Languages at Risk: Irish Gaelic

Today’s blog post returns to a series that focuses on endangered languages, which are languages at risk of disappearing because they are no longer taught as the native language to the new generations, thereby leading to their loss and eventual extinction within a few generations.  Of the 7000+ plus languages spoken today at least half are at risk of becoming extinct.  This is problematic as language is closely tied to culture, and language loss is a sign of culture loss.  As a result there have been several steps taken to preserve and save endangered languages, but sometimes those efforts do not work according to plan.  This is what is happening to today’s language subject: Irish Gaelic.

Irish Gaelic, aka Gaeilge, Erse, or Gadhelisch, is a Goidelic language that can be traced back to the Celtic language family.  There are three distinct dialects of Irish Gaelic spoken today, and each dialect is spoken within a specific region of Ireland.  Irish Gaelic is a sister language to the Scottish and Manx Gaelic languages, but they are different enough that they remain separate languages.  Currently, about 2% of the Irish population speaks Irish Gaelic, which is surprising as Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country.  The second official language, English, is more commonly spoken by Irish citizens and visitors.

Irish Gaelic first became endangered in the 16^th century, which coincides with the English occupation of the region.  The English monarchy wanted their conquered lands united under one language, and English became the language of choice as it was the language of the monarchy.  Conquered peoples were forbidden by law to speak their language.  While the laws changed and were repealed the notion of Irish Gaelic being the language of the poor did not and it remained a snubbed language. 

Revitalization efforts for Irish Gaelic began in the late 1800s when the Irish Republic became an independent nation no longer under English rule.  The Gaelic League was the first organization to spearhead the revitalization movement.  They believed that the revitalization of Irish Gaelic was one that was required to instill pride in Irish identity, and most Irish were quite favorable to the movement.  Shortly thereafter Irish Gaelic became compulsory in schools, and children were taught the language throughout primary and secondary schooling.  A second wave of revitalization occurred in the 1990s, which increased the awareness and desire among the Irish to learn the language.  Today, there are several Irish Gaelic schools that provide instruction in only that language, and they are quite popular as some schools have a three-year waiting period for enrollment.

Despite over 100 years of working toward revitalizing the Irish Gaelic language and increasing the number of speakers it still has a few native speakers, although many claim that they can speak at least parts of the language (estimates of which are greatly exaggerated when people are actually tested on their language knowledge).  Despite the favorable attitude and desire to learn and teach the language there are several challenges to fully revitalizing Irish Gaelic.  First, Irish Gaelic is not the language of commerce.  English is.  This means that when it comes to business or economic matters English is the language that is used.  While several businesses offer to speak Irish Gaelic with customers few take advantage of this, instead relying on English.  This leads to a perception of Irish Gaelic being a useless language that is only spoken in the home.  Second, because there are so few Irish Gaelic speakers and the dialects are so distinct there is no push to pass it down to the next generation.  Most Irish Gaelic speakers have a greater likelihood of marrying a non-speaker, typically an English speaker, and as a result English is taught to the children so they can communicate with both parents, not just one.  Lastly, there remains some resentment in learning the language from those who were taught it in school.  Irish Gaelic is perceived as being a difficult language to learn, which is due in part to poor language education programs and a lack of desire to learn it among students.  Therefore, while the general public may view the language and language revitalization programs favorably they believe such initiatives are better suited to other people, which leads to very few people actually taking advantage of them.

All hope is not lost, however.  Because there remains a high preference toward learning the language there remains plenty of money and resources going toward maintaining language programs.  Once cultural attitudes shift from preference to application and execution Irish Gaelic speakers will most likely increase.  There are several resources available to Irish as well as non-Irish people to learn the language, including programs such as Rosetta Stone that provide lessons on the language.  As long as these programs continue to exist there is hope that Irish Gaelic will not become an extinct language.

Bibliography

Author, No. (No Date). Irish. Retrieved from The Endangered Languages Project: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/3437

Burke, B. (2013, April 23). Irish as an endangered language. Retrieved from Write. Talk. Debate. Share. Blog: http://blog.marylhurst.edu/blog/2013/04/23/irish-as-an-endangered-language/

Carnie, A. (1995). Modern Irish: A Case Study in Language Revival Failure. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.

Endangered Language Alliance. (2012). Irish. Retrieved from Endangered Language Alliance: http://elalliance.org/languages/celtic/irish/

Garbutt, N. (2017, February 10). Irish: how can an endangered language be a threat? Retrieved from Scope NI: http://scopeni.nicva.org/article/irish-how-can-an-endangered-language-be-a-threat