<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Alas, this book does not exist; the reviewer appears to be a fan of alternate history and has several faux reviews on his blog. I have heard of writing alternate histories, and certainly of reviewing them, but this is the first I've heard of reviewing an imagined alternate history book.</div><div><br></div><div>As a scholar of Cape Breton's Gaelic community, I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't immediately recognize the review as fiction. Apart from the reworking of Cape Breton University Press as "Press of the University of Cape Breton" and the praise of purported author Alistair MacDiarmid (who?) as a "sociological giant", most of the demographic data cited are wildly inaccurate. Unfortunately, such misinformation is par for the course for a good chunk of Gaelic historiography, both popular and academic. For example, we see here a variation on the popular "more Gaelic in Nova Scotia than in Scotland" canard, a claim you can find in recently published books (<i>real</i> ones, that is) such as John MacLeod's <b>Highlanders</b> (Hodder & Stoughton, 1996) and Houston & Knox's <b>New Penguin History of Scotland</b> (Penguin, 2002). Also raising an eyebrow is the claim that Gaelic was strengthened in Canada due to "Cape Breton's independence from Nova Scotia", though even there I assumed this to be reference to the period of 1784-1820 when Cape Breton was a separate colony from NS - and again, the fact that Gaelic settlement in Cape Breton was still in its early stages by the end of this period did not dissuade me from believing that someone out there could make such an assertion.</div><div><br></div><div>For those who are interested (or just mildly curious) about the state of Gaelic in Canada, here are some basics: Gaelic-speaking settlers came to British North America in large numbers beginning in the 1770s and large-scale migration (in which entire communities were transplanted) continued into the mid-1800s. The largest areas of settlement were the eastern Maritimes (Cape Breton Island, the eastern mainland of Nova Scotia, and the eastern two-thirds of Prince Edward Island), Glengarry County in southeastern Ontario (moved from upstate NY after supporting Britain during the American Revolution), a patchwork of communities in southwestern Ontario (centered around Bruce County), some of the Eastern Townships in Quebec, and a few late 19th century Prairie towns. Gaelic speakers were also very active in the fur trade out west (the mixed language Bungi supposedly has some Gaelic elements, though I've never seen anything on this beyond the claim itself), and practically dominated the fur trade headquarters in Montreal. At the time of Confederation in 1867, Gaelic was the 3rd most widely-spoken language in Canada, albeit a distant third. The usual suspects led to rapid language shift from the late 19th century onward, to the point where Cape Breton has the only population of native-born Gaelic speakers - perhaps a few hundred, and all of them elderly. There is also an active learner community, though how significant is difficult to ascertain. Official recognition/assistance in Nova Scotia has historically been non-existent or tokenistic (e.g. part of the tartanist tourism pitch). The current provincial government recently created an Office of Gaelic Affairs to effect language policy and language revitalization strategies.</div><div><br></div><div>Some useful resources:</div><div><br></div><div>1. Michael Kennedy. Gaelic Nova Scotia: An Economic, Cultural and Social Impact Study (4.6 MB pdf file - curatorial report prepared for the province)</div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://museum.gov.ns.ca/pubs/Gaelic-Report.pdf">http://museum.gov.ns.ca/pubs/Gaelic-Report.pdf</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div></div><div>2. Leasachadh agus Gléidheadh na Gàidhlig an Albainn Nuaidh (Developing and Preserving Gaelic in Nova Scotia) - pdf files in English and Gaelic:</div><div><a href="http://www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/GaelicStrategy-English.pdf">http://www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/GaelicStrategy-English.pdf</a></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/GaelicStrategy-Gaelic.pdf">http://www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/GaelicStrategy-Gaelic.pdf</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">3. Office of Gaelic Affairs webiste:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://www.gov.ns.ca/oga/">http://www.gov.ns.ca/oga/</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">4. Nova Scotia Gaelic Council website:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://www.gaelic.ca/index.php">http://www.gaelic.ca/index.php</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Other published work:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- see Elizabeth Mertz's chapter "Sociolinguistic creativity: Cape Breton Gaelic's linguistic 'tip'" in Nancy Dorian's <b>Investigating Obsolescence</b> (Cambridge, 1989)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- Charles Dunn's <b>Highland Settler</b> takes a historical/folklore/Celtic Studies view of Nova Scotia;</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- Margaret Bennett does much the same for two other parts of Canada in <b>The Last Stronghold</b> (Newfoundland) and <b>Oatmeal and the Catechism</b> (Quebec)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- John Shaw has produced three superb folklore collections from Cape Breton tradition bearers - <b>Sgeul gu Latha/Tales Until Dawn</b>, <b>B</b><b>rìgh an Òrain/A Story in Every Song</b>, and <b>Na Beanntaichean Gorma/The Blue Mountains</b></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- my own chapter, "Gaelic in Canada: New Clues from an Old Census", in <b>Canan & Cultar / Language and Culture: Rannsachadh Na Gaidhlig 3</b></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">- unpublished, but my MA thesis on Gaelic revivalism in Nova Scotia is downloadable from here:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://amicus.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aaweb-bin/aamain/itemdisp?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&d=2&v=0&lvl=1&itm=18225853">http://amicus.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aaweb-bin/aamain/itemdisp?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&d=2&v=0&lvl=1&itm=18225853</a></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div></div></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Jonathan Dembling</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Department of Anthropology</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts-Amherst</div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">--- On Wed, 8/27/08, Harold Schiffman <<a href="mailto:hfsclpp@gmail.com">hfsclpp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">From: Harold Schiffman <<a href="mailto:hfsclpp@gmail.com">hfsclpp@gmail.com</a>><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Subject: book notice: Alistair MacDiarmid, Language Revitalization in<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Cape<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Breton<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">To: "lp" <<a href="mailto:lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu">lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu</a>><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Date: Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 12:35 PM<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Alistair MacDiarmid, Language Revitalization in Cape Breton<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Imagine a world where Canada had three official languages.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">* * *<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Alistair MacDiarmid's new Language Revitalization in Cape Breton<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">(Press of the University of Cape Breton: Sydney, 2008), is a thin<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">paperbook book at only132 pages, but befitting his status as the<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">sociological giant of Canada's Scottish Gaelic-speaking community it's<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">quite a good one. First providing a brief survey of the evolution of<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">the Gaelophone community of Scotland, he then turns his eye to Canada.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">He identifies the Cape Breton's retention of its independence from<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Nova Scotia as a key event in the evolution of Canadian Gaelic<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">inasmuch as the existence of a province with a Gaelic majority forced<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">the colonial government to communicate with the majority population of<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">unilingual or poorly bilingual Gaelophones, this in turn having a<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">ripple effect elsewhere in Canada. The end result? There are several<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">times as many Gaelophones in Canada as in Scotland, and twice as many<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Gaelophones in Cape Breton than in Scotland's Western Isles.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">MadDiarmid's not an optimist. What, he asks his readers, prevents<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Canadian Gaelic from going the same way as Newfoundland Irish? The<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">rates of language shift in non-Cape Breton Gaelophone communities are<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">well-known, and even in Cape Breton things are difficult, with<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Gaelophones surely to lose their majority status as of the next census<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">and the "Town Gaelic" produced in Sydney by the industrial<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">immigrations of the early 20th century starting to show itself as an<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">intermediate stage to full Anglicization. What is there to be done? In<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">brief, he recommends that Cape Breton adopt Québec's full suit of<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">language laws, including mandatory Gaelic-dominant signage and public<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">education. (I'm sure that the Acadians of Arichat, Isle Madame, and<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Chéticamp would love that.)<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">MacDiarmid's hope blinds him to the realities facing the language, I<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">fear. Québécois might be a minority in Canada but their an integral<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">member of a worldwide francophonie, a cultural community that can<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">provide essential resources (human, economic, and otherwise) for a<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">traditionally isolated community. Gaelophones can sadly claim no such<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">wider language community. Just as importantly, without any taboos<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">against intermarriage or social intercourse, the community is bound to<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">lose members--my grandparents on Prince Edward Island my mother's side<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">spoke Gaelic to each other, but didn't pass the language on to her,<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">judging it unhelpful in the world and wanting to preserve it as a<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">language for gossip besides. I took my mandatory Basic Gaelic in high<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">school but I can only manage a few words an gàidhlig, mainly--I<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">admit--because I judged French to be a much more useful language.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">These factors, in top of the fact that cohort fertility is just as low<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">for Gaelophones as for Anglophones, ensure the eventual death of the<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">language--not now, but perhaps in a half-century's time.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">His hope aside, I'd still recommend Language Revitalization in Cape<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Breton. People interested in language dynamics and language policy<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">will love it, as it is not only a case study of minoritized languages<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">but a guide to Canada's language politics. If only, I suppose, things<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">were different, but how could they have been? Canadian Gaelic was<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">lucky as things stand now. In my opinion, the task facing specialists<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">in the language now should probably be to archive as much of the<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">culture as they can before it's took late.<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://rfmcdpei.livejournal.com/1590675.html">http://rfmcdpei.livejournal.com/1590675.html</a><br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">--<br></blockquote><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#540000"><br></font></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"></blockquote></blockquote></div></body></html>