The concept of the ‘new speaker’ has gained currency in the sociolinguistics of minority languages in the past decade, referring to individuals who have acquired an additional language outside of the home and who make frequent use of it in the course of their daily lives. Policymakers and language advocates in both Scotland and Canada make frequent reference to the role that new speakers may play in the future of the Gaelic language on both sides of the Atlantic, and Gaelic language teaching of various kinds has been prioritised by policymakers as a mechanism for revitalising the language. This article examines reflexes of this policy in the two countries, juxtaposing the ongoing fragility of Gaelic communities with new speaker discourses around heritage, identity, and language learning motivations. In particular, I consider Nova Scotian new speakers’ sense of identity as ‘Gaels’, an ethnonym largely avoided or problematised by Scottish new speakers. (Ethnolinguistic identity, heritage, language revitalisation, new speakers)*

中文翻译：

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盖尔语遗产的主宰和本质主义观点：新斯科舍省和苏格兰的新演讲者、语言政策和文化认同

在过去的十年中，“新说话者”的概念在少数民族语言的社会语言学中流行起来，指的是那些在家庭之外获得了另一种语言并在日常生活中经常使用它的人。苏格兰和加拿大的政策制定者和语言倡导者经常提到新的使用者在大西洋两岸盖尔语的未来可能发挥的作用，各种盖尔语教学已被政策制定者优先考虑作为一种机制振兴语言。本文考察了两国对该政策的反应，将盖尔社区持续的脆弱性与围绕遗产、身份和语言学习动机的新演讲者话语并列。特别是，我认为新斯科舍语新演讲者的身份认同感是“盖尔人”，这是一个在很大程度上被苏格兰新演讲者回避或质疑的民族名称。（民族语言认同、遗产、语言复兴、新演讲者）*