Language revitalization

I put on my anthropology hat, dust off a previously unpublished conference paper, and look at how different Nova Scotia Gaelic users orient to place in culturally Gaelic ways, in the construction of their Gaelic identities.

Many things can go wrong if you decide to get a Scottish Gaelic tattoo when you don’t speak the language. I’ll suggest the best ways to ensure that you get a good Gaelic tattoo, if you still have your heart absolutely set on getting one despite all of my warnings in Part 1.

A few years ago, someone criticized my work, saying that Gaelic language revitalization wasn’t rocket science. Indeed, language revitalization isn’t rocket science — it’s far more difficult! Rocket science formulates and solves math problems. Something goes wrong? Find the mistake and fix it. Human error is a factor, but the math is reliable. Language revitalization, on the other hand, is not so simple…