Advertising and the future of minority languages in Europe

Helen Kelly-Holmes & David Atkinson

University of Limerick, Ireland

Research Focus

Language choice in advertising in areas of Western Europe

in which there is an official regional or national commitment to the promotion of

one or more historically minoritised languages

Hypotheses & Assumptions The appearance of a marginalized language

in the familiar textual frame of an advertisement has a very powerful effect

In this context (minority autochthonous languages in Western Europe), where there are by definition no monolingual speakers, language choice will always have a strongly symbolic/fetishistic element.

Research Questions

To what extent are advertisers making statements about their own identity, their customers’ identities and their product’s identity through their language choices?

Do these choices contribute towards “normalization” of these historically minoritised languages across different sociolinguistic contexts?

Sociolinguistic context of Irish

Irish is first official language, but English is the dominant language

1.57 million in Republic report that they can speak Irish (pop. 3.9 million) (Census 2002)

21.6% report using it on a daily basis, but 78% of these were school-going age

Effectively no monolingual speakers of Irish Gaeltacht – predominantly Irish-speaking

areas

                                

The Gaeltacht

Irish in Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (1998) enhanced

status of Irish in Northern Ireland (and Ulster Scots and other languages)

“Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity (Economic, cultural and social issues)”

In relation to Irish: Commitment to take resolute action to promote the language

To facilitate and encourage spoken and written use in public

To encourage Irish-medium schools, liase with Irish-speaking community etc.

Potential of Irish as advertising language Irish has not been a language associated with

the market Both privileged and minoritised e.g. Official

Languages Act 2003:“The duty of public bodies to ensure that the Irish language only, or the Irish and  English languages together, are used, on oral advertisements, -whether they be live or  recorded, on stationery, on signage and on advertisements under regulation to be made by  the Minister.  [Section 9(1)]”

For the majority of the population – strong symbolism

For those who identify themselves primarily as Irish speakers

Potential of Irish as advertising language cont’d. Why not express yourself in the most professional and

correct way in the most learned and versatile of languages. Use that which is more authentically Irish than any other aspect of our most ancient but vibrant culture - OUR LANGUAGE (http://indigo.ie/~europus/).

On each page your customers will be able to choose between English and Irish. Alternatively you may choose to have a site in English only or Irish only. We encourage the use of the Irish Language. You will find that the use of Irish will attract users to your site as it adds to the unique flavour of an Irish business (www.webbery.ie)

Foinse (“Source”) “the Irish language national weekly newspaper” ; established 1996 Aims to provide “high quality Irish language

journalism” Published in a Gaeltacht region “a natural

environment where the language can grow and develop” (http://gaeltacht.local.ie).

“Foinse sa Rang” Read by Irish speakers throughout the country Circulation of ca. 10,000 89 advertisements from 4 issues

Sector/Product Number of ads Language

Planning applications 45 Irish

Recruitment 27 Irish

IRL government (tenders, info., grants etc.)

22 Irish ex. web addresses (e.g. smokefreeatwork.ie)

Language courses 6 Irish

Other courses (HE) 5 Irish

Arts & academic events 4 Irish, 1 bilingual (Arts Council of NI)

Travel (Aer Aran, Irish Rail)

4 Irish (incl. Terms & conditions)

Quarry 4 Name only in English

Scholarships 4 Irish

Public utilities notices/ sponsorships

2 Irish (incl. New rates for electricity)

Political party (clinics) 2 Progressive Democrats (name given bilingually, Irish bigger)

Local phone company 2 Irish

Inter-gov & EU tenders 1 Sponsors in English; Trilingual NI gov. address

Publishers and books 1 Irish (I-E dictionary)

National Lottery 1 Irish apart from name

WP services 1 Irish

Seat dealership 1 Irish (incl. Tech. details etc.)

Lá (“Day”)

Daily newspaper Published in Belfast, Northern Ireland Lonely Planet - Ireland Map 86 advertisements from10 issues Although a daily paper, attracts less

advertising than Foinse. Circulation ca. 4,000 – not just in

Belfast.

Sector/Product/ Service

No. of ads Language

Arts & academic events

19 Irish, some bilingual (e.g. Pan-Celtic song contest)

Professional services 13 (repeats) Irish

Language courses 9 Irish

Religious courses 9 Irish

TV Rentals 7 (repeats) Irish

UK/NI govt. tenders etc.

4 Irish, apart from gov. addresses

IRL government notices, tenders, information

6 Irish, only 1 fully bilingual (commission on electronic voting)

Educational courses (HE)

6 Irish

Recruitment 5 Irish, except 1 NI/UK government dept using bilingual name

School open days 3 Irish

Publishers, books, bookshops

3 Irish

Scholarships 2 Irish

Conclusions re. Advertising in Irish Advertising is exclusively monolingual in Irish,

except for some addresses, slogans etc. Government and public sector are main

advertisers in Foinse (Rep. IRL) Arts sector is main advertiser in Lá (N.I) Limited number of other domains (e.g.

Language courses, education) Very limited no.of “purely” commercial

advertisements; these stand out visually

Conclusions re. Advertising in Irish

1. Compulsion: adherence to language policy directives (tokenistic/symbolic/ decorative or communicating with a minority group and as is their right?)

2. Language-ideology-based marketing approach, in which the language is either a core part of the product, and so it must be used in the commercial discourse in order to add to the credibility of the product

Conclusions re. Advertising in Irish 3. Domain-specific usage: Irish is found in the

domains where we expect to find it; does this challenge commonsense assumptions/ contribute to normalization?

4. Communication with community that identifies itself with the language (more dominant in Lá (N.I. context)) -> language choice in this situation always about constructing identities for product, advertisee etc.