Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 1998. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-250).

This thesis investigates variation and change in the initial and final mutation system of Scottish Gaelic in the wider context of language shift, language contact and sociolinguistic variation and change. Gaelic in Scotland has been subject to decreasing speaker numbers since the introduction of a language question on the Census in 1881. As of 2011, the proportion of Gaelic speakers in Scotland stood at 1.1%. In Uist where this study is based, however, Gaelic is not a minority language, with 60.5% of the population of the islands returning themselves as Gaelic speakers in 2011. The presentation of Uist Gaelic as a minority language globally but a majority language locally allowed for morphosyntactic variation in this rather unusual social and demographic situation to be explored in the context of our understanding of structural changes as a result of language shift, i.e. when a minority language is not a minority language, what happens? Sixteen speakers were sampled from across North Uist, South Uist and Benbecula and each took part in a two-part interview in Gaelic in which a) English sentences were presented for verbal translation into Gaelic and b) an informal conversation following the principles of the Sociolinguistic Interview (Labov 1984) technique was conducted. The speakers involved in this study comprise a group of older fluent speakers aged approximately 60-80, a group of younger fluent speakers aged approximately 30-50, and a further group of younger probable semi-speakers. Data from these interviews were analysed to measure levels of conformity to idealised Gaelic grammatical norms in terms of the application of initial and final mutation and the results were presented in distributional terms. The social factors of age and gender, and internal factors relating to syntactic environment were analysed and their relationship to mutational variation was presented. Evidence for structural variation and change as a result of language shift was sought, and was found not to be present in the data. While variation in the application of mutation was visible in the data, the typical patterns associated with language shift were not. Specifically, an age-graded proficiency spectrum among fluent Gaelic speakers was not found in the data presented here. Although a small group of probable semi-speakers was found, it was typically members of the younger fluent speaker group who produced a higher proportion of expected forms than members of the older fluent speaker group. In addition to the lack of support found for structural changes as a result of language shift, little evidence of restructuring of Gaelic based on English grammatical patterns was found. In certain environments, such as the application of genitive marking following genitive-triggering prepositions, evidence of an internally-motivated pressure was found in the form of the use of the more common dative marking which is used with the majority of prepositions in Gaelic. Furthermore, in line with our understanding of the effect of gender on sociolinguistic variation, female speakers were indeed shown to produce a higher proportion of expected forms, i.e. to “approximate the standard” more closely, than male speakers, suggesting that minority status does not preclude a language from displaying universal patterns of variation. By approaching variation in Uist Gaelic from a sociolinguistic variation perspective rather than solely from a language shift perspective, I have been able to demonstrate that morphosyntactic variation in a minority language need not always be the result of language shift. Furthermore, I have demonstrated that minority languages in general should not be excluded from variationist research and that variationist approaches should not be excluded from the study of variation and change in minority languages.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1989. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education, 1989. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 183 p. : ill. Advisor: Brian D. Joseph, Department of Linguistics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-183).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 1989. / Title from web page (viewed on Mar. 4, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Gaelic Language Maintenance Process(es) is a contemporary ethnographic study of seventeen isolated Gaelic language users. The seventeen individuals in the study, ages three to seventy-two, were selected from Ontario, Canada and Central Scotland to identify and illustrate the perceptions and processes involved in isolated Gaelic language maintenance. Each subject was interviewed, and subsequently shadowed, for a period of nine days. During the period of active observation, the subjects recorded their thoughts about and experiences of their Gaelic language maintenance within a personal journal. The interviews, observations, and personal diaries of the subjects' Gaelic lives were then collated by the researcher into seventeen individual narratives. Through close reading, each narrative illuminated the interwoven threads and constructs which provided additional insight into the 'quilt' of isolated Gaelic language maintenance. The seven, common-sense typologies and constructs drawn from the individuals' experience of the Gaelic language world revealed a shared, inner universe of meaning where some of the major categories in the (experience of) their social language world centred upon their recognition of Gaelic ability, maintenance, community roles, and "special" identity to form a tapestry for maintenance outside of the bloc. Peigi, Pàdruig, Catriona, Cairistiona, Chlair, Cormac, Colla, Tomasina, Tara, Teàrlag, Treasaididh, Tollaidh, Aileas, Artair, Aigneas, Anna, and Aonghas generously allow readers an opportunity to share in their thoughts and feelings and [the researcher's] observations about what it is like to maintain the Gaelic language in isolation from Cape Breton and the Western Isles.

This thesis investigates the standardisation of Modern Scottish Gaelic orthography from the mid-eighteenth century to the twenty-first. It presents the results of the first corpus-based analysis of Modern Scottish Gaelic orthographic development combined with an analytic approach that places orthographic choices in their sociolinguistic context. The theoretical framework behind the analysis centres on discussion of how the language ideologies of the phonographic ideal, historicism, autonomy, vernacularism and the ideology of the standard itself have shaped orthographic conventions and debates. It argues that current spelling norms reflect an orthography that is the result of compromise, historical factors and pragmatic function. The research uses a digital corpus to examine how three particular features have been used over time: the dialect variation between < eu > and < ia >; variation in s + stop consonant clusters (sd/st, sg/sc, sb/sp); and the use of the grave and acute accents. Evidence is drawn from the Corpas na Gàidhlig electronic corpus created at the University of Glasgow: the sub-corpus used in this study includes 117 published texts representing a period of over 250 years from 1750 to 2007, and a total size of over four and a quarter million words. The results confirm a key period of reform between 1750 and the early nineteenth century, and thereafter a settled norm being established in the early nineteenth century. Since then, some variation has been acceptable although changes and reform of some features have centred on increasing uniformity and regularisation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, Aug. 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study with two major objectives, namely to investigate both the cultural and historical developments which took place between c.795 and c.1000 in the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Various types of evidence are examined in order to understand the impact of the Norse upon the preexisting population of Western Scotland and vice versa. In Chapter 1, the onomastic evidence is reviewed in order to isolate the total area of Norse settlement, and to find within it areas where this settlement developed in differing ways. In Chapter 2, I survey the archaeological evidence. Chapter 3 examines the linguistic situation pertaining in the west vis a vis Norse and Gaelic, while Chapter 4 reviews the evidence for the survival or otherwise of Christianity. Particular attention is paid to the investigation of the people called Gall-Gaidheil 'Foreign Gael'. Using onomastics and historical sources, the area of their ethnogenesis is isolated and their linguistic and religious affiliation explored. Chapter 5 examines the evidence for their later presence in Galloway. On the historical side, Chapter 6 investigates the Norse raids and settlement and provides a date for these events. Also in Chapter 6, and in Chapters 7 and 8, I focus upon the political links between the West Highlands and Islands and the kingdoms of Scotland and Dublin during the ninth and tenth centuries.

Extensive literature has argued the important role that education plays in the process of language shift. Within this literature, it is widely acknowledged that education in which the target language is also the medium of instruction can make a positive contribution toward Reversing Language Shift. For users of minoritised languages in particular, having access to education in one’s own language has important status and educational consequences: helping to support the prestige of the target language and also reducing the kinds of educational inequalities that are often associated with minoritised languages. In keeping with the prime importance of language-as-medium education to language planning goals, there is a growing body of research which focuses upon Gaelic Medium Education in Scotland. The role that second or additional language education can play in Reversing Language Shift is acknowledged to a much lesser extent. This is especially true within the context of Scotland, where the relevant education provision within state secondary schools, Gaelic (Learners) Education, has only received passing recognition. This thesis aimed to address this gap in knowledge about the way in which education contributes to development goals for Gaelic in Scotland by questioning what, if any, role the Gaelic (Learners) Education programme has to play in the reversal of language shift. The first aim of the dissertation was to identify a theoretical foundation for the role that second or additional language education can play in Reversing Language Shift. Several prominent theoretical approaches were reviewed and a hypothesis posed that Gaelic (Learners) Education was beneficial to both Acquisition and Status development. Subsequent analyses of policies at the macro, meso, and micro levels confirmed the relevance of this hypothesis. However, it was also found that there was a lack of overt policy acknowledgement for Gaelic (Learners) Education in Scotland overall, suggesting that the stream was not regarded as being particularly relevant to Reversing Language Shift. The next aim of the thesis was to clarify the ways in which the stream could be used to help contribute to the reversal of language shift. This focused on identifying areas in which this educational programme could be improved. Using data elicited in semi-structured interviews with education professionals and gathered through surveys of pupils within GLE classes, several blockages for Gaelic (Learners) Education could be identified including aspects of capacity, opportunity and attitudes.