[lg policy] Researchers can Help Gaelic Campaigners, Lecture-goers will Hear

[Harold Schiffman]

Researchers can Help Gaelic Campaigners, Lecture-goers will Hear

Ways in which the work of specialists can be useful to Gaelic language
campaigners are to be explored at a lecture by Professor Rob Dunbar,
director of a major research project set up to support the Gaelic
language and culture. Professor Dunbar – who has entitled his lecture
“Theory, research and other dirty words in language policy and
planning” - leads the £5.29 million partnership Soillse project which
will inform public policies on the support of Gaelic.

Soillse (Gaelic for enlightment) is headed by UHI, the prospective
University of the Highlands and Islands, involving its partner
colleges Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI on Skye and Lews Castle College UHI in
Lewis, and the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The
four institutions are working with key agencies, including the
national development agency Bòrd na Gàidhlig, to boost national and
local efforts to reverse the decline of the Gaelic language, and
encourage the use of Gaelic in areas where it is not traditionally
spoken.

Formerly a legal academic specialising in the protection of
minorities, particularly linguistic minorities, who participated in
the development and drafting of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act
2005, Rob Dunbar will give his professorial inaugural lecture at UHI
executive office in Ness Walk, Inverness, on Tuesday, 14th December,
from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

This free event is open to the public. Seats should be reserved
through Paul Ellison at UHI on 01463 279344 or paul.ellison at uhi.ac.uk

Professor Dunbar, Soillse’s senior research professor, said: “A common
feature of minority language maintenance and revitalisation movements
is the fundamental role that passionate activists have in them.
Frequently, though, they have only a limited background in language
planning theory or practice, and a lack of information to inform and
to guide their development initiatives.  Although specialists can
provide insights and knowledge to these movements, the relationship
between specialists and activists can at times be difficult, due to a
variety of factors which could be summed up by the phrase ‘culture
clash’.

“In my lecture, the theoretical tools relevant to language policy and
planning for minority languages such as Gaelic, the experience on
which such tools are based, and the research needs and priorities
which such tools help us to define, will be considered.  Can theory
and research inform and support policy making and practice in ways
that allow us to avoid the ‘culture clash’?”

The Soillse project is being funded by the Scottish Funding Council
for further and higher education (SFC), Bòrd na Gàidhlig, UHI,
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and the universities of
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Soillse has appointed three research fellows and the recruited four
new PhD students at partner institutions. The project will also
support the recruitment of one further research fellow, one lecturer
and more PhD students. Research findings will be presented at annual
conferences, in scholarly journals and on the Soillse website
(http://www.soillse.ac.uk)

Prior to his appointment, Professor Dunbar, originally from Canada,
was a reader in law and Celtic at King’s College, University of
Aberdeen, where he developed a postgraduate programme in language
policy and planning for minority languages. He is a member of Bòrd na
Gàidhlig and MG ALBA (which, in collaboration with BBC Scotland, runs
the Gaelic digital service BBC ALBA). He was formerly a director of
Comunn na Gàidhlig, and chairperson of its working group on legal
status for Gaelic, which drafted proposals for a Gaelic Language Act.
He is also an expert of the Council of Europe in relation to the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The professor has internationally-recognised expertise on minority
language law, policy and planning, and has advised governments, human
rights bodies, and non-governmental organisations in a number of
countries on language and human rights issues.

ENDS

Media contact
Glenda Johnson
UHI media officer
01463 279222
Glenda.johnson at uhi.ac.uk.

http://www.allmediascotland.com/media_releases/28158/researchers-can-help-gaelic-campaigners-lecture-goers-will-hear

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