Gaelic in the New Scotland: Politics, Rhetoric and
Public Discourse
WILSON McLEOD
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland
Summer 2001
Gaelic in the New Scotland: Politics, Rhetoric and Public Discourse
WILSON McLEOD
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland
This article considers the position of the Gaelic language in the new political context in Scotland
created by the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Although Gaelic has benefited from an
unprecedented programme of promotion and development in recent years, Gaelic issues stand at the
margins in Scottish political life. In particular, the connection between Gaelic and Scottish
nationalism and national identity is a frail one, and deep-seated anti-Gaelic ignorance and antipathy
retain surprising vitality. Part I gives an overview of the provision put in place for Gaelic during the
last fifteen years and the issues that loom largest in current political discussion, especially
proposals to grant official status to the language. Part II then gives a more detailed analysis of the
assumptions, ambiguities, divisions, and prejudices that shape policy discussion relating to Gaelic
in Scotland – both at the national level and within the Gaelic community itself – giving particular
attention to the rhetoric used in these conversations and debates.
In recent years Gaelic in Scotland has benefited from an unprecedented programme of promotion and
development, transmitted through a wide range of initiatives across a number of fields, notably education, the media, and the arts.  The effect of these initiatives in increasing the visibility and public profile of the language is commonly described as a Gaelic “renaissance” in Scotland (Rogerson & Gloyer 1995).  At the same time, from the end of the 1970s onwards a vigorous consensus emerged in Scotland in support of national self-rule, a demand that has now been realized with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the first such body since the Union between Scotland and England in 1707.  The establishment of this devolved Parliament and the accompanying Executive are widely recognized as steps of historic significance, to the extent that the concept of the “new Scotland” has come into common parlance (Paterson et al. 2001). This paper will consider the situation of the Gaelic language within this new political environment in Scotland: the proposals that are on the political agenda, the ways that the language and its speakers are viewed and discussed, the assumptions that shape public discourse, and the obstacles that constrain progress or require resolution.  The paper is presented as an analysis of public policy rather than an exercise in theoretical social science, and is occasionally, and unavoidably, impressionistic.  Referencing is as complete as is practicable, but in some cases the paper endeavours to give the flavour of ongoing discussions and debates, carried out in a wide range of fora, that are predominantly oral and informal in character.
discoursePart I presents a brief overview of the present position of Gaelic, giving particular attention to the provision put in place during the last fifteen years and the proposals and issues that loom largest in current political discussion.  (For a range of in-depth presentations see McCoy with Scott
2000).  This summary serves as background to Part II, which gives a more detailed analysis of the assumptions, ambiguities, divisions, and prejudices that shape policy discussion relating to Gaelic in Scotland, and the varieties of rhetoric used in these conversations and debates.
I.    Political background: history and politics
A.  The decline of Gaelic in Scotland
Although the level of initiative and provision for Gaelic in Scotland remains very low when set against the achievements of lesser-used language communities in other European countries —Wales, Catalunya, Euskadi for example — the achievements of the last thirty and especially of the last fifteen years must be understood as highly significant, for the starting point was near zero: until the 1960s Gaelic language development was to all intents and purposes nonexistent (John Lorne Campbell 1950; Kenneth D. MacDonald 1968).  The rate of change has been rapid, even if the absolute level reached to date is still low.
Gaelic was once spoken throughout almost all of Scotland, but language shift in the south and east of the country during the late Middle Ages meant that Gaelic became largely confined to the north and west of the country (the “Highlands”or “Gàidhealtachd”) from the fourteenth century onwards.  Since the middle of the eighteenth century, a combination of military repression, dramatic economic change, heavy emigration, persistent material deprivation, and diverse cultural pressures have brought about ongoing language shift from Gaelic to English within the Gàidhealtachd (Withers 1984; MacKinnon 1991, 2000a).  The number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland fell sharply over the course of the twentieth century, and many formerly Gaelic-speaking areas have become entirely English-speaking.  The 1991 census showed 65,978 Gaelic speakers in Scotland, a mere 1.35% of the national population, down from 79,307 in 1981 (1.6%) and 210,677 in 1901 (5.2%).
The heartland of the language now lies in the Outer Hebrides, commonly (if ahistorically) known as the Western Isles, which remained more than 66% Gaelic-speaking in 1991, with significantly higher proportions recorded in most of the rural districts (General Register Office Scotland/Àrd Oifis Clàraidh Alba 1994: 24, 39).  Gaelic-speaking majorities were also returned from the Isle of Tiree and parts of the Isle of Skye (General Register Office Scotland/Àrd Oifis Clàraidh Alba 1994: 37, 27).  At the same time, almost half the total Gaelic-speaking population was spread out
over parts of Scotland other than the Gàidhealtachd, the largest concentration (some 11,000) in the greater Glasgow area, Scotland’s principal population centre (MacKinnon 2000a: 47; General Register Office Scotland/Àrd Oifis Clàraidh Alba 1994: 82-83, 85, 88-93, 96-99).  Another census will be conducted in 2001, and a significant drop in the number of Gaelic speakers is anticipated, perhaps down to not much more than 50,000.
Intergenerational transmission of the language is weak; the 1991 census showed that only 72.6% of those children living with two Gaelic-speaking parents spoke Gaelic, 37.6% of those living with a lone Gaelic-speaking parent, and a mere 14.3% of those living with two parents, only one of whom spoke Gaelic (with this last being the most common situation, some 55% of all families) (MacKinnon 1995: figure 8).  The 1991 census showed that only 49.5% of the 3-15 age group in the Western Isles spoke Gaelic, and more recent evidence suggests that only about a quarter of the children entering the islands’primary schools during the late 1990s had acquired Gaelic in their homes (General Register Office Scotland/Àrd Oifis Clàraidh Alba 1994: 106).  Gaelic thus appears to be seriously endangered in the very last districts where it remains a community language.
B.  The Gaelic “renaissance”
The two fields where recent Gaelic initiatives have been most significant and successful are education and broadcasting (on both television and radio), although a range of other developments, principally of a cultural and artistic nature, are also important.  Total financial support for Gaelic from central government now exceeds £13 million (20 million Euros) annually, and local governmental authorities also make a significant monetary contribution (Scottish Parliament Information Centre 2000: 3).  Without question, these initiatives have significantly raised the profile of Gaelic in Scotland even if the sociolinguistic situation of the language remains extremely weak.
Across Scotland, some 1,862 primary school pupils in sixty Gaelic units or schools are now receiving their education through the medium of Gaelic; as recently as twenty years ago there were none.  Given the traditional exclusion of Gaelic from the educational system, the establishment and expansion of Gaelic-medium education is a development of historic proportions.  Nevertheless, the scale remains dangerously small; it has been calculated that the numbers enrolled in Gaelic-medium education would need to grow six-fold simply to maintain
the existing Gaelic-speaking population, and even in the Western Isles, less than one-third of children receive their primary education through the medium of Gaelic (MacKinnon 2000b).
In addition, progress on the educational front appears to have slowed in recent years.  The numbers of pupils enrolling in Gaelic-medium primary education rose at a rate of 15.2% each year between 1993/94 and 1997/78, but only 2.4% between 1997/98 and 2000/01.  A 1994 government report described expansion of Gaelic-medium provision at secondary level as “neither desirable nor feasible in the foreseeable future”(Scottish Office Education Department 1994: 3), and this policy has not yet been effectively reversed despite the intervening political changes; only 326 secondary students received even part of their education through Gaelic in 2000/01.  As in other minority-language development efforts, a perennial obstacle has been the shortfall of trained teachers, but the crisis drags on from year to year with no significant initiatives to improve the situation (McLeod forthcoming a).
Until the 1970s Gaelic broadcasting in Scotland was minimal in scale, but since then there have been important advances on radio and, especially, on television.  Government support for Gaelic broadcasting now stands at £8.5 million (13.5 million Euros) per year (Scottish Parliament Information Service 2000: 5).  From 1985 onwards, the BBC Gaelic radio service, Radio nan Gaidheal, has steadily increased the amount of hours broadcast and broadened its geographical range.  Programming now exceeds forty hours per week and is accessible not only to the great majority of the
Gaelic-speaking population but to the great majority of the Scottish population as a whole (Lamb 1999).  Gaelic television has expanded rapidly as a result of the Broadcasting Act 1990, and some 350 hours of programming are broadcast annually.  Gaelic television has reached a crossroads, however, for both political and technical reasons: annual budgets have not been increased to reflect inflation and indeed have recently been cut, while programming has increasingly been shunted to inconvenient time slots late at night.  An official government task force has recently recommended the establishment of a separate, dedicated Gaelic television channel, using new digital technology, and the government appears to be giving this proposal serious consideration (Gaelic Television Task Force 2000).
C.  Proposals and politics
The principal political question regarding Gaelic in recent years has been the campaign to strengthen the legal status of the language.  At present Gaelic is effectively excluded from public administration and enjoys no meaningful protection in law, other than a few relatively tokenistic
provisions relating to certain minor public appointments and to immigration rules (McLeod 1997).  Since the mid-1990s the official (albeit non-governmental) Gaelic development body Comunn na Gàidhlig has pressed the Government to enact legislation that would give what it calls “secure status”t
o the language.  The CNAG proposals (Comunn na Gàidhlig 1997, 1999a), which drew significant inspiration from the Welsh Language Act 1993 and were backed up by a petition with several thousand signatures, urge a range of protections in the public sphere, including a statutory right to Gaelic-medium education and basic provision for the language at all layers of government, including the judicial system. Their principal inspiration was a widespread perception in the Gaelic community that the achievements of the last fifteen years, particularly with regard to education, lacked a secure foundation and overarching structure, and depended entirely upon the whim of national and local politicians; hence the chosen phrase “secure status”. Despite making repeated statements of support, the ruling Labour party, which controls both the London government (since the 1997 election) and the new, devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh (since its creation in 1999), now appears to have decided against introducing such legislation, to the considerable frustration, even anger, of many in the Gaelic community.  Instead, the government has endeavoured to reinterpret the phrase “secure status”by arguing that it is “working towards”securing the status of the language through incremental adjustments to pre-existing policies (Meek 2000).
The government’s new stance became manifest in the summer of 2000, when it helped vote down an amendment to its Schools Bill that would have imposed a legal obligation upon local authorities to prov
ide Gaelic-medium primary education upon a showing of reasonable demand (Dunbar 2000a: 84-87).  Making use of the flexible procedures of the new Parliament, supporters of that proposal now plan to introduce, sometime in 2002, a more wide-ranging Private Member’s Bill that would give force to the secure status recommendations, but its likelihood of enactment appears doubtful.
The government’s perceived backtracking on secure status, coupled with the lack of significant progress in terms of education and broadcasting, has brought a palpable sense of frustration to most Gaelic activists; the prevailing mood  is one of disappointment and disillusionment (see, for example, Iain MacLeòid, “Agus a’Ghàidhlig – trì faclan nach dean feum sam bith tuilleadh?”, The Scotsman, 25 May 2001).  Indeed, it is commonly asserted in Gaelic circles that the previous Conservative governments were better for Gaelic than the current Labour one, although it may

版权声明：本站内容均来自互联网，仅供演示用，请勿用于商业和其他非法用途。如果侵犯了您的权益请与我们联系QQ:729038198，我们将在24小时内删除。