Course Proposal Details for - Gaelic Identities and Sociolinguistics (Course code not assigned)
School
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Course Description
This course considers the shifting nature of Gaelic identities in Scotland from the
Middle Ages to the present and assesses the ideological and discursive presentation
of these identities. The course also addresses the current sociolinguistic dynamics
of the language, particularly in relation to the effect of English-Gaelic bilingualism
and the impact of recent revitalisation initiatives.
Normal Year Taken
Year 3 Undergraduate
Course Level (PG/UG)
UG
Visiting Student
Availability
Available to all students
SCQF Credits
20
Credit Level (SCQF)
SCQF Level 10
Home Subject Area
Celtic
Other Subject Area
Course Organiser
Anja Gunderloch
Course Secretary
Christina Bould
% not taught by this
institution
0
Collaboration
Information (School /
Institution)
Total contact teaching
hours
Any costs to be met by
students
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
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20
Prohibited Combinations
Visting Student Prerequisites
Keywords
Fee Code (if invoiced at
course level)
Proposer
Wilson Mcleod
Default Mode of Study
Classes & Assessment incl. centrally arranged exam
Default delivery period
Flexible
Marking Scheme to be
employed
Common Marking Scheme - UG Honours Mark/Grade
Taught in Gaidhlig?
Yes
Course Type
Standard
Summary of Intended
Learning Outcomes/L01
By the end of this course students should:
- develop a clear understanding of the evolution of Gaelic identities in Scotland,
and of the current issues concerning shifting identities and perceptions
- develop an awareness of the principal sociolinguistic issues arising in relation to
Gaelic in modern Scotland.
Learning Outcome 2
Learning Outcome 3
Learning Outcome 4
Learning Outcome 5
Special Arrangements
Components of
Assessment
One class presentation (25%), one 2500 word essay (25%), one two-hour degree
exam (50%).
Exam Information
One 2-hour final exam in the April/May diet.
Syllabus
1. Gaelic identities in medieval Scotland
2. Gaelic identities in early modern Scotland
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Gaelic identities in the 18th-19th centuries#
Contemporary Gaelic identities
Gaelic education and questions of identity
Learners and 'new speakers' of Gaelic
Gaelic identity: literary manifestations
Language maintenance and language shift
The changing Gaelic language: the impact of institutionalisation
Academic Description
Study Pattern
Transferable Skills
Study Abroad
Reading Lists
Burnett, Ray (1998) ‘The long nineteenth century: Scotland’s Catholic
Gaidhealtachd’, in Out of the Ghetto? The Catholic Community in Modern
Scotland, ed. by R. Boyle and P. Lynch, 163-92. Edinburgh: John Donald.
Dembling, Jonathan (2010). ‘Instrumental music and Gaelic revitalization in
Scotland and Nova Scotia’. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,
206, 245-54.
Dorian, Nancy C. (1980). Language Death: A Case Study of a Gaelic-Speaking
Community. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Glaser, Konstanze (2006). Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe :
Gaelic and Sorbian Perspectives. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Herbert, Máire (1999). ‘Sea-divided Gaels? Constructing relationships between Irish
and Scots c. 800-1169’, in Britain and Ireland 900-1300: Insular Responses to
Medieval European Change, ed. by Brendan Smith, 87-97. Cambridge: CUP.
Hunter, James (rev. edn 2000). The Making of the Crofting Community. Edinburgh
: John Donald.
Lamb, William (2008). Scottish Gaelic Speech and Writing: Register Variation in an
Endangered Language. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
MacAulay, Donald (1994). ‘Canons, myths and cannon fodder’. Scotlands, 1 (1994),
35-54.
MacCaluim, Alasdair (2007). Reversing Language Shift: The Social Identity and Role
of Scottish Gaelic Learners. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
MacDonald, Sharon (1997). Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities, and the
Gaelic Renaissance. Oxford: Berg.
MacDonald, Sharon (1999). ‘The Gaelic Renaissance and Scotland’s Identities’.
Scottish Affairs, 29, 100-18.
McEwan-Fujita, Emily (2008). ‘Working at “9 to 5” Gaelic: Speakers, Contexts, and
Ideologies of an Emerging Minority Language Register’, in Sustaining Linguistic
Diversity: Endangered and Minority Languages and Language Varieties, ed. by
Kendall A. King et al., 81-93. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
McEwan-Fujita, Emily (2010). ‘Ideologies and experiences of literacy in
interactions between adult Gaelic learners and first-language Gaelic speakers in
Scotland’. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 26, 87-114.
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McEwan-Fujita, Emily (2010). ‘Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Gaelic Communities’,
in The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language, ed. by Moray Watson and
Michelle Macleod, 172-217. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
MacInnes, John (2006). ‘Gaelic Poetry and Historical Tradition’, ‘The Gaelic
Perception of the Lowlands’ and ‘The Panegyric Code in Gaelic Poetry and its
Historical Background’, in Dùthchas nan Gàidheal: Selected Essays of John
MacInnes, ed. by Michael Newton, 3-33, 34-47 and 265-319. Edinburgh: Birlinn.
MacKinnon, Kenneth (2006). ‘The Western Isles Language Plan: Gaelic to English
language shift 1972-2001’, in Revitalising Gaelic in Scotland, ed. by Wilson
McLeod, 49-71. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.
MacKinnon, Kenneth (2008). ‘Scottish Gaelic today: Social history and
contemporary status’, in The Celtic Languages, ed. by Martin Ball & Nicole Müller,
587-649. London: Routledge.
McLeod, Wilson (2003). ‘Language politics and ethnolinguistic consciousness in
Scottish Gaelic poetry’, Scottish Gaelic Studies, 21 (2003), 91-146
McLeod, Wilson (2004). Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and
Ireland c. 1200-c. 1650. Oxford: OUP.
McLeod, Wilson (2009). ‘Gaelic in Scotland: “existential” and “internal”
sociolinguistic issues in a changing policy environment’. Sochtheangeolaíocht na
Gaeilge: Léachtaí Cholm Chille XXXIX, 16-61.
Meek, Donald E. (1996). The Scottish Highlands: The Churches and Gaelic Culture.
Geneva: WCC Publications.
Meek, Donald E. (2004). ‘Religion, riot and romance: Scottish Gaelic perceptions
of Ireland in the 19th century’, in Unity in Diversity: Studies in Irish and Scottish
Gaelic Language, Literature and History, ed. by Cathal Ó Háinle and Donald E.
Meek, 173-93. Dublin: School of Irish, Trinity College.
Meek, Donald E. (2007). ‘Faking the “True Gael”? Carmina Gadelica and the
Beginning of Modern Gaelic Scholarship’. Aiste, 1, 76-106.
Newton, Michael (2009). Warriors of the Word: The World of the Scottish
Highlanders. Edinburgh: Birlinn.
Oliver, James (2005). ‘Scottish Gaelic Identities: Contexts and Contingencies’.
Scottish Affairs, 51, 1-24.
Oliver, James (2010). ‘The Predicament? Planning for Culture, Communities and
Identities’, in Coimhearsnachd na Gàidhlig an-diugh/Gaelic Communities Today,
ed. by Gillian Munro and Iain Mac an Tàilleir, 73-86. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic
Press.
Wells, Gordon (2011). Perceptions of Gaelic Learning and Use in a Bilingual Island
Community: An Exploratory Study. Ormacleit: Cothrom Ltd.
West, Catriona, and Graham, Alastair (2011). Attitudes Towards the Gaelic
Language. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research.
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