This thesis provides a description of the Scottish Gaelic dialect spoken on the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. This dialect has not previously been the subject of any serious academic research. Gaelic was the dominant language on Colonsay until the 1970s, but the local dialect is now in terminal decline, with only a handful of fluent speakers still living on the island. The study focusses mainly on the phonology of the dialect, but other aspects such as morphology, syntax and lexis are also covered. Following a brief introduction, Chapter 1 seeks to situate the dialect in its wider geographical, historical and sociolinguistic context, highlighting the major changes that have taken place in the past forty years, and have led to its present endangered situation. Chapter 2, which comprises approximately half the thesis, examines the phonological structure of the dialect in detail, based on the results of the Survey of the Gaelic Dialects of Scotland (SGDS). Issues of phonetic and phonemic transcription are discussed. The phonemes identified are then listed, with their respective allophones and non-allophonic variants. Chapter 3 deals with prosodic and other non-segmental features which are of significance for the phonology of the dialect. Chapter 4 highlights those aspects of morphology and syntax where Colonsay usage differs from other varieties of Gaelic. Chapter 5 discusses lexical features which are particular to this dialect, or shared with neighbouring dialects in Argyll. An annotated Glossary lists words which are of particular interest in the study of this dialect, some of which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5. This thesis will provide future students of Gaelic dialectology with an account of the Colonsay dialect, to complement the numerous monographs that have been written about other varieties of Gaelic. Because of the precarious position of this dialect, the timing of this study is critical: it represents the last opportunity to 'preserve by record' a distinctive variety of Gaelic which, sadly, is on the verge of extinction.

Within contemporary Scotland there are two distinct language systems which may be considered to be threatened with extinction. These are the Germanic system of Scots, decended from the Northumbrian dialect of Old English, and the Celtic system of Gaelic, one of the languages of the Goidelic branch of Celtic. Both systems are dominated by English, in the written form and through the spoken forms of Received Pronunciation and Standard Scottish English. The common ancestry of Scots and English, both being derived from dialects of Old English, suggests that the form of domination in this relationship could be distinguised from the influence of English on Gaelic. This is paralleled in the distinction made between the processes of 'language suicide' (ie the gradual assimilation towards a similar system) and 'language murder' (ie the displacement of one language by another). This is considered in terms of register and domain. Interference is analysed within various registers and domains in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis and orthography. Further studies assess the extent of usage for Gaelic in the Isle of Lewis and Scots in Banffshire. The main conclusion that is drawn from the study is that the broad distinction between language suicide and language murder has some validity, but the process of language death, as evidenced by Scots and Gaelic, is more complex than that. In both languages there is evidence of assimilation towards English through interference in the system, and of displacement in terms of the number of speakers and the domains in which the languages are used. Assessment of the state of Gaelic reveals that, despite an apparent increase in the number of speakers, there is evidence of greater English dominance amongst present day speakers, who use English in more situations and include more English features in their Gaelic. A similar picture is found for Scots.

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Thugadh sùil mhionaideach air cleachdadh susbaint le ochdnar cloinne da-chànanaich (aois 3 agus 4) bho dhiofar theaghlaichean stèidhichte ann am Barraigh agus Glaschu. Chaidh sgrùdadh a dhèanamh air dòigh a rinn pàrantan roghainnean a thaobh cànan na susbaint (eadar a' Bheurla agus a' Ghàidhlig) nuair a bha iad a' taghadh susbaint dhan chuid cloinne. Rannsaicheadh mar a bha poileasaidh cànain nan teaghlaichean agus cleachdaidhean susbaint ag obrachadh còmhla. Chaidh leabhraichean-latha susbaint a lìonadh air cleachdaidhean susbaint na cloinne agus chaidh agallamhan a chumail le pàrantan. Tha an rannsachadh a' sealltainn nach do chleachd a' chlann uile susbaint Ghàidhlig uile gu lèir mar a dh'fhaodadh iad agus gun robh diofaran ann eatorra. Chaidh fada a bharrachd susbaint Bheurla na susbaint Ghàidhlig a chleachdadh am measg na cloinne air fad. Chuir cuid de theaghlaichean luach air susbaint mar ghoireas poileasaidh cànain agus iad ga cleachdadh airson cothroman cànain-a-steach sa Ghàidhlig adhbhrachadh agus bha cuid ann nach do chleachd susbaint Ghàidhlig sam bith. Thug iomadh factar buaidh air roghainnean susbaint agus tha na factaran sin air an sgrùdadh. Tha na diofaran a nochd ann an cleachdadh susbaint air an cnuasachadh ann an co-theacsa poileasaidh chànain theaghlaich. Cha robh poileasaidh cànain làidir a thaobh cleachdadh na Gàidhlig a-staigh daonnan a' ciallachadh gun robh susbaint Ghàidhlig air a cleachdadh. Thugadh molaidhean seachad do luchdpoileasaidh cànain agus luchd-poileasaidh nam meadhanan Gàidhlig air leasachaidhean a dh'fhaoidte dèanamh gus cleachdadh susbaint Ghàidhlig a neartachadh.

This thesis explores the measurement of adult second language (L2) oral proficiency in Scottish Gaelic (henceforth Gaelic). Gaelic is a minority language in Scotland, and is currently the object of a major effort to reverse language shift. Adult L2 users of Gaelic have been identified as key agents in this effort, but some weaknesses in adult Gaelic language-in-education policy are making it difficult for adult L2 users to fulfil this role. One such weakness is the absence of an empirically-derived means of assessing proficiency in Gaelic, through which adult L2 users and their teachers can assess their progress. This project aims to address this weakness. Data from two tasks — an interview and a narrative — performed by adult L2 users of Gaelic are analysed from the perspective of the complexity, accuracy, and fluency framework, as the three main dimensions of proficiency. Data are also analysed for Communicative Adequacy, using raters’ judgements. These data provide the first examination of Gaelic L2 proficiency from the perspective of second language acquisition (SLA) research. Adult L2 users of Gaelic have a wide range of learning experiences and motivations for learning the language. This study also explores these experiences and motivations, and discusses how these relate to proficiency. Results show that individuals’ Gaelic language skills interact in complex and unpredictable ways, depending on the nature of the task being performed. There is some evidence that the interview task encourages complexity and fluency, while the narrative task encourages accuracy at the expense of complexity. Results also show that the Communicative Adequacy rating scale developed for this project is valid and reliable, but that assessments of proficiency are subjective, to a large extent. Finally, the results confirm that adult L2 users of Gaelic draw on a vast range of experiences and are motivated in many different ways to learn the language. The outcomes of the project contribute to existing scholarship on the experiences and motivations of adult L2 users of Gaelic, confirming previous findings. The results also confirm previous findings in second language acquisition research that complexity, accuracy, fluency, and Communicative Adequacy in an L2 interact in complex ways, and that these interactions can be mediated by different task conditions. Finally, the outcomes of this exploratory research serve as the basis for future, more large-scale research into the acquisition of Gaelic as a second language by adults.

Tha an tràchdas seo a’ coimhead air buidheann de dhàin fhada a nochd aig toiseach an fhicheadaimh linn. Cha deach cus ùidh a shealltainn sna dàin seo bho sgrùdairean Gàidhealachadh sa chiad dol a-mach. Bho chrìoch an fhicheadamh linn, tha ùidh air nochdadh sna dàin seo a-rithist, gu h-àraidh An Cuilithionn, Aeòlus agus Balg agus Mochtàr is Dùghall. Ach ’s e an tràchdas seo a’ chiad sgrùdadh domhain air a’ bhuidheann seo de dhàin nan aonar. Gus an rannsachadh seo a dhèanamh thèid corpas a lorg am measg leabhraichean agus irisean bhon àm, agus na co-chruinneachaidhean a chaidh fhoillseachadh nas anmoiche. Thèid taghadh a dhèanamh a tha a’ riochdachadh prìomh fheartan nan dàn seo. Thèid rannsachadh a dhèanamh air cuid de dh’eisimpleirean bhon 18mh agus 19mh linn ann an Caibideil 2. Air sgàth ’s an uidhir de shurbhaidhean nas fharsainge a tha ri fhaotainn de litreachas na Gàidhlig, seallaidh an sgrùdadh sin air feartan sònraichte. Chìthear mar a chleachd bàrdachd Mhic Mhaighstir Alasdair cruth a’ chiùil mhòir gus gnè-sònraichte ùr de dhàin fhada a chur air bog ann an 1751. Ghabhar sùil mar an ceudna air Uilleam MacDhùn-Lèibhe air tàilibh a bhuaidh air Somhairle MacGill-Eain, agus gu robh amasan nàiseantach agus socio-cànanachais an Ìlich ri fhaicinn anns a’ mhòr-chuid de bhàird a’ chorpais cuideachd. Seallaidh Caibideil 3 air na bàird fhèin, gu h-àraidh na beachdan aca agus na ceanglaichean eatorra. Bha iad seo ri fhaicinn ann an saoghal litreachais agus poilitigs. ’S e prìomh amas na h-anailisean (Caibideilean 4-10) tuigse nas fheàrr fhaighinn an dà chuid air na dàin fhèin agus air ceistean teòiriceil a tha a’ buntainn ris a’ chorpas. ’S e an dàrna amas barrachd dhòighean-obrach teòiriceil a chleachdadh sa Ghàidhlig gus bruidhinn air litreachas na cànaine. Stèidhicheadh na h-anailisean air na feartan a bha ri fhaicinn anns gach dàn, a leithid iar-phlanntachais ann am Mochtàr is Dùghall, air neo air coimeasan a bha gus tuigse nas fheàrr a thoirt seachad air a’ chorpas shlàn. Bidh na h-anailisean seo a’ dearbhadh cuid de na ceanglaichean cudromach a th’ aig litreachas na Gàidhlig ri litreachasan Eòrpach eile, air uairean airson a’ chiad uair. Tha an co-dhùnadh a’ tilleadh do sealladh nas fharsainge air a’ chorpas. Chìthear gu bheil buidheann sònraichte de dhàin ri fhaicinn bhon chiad leth den fhicheadamh linn, dàin nach deach a sgrùdadh còmhla riamh. Tha na dàin seo ceangailte ann am meud, cuspairean, iomraidhean agus amasan nam bàrd. Leasachaidh tuigse nas fheàrr air na dàin seo an t-eòlas a th’ againn air bàrdachd na Gàidhlig, gu h-àraidh sna bliadhnaichean nuair a bha na nua-bhàird a’ nochdadh an toiseach.

This dissertation presents a theory of grammatical aspect in which perfects and prospectives form a sub-group separate from perfectives and imperfectives. I claim that aspects in this sub-group display a number of similar semantic and syntactic behaviors because of the way in which they relate event and reference times. While perfectives and imperfectives situate these times in inclusion relations, perfects and prospectives separate event time from reference time. This effectively creates an interval, homogeneous with respect to the eventuality, that can be interpreted as a state. The separation of the times in these aspects also means that modification of the interval between these times is possible, as is modification by adverbials like since that cannot occur with other aspects. These claims are supported by the morphosyntax and semantics of aspect particles in Scottish Gaelic, with additional data from English. I investigate six particles in Scottish Gaelic, focusing on four I claim to mark various aspects and one I claim to be simply a preposition. I argue that in addition to two inclusion aspects, perfective and imperfective (expressed via a synthetic form and by a' , respectively), Scottish Gaelic shows four distinctions of precedence aspect - two retrospective (air , as dèidh) and two prospective (gu , a' dol do). I provide a neo-Reichenbachian analysis of these particles within event semantics. In each case, the particle is an instantiation of an Aspect head that existentially quantifies over an event and places its runtime in a relation to reference time. I also argue that the particle ann, which seems to appear with both verbal and nominal material, is not an aspect particle but a preposition. Its appearance in the same linear position as the aspect particles belies its distinct syntactic structure. Overall, the data indicate the benefit of a view of grammatical aspect in which the basic time relations of reference time within, before, and after event time delineate groups of aspects rather than individual distinctions. This view of aspect is a more cohesive alternative to one in which aspects that may actually be very similar are taken to exist in separate categories.

This thesis explores the social realities of working in a minority language labour market through a case-study of the Gaelic language in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.  In this study, the ‘Gaelic labour market’ refers to a group of jobs for which knowledge of Gaelic is a condition of employment. By conceptualising language as situated in social practices, this study draws on in-depth interviews with people who work in this labour market, to research the ways in which personal identities, values and meanings associated with the language can be asserted, formed and contested through working practices.  The research found a multiplicity of motives for working in the Gaelic labour market which included both ‘mercenary’ and ‘crusading’ elements.  Gaelic language practice in the Gaelic labour market is not necessarily stable or habitual, but is contested practice given that there is no single ideology of language which workers bring to bear on upon their working situations. Whilst for some participation in the Gaelic labour market profoundly affected how they identified with the language, for others this involvement had little consequence for their identity.  The dominant outcome was one of ambivalence over what membership of the Gaelic labour market meant and in which ways it could have implications for how workers lived their lives.  The results show how the labour market is one space through which different ideologies of the language are contested, as well as being a contested concept in and of itself.

Gaelic in Scotland has been undergoing language shift, with both a decline in the number of speakers and domains in which the language is routinely used. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of 2005 aimed to secure the status of the language and under its provision required public authorities based in Scotland to prepare Gaelic language plans. This thesis explored the interplay of these formal language management initiatives and linguistic practices in Stornoway, the largest settlement in the Western Isles, the last remaining heartland of the language in Scotland. Linguistic soundscape surveys collected data in real time and in situ in ten different public spaces, both with and without statutory Gaelic language plans, to assess how, when, and by whom, and for what purpose Gaelic was used. This data was supplemented by eleven language use diaries of bilingual Gaelic/English speakers residing in Stornoway. This quantitative data was used to evaluate individual linguistic practices and how these varied across the different domains of communication, including closed domains not covered by the linguistic soundscape surveys. The findings of this study indicate that Gaelic was not used as extensively as might statistically be expected, but that the language makes a significant contribution to the linguistic soundscape of the community, especially in interactions involving participants over the age of 60 and in private domain interactions. Bilingual Gaelic / English speakers use Gaelic in circumstances where they do not have to (re-)negotiate Gaelic as an accepted linguistic norm. This was especially the case in social networks and closed domains such as places of work or education. Gaelic was used to a lesser extent in public domain interactions, and only where members of staff used Gaelic in the linguistic soundscape of that particular space.

Gaelic-medium education (GME) as it exists today started in 1985, when two classes offering instruction through the medium of Gaelic opened within primary schools in Glasgow and Inverness. GME grew rapidly throughout the first decade of its availability, and 1258 students were enrolled in the system by 1995. This thesis examines outcomes of this system in terms of the degree to which former pupils who started in GME during this period continue to use Gaelic in their daily lives, and provides an assessment of their language ideologies and attitudes. The 2011 census showed a diminution in the decline of Gaelic speakers in Scotland, but marginal growth of 0.1% was recorded in the number of speakers under the age of 20. Whilst this growth has been understood by politicians and policy-makers as evidence of the role of GME in revitalising the language, the census figures give a limited picture of the actual language practices of reported speakers, the extent to which they use Gaelic, or of their beliefs, feelings and attitudes regarding the language. Internationally, little research appears to have been done on the life trajectories of adults who received a bilingual education through a minority language; that is to say, on the effect that the bilingual classroom has on such individuals’ relationship to the language after formal schooling is completed. The first students to receive GME at primary school are now in their late 20s and early 30s, and prospects for the maintenance and intergenerational transmission of Gaelic by this group are currently unknown. The principal research questions of this investigation comprise the following: - What role does Gaelic play in the day-to-day lives of former Gaelic-medium students who started in GME during the first decade of its availability; how and when do they use the language? - What sets of beliefs and language ideologies do these Gaelic-medium educated adults express in relation to Gaelic? - How do these beliefs and ideologies relate to their actual language practices, to their attitudes concerning the language, and to future prospects for the maintenance of Gaelic? Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, I provide an assessment of Gaelic use, language ideologies and attitudes among a sample of 130 Gaelic-medium educated adults. A thematic, ethnography of speaking methodology is employed to analyse qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 46 informants. Additionally, responses to an electronic questionnaire are evaluated by statistical analysis using Spearman’s rank order correlation co-efficient to investigate the relationships between non-parametric variables of reported language use, ability, socialisation and attitudes. The results are discussed with reference to extensive research literatures on language, culture and identity, language revitalisation in the international context, and the perceived limitations of GME which have previously been identified with regard to the revitalisation of Gaelic.