The funding was announced as the second phase of the Cnoc Soilleir Gaelic cultural and education centre opened in South Uist.
Scottish councils establishing designated areas of importance to the Gaelic language are to receive a share of £1.5m in new government funding.
The money will be available to selected local authorities working to establish Areas of Linguistic Significance, with councils expected to use it to promote Gaelic language and culture in ways suited to their communities.
The announcement was made as First Minister John Swinney officially opened the second phase of Cnoc Soilleir in South Uist.
The centre brings together Ceòlas Uibhist and UHI North, West and Hebrides and provides space for Gaelic education, music, dance, concerts, ceilidhs, conferences and community events.
The Scottish Government says it has provided £7.6m towards Cnoc Soilleir since 2017.
The centre has been developed over more than two decades and is intended to serve both local communities and the wider Gaelic cultural sector.
The new £1.5m local authority fund is potentially more significant than the ceremonial opening because it moves Gaelic policy towards geographically targeted intervention.
Areas of Linguistic Significance are intended to recognise places where Gaelic has a particular cultural and community presence and where additional measures may help sustain its everyday use.
Gaelic policy has long faced a difficulty familiar to endangered and minority languages: institutional recognition does not automatically produce regular use within homes, workplaces or communities.
Investment in education, arts and signage can strengthen the public presence of a language, but long-term survival also depends on whether younger generations have reasons and opportunities to use it in ordinary life.
This is particularly acute in island communities where Gaelic remains culturally strong but where depopulation, housing pressures and the movement of younger residents can alter the linguistic character of settlements.
The Scottish Government said the new funding would allow councils to develop approaches suited to their own areas rather than impose a single national model.
No detailed breakdown of how the £1.5m will be divided between individual authorities was contained in the announcement.
That will be an important measure of the programme when allocations are known.
For South Uist, meanwhile, the opening of Cnoc Soilleir provides a substantial permanent venue in which education, cultural activity and community life can operate through Gaelic rather than treating the language solely as an object of preservation.
