Norman Maclean
1. Saoghal Thormoid
On consecutive days in the last week of April 2016 Gordon Wells recorded a series of Gaelic conversations with famed writer and entertainer Norman Maclean, in which Norman spoke reflectively of his memories and impressions of Gaelic life in Glasgow and the Hebrides from the middle of the Twentieth Century up to the present day. The five videos range between 35 and 55 minutes in length. Word for word transcriptions are also available on Clilstore, enabling instant one-click vocabulary checking for Gaelic learners.
All in all there are 27,000 words and over three and a half hours of listening material in this collection, forming a unique new resource for serious study by learners and researchers. Over the week the conversations ranged over a wide variety of topics, including potentially uncomfortable perceptions and depictions of identity. In broad terms, however, each day had a different central focus, as shown in the table below.
The “Saoghal Thormoid” project is a collaboration between Soillse, the inter-university research partnership which funded the recordings through its Small Research Fund, and Guthan nan Eilean. The hyperlinks in the third column of the table will take you to relevant Island Voices pages. The WordPress post gives a one-paragraph summary of the day’s conversation, with onward links to the materials. The Clilstore link provides a full scrollable wordlinked transcript with embedded video. The YouTube link supplies the free-standing video alone without supplementary material.
A volume including synopses and all transcripts in printable format (with a foreword by Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin) is also available here.
| Topic | Island Voices Links | |
| Monday | Ancestry | WordPress post |
| Tuesday | Education | WordPress post |
| Wednesday | Communities | WordPress post |
| Thursday | Creativity | WordPress post |
| Friday | Gaelic | WordPress post |
Views expressed by participants in Soillse research do not reflect any official opinion of the Soillse partnership.
2. Sgeulachdan Thormoid
This collection of six Gaelic stories (plus an introduction) was created by Norman Maclean – Tormod MacGill-Eain. The recordings were made during visits to his house by Gordon Wells in October 2015. In the “links” column you can click on “Youtube” to go directly to the recording of the appropriate story. A “Clilstore” link will take you to a wordlinked transcript. You can click on any word to take you directly to an online dictionary to find its meaning.
Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean is massively indebted to Norman, both for the recordings themselves, and for consenting to place the scripts at the project’s disposal. The copyright rests with the author.
| Title | Content | Links |
| Facal-toisich | Norman explains how he came to put this series together and place it online, in the context of Johannes Gutenberg and the history of publishing. | YouTube |
| Mìorbhailtean ann am Barraigh | Michael from Bornish, South Uist, faces a difficult situation, but is given hope of a miracle. | YouTube
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| Cabhag | The story of Cabhag’s canine heroics in an unsettling encounter on a misty mountainside | YouTube |
| Hàllain | Politics, Verbosity, Love, and Death. The romantic story of Fionnlagh Phàdruig a’ Chnuic and Peigi Iain Bhig | YouTube |
| Dòmhnall Phàdraig agus Màiri Claire | 40 years married “as happy as two shoes”. Màiri Claire knows how to deal with her partner’s crisis of confidence | YouTube |
| Bodach nan Serviettes | A grand dinner for the pensioners of Harris, with libations galore | YouTube |
| A’ Bhean-Uasal NicÌomhair à Cnoc an t-Soluis air a’ Bhac | A noble Lewis lady undertakes a long journey to Tibet for a special meeting with a special person | YouTube |
Island Voices Videos
Island Voices - Guthan nan Eilean 