Introduction

Sudden shifts in a community's linguistic usage patterns afford sociolinguists interested in “explaining” linguistic changes a tempting opportunity. In cases of gradual shift, it is easier to understand change as the result of myriad social and linguistic factors and pressures, each contributing incrementally to the final result. With sudden change, on the other hand, we are more tempted to look for the one cause or factor tipping the linguistic balance. But, even in cases where rapid shift is clearly a response to a particular social change – for example, Dorian's account of shift away from Gaelic as the Scottish Highlands became less isolated (1981:51), or Tabouret-Keller's of shift in response to ongoing industrialization (1972) – there is still a complicated web of social, linguistic, and ideological factors at work. Thus Dorian notes that “English seemed to have come quickly to eastern Sutherland, but the climate which led to its rapid adoption had been centuries in the making” (1981:51). Dorian's caveat is even more clearly a propos where there is no sudden social shift corresponding with a change in language use.

The Scottish Gaelic speakers of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, experienced a rapid language shift during the 1930s and 1940s. Their case is an excellent example of linguistic “tip”, as Dorian first defined it: “A language which has been demographically highly stable for several centuries may experience a sudden ‘tip’, after which the demographic tide flows strongly in favor of some other language” (1981:51).