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Emily Mcewan-Fujita
This paper describes the influence of neoliberal ideologies and practices of governance on minority-language planning in Scotland. It focuses on the development practices of Gaelic-language planning through the example of a particular language development program called the “Gaelic in the Community Scheme.” The Scheme was funded with a combination of European Union Structural Funds and Scottish public economic development grants, and its purpose was to disburse grants to voluntary community groups in order to help create infrastructure for “Gaelic activities.” Based on field research conducted in 1999–2000, I describe three aspects of the Scheme that demonstrate how neoliberal economic development practices can negatively impact Gaelic-language planning, even as they seem to facilitate the creation of language-planning programs. The first aspect is the use of both English and Gaelic registers of “development discourse,” which reinforces Gaelic-English diglossia in Gaelic-speaking areas. The second is the problem of unexamined conceptions of “community,” which can reduce the number of opportunities for Gaelic-English bilinguals to speak Gaelic. The third aspect is the quantifiable and economistic nature of the criteria used to assess the success or failure of the Scheme, which do not take into account the actual linguistic behavior of participants. These aspects of the Scheme illustrate how language planning based on sociolinguistic principles has been marginalized from neoliberally influenced Gaelic-language planning.
