Speech and writing in Scottish Gaelic : a study of register variation in an endangered language
This is the first in-depth, quantitative study of register variation in Scottish Gaelic (ScG), an endangered Celtic language. Previous work on the subject has been mainly anecdotal in nature or a by-product of other lines of investigation. A recent diachronic study on Gaelic ânews-speakâ (Lamb 1999) found it impossible to fully uncover the characteristics of the register without benchmark data on the languageâs overall register range and morphosyntactic variation. This provided the impetus for the current study, which compares eight varieties of spoken and written ScG. An 81,000 word computerised corpus of Gaelic texts was compiled and tagged for a wide range of linguistic features sensitive to register differences. The tagging process was informed by a new descriptive grammar of ScG, which is included as an appendix. The registers were compared on the basis of the distributions of these features utilising several inferential statistical tests (e.g. Analysis of Variance). The study focuses on three broad areas of linguistic variation: syntax and information structure; morphology; and NP grammar and complexity. Robust differences were found between most of the register types in the corpus. In particular,
Lamb, William E.
Speech and writing in Scottish Gaelic : a study of register variation in an endangered language. This is the first in-depth, quantitative study of register variation in Scottish Gaelic (ScG), an endangered Celtic language. Previous work on the subject has been mainly anecdotal in nature or a by-product of other lines of investigation. A recent diachronic study on Gaelic ânews-speakâ (Lamb 1999) found it impossible to fully uncover the characteristics of the register without benchmark data on the languageâs overall register range and morphosyntactic variation. This provided the impetus for the current study, which compares eight varieties of spoken and written ScG. An 81,000 word computerised corpus of Gaelic texts was compiled and tagged for a wide range of linguistic features sensitive to register differences. The tagging process was informed by a new descriptive grammar of ScG, which is included as an appendix. The registers were compared on the basis of the distributions of these features utilising several inferential statistical tests (e.g. Analysis of Variance). The study focuses on three broad areas of linguistic variation: syntax and information structure; morphology; and NP grammar and complexity. Robust differences were found between most of the register types in the corpus. In particular,
speech_write scottish_gaelic study register variation endanger language first_in_depth quantitative_study register variation scottish_gaelic endanger celtic language previous_work subject mainly anecdotal nature product line investigation recent diachronic_study gaelic news speak find impossible fully uncover characteristic register without benchmark data language overall register range morphosyntactic variation provide impetus current_study compare variety speak_write word computerise corpus gaelic text compile tag wide_range linguistic_feature sensitive register difference tag process inform new descriptive_grammar include appendix register compare basis distribution feature utilising several inferential statistical test analysis variance study_focus three_broad area linguistic_variation syntax information_structure morphology grammar complexity robust difference_find register types corpus particular