- thematic questionnaires
- wordlists
- cassette and reel-to-reel tapes of recorded speech
- transcriptions of excerpts of tape-recorded interviews
- paper slips, based on the recordings and transcriptions
The surviving paper materials consist of almost 700 documents representing c. 50,000 headwords that were collected from Gaelic speakers from the mainland and islands of Scotland as well as Nova Scotia. This includes 24 thematic questionnaire types and a broad range of wordlists describing other lexical domains relating to traditional Gaelic society. Some of these contain spectacular hand-drawn illustrations; see, for instance, Murdo MacLeod’s ‘Drawing Book’. These materials can be viewed using the browse function on the Fieldwork page. The thematic questionnaires represented are:
| Gaelic | English |
|---|---|
| Àiteach | Agriculture |
| Togail Bhàtaichean | Boat-Building |
| Eathraichean | Boats |
| Crodh | Cattle |
| Bàs is Adhlacadh | Death and Burial |
| An Eaglais | Ecclesiastical Terms |
| Acfhuinn Iasgaich | Fishing Tackle |
| Biadh is Deoch | Food and Drink |
| Iasgach an Sgadain | Herring fishing |
| Taigh Gàidhealach | House and Furnishings |
| Saoirsinneachd | Joinery |
| Cruth na Tìre | Landscape Features |
| Iasgach a’ Ghiomaich | Lobster fishing |
| Blàthan-Leighis | Names and uses of medicinal plants |
| Mòine | Peat Working |
| Coltas an Duine | Personal Appearance |
| Nàdur an Duine | Personality |
| Pìobaireachd | Piping |
| Cur-seachadan: Dèideagan, Geamaichean is Farpaisean | Recreation: Toys, Games, Contests |
| Faireachdain | Senses |
| Caoraich | Sheep |
| Maorach | Shellfish |
| Sìde | Weather |
| Obair na Clòimhe | Wool Working |
The semantic domains covered in separate wordlists include:
The words recorded are often placed in context by the provision of phrases, sentences, idioms and proverbs.
It should be noted that there is variation in the spelling of words in the Fieldwork Archive. We hope to offer a means of searching for all of the variant spellings automatically in the future and to provide standardised forms for headwords.
