Kate Timms-Dean
"In New Zealand, only a few governmental organisations are required to implement a two-language strategy. The Gaelic Language National Plan, on the other hand, provides a framework which enables any public body to have a language plan."
Madainnmhath! Or might that be, kia ora! Geographically, the Scots Gaelic and Maori greetings may have been used in conversations as far apart from one another as it's possible to imagine.But they stand alongside one another, says Education Development Centre senior lecturer Kate Timms-Dean, as examples of indigenous languages that have fallen out of mainstream use, but which have been "reclaimed and revitalised" in recent decades.
Drawing upon both her NgatiRaukawa and Scottish ancestry, Timms-Dean's research compares how factors from regulation to popular culture have contributed to a resurgence of Maori and Scots Gaelic use in their respective corners of the world. Her work, which is part of her doctoral studies at the University of Otago, was presented at the 2010 Global Language Convention in Melbourne, Australia.
Both languages became emblems of a wider political and cultural revival, reports Timms-Dean. In New Zealand, the reclamation of te reo was part of a larger movement towards claiming social equity and land rights for Maori. Even in Scotland however, where virtually all of the dominant population is ethnic Scots, she points out that country also saw "some very vigorous protests in the 1970s about what they saw as a marginalisation of traditional language and culture".
While New Zealand was quicker to enshrine its indigenous language in law – passing its Language Act in 1987 compared to Scotland's 2005 – a lack of planning has led to piecemeal progress here.
"In New Zealand, only a few governmental organisations are required to implement a two-language strategy. The Gaelic Language National Plan, on the other hand, provides a framework which enables any public body to have a language plan, and as a result, there has been very widespread uptake across a range of organisations and there is much more depth to their engagement."
But despite the efforts made to celebrate Maori and Scots Gaelic through their countries' education systems, broadcasting, festivals, speech competitions, signage and more, Timms-Dean accepts that, to some extent, revived languages can only exist on life support. "The only real example of a completely resurrected language is Hebrew in Israel, but the social intervention required was extraordinary, including removing children from their parents. And even there, most people are bilingual."