Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
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TY - CHAP
T1 - The Acquisition of Scottish Gaelic Phonology
AU - Nance, Claire
PY - 2025/7/25
Y1 - 2025/7/25
N2 - This chapter firstly outlines the phonological structure of Gaelic, as well as aspects of phonetic implementation. I then consider methods used so far in the study of Gaelic phonological acquisition, as well as reviewing work in this area to date. The journey of language acquisition is varied across different sectors of the Gaelic-speaking population, as well as individuals. For example, while some children acquire Gaelic and English virtually simultaneously in the home, other children acquire Gaelic sequentially through a form of immersion schooling known as Gaelic Medium Education (GME). Many lie somewhere on a simultaneous-sequential continuum. Adult acquirers of Gaelic are a hugely diverse population, which naturally leads to a range of differing outcomes in the acquisition of phonology. In this overview of the field, I consider the different factors associated with multilingual phonological acquisition, and how they have predicted or challenged results obtained from data-driven studies of Gaelic. The chapter ends with a discussion about the multiple future directions needed for research in this area, including larger studies of primary-aged populations, and more focus on universities as an important locus of adult language acquisition. Previous research in multilingualism has largely focussed on major language contexts, leaving much to be learned from this minority language setting.
AB - This chapter firstly outlines the phonological structure of Gaelic, as well as aspects of phonetic implementation. I then consider methods used so far in the study of Gaelic phonological acquisition, as well as reviewing work in this area to date. The journey of language acquisition is varied across different sectors of the Gaelic-speaking population, as well as individuals. For example, while some children acquire Gaelic and English virtually simultaneously in the home, other children acquire Gaelic sequentially through a form of immersion schooling known as Gaelic Medium Education (GME). Many lie somewhere on a simultaneous-sequential continuum. Adult acquirers of Gaelic are a hugely diverse population, which naturally leads to a range of differing outcomes in the acquisition of phonology. In this overview of the field, I consider the different factors associated with multilingual phonological acquisition, and how they have predicted or challenged results obtained from data-driven studies of Gaelic. The chapter ends with a discussion about the multiple future directions needed for research in this area, including larger studies of primary-aged populations, and more focus on universities as an important locus of adult language acquisition. Previous research in multilingualism has largely focussed on major language contexts, leaving much to be learned from this minority language setting.
KW - Phonetics
KW - Phonology
KW - Scottish Gaelic
KW - New speakers
KW - Multilingualism
KW - Bilingualism
KW - Second Language Acquisition
KW - Acquisition
KW - Celtic
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9781009284936
SP - 69
EP - 89
BT - The Acquisition of the Celtic Languages
A2 - Chondrogianni, Vicky
A2 - O'Toole, Ciara
A2 - Thomas, Enlli
PB - Cambridge University Press
CY - Cambridge
ER -