from Part IV - Acquisition of Morphology and Syntax
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 July 2025
The acquisition of a minority language undergoing revitalisation through education poses unique questions about the individual and environmental factors that modulate language development. Unlike monolingual acquisition, the acquisition of a minority heritage language such as Scottish Gaelic (Gaelic hereafter) always occurs in a bilingual, if not multilingual, context. Gaelic speakers are bilingual speakers whose proficiency in the two languages may differ as a function of exposure to the minority language, the languages spoken in the home and in early childhood, as well as the opportunity to use Gaelic outside the school context. This leads to great variability in the Gaelic language outcomes observed in the acquisition of Gaelic. In this chapter, we provide an overview of existing studies on the acquisition of Gaelic morphosyntax in children. We highlight the gaps in the literature and we identify the areas where research is yet to be carried out. We conclude by reviewing reasons why the study of Gaelic can inform us about (bilingual) language development more broadly.
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