Stòras a’ Bhaile: Digital Archives and Community-based Language Renewal in the Cape Breton Gàidhealtachd

Abstract

This paper examines current initiatives aimed at increasing the number of Scottish Gaelic speakers in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, along with their knowledge of local forms of verbal art and oral tradition, through the use of online digital collections of archival recordings in communal immersion settings. These collections include heritage recordings as well as recent collections including The Nova Scotia Highland Village Museum-led project Cainnt Mo Mhàthar (‘My Mother Tongue’) www.cainntmomhathar.com, which recorded oral traditions and local knowledge from remaining first-language Scottish Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton communities with the purpose of employing this material in communal immersion settings through the Gàidhlig aig Baile (‘Gaelic at Home’) programme. This and other initiatives will be outlined in the presentation, and a brief discussion will be made concerning how this community-based model as practiced in the Nova Scotian Gàidhealtachd can be replicated globally by endangered language communities in comparable situations to facilitate in the renewal and maintenance of their intangible cultural heritage.