Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, Àrd-Ollamh Rannsachaidh na Gàidhlig, speaks on the challenges facing minority indigenous languages with a focus on Gaeilge 7 Gàidhlig.
In this inaugural professorial lecture, Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin offers a reappraisal of the minority language condition from the joint perspective of local and global challenges. He examines how modernity has influenced our contemporary world in contradictory ways. On the one hand, it has ushered in enormous socio-cultural change which has manifested itself chiefly as metropolitan diversity. On the other hand, this trajectory of change has also witnessed the emergence of a destabilising dynamic which now threatens the survival of the minority language groups constituting much of the world’s cultural diversity.
In the context of contemporary scholarship on the Celtic languages, he questions whether the current academic configuration of Celtic Studies, an exploration of past cultural heritage wedded to utopian cosmopolitan sociolinguistics, offers the most suitable intellectual basis for current challenges. Conchúr sets out the need for a different response to current circumstances and outlines an alternative approach to addressing the challenges of the minority language condition.
Ath-sgrùdadh air ar Suidheachadh: Na Mion-chànanan ann an Nua-aimsireachd an t-Saoghail Mhòir
Anns an òraid thighinn an dreuchd seo, tha An t-Àrd-ollamh Conchúr Ó Giollagáin ag ath-sgrùdadh suidheachadh buidhnean mion-chànanan bho thaobh dùbhlanan ionadail is eadar-nàiseanta. Tha e a’ sgrùdadh mar a tha buaidhean nua-aimsireachd tric a’ dol an aghaidh a-chèile ann an saoghal an là an-diugh. Tha nua-aimsireachd air atharrachadh mòr sòisio-chultarail a thoirt a-steach, a tha air tighinn am follais an lùib iomadachd a’ bhaile mhòir. Ach air an dàrna làimh, tha cunnartan na cois mu choinneimh mairsinneachd nam buidhnean mion-chànanan, a dh’fhaodadh iomadachd chultarail an t-saoghail a lughdachadh.
Ann an co-theacsa sgoilearachd nan cànanan Ceilteach san latha an-diugh, tha e a’ cur na ceist an e Rannsachadh Ceilteach mar a tha e, a bhios a’ sgrùdadh dualchais chultarail ann an com-pàirteachas le sòisio-cànanachas ro-dhòchasach a’ bhaile mhòir, a’ bhun-stèidh innleachdail as fhreagarraiche airson nan dùbhlanan a tha romhainn. Tha Conchúr a’ mìneachadh gur e fuasgladh eile air an t-suidheachadh a tha a dhìth agus a’ toirt tuairisgeul seachad air ciamar a thèid dùbhlanan staid nam mion-chànanan a fhreagairt.
