Ken MacKinnon (26 August 1933 – 21 May 2021) was a British linguist who is known as the father of

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural Norm (sociology), norms, expectations, and context (language use), context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on languag ...

Early life and career

MacKinnon was born in the Poplar in the East End of London on 26 August 1933 to parents whose families came from the Scottish Isle of Arran and Northern Ireland.MacKinnon, Kenneth ''The Lion's Tongue'' (1974) Club Leabhar Ltd SBN 902706-29-2 During the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

he was sent to

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

as many other children of the time. By 1944, he and his family had settled in the town of

Leigh-on-Sea Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509. Geography Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...

in Essex. He took a double degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

, followed by

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in Germany. Following his return from Germany, he taught in Essex secondary schools and technical colleges, and was the head of department at the Barking College of Technology and subsequently was senior lecturer and reader at the

Hatfield Polytechnic The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was iden ...

amongst various other appointments. He was chairman of the

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

council's planning committee and mayor.

Scottish Gaelic

Although not a native speaker of Gaelic, he taught himself Gaelic when he took an interest in the language. He subsequently took a master's degree and was made a senior research fellow of the

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...

and used the opportunity to embark on studying the sociolinguistic situation of the

Isle of Harris Harris ( gd, Na Hearadh, ) is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not an island itself, Harris is often referred to in opposition to the ''Isle of Lewis'' as t ...

between 1972 and 1974 and was heavily involved in the discipline since then. He was also a member of MAGOG between 2002 and 2004, a body providing advice on Scottish Gaelic to Scottish ministers, and which produced the Meek Report(2002), and was made a member of

Bòrd na Gàidhlig (, ) is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government with responsibility for Gaelic.MG Alba MG Alba is the operating name of the Gaelic Media Service ( gd, Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig). The organisation's remit, under the Communications Act 2003, is to ensure that a wide and diverse range of high quality Gaelic programmes is m ...

between 2008 and 2011. He had an honorary professorship at the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, and was a reader emeritus at the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

. He tutored for the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

in social sciences, education and language studies.

Publications

Prof MacKinnon published numerous papers and books from the 1970s onwards, most of them on Gaelic in Scotland and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, minority languages and demographics, including: * (1974) ''The Lions Tongue'' * (1991) ''Gaelic A Past & Future Prospect'' * (1998) ''Gaelic in Family, Work and Community Domains'' Euromosaic Project 1994 1995 in ''Scottish Language 1998, No. 17 * (2000) ''Neighbours in Persistence – Prospects for Gaelic Maintenance in a Globalising English World'' in McCoy, G. and Scott, M. (eds) Aithne na nGael – Gaelic Identities

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKinnon, Ken 1933 births 2021 deaths Scottish Gaelic language Sociolinguists People from London Alumni of the London School of Economics Academics of the University of Hertfordshire Academics of the Open University