Lecture to explore the challenges faced by minority languages

An expert on minority languages will present a free lecture at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI next month. Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, Gaelic Research Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands, will explore the local and global challenges faced by minority languages. He will discuss how features of modern life are threatening the survival of minority language groups and will argue that a new approach is required to address the challenges they face.

Professor Ó Giollagáin explains: “Much of the current debate on minority language diversity is irrelevant and insincere. We need to set out a clear diagnosis of what is happening to Gaelic and to other minority languages as a first step to proposing alternative approaches to our current condition. If we are to give communities hope, we need to set out a vision and a strategy that people can believe in.”

Professor Ó Giollagáin’s inaugural professorial lecture ‘Rethinking Our Condition: Language Minorities in Globalised Modernity’ will take place from 5.15pm to 7.15pm on Tuesday 19 April at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI on Skye.  The lecture will be presented in a bilingual Gaelic/English format and facilities will be available for those wishing to hear an English interpretation of the Gaelic sections of the lecture. The event will be filmed and will be made available shortly afterwards on a variety of platforms. To find out more about the lecture or book your free place, email events@uhi.ac.uk or visit www.uhi.ac.uk