Academic literature on the topic 'Irish langage'

This thesis examines the central research questions as to what extent the Irish language plays a significant role in the Irish legal system and how parties seeking to utilise the legal in the legal system fare. The thesis applies standard jurisprudential research methodologies in analysing the key legal developments which have occurred in Ireland from independence in 1922 until today where Ireland is a modern constitutional democracy and member of the European Union. The role of the 1937 Constitution, in particular, is key given the strong legal reliance upon its text in determining the legal status of the Irish language and the extent to which that status can be relied upon in legal proceedings. By interpreting case law from the foundation of the State through until the seminal case of Ó Beoláin in 2001 the gradual development of Irish language rights can be charted. The implications of the Ó Beoláin decision are examined including many of the cases which came about in the immediate aftermath of the case. Among the consequences of the Ó Beoláin case was the Official Languages Act, 2003 which imposed new obligations upon the State and State agencies as well as notionally providing additional supports for those seeking to access justice through the medium of Irish. The effectiveness of this legislation is examined together with recent developments such as the trend towards legal realism and the implications arising out of the Irish language’s interaction with international law. Legal education and training through the medium of Irish is identified as a key factor which contributed to all of areas identified. The provision of services and the ability to access justice through the medium of Irish ultimately depends on there being professionals with sufficient Irish to provide services. The dissonance between the notional status of the Irish language and the reality faced by those seeking to access justice through the medium of Irish is a constant theme throughout the thesis.

This thesis argues that Irish can and should be revitalized. Conducted as an observational study, this thesis focuses on interviews with 72 participants during the summer of 2013. All participants live in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. This thesis investigates what has caused the Irish language to lose power and prestige over the centuries, and which Irish language revitalization efforts have been successful. Findings show that although, all-Irish schools have had a substantial growth rate since 1972, when the schools were founded, the majority of Irish students still get their education through English-medium schools. This study concludes that Irish will survive and grow in the numbers of fluent Irish speakers; however, the government will need to further support the growth of the all-Irish schools. In conclusion, the Irish communities must take control of the promotion of the Irish language, and intergenerational transmission must take place between parents and their children.

This thesis explores contemporary Irish-language travel literature, a genre that has been largely ignored in Irish literary criticism to date. Unlike travel literature in major world languages, such as English and French, Irish-language travel literature does not have a long-established link with colonialism. It is only in more recent years, as social and economic conditions in Ireland improved and emigration began to give way to travel for leisure purposes, that the field has begun to develop. Given the significant differences between the history of the genre in Irish and other major world languages, this study interrogates how/whether the cultural background of Irish-language travel writers differs to that of other international writers and examines how this impacts upon their interactions with other peoples and other cultures. In order to explore these questions, this thesis draws on postcolonial theory and travel, tourism and mobility studies to investigate intercultural encounter. It pays particular attention to the work of four contemporary writers: Manch^n Magan, Gabriel Rosenstock, Cathal 0 Searcaigh and Dutch-born Alex Hijmans. These writers are minority-language speakers who come from, or who have lived in, Ireland, a country on the periphery of Western Europe that was the victim of colonization, yet they are also relatively wealthy Western Europeans. Thus this study examines how their distinct cultural background alongside their economic privilege affects their encounters with travellees and investigates the associated issues of representation, power and ethics. Ultimately, this thesis provides a new critical insight into Irish-language travel literature which, in turn, has implications for how we study travel writing in languages associated with former imperial powers. The 'in-between' positioning of Irish-language travel writers transcends the conventional dichotomised approach to encounter, provides new perspectives into intercultural contact and proposes a new, dynamic and counterdiscursive 'third space’ that accommodates fluid cultural identities.

Extract: That the Celtic languages were of the Indo-European family was first recognised by Rasmus Christian Rask (*1787), a young Danish linguist, in 1818. However, the fact that he wrote in Danish meant that his discovery was not noted by the linguistic establishment until long after his untimely death in 1832. The same conclusion was arrived at independently of Rask and, apparently, of each other, by Adolphe Pictet (1836) and Franz Bopp (1837). This agreement between the foremost scholars made possible the completion of the picture of the spread of the Indo-European languages in the extreme west of the European continent. However, in the Middle Ages the speakers of Irish had no awareness of any special relationship between Irish and the other Celtic languages, and a scholar as linguistically competent as Cormac mac Cuillennáin (†908), or whoever compiled Sanas Chormaic, treated Welsh on the same basis as Greek, Latin, and the lingua northmannorum in the elucidation of the meaning and history of Irish words. [...]

Using a sociolinguistic and post-colonial approach, I analyze Irish dramas that speak about language and its connection to national identity. In order to provide a systematic and wide-ranging study, I have selected plays written at approximately fifty-year intervals and performed before Irish audiences contemporary to their writing. The writers selected represent various aspects of Irish society--religiously, economically, and geographically--and arguably may be considered the outstanding theatrical Irish voices of their respective generations. Examining works by Alicia LeFanu, Dion Boucicault, W.B. Yeats, and Brian Friel, I argue that the way each of these playwrights deals with language and identity demonstrates successful resistance to the destruction of Irish identity by the dominant language power. The work of J. A. Laponce and Ronald Wardhaugh informs my language dominance theory. Briefly, when one language pushes aside another language, the cultural identity begins to shift. The literature of a nation provides evidence of the shifting perception. Drama, because of its performance qualities, provides the most complex and complete literary evidence. The effect of the performed text upon the audience validates a cultural reception beyond what would be possible with isolated readers. Following a theoretical introduction, I analyze the plays in chronological order. Alicia LeFanu's The Sons of Erin; or, Modern Sentiment (1812) gently pleads for equal treatment in a united Britain. Dion Boucicault's three Irish plays, especially The Colleen Bawn (1860) but also Arrah-na-Pogue (1864) and The Shaughraun (1875), satirically conceal rebellious nationalist tendencies under the cloak of melodrama. W. B. Yeats's The Countess Cathleen (1899) reveals his romantic hope for healing the national identity through the powers of language. However, The Only Jealousy of Emer (1919) and The Death of Cuchulain (1939) reveal an increasing distrust of language to mythically heal Ireland. Brian Friel's Translations (1980), supported by The Communication Cord (1982) and Making History (1988), demonstrates a post-colonial move to manipulate history in order to tell the Irish side of a British story, constructing in the process an Irish identity that is postnational.

Contents: Definition of Late Modern Irish Lexical and Syntactic Equivalence The Official Languages Act and the Translation Industry Dynamics of Language Change and Language Death Lack of Exposure and Critical Mass