Learning Gaelic in Adulthood: Second Language Learning in Minority Language Contexts

This chapter examines the learning experiences and linguistic practices of adult second language (L2) learners of Gaelic in Scotland and reflects on this group’s possible contribution to Gaelic revitalisation. O’Rourke and Walsh (2015: 15) argue that L2 speakers ‘are a necessary part of reversing language shift’, though are often overlooked in sociolinguistic models of language revitalisation and in practice. Whereas this might have held true in the past, in Gaelic Scotland there is now a strategic imperative to ensure greater numbers of adults learning Gaelic achieve fluency in order to help meet target increases in the crude number of Gaelic...