Over 60 Gaelic Speakers for Bilingual Study

It has long been thought that being bilingual enhances and nurtures the brain. Now scientists are to lead a study of older speakers of Gaelic living on the islands of Lewis and Harris to find more data confirming that being bilingual keeps the brain in good form in later life.

The scientists thought that this group of people won't be around forever and in a few decades such bilingualism would be a thing of the past.

Consequently, the study is to be undertaken by researchers at the University of Abertay in Dundee.

Leader of the study psychologist Neil Kirk said: "It is critical that this research is done soon because we need to study people who learnt Gaelic in the traditional way, passed down orally from their families and communities. As digital technologies are increasingly used to learn and communicate, people are less likely to learn and use Gaelic in this way and so if we don't do this research now, we may never be able to truly answer this question."

Mr Kirk added that Scotland was particularly rich in dialects and bilingualism with many having a unique dialect, and that his research team intend to compare the data gained from the study with research drawn from all over the world.

Gaelic speakers are invited to contact Mr Kirk at gaelic@abertay.ac.uk .

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