Course Catalogue

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This course focusses on the Gaelic place-names of Scotland: in particular, oral forms of names in recordings held in the School of Scottish Studies Archives. The course is delivered through the medium of Gaelic. You will engage with the current National Gaelic Language Plan, the most important strategy document in the contemporary Gaelic world, with a view to addressing pressing contemporary challenges facing Gaelic language and culture: during and beyond your programme of studies. This course is one of two Honours-level Onomastics courses convened by staff in Celtic & Gaelic, the other being Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (CELTCIV4016) which is delivered through the medium of English and focusses on Gaelic place-names alongside other related Celtic languages productive of Scottish place-names.

Two one-hour on-campus sessions per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus, except weeks 3 and 4 during which there will instead be one three-hour class and one one-hour class. In total, eight hours of lectures, ten hours of practical classes/ workhops and two hours of fieldwork. This is one of the Honours options in Celtic and Gaelic and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Gaelic and Celtic Studies.

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Summative Assessment 1: Practical skills assessment (mapmaking); 40% of overall grade

Summative Assessment 2: Written assignment; 60% of overall grade

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Provide advanced Gaelic-speakers with the knowledge and skills to analyse and present anew oral Gaelic-language material relating to the Gaelic place-names of Scotland due to the need to revitalise regional Gaelic language and culture but the shortage of graduates with the skills to analyse such material

■ Enable students to present data helping to address pressing contemporary challenges such as: language shift; dialect revitalisation; loss of local cultural heritage; ecological and environmental sustainability; sustainable use and management of land, coast and sea

■ Provide students with an opportunity to develop advanced Gaelic language skills, particularly in relation to regional dialects, and thus help students achieve aims and ILOs of their wider programme of studies.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Transcribe Gaelic place-name forms from audio recordings using modern Gaelic orthographical conventions

■ Present accurate, geographically referenced namescapes from audio recordings on a map

■ Evaluate the significance of presenting geographically referenced namescapes from audio recordings in relation to pressing contemporary challenges facing Gaelic language and culture and Gaelic-speaking communities

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.