Family Language Policy in the Face of a Shrinking Community Language: Gaelic on the Isle of Lewis

• Autores: Michelle MacLeod
• Localización: Transmitting Minority Languages: Complementary Reversing Language Shift Strategies / Michael Hornsby (ed. lit.), Wilson McLeod (ed. lit.), 2022, ISBN 978-3-030-87909-9, págs. 45-73
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This chapter is a tightly focussed study of five individual parents, none of whom were habitual fluent Gaelic speakers from childhood to adulthood, who are attempting to give Gaelic a place within their families. Each of the parents comes from the Isle of Lewis and is currently residing there; they all had two Gaelic-speaking parents, and some have Gaelic-speaking spouses. Based on data gathered from extensive interviews and self-penned diagrams of historical and current speaker networks, this chapter considers the motivations and the actions of the parents in attempting to bring their children up as Gaelic speakers. To explore this in detail, the following questions are considered: why is Gaelic important to the parents; what have the parents done to improve their own language competencies and those of their children; and how successfully have the parents renegotiated networks of interlocutors for themselves and their children.