An exploration of the language choices of Scottish Gaelic social media content creators

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Language Ideologies and Identity Within and Beyond Digital Landscapes

Proposal

Introduction
The objective of the proposed study is to explore the perceptions of Scottish Gaelic social media content creators with regard to language revitalization. Gaelic is an endangered language with fewer than 60,000 speakers. Though the language has seen a recent uptick in new speakers and learners, there has been a steep decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in the Gàidhealtachd (i.e., the Gaelic heartland). While many endangered language speakers have taken to social media to encourage the use of these languages in the modern world, there is limited research regarding the goals and effects of these content creators. The proposed phenomenological study will use in-depth interviews with various Gaelic-speaking content creators to better understand how and why they use social media. The questions guiding this study are as follows:
1. How do Gaelic speakers choose the content they will post in?
2. What informs their language choices for the content they produce?

Conceptual Framework
Fishman’s (1991) seminal work outlines an 8-point scale known as the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS) that categorizes the vitality of a language. This scale moves from stage 8, in which the language is only spoken in isolated incidents by older people, to stage 1, in which the language is used in various higher educational, career, and government settings. Fishman emphasizes, inter alia, the need for intergenerational transmission and creating opportunities for using the language across multiple domains. Other works have expanded upon Fishman’s (1991) GIDS; Crystal (2000), for example, posits 6 factors common among successful language maintenance projects and discusses the importance of using languages in digital spaces.

Meighan (2019; 2022) explains the evolution of technology and how relational technology can be used for Indigenous language revitalization (ILR). For example, technology use has shifted from digital information (e.g., cell phones, DVDs) to digital negotiation (e.g., social media, smart phones), to digital creation (e.g., virtual reality) to digital simulation (e.g., artificial intelligence). In each stage, there have been opportunities for disseminating and engaging with endangered Indigenous languages.

Belmar and Glass (2019) discuss the controversial role of translanguaging (i.e., blurring the lines between languages) in social media spaces particularly when dealing with endangered languages. While it can be a tool for social justice (e.g., allowing particularly learners opportunities to express hybridity of identity), it has also been perceived as a threat as the legitimizing the majority language may eventually lead to its use exclusively (e.g., Gorter & Cenoz, 2017).

Literature Review
Several studies have explored the use of endangered languages in digital spaces. McCall Laggart (2008) studied the early role of digital spaces in the revitalization of Gaelic. While digital spaces were used for reference (e.g., looking up words and grammar points), their potential for direct education and content creation had not yet been realized. Over the past decade and a half, content creation by endangered language communities has increased greatly. Cunliffe’s (2024) study conducted an analysis of 200 Welsh videos on TikTok, demonstrating complex content that mixes both Welsh and English in both the videos and the text-based comment sections. Stern (2016) found that Balinese had flourished in the Facebook community as a direct result of government censorship, peer pressure, and peer modeling. Still none of these studies have explicitly explored the perceptions and motivations of content creators.

Methodology
This current study employed a phenomenological approach. Tracy (2020) explains that phenomenology “does not specify or closely delineate what it expects to find in the study” (p. 65). Rather, as Merleu-Ponty (1962) explains, the experience of phenomena is shaped by a person’s context, culture, and personal experience and is therefore subjective. The goal of this current study is to understand the language and content choices that Scottish Gaelic social media content creators make with regard to their posts. The researcher began by following various Scottish Gaelic content creators on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) and engaging with their content. Three participants were then selected using maximum variation sampling, a type of purposive sampling that seeks to consult a wide range of perspectives in order to view a phenomenon from various angles. The participants selected for the study included Moira, a Gen X actress, Coinneach, a Millennial television producer, and Eilidh, a Gen Z Gaelic Medium Education teacher. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol that lasted about 90 minutes each. The interviews were then coded for themes.

Findings
While all three participants showed deep concern for the language’s vitality and hoped to use social media as a means of revitalizing the language, their motivations and content varied widely. Moira, for example, was more likely to vary between Gaelic and English in her post “depending on [her] mood or what language [she was] thinking in at the moment.” She expressed a desire to show her audience authenticity – that bilingual content creators can switch languages and identities when they want. Eilidh, the Gen Z participant viewed the platform more as a tool for helping learners. She sought to help learners consume Gaelic without being “utterly lost.” For example, she often makes bilingual posts; however, the English would be more of a summary rather than a direct translation. Coinneach, like Moira varied his posts, sometimes using only Gaelic, sometimes using only English, and sometimes mixing the two, depending on his perceived audience and his mood.

Conclusions and Recommendations
These findings show variation in the goals and purposes of content creators. A number of factors might play into this, including their careers, their ages, their identities, and their perceived audiences. More research is needed to understand the fluidity of identity of bilingual content creators and how they perceive their audiences.

Author

• John M Knipe, Converse University