Edinburgh University Press Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland: The Revitalisation of an Endangered Language

The number of young people speaking Gaelic in Scotland is growing for the first time since Census records began but less than half of all Gaelic speakers use Gaelic in the home. This book sets out to explore why. Focusing on how people, communities and organisations are 'doing' Gaelic, this book explores the processes and patterns of Gaelic language acquisition, use and management across four key spaces of interaction: the family, the community, educational settings, and in organisations. The contributors adopt an experiential approach to give voice to speakers in a diverse range of communities, both geographically and socially, as the volume illustrates the ways in which the use of Gaelic is changing in the context of increasingly fragmented, networked communities. Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland provides a range of critical perspectives on existing models for minority language revitalisation and to introduce fresh ideas for language revitalisation theory. Through its analysis of the interconnections between, and differences within, Gaelic communities, this collection challenges old understandings of the Gaelic community as a single collective identity, making it an invaluable resource for students, lecturers and researchers interested in questions of linguistic diversity, linguistic minorities and language policy and planning.