Ebook: Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland: Linguistic Practice and Ideology

Explores the long-term outcomes of bilingual education and their implications for language revitalisation

• Surveys the history of Gaelic-medium education in Scotland and the use of Gaelic beyond the classroom
• Samples 130 participants to examine language practices and attitudes to bilingualism
• Uses an ‘ethnography of speaking’ approach to explore 46 interviewees’ beliefs and ideologies about Scottish Gaelic
• Provides the first in-depth assessment of language use and attitudinal perceptions among adults who received an immersion education in a minority language

Gaelic-medium education (GME) has been offered in Scottish primary schools since 1985. Situated within the interrelated disciplines of sociolinguistics and sociology of language, this 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.