gaelic context:

• Claiming - in the current context, 'claiming' government funding for Gaelic programs

• Environmental: – Think Gaelic – cultural aspects of relationship with

nature– Sabhal Mòr North Atlantic Environmental Program

Gaelic - building a “new house”• Gàidhlig (Gaelic language) - maintaining and reviving the language itself, fostered through education,

media, community outreach, and public exposure.• foghlam (education) – formal, non-formal, informal• togail an taigh' ùr – (building a "new house“) - the reconstruction of social arrangements, values, and

orientations and relationships between humanity and the natural world• coimhearsnachd -(community) the Gaelic communities 'went out' together when they emigrated; set

up their villages in the new world in the same order they had been in the old; re-orienting cultural valuations towards the community and away from the individual

• cèilidh – traditional “get together” or “visit” but also involving participatory sharing stories, reciting poems, singing songs (old and new), and dancing. A bonding and a remembering.

• craic - rousing, heartfelt conversation in groups of various sizes; a bonding performance; often engaged in at a ceilidh.

• an ceòl (music) - music is integral to the culture in accordance with the Gaelic proverb, Thig crìoch an t-saoghal, mairidh ceòl 's a' ghaol (come the end of the world, love and music will endure).

• bàrdachd – poetry. Central to Gaelic culture. The traditional reverence for am bàrd (the poet) as “truth teller,” keeper of the “story” of the community, cannot be underestimated

• tilleadh dhachaigh - returning home; which involves – the figurative -- remembering and reconstructing an dùthchas, (the culture) in the form of stories,

histories, songs, music; and – the literal -- actually physically visiting an dùthaich (the "homeland"). (Note that the two words

dùthchas and dùthaich are mutual cognates.)