Scottish Gaelic Studies

Broxmouth was a hill fort in East Lothian almost totally excavated during the 1970s prior to the construction of a cement works. The site was occupied from the early Iron Age through to its abandonment during the Roman occupation. Remarkably well-preserved roundhouses, elaborate hill fort entrances and an exceptionally rare Iron Age cemetery were discovered at the site.

The near-total excavation of the site marked one of the first major rescue projects in Scotland; it is now entirely gone, and like many projects of its time it remained unpublished until recently.

There is some evidence of human activity dating back to around 3000 BC. The early Iron Age structure was limited to a palisade trench and some fragmentary ditch elements. The major enclosure was built about 500 BC, and rebuilt several times over the next two hundred years. Eventually, the fort had at least four ramparts and ditches and a complex series of entrance gates.

For more information see Canmore ID 58800 which gives details of finds, usage of the site throughout the ages and the three defensive stages: "a palisade enclosing .25ha on the crown of the hill; a univallate defence with a single entrance enclosing .65ha; and a multivallate defence with entrances in the E and SW extending over 2ha."

This paper begins by analyzing surviving European art from the medieval period (and later) which exposed continental optimism and Christian enthusiasm at a time of war over controversies of religion, government, race, land, and the federal anointing of the royal right to rule. The enlightenment was a period of time following this civil unrest in Europe, which lambasted Europeans for neglecting the ways of their ancient and illuminated fore-fathers, or the ancient philosophers. What borrowed lessons of justice from Europe were scientifically collected by founders of the U.S. Republic on the bridge of the dying era of these passing dynasties? Additionally, how were these literary precedents in African and European cultures applied abstractly and politically in the last days of 18th Century Anglo-American world dominance as positioned upon the spinning cusp of a new era of government? How were democratic principles invented in the King’s courtyards of a young Europe, and then spread to museums, libraries, universities, and city-centers from China in the grand pacific, to Cape Town in South Africa, and then apportioned to newcomers like the uppity writers of the U.S. constitution there in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia? Lastly, where (in the context of the geographical continuity of our global trade war) are these principles of governance awarded the most today: our U.S. public school systems? Hollywood’s movie-plazas? The White House in Washington, D.C.?

This essay investigates two appearances of the Gaelic folk figure, Cailleach Bhéarra (Scot. Gael. Cailleach Bheurr) in Older Scots comic poetry. The translation of the iconic ‘mother-goddess’ or ‘hag’ of Beara into Older Scots is provocative on two levels: foremost, the casual and familiar language used to relate the comic tales demonstrates a rich folk culture that crossed linguistic and geographic boundaries. Both tales center around the Scottish lowlands, which were not traditionally Gaelic speaking, however the mythical figures seem to fit comfortably within the cultural community of Edinburgh and its environs. The tales further merit attention since the figure of the cailleach is mobilized in a festive context that creates a pseudo-historical narrative of the fantastical origins of Scottish landmarks apparently formed by the cailleach’s excretions. Considering the folk figure in the context of festive, public entertainment informs our understanding of Scotland’s socio-cultural landscape in the early-sixteenth century.

This bibliography aims to include all academic published works (books, articles, chapters, reviews) on the Manx Gaelic language and its literature and history to date, and also as many unpublished theses and dissertations as are known to the compiler. Works are included where the main focus is on Manx, or where Manx is one of the primary topics, or is named in the title. There is also a select list of publications which discuss or mention Manx in passing, with indication of the sections or pages in which the relevant passages may be found. Certain adjacent topics such as place-names, and the Gaelic language in the Isle of Man in the medieval period, are not as yet included in the bibliography.

Contrary to received wisdom, while the phrase airer Goídel did have a geographical application, the name of the County of Argyll in Scotland has an entirely unrelated etymology, being a name transferred from Airgialla/Oriel in Ireland. This paper examines and distinguishes the two, explaining the difference and how the conflation occurred.

This article offers an edition and translation of a previously neglected song-poem by Seumas Seadhach (“James Shaw”), Bard Loch nan Eala. along with a brief analysis of it. It argues that the text was likely composed during popular agitation in Scotland against the 1797 Militia Act and could augment the small corpus of Radical poetry that survives in Scottish Gaelic.

The aim of this study is to give as broad a prospectus as possible of the Gaelic oral tradition of Brae Lochaber. No one exemplifies the Gaelic tradition of the Braes better than John MacDonald who belonged to Highbridge. Our purpose here, then, is not simply to delineate John MacDonald as a story-teller but rather to analyse the representative content of his repertoire. By far the greater part of this corpus consists of historical traditions and supernatural tales. For that reason this study has attempted to give these aspects greater prominence and has included examples from other local tradition bearers and accounts from the literature, and thus John MacDonald is not exclusively foregrounded in the chapters dealing with historical legends and supernatural tales. Also, in order to reflect the content of John MacDonald’s repertoire these particular tales are the ones studied in greatest depth. John MacDonald can be described as the last Lochaber seanchaidh as he was the last person of a long line who not only composed over a hundred songs but had a vast knowledge of Lochaber traditions, passed on from his father, James MacDonald. Somewhat unusually John only learnt these traditional tales later in life, shortly before his father died.

This is the second part of two detailing the Postal Markings of Glasgow from 1800 to 1900. Its core is a Postal History exhibit which won a Vermeil award at FIP level, the highest philatelic exhibiting level.

Postal history and philately are undervalued - they offer real insight into mainstream history. This book is a key addition to Glasgow's story.

Based on research about Scottish Gaelic language revitalization, the chapters in this collection focus on a number of interconnected themes, including the intersection of neoliberalism and minority language revitalization; discourses of language death and revival in literature, media, and academia; the intertwining of language ideologies and affective stances in speaking and speakerhood; power and knowledge in the research and representation of minority language communities; and the theoretical frameworks of reversing language shift (RLS) and communities of practice as applied to language revitalization efforts in Scotland and Nova Scotia. Essays include the author’s previously published articles and book chapters spanning the period 2005–2013, as well as three previously unpublished papers. The collection is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in multiple fields including linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, Celtic studies, and education. 396 pages. Published in hardcover (ISBN 978-1-988747-36-1) and paperback (ISBN 978-1-988747-37-8). Available at: https://www.bradanpress.com/gaelic-language-revitalization/

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction  xi
Part 1:  Knowledge and Representation  1
1 Sociolinguistic ethnography of Gaelic communities  3
2 Research and representation: Gaelic and Uist  43
Part 2:  Discourses of Death and Revitalization  59
3 Discourses of death and denigration: Ethnolinguistic differentiation and the ideology of contempt  61
4 “Gaelic doomed as speakers die out”? The public discourse of Gaelic language death in Scotland  95
5 Language revitalization discourses as metaculture: Gaelic in Scotland from the 18th to 20th centuries  115
Part 3:  Neoliberalism and Language Revitalization  149
6 Neoliberal discourses of Gaelic language revitalization: The “Gaelic economy” and “rocketing spending”  151
7 Neoliberalism and minority language planning in the Highlands of Scotland  179
Part 4:  Language Ideologies and Affect  197
8 Ideology, affect, and socialization in language shift and revitalization: The experiences of adults learning Gaelic in the Western Isles of Scotland  199
9 Ideologies and experiences of literacy in interactions
between adult Gaelic learners and first-language Gaelic speakers in Scotland  245
10 Working at “9 to 5” Gaelic: Speakers, context, and ideologies of an emerging minority language register  267
Part 5:  New Speakers and Reversing Language Shift 285
11 Gaelic revitalization efforts in Nova Scotia: Reversing Language Shift (RLS) in the 21st century  287
12 “Ìle ga Bruidhinn”: A community-based Gaelic dialect revitalization proposal  315
References  333
Index  365

Research on Gaelic language in Scotland has increased substantially in recent decades, as has Scottish regional development programmes following devolution. However, the overlapping of these two aspects remains limited, particularly in the context of regional development data available on regions where Scottish Gaelic speakers mostly reside. This Research Paper uses the OECD Regional Wellbeing index as a framework to measure regional development in Scotland at the level of council area, comparing this with its percentage of Gaelic speakers. Equivalent data for eight of the eleven OECD topics is analysed and the focus is placed on the three council areas with significant Gaelic speaking populations – Argyll and Bute, Na h-Eileanan Siar and Highland. The results show that these three regions consistently perform average or good across the eight topics measured, in comparison to the national average in Scotland. This demonstrates that Gaelic language is not a hindrance to development and the three regions perform comparably to other remote council areas such as the Orkney and Shetland Islands.