The Rise and Fall of the Irish Language
by Brendan O'Connor
http://www.twoh.com/past.cfm
In the last few centuries it had become the language of poverty,
the language of the dispossessed, of the geographically and
economically marginalized. With associations of famine and mass
emigration, what was once a major European language was relegated
to a past most of us preferred to forget. At one point in the
mid-19th century it disappeared almost completely from daily
life. But now, in a newly affluent, confident Ireland, the Irish
language is back with a bang.
If English is still the language of prosperity and of
opportunity, then Ireland's first official language has become
the language of culture, of a historical and literary heritage
with which we yearn to connect. Day by day the Irish language
wins more small victories. In a recent production of Euripides'
Medea in the Abbey Theatre, the chorus spoke Irish. Dublin's
trendy Dawson Street now has a fashionable bilingual cafe to go
with the other European-style cafe bars on the street. Irish
language
websites are breeding on the Internet like poor Catholics.
Ironically, our new-found prosperity and modern technology are
putting Ireland back in touch with the language of poverty.
Affluence has afforded us the luxury to indulge in a heritage.
Irish was the predominant language of the island of Ireland from
pre-Christian times right up to the beginning of the 19th
century. However the Tudor and Cromwellian settlements of the
16th and 17th centuries established what would be a near fatal
precedent. This precedent was that English became the language of
government and administration. Effectively, when political
administration was introduced to Ireland it was done so through
English and the two remain synonymous to this day. Through to the
end of the 16th century the language was kept alive under the
auspices of powerful regional lordships and Irish remained the
vernacular, particularly in poorer rural areas. But as these
power bases were destroyed so was the use of the language. During
the 16th century the earldoms of Desmond, Kildare, Tyrconnell,
Tyrone and the lordship of Fermanagh were destroyed and replaced
by an English-speaking ascendancy. The penal laws, which
suppressed the language and the church of the indigenous people
finished the job. By the 18th century English was the language of
commerce, officialdom and the towns.
Though Irish speakers still outnumbered English speakers up to
this point, the issue was not quantity but quality. The two
million who spoke Irish at the end of the 18th century were
largely the deprived rural poor. As epidemic, emigration and
ultimately the Great Famine of the 1840s wiped out this class,
the language moved towards extinction. By 1900 only 30% of the
population spoke the language. These were overwhelmingly older
people from disadvantaged classes in peripheral areas.
But the language did live on in certain areas. They were known
then as "congested districts," densely populated coastal areas
that had little contact with the English language. These areas,
scattered around rural coastal Ireland, live on today as
Gaeltacht areas where Irish is still largely spoken-a spell at
summer school in the Gaeltacht is still an important rite of
passage for most Irish schoolchildren.
In 1922, with the establishment of the Free State, several
measures-educational and legal-were put in place to encourage the
survival of Irish. In the 1937 Constitution Irish was designated
the first official language. While these measures have had mixed
success down the years they have kept the language alive, ready
for a resurgence. They have also instilled in the Irish an
appreciation of the cultural and historical importance of the
language. If only 5% claim to use the language in everyday speech
nowadays, 43.5% of the population claim to be able to speak the
language and this figure is rising all the time. Crucially, 80%
express a positive attitude towards Irish.
The tacit support that exists for the language can and is being
exploited, but there are worries along the way. The educational
system, for example, is the primary disseminator of the language.
All primary school children learn Irish in Ireland and
practically all the pupils in state-run secondary schools are
obliged to do so. Irish is also required for entry to the
National Universities of Ireland.
However the educational system has been justly criticized for the
shortcomings in the teaching of the language. A recent study by
Gael Linn, one of the state organizations charged with promoting
the Irish language, found that over half of the primary school
teachers in Ireland do not have a sufficient standard of Irish to
teach the language. This has lead to a situation where many
students move into secondary school without a basic grasp of the
language. Then, when confronted at secondary level with a
syllabus that is largely literature-based, these students tend to
flounder. Gael Linn has suggested that the teaching of Irish be
split into two courses at secondary level. One course would teach
oral Irish to those who want to learn to speak it well. The
literature course would be an optional extra for those who wish
to study the language in a more academic fashion. Most agree that
such a split can only be good for
spoken Irish. Talk to students of Irish and they talk not about a
language
but about "really thin novels by ninety year-old men" and being
too busy ploughing through the difficult literature course to
ever speak the language in class. Spoken Irish counts for just
25% of final exam grades.
But there is good news, too. Most students do express a wish to
learn Irish and there is widespread support for its conservation.
Martín Siadhail of Gael Linn believes that the current popularity
of the language stems from our increased integration into Europe
and increased travel abroad by young Irish people. "They are
seeking a badge of identification," he says, "And the most
visible badge is a language of your own." He points to Ireland's
increased prosperity as another supportive factor: "People are
less concerned with making a living in the current climate and
are turning to things cultural."
The Gaelscoileanna, or all-Irish schools, is another factor that
Siadhal identifies as prompting the current renaissance in the
language. Most recent figures show that there are now over 260
preschools run in Irish. There are over 120 officially recognized
primary and about thirty secondary Gaelscoileanna. However, the
huge growth in these schools over the last decade is about more
than a love of the language. These schools record a higher
standard of education in all subjects including English. This may
be due in part to smaller class sizes. It also seems that
children who are educated in Irish or bilingually will find
iteasier to learn other languages later.
Dónall Ó Maolfabhail of An Foras Teanga, the government body for
the promotion of the language, points out that the Gaelscoileanna
have also given rise to a new outlook on Irish. "These schools
have meant that people now view Irish as a
language to play with rather than just to study. They have also
removed the language from any political context or anything of
that nature." Irish then has become a language of educational
opportunity and a language for living, shorn, in some ways of
what
O Maolfabhail calls the "baggage of previous generations."
If education is the primary driver of the vitality of the
language, then
a supportive context outside of the schools system is an
essential complement to this. Practically everyone in Ireland
learns Irish in school, but occasions to keep the polish on the
skill have often been limited and many Irish people have become
more distant from the language as they've moved away from
education.
Now, as never before, there are outlets to hear the language in a
social and cultural context. In terms of Irish language media the
jewel in the crown must be TG4, the Irish
language television station, which now boasts 300,000 viewers
daily. There is a full Irish language national radio
service-Radió na Gaeltachta - and a largely voluntary, community
station in Dublin that attracts 20,000 listeners. Indeed Radió na
Life is very much a sign of the renaissance in the language. Its
success in what is not traditionally a Gaeltacht area points to
the new fashionability of the
language in the capital, largely among the well-heeled South
County Dublin crowd.
There are thriving Irish language newspapers and more than 100
new books in Irish are published every year. Social outlets for
speaking Irish are provided by the various organizations that
seek to encourage the use of the language. The aforementioned
Gael Linn reports strong demand for its Irish language classes
while it also runs a comprehensive arts program in Irish
including traditional drama, music and dance and not so
traditional forms like rock music and contemporary dance. Gael
Linn also runs a thriving record company and a new endeavor
called Trí D, a bilingual cafe on Dawson Street in Dublin where
customers can use as much or as little Irish as they wish.
Comhaltas Ceoltoírí Éireann and Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic
League) also
provide social outlets for the language. Dónall Ó Maolfabhail
admits, however, that more innovative contexts in which to
practice the language are needed. For example, he envisages more
environments outside the classroom where students can speak Irish
normally. Crucially, he envisages contexts where people can feel
comfortable using whatever amount of Irish they have in relaxed,
bilingual social environments such as Trí D. An Foras Teanga will
also be supporting more projects in the workplace to encourage
the use of Irish. A more natural environment for speaking Irish
may be found in the Gaeltacht areas in Donegal, Mayo, Galway,
Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Meath. In these areas up to 80% of the
population are Irish speakers.
However, the frustrating thing for many visitors to the Gaeltacht
can
be the fact that locals, used to playing it safe and speaking
English to
visitors for hundreds of years, tend to speak Irish only among
themselves. A supreme effort can often be required to get locals
to speak to you in the vernacular.
Furthermore, while Gaeltacht areas have long been supported
economically, particularly through housing grants, social
problems are now overtaking economic problems and the level of
social disintegration in Gaeltacht areas matches that of other
rural areas in Ireland. The integrity of Gaeltacht areas is
continually eroded through emigration from what are often areas
of minimal opportunity for the young, immigration by "blow-ins,"
and increased usage of and contact with English.
A Gaeltacht Commission was recently established to plan the
strengthening of Irish as the spoken language in Gaeltacht areas.
While the picture is not universally rosy it is clear that the
spirit is
willing regarding the Irish language and there is a strong basis
of knowledge from which to cultivate the current renaissance. Two
important statutory factors should do much to push the language
on over the next number of years. Éamon O Cuív, Minister of State
with responsibility for the language, is currently endeavoring to
implement a new Irish language bill that will seek to encourage a
"fully bilingual society." The new Bill aims to correct the
"glaring shortcomings" in the availability of state services in
Irish. It aims to make real this constitutional right and
hopefully expand it outside state services to other common
transactions.
The second important development is the provision in the Good
Friday Agreement to promote Irish on a thirty-two county basis,
with the British Government taking resolute action to promote the
language. Bord na Gaeilge, the Republic's language promotion
body, is now known as An Foras Teanga and will promote the
language North and South of the border. Foras say that the growth
of Irish in the North is phenomenal and could have a positive
influence on the health of the language in the South.
If the future looks bright for a language once consigned to the
past, it is due to the very things that were once its
enemies-technology, travel , affluence, and the erosion of
Ireland's international isolation.
Ironically it is modernity and change that is allowing this most
historical language to arise and take its place among the
languages of
the world.
An Ghaeltacht
Is seoda luachmhara iad ár n-oidhreacht chultúrtha agus teanga a
tháinig ó ghlúin go glúin aniar ón tseanaimsir. Tá an Ghaeilge
agus an cultúr Gaelach mar dhlúthchuid dínn mar Éireannaigh. Is
féidir le daoine le Gaeilge, go mór mór daoine sa Ghaeltacht,
páirt ghníomhach a ghlacadh i gcaomhnú agus buanú na teanga, agus
in imeachtaí ar mhaithe leis an teanga, chun an traidisiún
dúchasach sin a choimeád beo.
Tús maith leath na hoibre agus tús maith na forbartha is ea
forbairt ar dhaoine. Trí thógáil ar an traidisiún fada a ghabhann
le gníomhaíochtaí pobail áitiúla, tá ról gníomhach leanúnach ag
muintir na Gaeltachta, ní hamháin i bhforbairt a gceantair féin,
ach fós eile le todhchaí na Gaeilge a bhreith slán agus a bhuanú
mar theanga bheo an phobail.
Tá an Ghaeltacht thar a bheith tábhachtach don Ghaeilge féin mar
gurb í an t-aon chuid den tír í ina labhartar an teanga ar bhonn
pobail agus a thugann deis don Ghaeilge a bheith ag forás go
nádúrtha i dtimpeallacht nua-aimseartha ina bhfuil raon de
thionscail agus ghnónna ilchineálacha á bhforbairt.
Tá na príomhghníomhaíochtaí gnó sa Ghaeltacht gafa le
leictreonaic, innealtóireacht, teicneolaíocht eolais, léiriúchán
físe agus teilifíse, teicstílí, próiseáil bhia, feirmeoireacht
éisc, déantúsaíocht rubair agus phlaistigh, cóimeáil, ceardaíocht
agus seirbhísí nua-aimseartha oifige.
Tá infheistíocht sa Ghaeltacht déanta ag raon éagsúil de
chuideachtaí ó thíortha thar lear mar an Bheilg, Ceanada, An
Fhionlainn, an Fhrainc, an Ghearmáin, an Iorua, an Spáinn, an
Ríocht Aontaithe agus Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá.
Tá na gnólachtaí seo difriúil ó thaobh méid, ó thionscail bheaga
cheardaíochta go cuideachtaí a fhostaíonn na céadta. Cuirtear
fíorchaoin fáilte roimh infheistíocht nó infheisteoirí ar bith
atá sásta feidhmiú de réir slata tomhais
an Údaráis.
The Gaeltacht
Irish is one of the oldest written languages in Europe with a
strong and rich literary
tradition. Irish as spoken today is the
continuation of a linguistic tradition that stretches back to at
least the 9th century. Despite more than a millennium of
oppression, including draconian measures to enforce
Anglicisation, the language survived and
experienced a resurgence at the end of the 19th century which has
ebbed and flowed up to the present day.
The oral tradition has played an extremely important role in the
survival of Irish as a
living language. Poetry, song and narrative prose carried the
exploits of heroes, villains, kings, queens, chieftains and
mythical figures across the generations to the present day. The
Gaeltacht covers extensive parts of counties Donegal, Mayo,
Galway and Kerry, all of which are on the western seaboard,
together with parts of counties Cork, Meath and Waterford. The
term "Gaeltacht" describes those areas where the Irish language
is the community language. All of the population of some 86,000
is also fluent in English. The Gaeltacht areas are the unbroken
link with a past that saw Irish as the main language in Ireland.
They are a vital lynch-pin for the transmission of Irish as a
community language to the next generation and a cornerstone in
the development of a truly bilingual society in Ireland.
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