Geolinguistic variation of Hebridean Gaelic: the role of nominal morphology
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Date
07/12/2021Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
07/12/2022Author
Wilson, Charles
Wilson, Teàrlach
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the geographical variation of inflectional markers used in
noun phrases by speakers of Scottish Gaelic. I focus on the traditional vernacular
and therefore the data represent the speech of older L1 speakers from one of the
language’s heartlands: the Hebridean archipelago. I interviewed 41 speakers
above the age of 50 from 18 locations on 10 islands and used dialectometric
methods to analyse the data. This thesis contributes to Gaelic and linguistic
research by providing: (1) an updated account of morphological and geographical
variation in the traditional Gaelic vernacular; (2) further evaluation of quantitative
analyses of morphology and macrolevel variation; (3) a theory of the hierarchy of
inflectional markedness for Gaelic; and (4) a critical geolinguistic approach to the
study of Gaelic and morphology applied to quantitative and qualitative data.
The fieldwork component of this research consisted of a sociolinguistic
interview, an elicitation task, and a questionnaire to collect contributors’
demographic background and linguistic attitudes. I interrogated the data with
regression, cluster, and correlation analyses. The results from these analyses were
visualized on maps. The results show that location is a powerful predictor of
morphological variation. Locations, as a predictor, are explored through their
demographic, topographic, and social context. Gaelic is a minority language under
pressure from varieties of English and Scots, and therefore I also explore
typological (e.g. contact-induced change) and sociolinguistic (e.g.
hypercorrection) contact phenomena as explanations for morphological variation.
This thesis presents evidence of considerable morphological variation within
localized varieties of Gaelic. The results indicate that more northerly islands are
generally more conservative in their treatment of nominal morphology, while
more southerly islands are generally more innovative. These patterns correlate to
some extent with the percentage of the local population that speak Gaelic, which
suggests that conservative forms are supported in communities with greater
densities of Gaelic speakers. Lewis is an exception in that it is the most northerly
island, with some of the largest proportions of Gaelic speakers in the archipelago.
Yet nominal morphology in Lewis cannot be classified as either ‘conservative’ or
‘innovative’. I argue that these patterns can be explained by segmental phonology,
historical localisms, and typological phenomena (e.g. independent co-occurrence).
Based on the findings from the statistical and critical analyses, I propose that:
(1) typological and sociolinguistic phenomena (e.g. phonological variation and
hypercorrection respectively) can account for variation; (2) variation can be
explained by a hierarchy of markedness (in which more salient morphological
markers are more prevalent); and (3) contact phenomena may be interacting with
the hierarchy of markedness at both a linguistic and sociolinguistic level. The
findings do not suggest morphosyntactic convergence from contact. Rather, much
of the variation appears to be conditioned by the internal typological structures
of Gaelic.