Bernadette O'Rourke

University of Glasgow | UofG · School of Modern Languages and Culture

Multilingual speakers’ linguistic practices are typically investigated via self-report measures, often relying on subjective memory recall. This article examines the potential of an interdisciplinary methodology which would allow us to examine the experiences of multilingual speakers as they are played out in real time and space through a combinati...

In this article, a social movement lens is applied to examine the dynamics of an urbanbased language revitalization movement in the Autonomous Community of Galicia (North-western Spain). The potential of Resource Management Theory is explored as a way of systematically analysing the dynamics of urban-based language revitalization movements. It does...

As the world becomes increasingly globalised, contemporary workplaces often become sites of linguistic diversity. Multilingualism can be both an asset and a challenge to be managed. After introducing key concepts (multilingualism, new speakers, and lingua franca), the chapter examines how language came to play a critical role in contemporary workpl...

In the increasingly globalised, multicultural workplaces of the twenty-first century, it is essential to understand the diversity of perspectives on three concepts that fundamentally shape professional practices and relationships: work, leisure, and time. After reviewing key definitions of these concepts, this chapter discusses cultural values befo...

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Galicia between 2012 and 2016, in this chapter I look at why and to what effect new speakers often invest in delineated minority languages rather than in poly- or translingualism, and can be seen to adopt monolingual ideologies despite their multilingual repertoire. I firstly discuss the new speaker...

Aims: The goal of this special issue is to anchor an understanding of language variation and change in a relatively newly adopted framework for researching ‘new speakers’ of minoritized languages. Approach: This paper first reviews basic principles of variationist sociolinguistics as they apply to new-speaker contexts before critically engaging wi...

Bernadette O’Rourke argues that disciplines such as human geography, sociology and political science have played insufficient attention to linguistic diversity and the links between language, identity and ethnicity. She analyses the ways in which minority language sociolinguistics has in recent years engaged more productively with geographical conc...

In this Forum Discussion paper, we put forward the concept of ‘speakerness’ and discuss how this notion can be of relevance to the professions associated with language teaching and learning. By ‘speakerness’ we understand the processes through which social actors get defined by their language practices. We connect this concept with the ongoing deba...

This article responds to the recent special issue of Scottish Affairs on ‘Gàidhealtachd Futures’ and in particular the article by Iain MacKinnon proposing that ancestry, ethnicity and indigeneity should become the principal elements in contemporary Gaelic identity. The editors of the special issue do not give an analytically meaningful presentation...

This article considers a range of weaknesses and deficiencies in the article ‘Moving Beyond Asocial Minority-Language Policy’ by Conchúr Ó Giollagáin and Iain Caimbeul and the underlying research study on which it was based. The authors’ presentation of previous research was inadequate and the framing of their survey results was sensationalistic, r...

The formidable challenges faced by urban refugees in the Global South have received considerable attention, calling for new approaches to support their resilience. Although critical interest in resilience and the role of digital technology in enabling refugees to navigate their new surroundings has been growing, little attention has been paid to th...

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Galicia between 2012 and 2016, in this chapter I look at why and to what effect new speakers often invest in delineated minority languages rather than in poly- or translingualism, and can be seen to adopt monolingual ideologies despite their multilingual repertoire. In the chapter I discuss the new s...

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC) among different social groups of preschool children in ethnic and multilingual diverse community such as South Backa District (SBD), Republic of Serbia. Methods: This survey was a cross-sectional analytical study and sample type has been...

In the globalized world, minority language speakers often feel the pressures of language contact with economically, politically, and socially dominant languages. However, despite these pressures, many minority language communities continue to maintain or reclaim their languages as active agents through everyday interactions. Minority language resea...

The present study investigates linguistics and cognitive effects of bilingualism with a minority language acquired through school medium education. If bilingualism has an effect on cognition and language abilities, regardless of language prestige or opportunities of use, young adult Gaelic-English speakers attending Gaelic medium education (GME) co...

This article analyses labour market experiences of migrants of non-Nordic origin who have settled in the Faroe Islands, a small North Atlantic archipelago with a population of about 51,000 people. By examining the experiences of educated migrant workers who are employed in three different blue-collar workplaces: a cleaning company and two fish-proc...

This chapter investigates the tensions around the legitimisation and contestation of the institutionalised standard variety for Galician and examines governmental language policies through the lens of standardisation activism. It looks at how the politics of language operates by focusing on continuing orthographic conflicts and their connection to...

This study examines the role of new speaker parents who have made a conscious decision to bring up their children in Galician, a language which they themselves did not acquire in the home. Although intergenerational transmission has for long been considered a crucial part of linguistic vitality, new speakers bring complexity to this paradigm and in...

Over the past two decades, much discussion in sociolinguistics and the sociology of language has centred on concerns over the survival prospects of lesser-used or minority languages. The aim of the research being reported on here was to shed light on one such language case --- Galician, spoken in the Autonomous Community of Galicia in the northwest...

This chapter explores why and with which effect “new speakers” invest in delineated minority languages rather than in poly- or translingualism. “New speakers” refer here to individuals who have had limited home or community exposure to a minority language but acquired it through immersion or bilingual educational programmes, revitalization projects...

This Introduction contains a critical survey of current research on minority languages and communities. It outlines the key issues confronting speakers and policy makers in the face of migration and globalization. It also highlights the critically important role of the different historical treatments of multilingualism and minority language communi...

Drawing on the framework of authenticity and anonymity, this article explores the Irish State's mobilisation of these opposing yet interrelated language ideologies in efforts to regiment the use of Irish both within the traditionally Irish-speaking Gaeltacht areas and nationwide. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in western Ireland, we examine how no...

‘This Handbook is, quite simply, a tour de force. Offering far greater breadth, depth and analytical heft than ever before, it extends the fields of minority language studies and multilingualism conceptually, disciplinarily, geographically, and pragmatically. It is sure to be a key reference for years to come.’ —Stephen May, University of Auckland,...

This article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in two Irish towns to examine the mobilisation of the Irish language as a resource for business by new speakers of Irish. We examine how local community-level Irish language advocacy organisations have implemented initiatives to specifically promote the use of Irish in business, primarily as visual comme...

In recent years there has been a focus in language policy research on understanding how national policies are interpreted and negotiated by social actors on the ground. This paper looks at the interplay between government and grassroots initiatives to create Galician-speaking spaces in predominantly Spanish-speaking urban settings. While official l...

This chapter examines some of the changes associated with becoming a new speaker of Galician or what are collectively referred to as neofalantes do galego. We discuss the processes involved in neofalantes’ changing linguistic behaviours and, in particular, the motivations and the identity positioning which shape decisions to displace a more sociall...

In recent years there has been a greater focus in language policy research on understanding how national policies are interpreted, implemented and negotiated by social actors on the ground. While such grassroots participation is at times intermittent, taken collectively, the ideologies and practices of individuals can affect societal language behav...

This chapter examines the emergence of the category of “new speakers” in different contexts, as well as scholarly debate about the phenomenon. It focuses particularly on the processes involved in becoming a new speaker of a minority language. The term is used to refer to individuals who acquire a minority language outside of the home and come to th...

In this article, we examine the experiences of 18 Galician language learners who participated in what Garland [(2008). The minority language and the cosmopolitan speaker: Ideologies of Irish language learners (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of California, Santa Barbara] refers to as a ‘language-learning holiday’ in Galicia in north-western Spa...

This paper examines the use of phonetic variation in word-final rhotics among nineteen adult new speakers of Scottish Gaelic, i.e. speakers who did not acquire the language through intergenerational transmission. Our speakers learned Gaelic as adults and are now highly advanced users of the language. We consider variation in their rhotic production...

This chapter examines the emergence of the category of “new speakers” in different contexts, as well as scholarly debate about the phenomenon. It focuses particularly on the processes involved in becoming a new speaker of a minority language. The term is used to refer to individuals who acquire a minority language outside of the home and come to th...

Arna fhoilsiú ag COMHAR Teoranta le cabhair deontais i gcomhair tograí Gaeilge a d'íoc an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas trí Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh. Gabhann COMHAR buíochas le hAcadamh Ríoga na hÉireann as a dtacaíocht leis an bhfiontar seo.

Within the field of anthropology, there is a comprehensive linguistic sub-discipline which deals with issues from semiotics and linguistics to identity and intangible cultural heritage. This special volume of AJEC emerged from our desire to explore that sub-discipline in a European context. From our perspective, it appears that many anthropologists...

This article considers the experiences and views of “new speakers” of Gaelic, focusing on how they characterise their language production and its relationship to the language of traditional speakers. In contrast to some other European minority languages, a significant population of new Gaelic speakers in Scotland has emerged only recently, particul...

This article looks at the historicisation of the native speaker and ideologies of authenticity and anonymity in Europe's language revitalisation movements. It focuses specifically on the case of Irish in the Republic of Ireland and examines how the native speaker ideology and the opposing ideological constructs of authenticity and anonymity filter...

In this article we use Moscovici’s (1976) notion of active minorities as a framework to explain the linguistic practices and motivations behind linguistic change amongst new speakers of Galician. Revitalization policies since the 1980s brought about changes in the symbolic and economic value of Galician on the linguistic market. However, this has n...

In this special issue we examine and reflect upon the emergence of “new speak ers” in the context of some of Europe’s minority languages. The “new speaker” label is used here to describe individuals with little or no home or community exposure to a minority language but who instead acquire it through immersion or bilingual educational programs, rev...

While traditional Irish-speaking communities continue to decline, the number of second-language speakers outside of the Gaeltacht has increased. Of the more than one and half million speakers of Irish just over 66,000 now live in one of the officially designated Gaeltacht areas. While "new speakers" can be seen to play an important role in the futu...

In this article we use Moscovici's (1976) notion of active minorities as a framework to explain the linguistic practices and motivations behind linguistic change amongst new speakers of Galician. Revitalization policies since the 1980s brought about changes in the symbolic and economic value of Galician on the linguistic market. However, this has n...

Aquest article ofereix una anàlisi preliminar de les mudes lingüístiques en relació amb els nous parlants d’irlandès, és a dir, aquells moments decisius en els quals s’ha adoptat l’irlandès durant el cicle vital. Es comença explicant el concepte de muda i se n’esbossa la importància a l’hora d’adquirir un coneixement més profund del que significa «...

Aunque el fenómeno es muy anterior, al menos desde los inicios del proceso de recuperación lingüística de mediados del siglo xx, un rasgo definitorio de la realidad sociolingüística gallega actual es la presencia de neohablantes de gallego. Con la introducción de este idioma en nuevos ámbitos de uso, particularmente en el sistema educativo, una par...

While in many indigenous minority-language situations traditional native speaker communities are in decline, new speakers are emerging in the context of revitalization policies. Such policies, however, can have unforeseen consequences and lead to tensions between newcomers and existing speakers over questions of ownership, legitimacy, and authentic...

Malia que a lingua galega sobreviviu varios séculos de contacto co castelán, unha combinación de factores sociopolíticos e socioeconómicos na segunda metade do século XX acelerou o proceso de substitución lingüística. As accións de política lingüística postas en marcha desde 1980, non obstante, tentaron conter esta tendencia, nun esforzo por manter...

Within the field of applied linguistics the concept of nativeness has over the recent decades come to be recognised as problematic. The problematization of the native speaker concept has, however, been more recent in other areas of language analysis including the field of minority language research and language revitalization, the sub-field on whic...

The purpose of this article is to examine how struggles over language ownership are played out in a minority language setting, focusing on the case of Irish in the Republic of Ireland. The article examines the more or less serious struggles that emerge between so-called native, or L1, and nonnative, or L2, speakers of Irish in a language learning e...

In minority language contexts, the aim of language policy and planning initiatives is frequently to enhance their survival prospects by increasing individuals' knowledge and use of such languages in a variety of social contexts. The success of such policies depends on a variety of factors. These include the ability of policy to encourage maintenanc...

In determining the outcome of language contact situations and the survival prospects of minority languages, early studies on language maintenance and shift tended to implicate macro-social events as direct causes of survival or decline (see Fishman 1976a; Weinreich 1968). However, later research has highlighted that it is only through an analysis o...

Over the past number of decades, much discussion in sociolinguistics and the sociology of language has centred on concerns over the survival prospects of lesser-used or minority languages (see for example Dorian 1989; Edwards 2010; Fase et al. 1992; Fishman 1991; Grenoble and Whaley 1998; Hogan-Brun and Wolff 2003; King et al. 2008; Williams 2005)....

In this chapter I will discuss some of the findings from sociolinguistic research undertaken at two university institutions in Ireland’s and Galicia’s largest cities, Dublin and Vigo respectively. In the study, a total of 815 Irish and 725 Galician respondents completed a self- administered sociolinguistic questionnaire10 which included a range of...

As noted in Chapter 1, a basic premise of modern linguistics is that all languages are functionally equal (Edwards 1994). Grillo (1989: 173) notes that, in the same way as anthropologists refuse to judge the relative worth of cultures, linguists believe that ‘one language is as good and adequate as any other’ (Trudgill 1983: 205). Nevertheless, lan...

Apart from a number of questions included in market survey research, up until the 1970s, the main barometer used to measure the impact of language policy in Ireland was the Census of Population. More conventional studies on language attitudes would tend to exclude self-reports of language ability such as those in the Census. In the absence of such...

Despite the fact that the academic study of language policy is relatively recent, it has for a long time existed as an activity in different countries and states even though it has not always been explicitly labelled as such. In the absence of explicitly stated formal policies, decisions about language have always been embedded in the agendas of po...

Much of Spain’s history has been characterized by policies of political centralization and linguistic uniformity which date from the initial consolidation of political unity by the Catholic Kings, Isabel and Ferdinand in the second half of the fifteenth century to the strongly centralist dictatorship of the Franco regime in the twentieth century. A...

This paper looks at the degree and way in which lesser-used languages are used as expressions of identity, focusing specifically on two of Europe's lesser-used languages. The first is Irish, spoken in the Republic of Ireland and the second is Galician, spoken in the Autonomous Community of Galicia in the North-western part of Spain. The paper repor...

This article analyses and attempts to explain conflicting views about the value associated with Galician in contemporary Galicia. It does so by tracing the possible source of these conflicting values historically, from the effects of language contact with Spanish since the fourteenth century, right through to attempts made to revive Galician in the...

different language groups, in bilingual and multilingual settings is frequently associated with situations of conflict and strife. When two or more languages come into contact, tensions can occur due to the existence of a dominant versus a dominated group or a majority versus a minority. Where such power relations exist, one of the language groups...