Minority languages that spread into new domains frequently suffer from semantic overloading by attempting to adapt existing terms to cover new concepts. One such example from Scottish Gaelic is the over-use of the word comhairle (originally "advice, counsel") for concepts such as committee, council, and consultation as exemplified by Donald MacAulay in dh'iarr a' chomhairle comhairle air a’ chomhairle chomhairleachaidh: "The committee sought advice from the consultative council"—a sentence that is opaque in meaning.45
Bolinger, Dwight (1971-01-01). "Semantic Overloading: A Restudy of the Verb Remind". Language. 47 (3): 522–547. doi:10.2307/412376. JSTOR 412376. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Aulestia, G. Basque-English Dictionary (1989) University of Nevada Press ISBN 0-87417-126-1 /wiki/University_of_Nevada,_Reno ↩
Berliner, David C. (2005-02-15). "The Abuses of Memory: Reflections on the Memory Boom in Anthropology". Anthropological Quarterly. 78 (1): 197–211. doi:10.1353/anq.2005.0001. ISSN 1534-1518. S2CID 145268110. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/178196 ↩
McLeod, Wilson Faclair na Pàrlamaid, a critical evaluation (2001) Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh ↩
MacAulay, Donald New Gaelic (1986) Scottish Language, 5, 120-25 ↩