WORK on a landmark Gaelic dictionary which aims to safeguard the future of the language has secured investment of £2.5 million from the public purse.
The Scottish Government-backed project is documenting the language and its history by tracing the development of every Gaelic word from its earliest written form to the present day.
Once complete, the Faclair na Gàidhlig dictionary will give Gaelic its equivalent of the multi-volume resources already available for Scots and English.
Be prepared: Scouts offer to help parents and pupils through the long summer holidays
Although other dictionaries have been produced since, students and speakers of Scots Gaelic still rely heavily on Edward Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic English Dictionary, published between 1901 and 1911.
Glendale Gaelic Primary
The project comes at a time when study of the language is on the increase with growing demand from parents for Gaelic education in urban areas such as Glasgow. However, expansion plans are under threat because of a lack of qualified teachers.
The production of the new dictionary has been made possible through a pioneering collaboration between the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture.
The project has also been backed by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the national public body with responsibility for Gaelic.
Boyd Robertson, Principal of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Convenor of Faclair na Gàidhlig’s Steering Committee, said: “This is an immensely significant national enterprise which has attracted considerable international interest and involvement.
“Based on first-hand evidence from an impressively large digital corpus, it will provide users with an authoritative, definitive and informative dictionary that will facilitate an in-depth understanding of the material and written heritage of the language.”
Be prepared: Scouts offer to help parents and pupils through the long summer holidays
Investment in Gaelic is is also controversial, with a Skye councillor warning this week that the opening of a £10m Gaelic-only school would divide the community because the investment was not shared across the community.
Local MSP Kate Forbes hit back at the suggestion from former headteacher John Finlayson stating: “It’s always great to see a new school being built, but it is doubly good that this will ensure a new generation of Gaelic speakers able to learn and play and work totally immersed in language.
“How anybody, least of all an elected member for the area, can find that difficult to welcome is beyond me.”
John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, said of the Gaelic dictionary: “I have been impressed by the work which has gone into this project to date, and look forward to seeing it continue into its next phase. Faclair na Gàidhlig is an excellent example of partnership working between academic institutions and other organisations.
“This kind of collaboration will support our commitment to the Gaelic language, and ensure it has a sustainable future in Scotland.”
John Kemp, interim chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, which administers the £2.5m investment, said the dictionary would help fuel the current expansion of Gaelic education.
Be prepared: Scouts offer to help parents and pupils through the long summer holidays
Preparatory work for the new dictionary has been extensive and includes assembling a database of 30 million Gaelic words from written sources and drawing on audio records held in other national collections.
Glendale Gaelic Primary
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservative Party, welcomed the dictionary development, but called for a wider shake-up of the way Gaelic schooling is funded.
She said: "It does not make any sense to me to impose Gaelic on reluctant communities when the crucial resources required to enhance Gaelic elsewhere would be spread more thinly.”
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