This book brings together an interdisciplinary group of academic researchers in order to examine how and to what extent the challenge of language revitalisation should be reassessed and reconceptualised to take account of our fast-changing social context. The period of four decades between 1980 and 2020 that straddled the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first is widely regarded as one that witnessed a series of fundamental social, economic and political transformations. Many societies have become increasingly individualistic, mobile and diverse in terms of ethnicity and identity; their economies have become increasingly interconnected; and their governance structures have become increasingly complex, incorporating a growing number of different levels and actors. In addition, rapid advancements with regard to automated, digital and communication technology have had a far-reaching impact on how people interact with each other and participate in society. The chapters in this book aim to advance an agenda of key questions that should concern those working in the field of language revitalisation over the coming years, and the volume will be of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers in related areas including sociolinguistics, education, sociology, geography, political science, law, economics, Celtic studies, and communication technology.
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Part 1: Communities.
Chapter 2: The geography
of minority language use: from community to network.
Chapter 3: Minority
languages in the age of networked individualism: from social networks to
digital breathing spaces.
Chapter 4: Communities, networks and contemporary
language revitalisation.- Part 2: Families.
Chapter 5: Family language
policy and language transmission in times of change.
Chapter 6: Family
language policy: promoting partnership in the early years to support heritage
languages.
Chapter 7: Changes in family structure and lifestyles: challenges
for regional or minority languages.- Part 3: Economy.
Chapter 8: The
economics of language[ s] at work: theory, hiring model and evidence.-
Chapter 9: Gąidhlig, Gaeilge, Cymraeg and fųroyskt mįl: minority languages as
economic assets?.
Chapter 10: Regional and minority languages and the
economy: the evolution of structural and analytical challenges.- Part 4:
Governance.
Chapter 11: The governance of language revitalisation: the case
of Wales.
Chapter 12: The governance of Irish in the neoliberal age: the
retreat of the state under the guise of partnership .
Chapter 13:
Governance, policy-making and language revitalisation.
Chapter 14:
Afterword: Forging hope in the company of cynics
Huw Lewis is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK.
Wilson McLeod is Professor of Gaelic at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
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