Research

Cathie Laing in Conversation

North Uist resident Cathie Laing talks to Island Voices co-ordinator and fellow Aire air Sunnd participant, Gordon Wells. As with other longer conversations we’ve recorded, we’ve divided this one into two halves initially, which we present first unfiltered and unsubtitled.

For the benefit of learners or non-speakers of Gaelic we’ve also cut these recordings up into smaller chunks, complemented with Clilstore transcripts and optional subtitles (which are auto-translatable into multiple languages), following the same practice adopted for Paul McCallum and James MacLetchie.

In Part 1A Cathie explains how she can trace her ancestors back as far as 1715 through the oral history kept alive in her family tradition. Her great-grandmother had vivid tales of Bonnie Dundee and it was her grandfather who introduced her to historical figures such as Seumas a’ Ghlinne (James Stewart of the Glen) in a home without books. With Perthshire antecedents, Cathie was actually born in Ross-shire into a travelling family. When she started school she was obliged to attend for a minimum of 100 days in the year. As soon as that time was up the family would hit the road, usually around April. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12571)

In Part 1B Cathie relates how the family would travel around the Highlands by horse and cart. Her father would break horses in for forestry work, and pony trekking was also popular. But with the advent of tractors horses became less plentiful, so in the mid-fifties the family started coming to Uist, which was known for good horses. She explains the different methods of transporting horses across by boat from Berneray and Eriskay, before walking them to Lochmaddy. Horse boxes came later. To an eight year-old girl it seemed a free and healthy lifestyle. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12572)

In Part 1C Cathie starts to talk about her schooldays, which would begin around October when she would have some catching up to do. Over the years the periods of travelling shortened as her father recognised that way of life was passing. Age restrictions meant Cathie couldn’t go into nursing, her preferred option, on leaving school, so she got an office job instead, until marrying Alasdair, whom she met in Uist. She didn’t find Uist Gaelic particularly difficult or different in comparison with her own. In fact she liked to hear the different varieties in each of the islands. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12573)

In Part 1D Cathie describes how her father worked and saved so they could move from their big winter tent into a house in Beauly, where she attended school. Even after starting work she would still need to go travelling over the summer. She enjoyed her office job, and appreciated that her employer was not concerned about paper qualifications. It was nerve-racking for her to ask for time off to travel, but they came to an amicable agreement. She lived in different worlds and different languages including English, Gaelic, and Scots. Settled in Uist for more than 50 years, she can still remember some words of Beurla Reagaird, the travelling people’s “cover tongue”. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12574)

In Part 2A Cathie recalls having an inspiring teacher at school who took a positive interest in her detailed knowledge of her family tree, and encouraged her to take up reading at home. Cathie notes how she passed this passion on to her own children and grandchildren, and views their success as a legacy from this teacher. In her own reading she came to notice sometimes troubling discrepancies between written histories about travelling people and her knowledge of the oral tradition. She is still an avid reader in both English and Gaelic, particularly of Carmina Gadelica which contains contributions from her great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12575)

In Part 2B Cathie talks about her love of music and songs, which she was able to explore more deeply on retirement when she followed a course in Gaelic language and music at the college in Benbecula. Though not an instrumentalist herself, she appreciated the opportunity to research the stories behind some of her favourite songs. She retells in detail the life-story of Catherine Maclean and her various marriages and children in the time of Mary of Guise, as referred to in the song of Seathan Mac Righ Èireann. She remains enthralled by the stories that are captured in such songs. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12576)

In Part 2C Cathie moves on to talk about her memories of how things were when she first came to live in Uist. Almost without exception, everyone spoke Gaelic, and she felt at home with the way of life, hearing the same language, stories and songs with which she was already familiar. She recalls how her grandfather had used to sing a particular song to her in her childhood, a song which he placed in Iochdar, though to her knowledge he had rarely if ever visited Uist. She was delighted many years later, when doing a home visit in Iochdar, to find out that the lady she was calling on could point her to the exact spot where the tale told in the song took place. “Every stone has a story!” (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12577)

In Part 2D Cathie expands on the placename theme, referring to various key locations near her home which have or had particular names that captured something of their history and significance. Linking this to the common practice of sloinntearachd – identifying community members through their genealogy – Cathie and Gordon conclude their conversation by uncovering some previously unknown mutual acquaintances and family connections, which were often disrupted by the large scale emigration from Uist of earlier generations. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12578)

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

CIALL Session 2024-25

Le Gordon Wells

The Collaborative Interdisciplinary & Applied Linguistic Links initiative (CIALL) based in the Language Sciences Institute of the University of the Highlands and Islands has been able to support a number of Island Voices small projects, particularly under the Extensions title, with help from the Scottish Funding Council over the past couple of years. You can find a round-up of 2024-25 CIALL activities in this report on the LSI news page.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Catalan Collection

Le Gordon Wells

Noèlia Díaz-Vicedo is the third member of the multilingual poetic partnership pulled together by Martin MacIntyre for his “A’ ruith eadar dà dhràgon” collection of poems in four languages, in which she provides the Catalan input alongside Ifor ap Glyn’s Welsh to complement Martin’s Gaelic and English. Noèlia is a member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers (AELC, Associació d’Escriptors en Llengua Catalana) which brings together writers from all of the Catalan speaking territories. She is, in addition, a distinguished academic (see also below) affiliated to the University of the Balearic Islands (Universitat de les Illes Balears).

While we’ve already managed to feature her two UK-based partners in our Extensions initiative, we have not yet been able to platform Noèlia in the same style, regrettably. In the meantime, while she has already provided Catalan versions of the documentaries for Ifor and Martin, we’re delighted now that she has provided the same service for our three other featured writers – Audrey West, Donald S Murray, and Christie Williamson. This means we now have five videos in total in our Catalan Selection among all our Other Tongues!

Audrey:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12484

Donald:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12485

Christie:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12483

Noèlia writes:

“The project ‘Island Voices’ is more than an educational tool or a literary collection of poetic voices. It is a necessary dialogue between cultures. It goes beyond understanding translation merely as transference between words. To translate the works of Martin McIntyre, Ifor ap Glyn, Audrey West, Christie Williamson and Donald Murray has allowed me not only to explore their processes of creativity but also to connect with their personal experiences and engage with their vision of the world. Languages are a form of communication and they allow us to approach other forms of thought. I am honoured to have had the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful project and bring these brilliant poets into Catalan.”

We’re delighted to have you in our company, Noèlia!

Noèlia’s academic bio:

Dr. Noèlia Díaz-Vicedo is a poet, academic and translator. She completed her thesis, awarded with the Premi Països Catalans by Institució Lletres Catalanes, at Queen Mary University of London on the poetry of Maria-Mercè Marçal entitled Constructing Feminine Poetics in the Works of a Late Twentieth-Century Catalan Woman Poet: Maria-Mercè Marçal published by MHRA (2014). She has translated The Body’s Reason (Raó del cos) by Maria-Mercè Marçal, translated from Catalan into English with Montserrat Abelló, Bilingual Edition, (Francis Boutle Publishers, 2014). She has also translated the books Terra de mai and Raó del cos into Castilian Diré tu cuerpo (Editorial Ultramarinos, 2020). She has also translated into English poems by Lola Nieto and Chilean poet Carmen García Palma and from English into Catalan poems by Canadian poet Peter Jaeger. She co-edited the literary journal Alba Londres. Culture in Translation (2011-2015). She has participated in the book A’ Ruith Eadar Dà Dhràgon, Corrent entre dos dracs translating Martin McIntyre’s poems into Catalan. She has published her poetry in various magazines and anthologies in Spain, Greece and USA. Her first collection of poems Bloody Roots/ Arrels sagnants (Bilingual Catalan-English) was published in 2017 by Francis Boutle Publishers. Her second collection Cercles (ex)cèntrics was published in 2023 by Edicions Tremendes. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Catalan Language and Literature and General Linguistics (University of Balearic Islands) where she researches on Contemporary Catalan and Comparative Literature.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Farsi Reflections

Le Gordon Wells

The CIALL-supported Island Voices presence at NATECLA 2025 has paid immediate dividends, in the form of a new Farsi version of the “Multilingual Memories: Birmingham 1984” film looking back 40 years at the Industrial Language Training Service.

Evidently it struck a chord with conference participant Parnaz Pourshakibaee, who showed immediate interest in the theme, and responded with enthusiasm to the invitation to make a new version in her own language.

She also provided a full transcript of her voiceover narration, so enabling us to create another first – a Farsi Clilstore unit, incorporating full text with the video embedded so you can listen and read at the same time!

Wordlinked Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12522

Currently affiliated with South and City College Birmingham, Parnaz teaches across multiple levels and begins a new role in September as an Assessor and Trainer of Foundation Studies at the same institution. With a background in TESOL and TEFL, and experience in translation and bilingual communication while working with Médecins Sans Frontières between 2010 and 2013, she values multilingualism and the importance of learners’ mother languages in effective cross-cultural communication and language learning.

Parnaz writes:

“My introduction to the CIALL project commenced with my attendance at the NATECLA conference 2025, where I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Sardul Dhesi and Harmesh Manghra. Through their kind introduction, I became acquainted with the CIALL project and their colleague Gordon Wells, who encouraged me to translate the introductory clip of ‘Multilingual Memories, Birmingham 1984’ into Farsi.

These multilingual colleagues shared their language memories, reflecting on and exploring how their mother tongue, alongside formal English, has shaped their identity and teaching practice, and why the preservation of heritage languages is so important. Their reflections on multilingualism and their nuanced understanding of students from diverse linguistic backgrounds resonated deeply with me, given my commitment as an EFL/ESL teacher and my experience as a bilingual Farsi-English speaker. Consequently, I was inspired to want to share these insights with the Persian-speaking community.

Through my small contribution in translating and narrating the film in Farsi, I reflected more than ever on the role of other languages in a multicultural society.

I believe that the ‘Island Voices’ project is more than merely an educational resource; it represents an environment in which multilingualism is celebrated as a valuable asset. The ‘Extensions’ section, and particularly the Birmingham film for an English urban context, illustrates how linguistic and cultural diversity is an integral part of life throughout the country, with valuable support from the tireless and ongoing efforts of linguists and other dedicated organizations.”

For our part, we’re very grateful for Parnaz’s informed and skilful engagement with our multilingual mission, and the addition of yet another language to our Other Tongues portfolio. We now have the Birmingham film in 15 different languages, with 8 female voices and 7 male. And we’re always interested in new contributions!

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Creole Connections

Le Gordon Wells

The Island Voices “Capture and Curation” approach is highly productive of new material in new languages to add to the original Hebridean focus on Gaelic and English, and it sometimes takes us to places where community language connections with our home territory may not always be immediately obvious. As we fill out new gaps which our CIALL-supported Extensions initiative has opened up, here are four new videos in Jamaican and Haitian Creole, adding to Caribbean-Hebridean links not often explored.

Audrey West, with Jamiekan ina Wielz, was our opening pioneer in taking our documentary plus interviews format beyond Scotland and into Wales, and also adding samples of poetic verse to the mix. Naturally, she followed that up later with her Jamaican voiceover of Ifor ap Glyn’s subsequent Welsh contribution. Here she completes the set with Jamaican versions of our documentaries on the three other writers so far featured – Donald S Murray, Christie Williamson, and Martin MacIntyre.

Donald:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12480

Christie:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12481

Martin:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12488

As Audrey’s own documentary illustrates, the Jamaican community presence in the UK is now of long standing. That includes the linguistic presence too, though widespread recognition of Jamaican speech as a fully functional communicative system perhaps remains elusive, with its rule-governed grammar blindly ignored by users of the “broken English” label. We congratulate Audrey on her determined promotion of her first language in a diasporic setting, and are thankful for the support of the Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies in helping to kickstart this aspect of our work.

Within a Caribbean context, the neighbouring Haitian Creole provides an interesting comparator. Here, Mavreen Masere adds to her first voiceover of Audrey’s documentary, with a Haitian Creole version of our retrospective sampling of England’s urban multilingualism:

Mavreen:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12528

Haitian Creole, while not commonly encountered in the UK, appears to have achieved wider recognition of its independent linguistic status than Jamaican. It has long been listed among the languages available for treatment through Google Translate, for example. Subtitling under its own name is also an option on YouTube.

By contrast, “Jamaican Patois” has only recently been added to Google Translate, and has yet to be made available for subtitling on YouTube. This is why we still have to label as “English” the YouTube subtitles Audrey has created in Jamiekan using the Cassidy-JLU orthography, even while Google Translate will happily accept text using the same spelling system, identify it with the title “Jamaican Patois”, and make a decent fist of translating it into other languages.

From a home turf Hebridean viewpoint, both these languages may provide food for thought for those concerned about continuing the use of Scottish Gaelic. As a fellow minority language in the UK, Jamaican may be considered a near neighbour facing some similar issues around inter-generational sustainability in an overall polity where English monolingualism is the unmarked norm. Plus, as suggested previously, processes of linguistic creolisation, which are part of the historic experience of both Jamaican and Haitian Creole, may now be worthy of closer attention from would-be Gaelic revivalists. They may be particularly pertinent for those inclined to heavily invest their hopes in “naturalistic” Gaelic “immersion” for learners who have a different first language, perhaps in an attempt to boost raw numbers of self-reporting speakers, irrespective of the surrounding cultural and community context in which their acquired additional competence might be exercised.

Brian Ó Broin has a very interesting chapter in the recently published open access book from the Language Science Press “Foundational approaches to Celtic linguistics”. With the title “Comparing the syntactic complexity of Gaeltacht and urban Irish-Language broadcasters”, the chapter reports on contrasting characteristics of these two groups. Principally, he finds it noteworthy that “the syntactic complexity of urban and Gaeltacht broadcasters … is significantly different” (p365).

This fuller quote is from his summing up (p366):

As I noted in my previous work on phonetics and morphology, urban broadcasters tend to be discarding features of Irish that are not found in English. Velar and palatal fricatives are being dropped in favor of the nearest English sound, for example, while nouns are frequently no longer morphophonetically marked for case, with eclipsis and lenition becoming optional. In this paper we make a compelling case that urban broadcast Irish is also significantly different in syntax, substituting subordinators with conjunctions that require the listener to intuit the relationships between clauses and rarely forming sentences that involve the nesting of embedded phrases and clauses.

These findings are appropriately hedged with all the necessary caveats for a small-scale initial study, of course. Nevertheless, they do clearly point to an issue in the Irish context which will surely ring bells for those with a Scottish Gaelic interest, for whom a similar contrast appears evident, and they prompt an important question. In a contact situation, what are the implications for the minoritised language of changing its structures, and adopting more and more features of the omnipresent majority one? It’s an easier question to pose than to tackle, but there are increasing signs that people involved in Gaelic medium education are questioning the nature of the language that their learners are producing. For all its sociolinguistic naivety, the phrase “’S fheàrr Gàidhlig bhriste na Gàidhlig sa chiste” (“Better broken Gaelic than buried Gaelic”) does roll off the tongue relatively easily as a soundbite slogan, but its immediately resonant appeal appears to diminish markedly in the face of the actual language practice that results from many current efforts to instil Gaelic competence amongst those learning it as a second language.

In contrast to the uncritical approach to “Gàidhlig bhriste” displayed by some self-assertive Gaelic learning enthusiasts, Caribbean language proponents have clearly rejected the “broken English/French” title, instead staking claims for the creation of new independent languages. Is that a route Gaelic revitalisationists might wish to tread? If the answer is “yes”, a second question follows. If not “Gaelic Creole” (“Cridheol”?) what name should be given to this new language? Conversely, if “no” – say because continuing adherence to recommended retro-vernacular standards is indeed preferred – what needs to be done differently to current approaches, so that the title “Gaelic” retains its standard meaning?

(In passing, if the Gaelic Creole claim is to be advanced, then Scottish speakers may wish to get in there quickly, before the Irish stake prior ownership! See the final question and answer in this recorded talk, which formed the basis for the Ó Broin chapter…)

Whatever the answer to those questions, it seems clear that the continued use over protracted time of different languages alongside each other ultimately demands some form of stable accommodation between them. Island Voices started out as a bilingual project, and has since become manifestly multilingual. From that point of view, we’re just delighted to have added further to our Jamaican Selection, and created a new Haitian Creole Selection, to sit amicably alongside our still growing video archive of mostly retro-vernacular 21^st Century Gaelic – and many Other Tongues too!

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Seán Ó Con Ceanainn (2)

Le Gordon Wells

Cur síos ag Seán Ó Con Ceanainn, as an Móinteach, Baile Chláir na Gaillimhe, ar an iománaíocht (na camógaí) agus ar an bpeil; ar bazaar na Faiche Móire an áit a casadh a bhean chéile air aimsir rástaí na Gaillimhe; a gcéad ghluaisteán, Baby Austin, i 1956, agus haicní spárálach a gcomharsan; sábháilt agus díol na móna; an saol pósta buil a mhuintir i gcomparáid le saol an lae inniu; damhsaíochaí, bannaí, ceol, agus a athair ag píobaireacht i Mionlach mar ar casadh a bhean air (máthair Sheáin); tithí ósta; saothrú páí agus ganntanas airgid; beatha; agus siopaí.

(Seán Concanonn from Montiagh (South), Claregalway, Co. Galway, discusses: hurling and football; Eyre Square bazaar, where he first met his wife, during the Galway Races; their first car, a Baby Austin, in 1956, and their neighbours’ economic hackney; saving and selling turf; married life sharing the family home in comparison to today; dances; bands, music, and how his father met his own wife while piping in Menlough; public houses; working wages and the scarcity of money; food; and shops.)

Part of the Taisce Bheo na nGael project in which the UHI Language Sciences Institute, together with Irish partners, record the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. Happy to host the videos on our YouTube channel!

A Word-linked transcript is available here (including an internal link back to Part 1 also): https://multidict.net/cs/12529

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Guth Thormoid: Norman’s Voice

Le Gordon Wells

The Island Voices project is featured in the new book “Foundational approaches to Celtic Linguistics“, through a chapter on the late Norman Maclean by Gordon Wells. This volume is a first venture into current issues in Celtic linguistics for the free open access academic publisher, Language Science Press.

From the editors’ preface:

Gordon Wells’ chapter (Guth Thormoid: The “Island voice” of Norman MacLean) provides a case study that highlights the exceptional value of working closely with an experienced native speaker to not only provide linguistic data but to document vanishing cultures and values also impacted with language loss.

And here’s Gordon’s abstract:

This chapter samples and contextualises some of the multi-faceted Gaelic contributions by the multi-talented creative icon, Norman Maclean, to the Guthan nan Eilean ‘Island Voices’ online language capture and curation project. These include, in particular, Norman’s final Saoghal Thormoid ‘Norman’s World’ series of videoed conversations, recorded in April 2016 in which he spoke reflectively of his memories and impressions of bilingual life in Glasgow and the Hebrides from the middle of the Twentieth Century onwards. In addition to offering a vivid first-person voiced and experiential account of Gaelic life over a tumultuous period for the language, the Island Voices adherence to basic linguistic principles pays dividends in relation to some initially unpredicted spin-off applications, with potential for further development.

We’re delighted to see this account of our work with Norman placed online for unrestricted reading by anyone who may take an interest, and we’re very grateful to Andrew Carnie and the whole editorial team at the University of Arizona who made that possible. Mòran taing dhuibh uile!

Online publication also means, of course, that live links can be incorporated in the text, so that readers can quickly and easily sample the recordings referred to at the click of a mouse. This is no small consideration for a primarily speech-oriented project like Guthan nan Eilean!

You can freely find the article at this DOI: https://zenodo.org/records/15654881

The full Saoghal Thormoid transcripts, with description of method and a foreword by Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin are available in PDF format from the Island Voices Research/Reports page.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Ifor ap Glyn: Welshman from London

Le Gordon Wells

Select any video clip in this landscape format, or use the phone-friendly portrait layout.

Ifor ap Glyn, National Poet of Wales 2016-2022, has become the latest contributor to the Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean Extensions project supported by CIALL. We first crossed paths when Ifor supplied the Welsh translation of our “Jamaican in Wales” documentary about Audrey West, and again when recording our “Gael in Edinburgh” videos with Martin MacIntyre, with whom Ifor had already worked as well. So, from these beginnings it was a natural progression to ask if he’d like to do a “Welshman from London” collection in similar style, and we’re delighted he agreed, also bringing with him his extensive broadcasting experience!

As with the other writers in this series, we have recordings from Ifor in three different genres, all quickly accessible via these landscape or portrait posters. Naturally, we have samples of his verse (including his Welsh rendition of one of Martin’s poems from A’ Ruith Eadar Dà Dhràgon). He has also created a short documentary with an accompanying scripted narration in both Welsh and English, which we have had additionally translated into various other languages, including Gaelic, in the now customary Island Voices fashion. In addition, he has recorded in free conversational style some of his own thoughts and memories about growing up in London and settling in Wales, paying particular attention to some of the linguistic aspects of that life journey.

We present this conversational monologue in two ways. Firstly, fluent Welsh speakers may choose to view the full version in unaided monolingual style, with timed chapter headings in the YouTube description should they wish to focus on particular topics that Ifor discusses. We also offer the same monologue in short sections with various comprehension aids for the benefit of learners or non-speakers of Welsh. This is in similar manner to our Shortcuts approach to Gaelic, with the exception that we also tag on full written translations into English, alongside subtitling and transcription options.

The monologue is broken up as follows:

Part 1: What was it like to be raised as a Welsh speaker in London?

Ifor points out that there can be many different experiences of being raised with Welsh even in Wales, where different areas have different densities of speakers. The big difference with London would be in the potential for Welsh language education anywhere in Wales, and the chance to use the language outside the family. In London, Welsh community life outside the home was centred on three different institutions: the social club, the rugby club, and the chapels. Welsh wasn’t necessarily heard much in these contexts, with even the chapels being weaker in maintaining the language than might be expected.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 2: How then was language passed on, in the Welsh-speaking society of London when you were young?

While there were various patterns of language maintenance amongst the London Welsh of Ifor’s own generation, as he illustrates with stories of his friends, the general picture was one of “slippage”. He also mentions the beneficial impact of the Welsh medium primary school in London which offers language support through various modes of delivery, although Ifor himself did not attend, perhaps because his parents were confident that they could maintain the language adequately in the home, as had been their own experience. Indeed, some of the best Welsh speakers of his own generation were not necessarily products of the school.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 3: How different were things for preceding generations in London?

Ifor points out that many Welsh-speaking Londoners of his parents’ generation had an exceptional experience of language transmission and maintenance through wartime evacuation as children to the homes of relations in Wales. However, this experience did not necessarily lead to them passing the Welsh language on to their own children in due course, and Ifor is grateful that his own parents bucked that trend. Welsh was used in his own home, though not exclusively, and Easter and summer holidays were always spent with his grandparents in Llanrwst, giving him a northwalian accent, whereas most London Welsh speakers had family connections in the west of the country. Ifor goes on to describe typical migration and occupation patterns amongst Welsh speakers of earlier generations.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 4: What’s the London Welsh community like today?

While no longer resident in London himself, Ifor detects some changes in the community patterns he experienced growing up in the city. Though migration to London is still an option for Welsh speakers, the advent of devolution of government to Wales has opened up more professional opportunities in Cardiff. He believes that growing acceptance of London’s multicultural nature has also resulted in a shift in thinking about home languages other than English. He’s thankful that Wales was easily reachable in his childhood, enabling him to experience extended use of the language beyond the home, unlike the case of some of his Asian friends. The restriction of the mother tongue to the home domain could obscure the level of bilingualism in the general population, even amongst schoolfriends, but he’s glad that there is now a wider acknowledgement of linguistic diversity in the community.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 5: Was it a big step to move back to Wales? How did that desire develop?

Ifor describes his teenage awakening of interest in Welsh, a language he’d always spoken but not learned how to write until deciding to study it for O level, and then A level after leaving school, as a university entry requirement to study Welsh and Welsh history in Wales. He then married and settled down, eventually in Caernarfon, the town with the highest density in the world (nearly 90%) of Welsh speakers. He reiterates that the density of Welsh speakers varies across the country, noting an emergent demographic challenge in the language’s stronghold areas, ironically just as legal status and rights are being underlined. Nevertheless he defines himself as optimistic, taking some comfort in historic migration patterns which ended with strong identification with Welshness among previous incomer movements, while acknowledging the importance of supportive popular will to recreate a contemporary Welsh identity.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 6: How do the Welsh and English languages co-exist in Wales?

While it’s possible in a place like Caernarfon to live a nearly monolingual life through Welsh, almost like the way many people throughout the UK, and even in Wales, inhabit an English-only universe, Ifor discusses the different perspectives on languages that living bilingually entails. For Welsh speakers, this includes simultaneously looking at English in at least three different ways: English as a Welsh language, English as an international language, and English as an oppressive imperial language. He also acknowledges that in other parts of the world English may be viewed in some contexts as a language of liberation. These sometimes conflicting conceptions serve to counter any monolithic interpretation of language use and identity. This understanding may be worth sharing across the rest of the UK.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Part 7: Which Welsh poetic forms appeal to you most?

To finish, Ifor discusses what drew him to Welsh poetry in particular, noting first a strong social, even political, context to its creation and performance, for example to mark significant life occasions, such as births or deaths. This association has long historical roots, but is still vibrant and extends to poetry’s place in contemporary entertainment through radio competitions and tours. He quickly outlines different genres of Welsh poetry and identifies his own generally preferred style. He finishes by introducing the figure of Taliesin as both historical poet and mythological character with shape-shifting powers. He finds a powerful symbolism in this tale of transformation as it represents the diversity of Welsh experience through history, and expresses the hope for its successful continuation.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Jimí agus Pádraig updated

Le Gordon Wells

In the continuing collaboration through CIALL with Irish partners on Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal/Taisce Bheo na nGael we’re delighted to host two more recordings (Parts 3 and 4) of Jimí Chearra and Pádraig Chearra, in addition to those already posted. It’s a project which records the natural speech of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques. In an additional challenge for Scottish Gaelic speakers, the descriptions below are offered in Irish! (Clilstore transcriptions are also available via the above link.)

Part 3: Bainfidh na scéilíní grinn sa mír seo ag Jimí Chearra agus a mhac Pádraig gáirí amach: filleadh gan brabach ó Bhroomielaw na hAlban; ”gur olc an greim é greim baba” (ón Eachréidh); ”go n athródh Dia nó an deabhal” an aimsir (ón Eachréidh); postmortem ar asal na dtincéaraí; ”minic a bhí páidrín fada ag rógaire maith”; ionadh an Árainnigh a chonaic rothar; béadán Gaeilge ag seanmhná; tuthógaí go ”tuffin”’ an Bhéarla éigeantaigh; kick out a bhris clog sa scoil; ”Dismiss the case” an asail óig gan mhúnadh; telegram barrúil sreang-Bhéarla agus an posta gallda. Trácht freisin ar aontaí; ar shearrach á chloisteáil beo sula rugadh marbh é; athrúintí sa saol, borradh faoin mBéarla san áireamh.

Part 4: Scéalta áitiúla, an greann agus an ghruaim, sa mír seo ag Jimí Chearra agus a mhac Pádraig. Chaill bean a folt breá gruaige de bharr masla a chaith sí le fear siúil. Tháinig díleámh ar na Blácaigh, tiarnaí talúna, tar éis mhallacht an tsagairt i litir na n iomad clúdach. Cur síos fileata agus greannmhar ar asal, agus ar chaora strae a bhí ag Marcas Ó Céide. Rannscéal faoi phóitire a chuir luach bainbh faoin muineál i dteach an óil agus a d’éirigh as ansin. Seanchas eile ar an ól agus ar éagóir a rinneadh ar Pheadar Chois Fharraige, údar an leabhair Peadar Chois Fhairrge a chuir Seán Mac Giollarnáth, aturnae, giúistís agus athbheochantóir, in eagar. Diarmaidín Thomáis Thaidhg a dúirt gurbh é an milleán is mó a bhí ar an mBéarla aige nár airigh sé ariamh ach ag chuile bhacach é! Plé ar an Marainn Phádraig. Ag cuir láí go Beaty.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Gaelic Shorts

Le Gordon Wells

While recording natural conversational speech of fluent Gaelic speakers over the past couple of years, we have taken to also “scaffolding” these clips for the benefit of any Gaelic learners or non-speakers who wish to follow them as well. We now have a new “Shortcuts” page where these clips are collected together for ease of access!

How and why have we done this?

There is obviously a lot of talk about AI (Artificial Intelligence) these days, with plenty of excitement as well as concern over what the future holds for computer-assisted construction and deployment of “Large Language Models” (LLMs) etc, and where they might leave lesser-used languages like Gaelic. That said, the term “AI” itself lacks clear definition, and we have certainly been happy to use new technology to help capture and curate Gaelic and other languages since the very beginning of Island Voices, back in 2005!

Perhaps the most obvious example of this is our default construction of Clilstore transcripts for most of the recordings we make. Originally designed as a language learning aid (principally through its built-in dictionary look-up facility), Clilstore has proved equally valuable simply as an online platform for combining video recordings of authentic speech with verbatim transcripts. On our new “Shortcuts” page all the clips presented on YouTube are also made available on Clilstore. This will enable learners of Gaelic to match up the spoken and written word as they listen and read, and quickly check any unfamiliar vocabulary for translated meaning in an online dictionary. (Learners who find the real-time speed of fluent Gaelic speech challenging should also note the YouTube facility to slow video playback down without altering the pitch of the voice.)

Whether or not you consider Clilstore to be an example of AI, there is no doubting its place in automatic translation tools such as Google Translate. And we’ve been happy to incorporate that facility for the benefit of non-speakers of Gaelic when taking advantage of the Closed Caption (CC subtitling) option that YouTube offers. You can choose to either activate the CC button on our videos or leave it off. If you do use it, the subtitles will appear in Gaelic by default – a handy aid in itself for some – but you can also choose to get them auto-translated into other languages, including English. The results are not perfect – the software still has difficulty distinguishing between crofts and harps! – but it will give a pretty decent overall impression of the content of discussion.

As we know, there are plenty of non-speakers of Gaelic resident in the remaining Gaelic communities who are still interested in knowing what their neighbours, friends, or indeed other family members like to talk about. This kind of technology hints at new open access paths to community knowledge and local history without the need for Gaelic speakers to switch to their other language in order to pass on their own thoughts and feelings.

There’s a mix of speakers in the featured recordings. A good half have spoken Gaelic as their first language all their lives. Others learnt it after arriving in the Hebrides as young children, whether returning with family or being adopted into the community. And a couple of others, while also having a close family connection to the language, have taken the harder route to fluency, through active study as second language learners. In all cases we hope you will find they have interesting stories to tell!

You can find this shortcuts material here. Take a look and share with like-minded friends!

We are indebted to the UHI Language Sciences Institute’s CIALL project for its support over the last couple of years in enabling its production.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean