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Family Language Policy in the Face of a Shrinking Community Language: Gaelic on the Isle of Lewis

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Transmitting Minority Languages

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities ((PSMLC))

Abstract

This chapter is a tightly focussed study of five individual parents, none of whom were habitual fluent Gaelic speakers from childhood to adulthood, who are attempting to give Gaelic a place within their families. Each of the parents comes from the Isle of Lewis and is currently residing there; they all had two Gaelic-speaking parents, and some have Gaelic-speaking spouses. Based on data gathered from extensive interviews and self-penned diagrams of historical and current speaker networks, this chapter considers the motivations and the actions of the parents in attempting to bring their children up as Gaelic speakers. To explore this in detail, the following questions are considered: why is Gaelic important to the parents; what have the parents done to improve their own language competencies and those of their children; and how successfully have the parents renegotiated networks of interlocutors for themselves and their children.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Marsaili MacLeod for her work on the data collection and for collaborating on an earlier project on heritage learners. I would like to acknowledge receipt of a small grant from Soillse for support with the fieldwork. Finally, I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the research participants who were so generous with their time and spoke about their experiences so openly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

    Michelle Macleod

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  1. Michelle Macleod
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Correspondence to Michelle Macleod .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    Michael Hornsby

  2. Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Wilson McLeod

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Macleod, M. (2022). Family Language Policy in the Face of a Shrinking Community Language: Gaelic on the Isle of Lewis. In: Hornsby, M., McLeod, W. (eds) Transmitting Minority Languages. Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87910-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87910-5_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87909-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-87910-5

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