Emic and essentialist perspectives on Gaelic heritage

New speakers, language policy, and cultural identity in Nova Scotia and Scotland

Bibliographic Data

ID2881853
AuthorsStuart S Dunmore (0000-0002-4488-6179, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume50
Issue2
Pages259-281
Publication date2021-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404520000032
OpenAlexW3006845822
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited41

The concept of the 'new speaker' has gained currency in the sociolinguistics of minority languages in the past decade, referring to individuals who have acquired an additional language outside of the home and who make frequent use of it in the course of their daily lives. Policymakers and language advocates in both Scotland and Canada make frequent reference to the role that new speakers may play in the future of the Gaelic language on both sides of the Atlantic, and Gaelic language teaching of various kinds has been prioritised by policymakers as a mechanism for revitalising the language. This article examines reflexes of this policy in the two countries, juxtaposing the ongoing fragility of Gaelic communities with new speaker discourses around heritage, identity, and language learning motivations. In particular, I consider Nova Scotian new speakers' sense of identity as 'Gaels', an ethnonym largely avoided or problematised by Scottish new speakers. (Ethnolinguistic identity, heritage, language revitalisation, new speakers

Aesthetics · Emic and etic · First language · Heritage language · Identity (music) · Language policy · Linguistics · Minority language · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Welsh · Anthropology · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Multilingual Education and Policy

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