1 / 13

Language, Ethnicity, and the State: Minority Languages in the EU

Language, Ethnicity, and the State: Minority Languages in the EU. Ch5: Irish Language, Irish Identity By Camille C. O’Reilly. Introduction. Irish was sole language until 1169 Anglo-Norman invasion

neile
Download Presentation

Language, Ethnicity, and the State: Minority Languages in the EU

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Language, Ethnicity, and the State: Minority Languages in the EU Ch5: Irish Language, Irish Identity By Camille C. O’Reilly

  2. Introduction • Irish was sole language until 1169 Anglo-Norman invasion • Irish was dominant language until 1601 defeat Battle of Kinsale -- after that English was enforced and Irish went into decline, Irish speakers economically & socially marginalized • Late 18th-19th c Celtic revival focused mainly on history -- did not promote language use • 1845-49 famine and emigration disproportionately affected Irish speakers • Irish language justified identification of Irish nation, but this relationship developed differently north vs. south

  3. The Republic of Ireland (South) • Partition 1922 • Post-partition South: Irish is “national” language, English is an official language • 1920s-30s language strategy for the impoverished 16% of Ireland where Irish was still spoken: 1) economic development, 2) revival strategy for other 84%, 3) use Irish in public service, 4) modernize and standardize Irish

  4. The Republic of Ireland, cont’d. • 1922-1948 -- pursuit of 4 points (above) to support nationalist ideology • 1948-1970 -- stagnation and decline in public support for state policy • 1970-present -- benign neglect, language maintenance only, not revival

  5. The Republic of Ireland, cont’d. • Public opinion • Strong association between language and identity, but this does not correlate with use • Even most positive language users are pessimistic about its future • Antipathy toward language/nationalism due to violence in North • However, Irish-medium schools are growing

  6. Northern Ireland: revival & opposition • N Ireland is part of UK, a primarily Protestant state with an Irish Catholic minority (1/3) population • Learning/speaking Irish has political implications for Irish nationalism in opposition to British identity

  7. Northern Ireland: revival & opposition, cont’d. • 1922-1972 -- Anti-Irish state, where Irish is a foreign language (treated like German, French in schools, and its teaching has been gradually restricted more and more), banned from BBC • 1970s-present -- number of Irish-medium schools has been growing, language revival activity in Belfast: newspaper, theater, café, newspaper, development of employment opportunities for Irish speakers

  8. Northern Ireland: revival & opposition, cont’d. • Irish people have very different political agendas, but agree on the importance of the Irish language • Irish language provides a non-violent venue for asserting Irish identity, which is becoming more accepted in N. Ireland

  9. Irish language, Irish identity • Notions of Irish identity and its link to language have changed over time and are different in North and South • Both North and South have a variety of discourses (ideological directions) • North: decolonizing vs. cultural discourse vs. rights discourse • South: national language discourse, cultural discourse, minority language discourse, dead language discourse

  10. Irish language, Irish identity, cont’d. • Northern discourses: • decolonizing -- focuses on political (and cultural) independence, Sinn Fein, aggressive nationalism • cultural -- the language has inherent value for its beauty and uniqueness, interest in history, songs, literature • rights discourse -- language is part of human rights, Irish language is “multipoliticized”

  11. Irish language, Irish identity, cont’d. • Southern discourses: • national language -- emphasis on pride for one’s own language, overcoming insecurity about Irish identity • cultural discourse (similar to North) • minority language (similar to rights) -- Irish language seeks parity of esteem with other regional languages of Europe, gov’t has responsibility to support minority language • dead language -- Irish cannot be fully revived, is not as useful in the EU, and represents extreme nationalism

  12. Irish language, Irish identity, cont’d. • North -- language is part of a political identity that sets Irish apart from British in the face of British economic and cultural hegemony • South -- Irish suffer from an inferiority complex which they would like to overcome

  13. Irish identity, Irish language & EU • Republic of Ireland -- gov’t officials would rather pass responsibility on to EU, but this is unlikely to provide significant change, and public fears EU will contribute to loss of Irish -- desire to revive Irish so that it can be one of the languages of the EU, part of that pluralism > Europeanism • Northern Ireland -- EU membership has helped Irish, despite British reluctance to sign Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (signed 2000), increased association of language with Irish identity > nationalism

More Related