The shift from Gaelic to English in Ireland

By Cassie Wordingham, Lauren Hill, Luke Otley and Gemma Plaza

History of Ireland

• Irish people are mainly descendants from the Celts.

• Celts arrived in Ireland in fourth Century BC.

• Arrival of Saint Patrick in 432 AD.

• Ninth Century - Vikings began to regularly invade

Ireland.

• Twelfth Century - Normans invaded and conquered

From 1800

• 1800 - Ireland became part of the UK

• 1849 – Great Potato Famine

- Consequently led to mass emigration and

declining population.

Independence • Late 19th Century - Desire for independence from the UK became increasingly

apparent in Ireland.• Emergence of the political movement Sinn Fein, which translates to ‘Ourselves

alone’. • 1919-1921 - Ireland and England went to war and Ireland was divided.

- Today we have Northern Ireland which has remained part of the UK;- The rest of Ireland became an independent state, known as the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

Irish throughout history

• C6th Old Irish – latin alphabet

• C10th Middle Irish

• C12th Middle-Modern

• C13th EM Irish

• C18th Modern Irish

• The Statutes of Kilkenny 1366, first example of official oppression

• Although challenged by presence of French and English after Norman invasions,

regained position as dominant vernacular by C15th

• English prevailed in towns – language of urban administration

• Drive under Tudors to further English rule in Ireland

• “We may conceive and hope that the next generation will in tongue, and in heart,

and in every way else, become English: so that there will be no difference or

distinction, but the Irish sea betwixt us”

• Strengthening of English in East and North of Country

• Census figures

Irish Language Rights and Policies

Bunreacht na hÉireann – Constitution of Ireland (1937)

Article 81. The Irish language as the national language is the

first official language.2. The English language is recognised as a second

official language. • Official language of the European Union since 2007

Irish language rights established in recent decades:

Official Languages Act 2003: • ‘Where a person communicates in writing or by electronic mail in an official

language with a public body, the public body shall reply in the same language’. Statement on the Irish Language, 2006:Main objectives: • To ensure that in public discourses and public services the citizen had the choice to

use either English or Irish.• High quality broadcast services in Irish through the medium of Irish would be

ensured Official Languages Scheme, 2009-2012: • Official documents published in both Irish and English • Bilingual websites

Main policies

Official Languages Act 2003:

• “Irish is unique to its country and is, therefore, of crucial importance to the

identity of the Irish people”

Main objectives:

– To increase its use and knowledge

– To ensure that most of the citizens are bilingual.

– Irish taught as an obligatory subject from primary to Leaving Certificate Level.

– The Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking region, West of Ireland) will be given special support as

an Irish-speaking area and supports to departments which promote the Irish language

at a national level (e.g. Foras na gaeilge)

20–year strategy for the Irish Language- 2010-2030

• Dictionaries: up-to-date dictionaries, corpus resources, dictionaries

of spelling, modern terminology, etc.

• Economy: support and develop the language economy that can

provide the required services to the State and to the EU in areas

such as translation, interpretation, language teaching, publishing,

language consultancy, etc.

• Development of Education, Media, The Gaeltacht…

References• 20-year strategy for the Irish Language

• http://www.ahg.gov.ie/en/20YearStrategyfortheIrishLanguage/Publications/20-Year%20Strategy%20-%20English%20version.pdf [last accessed 4/3/2013]

• Constitution of Ireland 1937

• http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/html%20files/Constitution%20of%20Ireland%20(Eng)Nov2004.htm [last accessed 4/3/2013]

• Ó Cuív, B. (ed.) (1969) A view of the Irish Language, Stationery Office: Dublin

• Official Languages Act 2003 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2003/en/act/pub/0032/index.html [last accessed 4/3/2013]

• Official Languages Scheme 2009-2012

• http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Publications/Publications_Archive/Publications_2009/Official_Languages_Scheme_2009-20121.pdf [last accessed 4/3/2013]

• Statement on the Irish Language, 2006

• http://www.coimisineir.ie/downloads/StatementontheIrishLanguage2006.pdf [last accessed 4/3/2013]

Attitudes to the Irish Language

• Associated with deprivation during the plantation period.

• Stigmatised as the language of the uneducated and poor.

• The struggle to survive in Ireland meant English was seen as an economic liberator.

Generations chose not to teach their children the Irish language

-“Irish will butter no bread”

- “Irish is tied to a donkey’s tail”

- “Irish belongs to the age of the foot-plough and the sailing ship”

(Hindley, 1990:67)

ITE Surveys 1973-1993

Irish as an ethnic symbol:

• “No real Irish person can be against the revival of Irish” (66-72%).

• “Ireland would not be Ireland without Irish speaking people” (60-64%).

• Two thirds of the population wished for a fully bilingual state:- 20% of whom would choose to mainly speak Irish;- 25% of whom would choose to mainly speak English.

(Walsh, 2011:61)

More recent attitudes

Barry Smyth, age 27 from Dublin

“Growing up I felt a strong sense of resentment against having to learn

Irish in school as I felt it had no purpose. Now I've changed my mind, I feel

its important to preserve the language as its unique and is part of the

Irish identity. However, it takes up a lot of the available school time that

could be better spent on science, maths or other functional learning”.

Trióna Kelly, age 31, from Skerries

“Irish is an important part of our heritage and it informs the way

we speak English today. So I think it's a really important part of

the Irish identity. The general opinion of many Irish people

(especially school kids who have to study it) is that it is a waste of

time as it is no use in the modern world. Until Irish is seen to be

"useful" there is a lot of resistance to studying it so it is dying”.

ReferencesChríost, D (2005) The Irish Language in Ireland, Routledge: UK

Fishman, J. (1997) Reversing Language Shift, Multilingual Matters LTD: UK

Hindley, R. (1990) The Death of the Irish Language, Routledge: UK

Walsh, J. (2011) Contests and Contexts: The Irish Language and Ireland’s Socio-Economic Development, (Vol. 11), International Academic Publishers: Switzerland