Immersion education outcomes and the Gaelic community:Identities and language ideologies among Gaelic-medium educated adults in Scotland

Scholars have consistently theorised that language ideologies can influence the ways in which bilingual speakers in minority language settings identify and engage with the linguistic varieties available to them. Research conducted by the author examined the interplay of language use and ideologies among a purposive sample of adults who started in Gaelic medium education during the first years of its availability. Crucially, the majority of participants’ Gaelic use today is limited, although notable exceptions were found among individuals who were substantially socialised in the language at home during childhood, and a small number of new speakers. In this paper, I draw attention to some of the language ideologies that interviewees conveyed when describing their cultural identifications with Gaelic. I argue that the ideologies that informants express seem to militate against their more frequent use of the language and their association with the wider Gaelic community. In particular, I discuss interviewees’ negative perceptions of the traditionally defined, ethnolinguistic identity category ‘Gael(s)’ in their expression of language ideologies and identities, and the implications of this finding for other contexts of minority language revitalisation

Irish travellers’ views on cant: what folk criteria of languageness tell us about the community

This article argues that Irish Travellers’ ideologies of languageness and their definition of Cant are closely linked to their perceptions of social reality. Cant is a communicative code which Travellers use beside English in Traveller-specific situations. Based on the analysis of focus groups, I take a folk-linguistic and anthropological approach and examine instances of metacommunication in which languageness and the status of Cant are negotiated among speakers, and explore what they suggest about the community and the local social setting. The analysis uncovers the criteria of ‘ownership’, ‘activity’, ‘understanding’ and ‘privacy’ as essential in the participants’ definition of languageness. I argue that these criteria are strongly linked to the community’s understanding of themselves and relationships with Irish society. Further, I analyse speakers of different age groups’ evaluations of Cant according to the above criteria, and show how what is considered as ‘authentic’ Cant is linked to life trajectories and perceptions of linguistic and social reality