New Gaelic Speakers in Nova Scotia and Scotland: Heritage, Motivation and Identity

This monograph will present a rich analysis of results from a thee-year project, funded by the British Academy, comparing Gaelic language use and ideologies among new speakers in Scotland and the maritime province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Through a combination of mixed methods, this analysis will build on work that has previously conducted on the phenomenon of new speakers of minority languages - a core focus of language policy objectives in diverse contexts - to explore the nature of language, culture and identity on both sides of the North Atlantic, and to identify key principles that will aid the development of policies to support the Gaelic language in both countries.