Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora
"It's part of me, Scotland. I'm still immersed in it even though I am not there." -- Irvine Welsh (1958 - ), Scots novelist, short story writer, playwright, author of Trainspotting among many other works).
All my life I have been interested in the history of Scotland and the profound consequences of the Scottish diaspora throughout the world. Scotland and the Scots are appealing in so many ways -- the beauty of the land- and seascapes, the food and drink, the extraordinarily resourceful and creative people, the dramatic history from antiquity to the present, the great literature and history and philosophy and religion. The subjects are themselves enough to inspire writing, but there is great satisfaction in the fact that the Scots have lived up to the subjects on their own writ.
Over many years I have researched the history of Cumberland Valley, and I have often talked about the Scots, the Scots-Irish, and the settlement of this part of the New World by these willing and not-so-willing exiles. In recognition of the history and significance of the Scots to our area, I fly the Saltire and carry these books and cds. I am always on the lookout for more.
P.S. Due to listing limitations, I have moved Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, two fine writers of the Scots Noir movement, over to our International Mystery page.
A truly brilliant book on what - until now - has been a difficult topic for learners and teachers alike. Michael Bauer has taken what is a very complex subject - the pronunciation of Scottish Gaelic - and presented it in a lively, witty and informative way. With this authoritative book, even those with little or no knowledge of concepts such as the Phonetic Alphabet will discover exactly why the sounds work the way they do. It will help learners unlock that elusive door to understanding and speaking the language well. And it will be invaluable for Gaelic teachers who have become accustomed to a feeling of dread in response to that inevitable question regarding some matter of pronunciation - "But why?" Ishbel Murray, Gaelic Immersion Course Teacher, Stow College Glasgow
Table of Contents:
I Foreword
II Structure of the book
III Learning a language
IV Why is pronunciation more important for Gaelic learners?
V The Gaelic Granny Syndrome
VI Dialect or standard?
VII Style? What style?
VIII The transcription system
IX Letter or sound?
X Still 'all sound same'?
XI Unit structure
XII Time to loosen up! 1 The vowels or Tongue Twisters Part 1 2 The consonants 3 More exercises 4 Phonology or how to put all these sounds together 5 The Gaelic writing system 6 The last word
I Appendix I - The Wordlist II Appendix II - Conversion charts III Appendix III - Key to the exercises IV Appendix IV - The Guide to Reading Gaelic V Bibliography VI About the author
This book tackles the thorny issue of Scottish Gaelic pronunciation in an engaging and clear manner without loosing track of the bigger picture and the fine detail. It was written with three main reader groups in mind:
- Adult learners of Gaelic (from total beginner up to highly advanced learners who want to improve their pronunciation and comprehension skills)
- Teachers and tutors of Gaelic who wish to become more effective in teaching pronunciation to adult learners of the language
- Native speakers of the language who wish to gain a better understanding of how their language works.
It assumes no prior knowledge and takes the reader on a complete journey through the marvels of the Gaelic sound system. It comes with over 120 sets of exercises, numerous sound files that can be accessed via the publisher's website, both technical and entertaining illustrations and a recipe for some Christmas baking.
No single solution will ever exist which will solve all the problems facing the learners of Gaelic when it comes to pronunciation but, without doubt, this book will help learners and teachers of the language take a large step forwards.