Research

Digitising Gaelic language and culture: Professor Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh

Issued: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:16:00 BST

Roibeard O MaolalaighCeltic and Gaelic studies researchers are looking to the future by digitising archives that will bring the Gaelic language, culture and history to a modern audience.

‘The primary goal of my research is to shed light on Gaelic language and culture, and to share that with the public,’ says Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, Professor of Gaelic at the University. ‘There is a huge amount to be done. Very often you find yourself dealing with evidence and materials that have never been looked at in depth, so it’s very exciting; you are blazing a pioneering trail.’

Professor Ó Maolalaigh is the director of the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic, established in 2006 to digitise the extensive archive generated by a project, ‘The Historical Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic’, which aimed to produce a comprehensive historical dictionary of Scottish Gaelic based on printed and unpublished sources.

‘One of the attractions of coming to Glasgow was the archive that had been built, and the possibilities of creating a web resource so that people could access the information,’ explains Professor Ó Maolalaigh. The resources include extensive fieldwork records, manuscripts and sound recordings from throughout Scotland and Canada.

Celtic and Gaelic studies are interdisciplinary by nature, and include languages, archaeology, medieval studies, and literature. ‘Scottish Gaelic is so interesting linguistically, and it has powerful and absorbing literature,’ says Professor Ó Maolalaigh. ‘Glasgow University is a very attractive place to work in this field. We’re on the doorstop of the Highlands with easy access to Gaelic speakers, and Glasgow has the greatest concentration of Gaelic speakers in Scotland. Having good relations with the Gaelic community and giving back to that community is very important.’

Professor Ó Maolalaigh is also analysing linguistic variation and the way in which different dialects interact with one another to create new forms of language. He set up the Gaelic Language Initiative in 2005, which has been highly successful in raising the profile of the Gaelic language in the University.

‘The research environment here is very strong,’ he says. ‘We have sixteen PhD students and nine Masters by research. We not only offer PhD scholarships but also teaching assistantships, so our postgraduates also have the opportunity to teach.’ Previous students have gone on to research and teaching, to work in museums and the cultural sector, and into broadcasting.

Professor Ó Maolalaigh’s advice to prospective students is to visit the department. ‘Come and see us,’ he says. ‘At the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies we have the strongest concentration of world leading scholars in the field. We have an open door policy, so get in touch as soon as possible.’

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