The nature of minority languages: insights from Scotland

Abstract

The Gaelic language in Scotland presents a useful case study for the conceptualisation of minority languages. A key issue has been the extent to which Gaelic is understood as belonging to a discrete minority within Scotland and a bounded territory in the northwest of the country, or as a national language of significance to all of Scotland. Using the most obvious, demographic criterion, Gaelic is an extremely minoritised language, now spoken by barely 1.1 % of Scotland's population, and not spoken by a majority for at least five hundred years. Yet Gaelic was formerly the principal language of the Scottish kingdom, until processes of minoritisation began in the twelfth century. The concept of Gaelic as Scotland’s ‘true’ national language has been retained and refined, but co-exists with other interpretations that see Gaelic as belonging only to the territory that retained Gaelic after language shift occurred elsewhere. In recent decades, revitalisation initiatives (loosely connected with growing awareness of Scottish cultural distinctiveness and moves towards self-government) have promoted Gaelic as a language of national significance, an important resource for all Scots. Contemporary government policies advance this understanding even as speaker numbers continue to decline and many Scots view Gaelic as distant or irrelevant.

Language control in regional dialect speakers – monolingual by name, bilingual by nature?

“…Scots is spoken by around 35% of the population, although it has no standardised written form (not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic, a minority Celtic language spoken by about 1% of the Scottish population; Scottish Census, 2011). While Gaelic faces some hostility in being promoted as a national language of Scotland (McLeod, 2019), it is undoubtedly regarded as a language in its own right, whereas Scots generally is not (Matheson & Matheson, 2000). Despite being referred to as “the Scots language”, and recognised by the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages, its close relationship to English means Scots is often regarded as a low-prestige dialect, with its speakers facing linguistic discrimination, and even being ridiculed for suggesting that Scots is an independent language (McDermott, 2019).…”

Place identity and authenticity in minority language revitalisation: Scottish Gaelic in Glasgow

“…Those with blas are typically older and grew up speaking a traditional dialect. Those without, may well be competent, fluent speakers, but do not have an accent ‘from somewhere’ (McEwan-Fujita, 2010; McLeod, 2017; Will, 2012, p. 37). Will (2012, p. 40) notes that children in GME are increasingly perceived as lacking blas due to their non-traditional language acquisition route.…”

“…How do advanced GME pupils negotiate the authenticity of localness in Gaelic based on prior experience and widening awareness of Gaelic’s political status? This question is pertinent in lowland areas where GME exists as a result of language revitalisation, but also in highland areas, where very local varieties are valued and influential (McLeod, 2017), but unlikely to continue as community vernaculars due to language shift and network fragmentation (Lamb, 2011).…”