Appendices

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Introduction

Appendices 1–8 provide an accompanying set of background information and additional data which supplement the research findings detailed in The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community: A comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of Scottish Gaelic. As such, the appendices should be viewed as presenting supplementary statistics and analysis to complement the overall research findings. The appendices are mapped to the same thematic order as the structure of the book and are rendered separately so as to allow the book to be a more streamlined, focused publication.

By presenting the appendices in this format, the authors’ intention is both to offer as comprehensive a record as possible of the full research endeavour and to ensure that the reader’s experience is both enhanced and simplified – the appendices can be easily searched and checked online for further data which relates to the data and discussion presented in the book.

The authors feel that it is valuable to, for example, offer different perspectives on the data (such as by depicting results by pooled study area), and to include additional data which more fully illustrate the attitudinal position held by the participants in the secondary school survey, the theoretical next generation of Gaelic professionals and parents. It is also important to record the disaggregated results obtained in Scalpay, Grimsay and Eriskay to depict the broadest range of information possible, and doing this helps the authors acknowledge the enormous contribution of those survey participants and local advisors who shared their time and guidance so patiently.

A brief description of the content of each of the appendices is set out below:

Appendix A1: Index Map for the Research Area

Appendix A1 provides an Index Map for the Research Area (Western Isles, Staffin in the Isle of Skye, and the Isle of Tiree) including a listing of all the study districts included in the research methodology. This list further breaks down each study district into groupings of contiguous townships, to offer a more localised understanding of data patterns emerging in the following sections.

Appendix A2: Gaelic demolinguistic data

The data tables in Appendix A2 supplement the range and analysis of Gaelic language data available for the Research Area. Demolinguistic data tables draw on the Census returns from 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 to offer a nuanced depiction of reported ability in, for example, pooled Study Districts across different age cohorts.

Appendix A3: Fluency and use of Gaelic in preschools

Appendix A3 presents comparative spatial data by pooled Study Districts (comprising the catchment areas for several preschools) which illustrate the fluency and use of Gaelic in the preschools/sgoiltean-àraich participating in the research study. Data tables in Appendix A3 complement the descriptive statistical analysis of language use by preschool children as set out in Chapter 3.

Appendix A4: Secondary school survey additional data

Appendix A4 provides additional data and analysis on levels of Gaelic vitality and/or fragility issues relating to teenage high-school pupils in the Western Isles. Data is also provided on pupils’ perception of Gaelic and sociolinguistic participation in their families, schools and communities.

Appendix A5: Community Sociolinguistic Survey

This appendix complements Chapter 5 of the book and provides additional valuable aggregated and disaggregated data for all three districts covered by the Community Sociolinguistic Survey (CSS). Such information should enhance the reader’s understanding of the overarching situation as well as how it pertains more specifically to each island surveyed. Information included in the data sets here relate to language use, attitudes and perspectives on Gaelic’s future, in aggregated form, as well as ability, identity and attitudes to Gaelic in disaggregated format.

Appendix A6: Speaker Typology Survey (STS)

Additional disaggregated data for each of the three Study Districts covered by the Speaker Typology Survey (STS) is presented in Appendix A6. The STS examined the bilingual Gaelic–English and the monolingual English abilities and types of speakers in the small islands of Scalpay, Grimsay and Eriskay, and how these ability profiles and typologies correlate with the household practice of Gaelic, including family households and related parental and child abilities. Aggregated data depicts speaker competency and speaker category, while disaggregated data illustrates age profiles, household language practice and speaker category, among other information.

Appendix A7: Correlation and Cross-tabulation Data

Appendix A7 presents data on Cross-tabulations 1–5:

  • Cross-tabulation 1: Higher level of household use of Gaelic
  • Cross-tabulation 2: Higher level of parental fluency in Gaelic
  • Cross-tabulation 3: Higher teenager Gaelic vibrancy
  • Cross-tabulation 3: Medium-to-low teenager Gaelic vibrancy
  • Cross-tabulation 4: Higher level of parental fluency in Gaelic
  • Cross-tabulation 4: Medium-to-low level of parental fluency in Gaelic
  • Cross-tabulation 5: Higher level of household use of Gaelic
  • Cross-tabulation 5: Medium-to-low household use of Gaelic

Appendix A8: Sample survey forms

In this final Appendix, A8, we present the questionnaires used to implement the discrete surveys with the separate Gaelic and English forms pertaining to the preschool survey, the secondary schools survey and the Community Sociolinguistic Survey (CSS).

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Copyright © 2020 Gòrdan Camshron, Pàdruig Moireach, Iain Caimbeul, and Brian MacDonald.

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