Guthan nan Eilean - Island Voices

A talk on Tormod as a Twitter thread. Norman had many voices, not all island ones. This looks at his Island Voices contributions, with an Applied/Sociolinguistic perspective. Can the output of an exceptional exponent throw light on everyday speech? #1 tinyurl.com/voxTM

"Online publication also means .. that live links can be incorporated.., so readers can quickly and easily sample the recordings referred to at the click of a mouse .. no small consideration for a primarily speech-oriented project like Guthan nan Eilean!" guthan.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/gut…

"The Island Voices documentary, in tracing the life stories of ILT workers and how their careers developed and diversified, reinforces the point that multilingualism is an established fact of UK life, and always has been." #NATECLA25 #IslandofFriends guthan.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/isl…

Video number 500(!) from Guthan nan Eilean introduces Ifor ap Glyn, National Poet of Wales 2016-2022. Martin MacIntyre narrates in Gaelic. Part of a suite of clips featuring poetry, documentary video, and unscripted conversation. #Gàidhlig #Cymraeg youtu.be/F_XocPUtEIY

Ifor ap Glyn, National Poet of Wales 2016-2022, has become the latest contributor to the Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean Extensions project supported by CIALL... Samples of poetic verse, documentary narration, and authentic speech. #Cymraeg #Welsh guthan.wordpress.com/2025/06/23/ifo…

Tha Oilthigh na Gàidhealtachd 's nan Eilean air a dhol an sàs ann am pròiseact ùr Eòrpach airson mion-chànanan agus cànanan imrichean a ghlèidheadh. bbc.in/3Zu8BQ5

"We’re delighted to host two more recordings (Parts 3 and 4) of Jimí Chearra and Pádraig Chearra. It’s a project which records the natural speech of Irish and Scottish #Gaelic speakers in their own communities with user-friendly equipment and techniques." guthan.wordpress.com/2025/06/09/jim…

Straight to the 40+ videos... "This page brings together a range of short #Gaelic conversational clips featuring additional support for learners or non-speakers." guthan.wordpress.com/shortcuts/

The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is offering a new, fully-funded PhD opportunity titled "Navigating Modernity: Strategies to protect local language, indigenous knowledge, and cultural biodiversity". #Gaelic #Gàidhlig uhi.ac.uk/en/research-en…

"While recording natural conversational speech of fluent #Gaelic speakers over the past couple of years, we have taken to also “scaffolding” these clips for the benefit of any Gaelic learners or non-speakers who wish to follow them as well..." #Gàidhlig guthan.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/gae…

Tommy has been the central figure in creating a series of clips looking at local houses and ruins, recording stories associated with them, and talking to some of the people with experience of living in taighean-tughaidh (thatched houses) in particular. guthan.wordpress.com/2025/05/21/cai…

We’re delighted to add another island language - Haitian Creole - to our growing list of Other Tongues... In addition to Jamaican and English, this film is also already available in Welsh and Portuguese – as well as Gaelic, of course! guthan.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/jam…

O chionn 5 bliadhna: “In our final article, Gordon Wells takes us to the Outer Hebrides and into a different perspective on relationships between literacy and oracy..." guthan.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/stu…

A reminder that the accumulation of language skills is not a zero sum game... #IslandofFriends guthan.wordpress.com/2025/03/25/mul…

15 years ago: Classic Island Voice. guthan.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/nor…

Food for thought for those of a "language is a living thing" persuasion? "... there is little point bringing back an animal if we simply drive it to extinction again... De-extinction is not an alternative to conservation – we would have to do both." theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Five years ago: It’s April 2020 and the global lockdown continues, whether you’re on the West coast of Scotland or in West Bengal... "You wish to chain my hands and my feet. How will you chain my mind? guthan.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/loc…

Updated with new project: guthan.wordpress.com/extensions/

Updated with 11 new films: guthan.wordpress.com/other-tongues/

“Practitioners offer unique insights and innovative strategies and address real-world challenges. Their contributions ensure that research is grounded in practical realities, informs policies, and guides professional development.” Island Voices featured. guthan.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/win…

"Bha seo aig àm nuair a bha ceistean mu chumail suas cànain mhàthaireil a’ tòiseachadh a’ tarraing barrachd aire.. Tha sreath de dh’ agallamhan clàraichte agus chòmhraidhean ann an diofar chànanan a’ dol cuide ris an fhilm seo.." Magaidh Smith ag aithris. youtu.be/6Sy7HV3-RxQ