Scotland is a land of many languages and dialects, but most of the spoken tongues of this country suffer from the institutional bias towards English as the spoken and written word. Mainstream political conversations often ignore the long history of linguistic (and associated cultural) suppression, or seek to nationalize Scots Gaelic in a way that most people, including many Gaelic speakers, feel is harmful. In this section we want first and foremost to celebrate the linguistic variation of this country - the different dialects of Gaelic, Shetland or Norn found on each island, to the Doric and Tweedale dialects of the East Coast. We also want to celebrate the languages which have come to this country with newer populations of people - Hindi, Urdu, Polish and Romani to name but a few. What role does language play in communities? How have people in Scotland resisted the erasure of their languages and dialects over the years? What is the impact of celebrating and supporting linguistic diversity? And what is the impact of nationalizing language or making it part of state institutions such as schools?