Urban minority language communities are becoming an increasing significant component of many minoritized languages across Europe, particularly regarding new speaker communities (O'Rourke and Ramallo 2013; Costa 2015), yet central language planning often fails to accommodate these speakers who often comprise of spread-out speaker networks rather than homogenous language communities.

GIS mapping has been used in research to visualise language use, yet it has rarely been used to visualise language use at a street level or how spaces themselves influence bilinguals’ language choice.

In this project will build on our understanding of Gaelic language use in Glasgow we have gained from these previous projects including the recent Gaelic in Glasgow Survey which was launched in collaboration with Glasgow City Council . Our primary research aims are to study how and where the language is spoken in Glasgow and whether there are currently unknown ‘hotspots’ within the city where Gaelic is spoken more often.

The project is part of a larger Leverhulme research project on minority language revitalisation in the 21st century and has received funding and support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig.