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This article is about the modern Goidelic language. For the cant based partly on English and partly on Irish, see Shelta language. For the form of English as it is spoken in Ireland, see Hiberno-English.
| Irish Gaeilge | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation: | ËgeËlÊČÉÉ | |
| Spoken in: | Ireland, United Kingdom (especially Northern Ireland) | |
| Region: | GaeltachtaĂ, but also spoken throughout Ireland | |
| Total speakers: | 355,000 fluent or native speakers (1983)Ethnologue, Gaelic, Irish: a language of Ireland1,860,000 some knowledge (2006) | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Goidelic Irish | |
| Writing system: | Latin (Irish variant) | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | Ireland Northern Ireland (UK) European Union | |
| Regulated by: | Foras na Gaeilge | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | ga | |
| ISO 639-2: | gle | |
| ISO 639-3: | gle | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Percentage of Irish speakers by county of the Republic; the six Northern Ireland counties have been considered as one.
Irish (Gaeilge) is a Goidelic language, originating in Ireland, and historically spoken by the Irish. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the state of Ireland, and it is an official language of the European Union. Although once spoken across the whole of the island, it is currently a minority vernacular in Ireland, spoken in specific communities and most particularly in officially-recognised GaeltachtaĂ (sing. Gaeltacht), which exist around Ireland. Irish is also an officially-recognised minority language in Northern Ireland.
Of the Republic of Ireland\'s 4,057,646 residents who are aged three and over, 1,656,790 people (40.9%) regard themselves as competent in Irish.Census 2006 â Principal Demographic Results (pdf). Central Statistics Office. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.(Table 31). The number of people in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland is 91,862, as of the 2006 census. Of these, 70.8% aged three and over speak Irish and approximately 60% speak Irish on a daily basis.(Table 33) The number of people speaking Irish reflects the fact that, to a certain extent, Irish is a compulsory subject in Ireland. Outside the educational system, 1,203,583 (29.7% of the population aged three years and over) regard themselves as competent Irish speakers.(Table 32A) Of these 85,076 (7.1%) speak Irish on a daily basis, 97,089 (8.1%) weekly, 581,574 (48.3%) less often, 412,846 (34.3%) never, and 26,998 (2.2%) didn\'t state how often.. Today, complete monolingualism is restricted to the very elderly in Gaeltacht regions and to native speakers under school age.
The 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 (10.4%) people \'had some knowledge of Irish\'. Combined, this means that around one in three people (~1.8 million) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish to some extent.
On 13 June 2005, EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union. The new arrangements came into effect on 1 January 2007, and Irish was first used at a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, by Minister Noel Treacy, T.D., on 22 January 2007. Since then, it has been regularly used by Irish government ministers.
According to the 2002 Census of Population, 42% of the population of Ireland report having the ability to speak Irish. The Irish government has stated that it is committed to the development of a bilingual society, in which as many people as possible can use Irish and English with equal ease and facility.Statement on the Irish Language 2006. Government of Ireland. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
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The language is usually referred to in English as Irish, sometimes as Gaelic (pronounced /ËgeÉȘlÉȘk/), or in general terms as Irish Gaelic when discussing other Goidelic languages. Gaelic is often used in the Irish diaspora but rarely by native Irish speakers themselves.[citation needed] Calling the language Irish is a precise indication of its constitutional status as the national language of the Republic of Ireland, and by extension, the Irish people. Irish is the term generally used among linguists studying the language; it is also the term used in the English translation of Bunreacht na hĂireann (Constitution of Ireland). Use of the term Gaelic acknowledges the language\'s close relationship with other Goidelic languages and could be considered more endonymic, but renders it liable for confusion with other Gaelic languages.
Closely related languages which descend from Old Irish include Scottish Gaelic (GĂ idhlig), and Manx Gaelic (Gaelg), languages spoken in Scotland and the Isle of Man respectively, so the term Irish Gaelic instead of Irish is often used when the three languages and their relationship to one another are being discussed. Scottish Gaelic is often referred to in English as simply Gaelic (IPA: /ËgeÉȘlÉȘk/ or /ËgĂŠËlÉȘk/). The archaic term Erse (from Erisch), originally a Scots form of the word Irish, and used in Scotland to apply to all of the Goidelic languages, is no longer used for any Goidelic language, and in most current contexts is considered derogatory.Door Raymond Hickey, 2002, A Source Book for Irish English, John Benjamins Publishing Company: NetherlandsDoor Christopher Whyte, 2004, Modern Scottish Poetry, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh
In the CaighdeĂĄn OifigiĂșil (the official written standard) the name of the language is Gaeilge (IPA: /ËgeËlÊČÉÉ/), which reflects the southern Connacht pronunciation.
Before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge; originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in classical Modern Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Middle Irish and GoĂdelc in Old Irish. The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent dh in the middle of Gaedhilge.
Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht Gaeilge mentioned above, include Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig (IPA: /ËgeËlÊČÉc/) or Gaedhlag (IPA: /ËgeËÉ«ÌȘÉg/) in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn (IPA: /ËgeËÉ«ÌȘÉÉČ/) in Munster Irish.
Irish is given recognition by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Ireland (with English being a second official language). Since the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see also History of the Republic of Ireland), the Irish Government required a degree of proficiency in Irish for all civil service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.).Ă MurchĂș, MĂĄirtĂn (1993). "Aspects of the societal status of Modern Irish", in Martin J. Ball and James Fife (eds.): The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge, 471â90. ISBN 0-415-01035-7. Proficiency in Irish for entrance to the public service ceased to be a compulsory requirement in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the Language Freedom Movement.
While the requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also Education in the Republic of Ireland). Those wishing to teach in primary schools in the State must also pass a compulsory examination called "ScrĂșdĂș CĂĄilĂochta sa Ghaeilge". The need for a pass in Leaving Certificate Irish for entry to the GardaĂ (police) was dropped in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. All official documents of the Irish Government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (this is according to the official languages act 2003, which is enforced by "an comisinĂ©ir teanga", the language ombudsman).
In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his auguration Declaration of Office in his native Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect.
The National University of Ireland, Galway is required to appoint a person who is competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3).Irish Statue Book, University College Galway Act, 1929. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. It is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course.Minister Hanafin publishes University College Galway (Amendment) Bill 2005. Department of education and Science (12 December 2005). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
Even though modern parliamentary legislation is supposed to be issued in both Irish and English, in practice it is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" be provided of any law in both official languagesâif not already passed in both official languages.Constitution of Ireland. Government of Ireland (1 July 1937). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
A sign for the Department of Culture, Leisure, and Arts in Northern Ireland, in English, Irish, and Ulster Scots.
The language has also received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The British government promised to create legislation encouraging the language as part of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement."Irish language future is raised", BBC News, 13 december 2006. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
While an official language of the European Union only direct correspondence with the public and co-decision regulations must be produced in Irish for the moment, due to a renewable five-year derogation on what has to be translated, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language\'s new official status. Any expansion in the range of documents to be translated will depend on the results of the first five-year review and on whether the Irish authorities decide to seek an extension. Before Irish became an official language on 1st January 2007, it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU had been translated into Irish.
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Official Gaeltacht areas
There are parts of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional, native language. These regions are known collectively as the GaeltachtaĂ. These are in County Galway (Contae na Gaillimhe), including Connemara (Conamara), the Aran Islands (na hOileĂĄin Ărann), Carraroe (An Cheathru Rua) and Spiddal (An SpidĂ©al); on the west coast of County Donegal (Contae DhĂșn na nGall); in the part which is known as Tyrconnell (TĂr Chonaill); and Dingle Peninsula (Corca Dhuibhne) in County Kerry (Contae ChiarraĂ). Smaller ones also exist in Mayo (Contae Mhaigh Eo), Meath (Contae na MĂ), Waterford (Contae Phort LĂĄirge), and Cork (Contae ChorcaĂ). However, even within the Gaeltacht areas, the Irish-speaking populations have declined since the Gaeltacht boundaries were drawn up.
To summarise the extent of the survival: (See Hindley, \'The Death of the Irish Language\') Irish remains as a natural vernacular in the following areas: south Connemara, from a point west of Spiddal, covering Inverin, Carraroe, Rosmuck, and the islands; the Aran Islands, with the exception of the town of Kilronan on Inishmore; northwest Donegal in the area around Gweedore, including Rannafast, Gortahork and surrounding townlands; in the townland of Rathcarn, Co. Meath.
Irish remains the normal language of the older population, but has not been transmitted as such to the younger generation in the following areas: south Connemara in the area around Spiddal; parts of the Joyce country on the border between Galway and Mayo; the parish of Carrowteigue in northwest Mayo; in Co. Kerry, the far west of the Dingle peninsula, including the areas around Dunquin, Ballyferriter and Ventry; other parts of northwest Donegal, including Tory Island, and a halo of townlands on the further outskirts as Gweedore, up to the edge of the English-speaking town of Dungloe; a pocket in the Waterford Gaeltacht in Ring.
Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair), County Donegal is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland.
The numerically and socially strongest Gaeltacht areas are those of South Connemara, west Dingle and northwest Donegal, in which the majority of residents (although not all in North-West Donegal) use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as the FĂor-Ghaeltacht ("true Gaeltacht") and collectively have a population just under 20,000.
"Caution Children"
Irish summer colleges are attended by tens of thousands of Irish teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged.
According to data compiled by the Irish Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in Gaeltacht areas possess a fluency in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ă hĂallaithe, described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times (January 6, 2002), referring to his analysis, which was initially published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse, quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but the number now is between 20,000 and 30,000."
There are a number of distinct dialects of Irish. Roughly speaking, the three major dialect areas coincide with the provinces of Munster (CĂșige Mumhan), Connacht (CĂșige Chonnacht) and Ulster (CĂșige Uladh). Newfoundland, in eastern Canada, is also seen to have a minor dialect of Irish, closely resembling the Irish spoken during the 16th to 17th centuries (See Newfoundland Irish).
Munster Irish is mainly spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Kerry (Contae ChiarraĂ), Ring (An Rinn) near Dungarvan (DĂșn GarbhĂĄin) in County Waterford (Contae Phort LĂĄirge) and Muskerry (MĂșscraĂ) and Cape Clear Island (OileĂĄn ChlĂ©ire) in the western part of County Cork (Contae ChorcaĂ). The most important subdivision in Munster is that between Decies Irish (Na DĂ©ise) (spoken in Waterford) and the rest of Munster Irish.
Some typical features of Munster Irish are:
The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found in Connemara and the Aran Islands. In some regards this dialect is quite different from general Connacht Irish but since most Connacht dialects have died out during the 20th century Connemara Irish is sometimes seen as Connacht Irish. Much closer to the larger Connacht Gaeltacht is the dialect spoken in the smaller region on the border between Galway (Gaillimh) and Mayo (Maigh Eo). The northern Mayo dialect of Erris (Iorras) and Achill (Acaill) is in grammar and morphology essentially a Connacht dialect; but shows an affinity in vocabulary with Ulster Irish, due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following the Plantation of Ulster.
There are features in Connemara Irish outside the official standardânotably the preference for verbal nouns ending in -achan, e.g. lagachan instead of lagĂș, "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings give Connemara Irish its distinct sound. Distinguishing features of this dialect include the pronunciation of broad bh as [w], rather than as [vË ] in Munster. For example mo bhĂĄd ("my boat") is pronounced [mË É wÉËdÌȘË ] in Connacht and Ulster as opposed to [mË É vË ÉËdÌȘË ] in the south. In addition Connacht and Ulster speakers tend to include the "we" pronoun rather than use the standard compound form used in Munster e.g. bhĂ muid is used for "we were" instead of bhĂomar elsewhere.
Linguistically the most important of the Ulster dialects today is that of the Rosses (na Rossa), which has been used extensively in literature by such authors as the brothers SĂ©amus Ă Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna, locally known as JimĂ FheilimĂ and Joe FheilimĂ. This dialect is essentially the same as that in Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair = Inlet of Streaming Water), and used by native singers Enya (Eithne) and MĂĄire Brennan and their siblings in Clannad (Clann as Dobhar = Family .from the Dobhar[a section of Gweedore]) Na Casaidigh, and MairĂ©ad NĂ Mhaonaigh from another local band Altan.
Ulster Irish sounds very different and shares several unusual features with Scottish Gaelic, as well as having lots of characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today Northern Ireland, it is probably an exaggeration to see Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. For instance, Scottish Gaelic has many non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish.
One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish is the use of the negative particle cha(n) in place of the Munster and Connacht version nĂ. Even in Ulster, cha(n)âmost typical of Scottish Gaelicâhas largely ousted the more common nĂ (except in nĂl "is not") in northernmost dialects (e.g. Rosguill and Tory Island).Hamilton, John Noel (1974). A Phonetic Study of the Irish of Tory Island, County Donegal. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen\'s University of Belfast. Lucas, Leslie W. (1979). Grammar of Ros Goill Irish, County Donegal. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen\'s University of Belfast.
An CaighdeĂĄn OifigiĂșil ("The Official Standard"), often shortened to An CaighdeĂĄn, is the standard language, and was introduced in the 1950s/1960s in an attempt to make Irish easier to learn, as it was composed using elements of the Munster and Ulster dialects, but strongly based on the dialect of Connacht. It is the form of Irish that is taught in most schools in Ireland.
The dialects of Irish native to Leinster, the fourth province of Ireland, became extinct during the 20th century, but records of some of these were made by the Irish Folklore Commission among other bodies prior to this.
The present-day Irish of Meath (in Leinster) is a special case. It belongs mainly to the Connemara dialect. The Irish-speaking community in Meath is mostly a group of Connemara speakers who moved there in the 1930s after a land reform campaign spearheaded by MĂĄirtĂn Ă Cadhain (who subsequently became one of the greatest modernist writers in the language).
What has been called "Dublin Irish" (Gaeilge Bhaile Ătha Cliath) and "Gaelscoil Irish" is also spoken in the capital and amongst the students of Irish-speaking schools throughout the country. This is, arguably, simply the national standard of Irish, or An CaighdeĂĄn OifigiĂșil but with strong influence from English in the form of idioms and expressions.
The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in defining standard Irish. A good example is the greeting "How are you?". Just as this greeting varies from region to region, and between social classes, among English speakers, this greeting varies among Irish speakers:
In recent decades contacts between speakers of different dialects have become frequent and mixed dialects have originated. With the growth in the Irish language mediaâand in particular the television channel TG4âit has become much easier for speakers of different dialects to understand one another, although this is mostly seen in the younger generations.
The features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the orthography, the initial consonant mutations, the Verb Subject Object word order, the use of two different forms for "to be", and noun genders. However, initial mutations are found in other Celtic languages as well as in some Italian and Sardinian dialects, as an independent development. They are also found in some West African languages.
Word order in Irish is of the form VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) so that, for example, "He hit me" is Bhuail [hit-past tense] sé [he] mé [me].
One aspect of Irish syntax that is unfamiliar to speakers of other languages is the use of the copula (known in Irish as an chopail). The copula is used to describe what or who someone is, as opposed to how and where. It is used to say that a noun is another noun, rather than an adjective. This has been likened to the difference between the verbs ser and estar in Spanish and Portuguese (see Romance copula), although this is only a rough approximation.
Another feature of Irish grammar that is shared with other Celtic languages is the use of prepositional pronouns (forainmneacha réamhfhoclacha), which are essentially conjugated prepositions. For example, the word for "at" is ag, which in the first person singular becomes agam "at me". When used with the verb bà ("to be") ag indicates possession; this is the equivalent of the English verb "to have".
| TĂĄ leabhar agam. | "I have a book." | (Literally, "there is a book at me") |
| TĂĄ leabhar agat. | "You have a book." | |
| TĂĄ leabhar aige. | "He has a book." | |
| TĂĄ leabhar aici. | "She has a book." | |
| TĂĄ leabhar againn. | "We have a book." | |
| TĂĄ leabhar agaibh. | "You (plural) have a book." | |
| TĂĄ leabhar acu. | "They have a book." |
"Gaelach" in the Gaelic script.
The written language looks rather daunting to those unfamiliar with it. Once understood, the orthography is relatively straightforward. The acute accent, or sĂneadh fada (ÂŽ), serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality. For example, in Munster Irish (Kerry), a is /a/ or /É/ and ĂĄ is /ÉË/ in "law" but in Ulster Irish (Donegal), ĂĄ tends to be /ĂŠË/.
Around the time of World War II, SĂ©amas DaltĂșn, in charge of RannĂłg an AistriĂșchĂĄin (the official translations department of the Irish government), issued his own guidelines about how to standardise Irish spelling and grammar. This de facto standard was subsequently approved of by the State and called the Official Standard or CaighdeĂĄn OifigiĂșil.
It simplified and standardised the orthography. Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one or more were selected.
Examples:
Modern Irish has only one diacritic sign, the acute (ĂĄ Ă© Ă Ăł Ăș), known in Irish as the sĂneadh fada "long mark", plural sĂnte fada. In English, this is frequently referred to as simply the fada, where the adjective is used as a noun. The dot-above diacritic, called a ponc sĂ©imhithe or sĂ buailte (often shortened to buailte), derives from the punctum delens, which was used in medieval manuscripts to indicate deletion, similar to crossing out unwanted words in handwriting today. From this usage it was used to indicate the lenition of s (from /s/ to /h/) and f (from /f/ to zero) in Old Irish texts.
Lenition of c, p, and t was indicated by placing the letter h after the affected consonant; lenition of other sounds was left unmarked. Later both methods were extended to be indicators of lenition of any sound except l and n, and two competing systems were used: lenition could be marked by a buailte or by a postposed h. Eventually, use of the buailte predominated when texts were writing using Gaelic letters, while the h predominated when writing using Roman letters.
Today the Gaelic script and the buailte are rarely used except where a "traditional" style is required, e.g. the motto on the University College Dublin coat of arms or the symbol of the Irish Defence Forces, The Irish Defence Forces cap badge (ĂglaiÄĄ na h-Ăireann). Letters with the buailte are available in Unicode and Latin-8 character sets (see Latin Extended Additional chartUnicode 5.0, Latin Extended AdditionalPDF (150 KiB). Retrieved on 2007-10-13.).
In Irish, there are two classes of initial mutations:
Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the fourth century AD; this stage of the language is known as Primitive Irish. Old Irish, dating from the sixth century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. Middle Irish, dating from the tenth century, is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the famous Ulster Cycle. Early Modern Irish, dating from the thirteenth century, was the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland, and is attested by such writers as Geoffrey Keating.
From the eighteenth century the language went into a decline, rapidly losing ground to English due in part to restrictions dictated by British occupation - a conspicuous example of the process known by linguists as Language shift. In the mid-nineteenth century it lost a large portion of its speakers to death and emigration resulting from poverty, particularly in the wake of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849).
At the end of the nineteenth century, members of the Gaelic Revival movement made efforts to encourage the learning and use of Irish in Ireland.
The number of native Irish-speakers in the Republic of Ireland today is a smaller fraction of the population than it was at independence. The main reason for the decline was, according to some, the pressure the state put upon Irish-speakers to use English The state is the main force anglicising the Gaeltacht, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.a.mccartney/baile_nua/state_policies.html.[unreliable source?] Also, many Irish speaking families encouraged their children to speak English as it was the language of education and employment. The Official Languages Act of 2003 gave people the right to interact with state bodies in Irish. It is too early to assess how well this is working in practice. Other factors were outward migration of Irish speakers from the Gaeltacht (see related issues at Irish diaspora) and inward migration of English-speakers. The Planning and Development Act (2000) attempted to address the latter issue, with varied levels of success. Planning controls now require new housing in Gaeltacht areas to be allocated to English-speakers and Irish-speakers in the same ratio as the existing population of the area. This will prevent new houses allocated to Irish-speakers being immediately sold on to English-speakers. However, the restriction only lasts for a few years. Also, people are not required to reach native speaker standards of fluency to qualify as Irish-speakers.
On 19 December, 2006 the government announced a 20-year strategy to help Ireland become a fully bilingual country. This involved a 13 point plan and encouraging the use of language in all aspects of life. RTĂ News, 2006-12-19, Govt announces 20-year bilingual strategy. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.Government of Ireland, Statement on the Irish Language 2006PDF (919 KiB). Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
Several computer software products have the option of an Irish-language interface. Prominent examples include KDE,KDE Irish Gaelic translation. kde.ie. Retrieved on 2007-07-11. Mozilla Firefox,Firefox in Irish. mozdev.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. Mozilla Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org,Bogearra den scoth, chomh maith agus a bhà sé ariamh, anois as Gaeilge (Irish). openoffice.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. and Microsoft Windows XP,Windows XP Ÿ Pacåiste Comhéadan Gaeilge (Irish). Microsoft. Retrieved on 2007-06-19..
Many English-speaking Irish people use small and simple phrases (known as cĂșpla focal, "a few words") in their everyday speech, e.g. SlĂĄn ("goodbye"), SlĂĄn abhaile ("get home safely"), SlĂĄinte ("good health"; used when drinking like "bottoms up" or "cheers"), Go raibh maith agat - ("thank you"), CĂ©ad mĂle fĂĄilte ("a hundred thousand welcomes", a tourist board saying), Conas atĂĄ tĂș? ("How are you?"). There are many more small sayings that have crept into Hiberno-English. The term craic has been popularised outside Ireland in this made-up Gaelicized spelling: "How\'s the craic?" or "What\'s the \'craic\'?" ("how\'s the fun?"/"how is it going?"), though the word is not Irish in origin, and the expression "How\'s the crack?" was widely used in Ireland since at least the 1960s before the Irish-language spelling "craic" became the common journalistic style.
In an effort to increase the use of the Irish language by the State, the Official Languages Act was passed in 2003. This act ensures that most publications made by a governmental body must be published in both official languages, Irish and English. In addition, the office of Language Commissioner has been set up to act as an ombudsman with regard to equal treatment for both languages. Effectively this is to protect Irish as a minority language.
A major factor in the decline of natively-spoken Irish has been the movement of English speakers into the Gaeltacht (predominantly Irish speaking areas) and the return of native Irish-speakers who have returned with English-speaking families. This has been stimulated by government grants and infrastructure projects The state has anglicised the Gaeltacht by encouraging the immigration of English-speakers, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.a.mccartney/baile_nua/migration.html "only about half Gaeltacht children learn Irish in the home... this is related to the high level of in-migration and return migration which has accompanied the economic restructuring of the Gaeltacht in recent decades".The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future, p. xxvi. Many see this as a deliberate attempt by anti-nationalist politicians to wipe out the language.[citation needed] "That economic development of the kind undertaken was likely to have such consequences was readily predictable a decade ago".The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future, p. 47. In a last-ditch effort to stop the demise of Irish-speaking in Connemara in Galway, planning controls have been introduced on the building of new homes in Irish speaking areas.
Attempts have been made to offer support for the language through the media, notably with the launch of RaidiĂł na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht radio) and TeilifĂs na Gaeilge (Irish language television, initially abbreviated to \'TnaG\', now renamed TG4). Both have been relatively successful. TG4 has offered Irish-speaking young people a forum for youth culture as Gaeilge (in Irish) through rock and pop shows, travel shows, dating games, and even a controversial award-winning soap opera in Irish called Ros na RĂșn. Most of TG4\'s viewership, however, tends to come from showing Gaelic football, hurling and rugby union matches and also films in English, and English pop music programmes, although some of its Irish language programmes attract non-tiny audiences. In 2007 TG4 reported that overall it "has a share of 3% of the national television market"[1]. This market share is up from about 1.5% in the late 1990s. TG4 delivers 16 hours a day of television from an annual budget of âŹ30 million, which is widely judged to be relatively efficient. The budget has the full support of all political parties in parliament.[2] TG4 is the most successful and high-profile government initiative for the Irish language for the past fifty years.
The Irish Language daily newspaper LĂĄ Nua publishes five days a week and has circulation of several thousand as well as a website. There is also a weekly paper, Foinse. These require government sponsorship. The Irish News has two pages in Irish every day. The Irish Times had up until recently one article in Irish every week. Now it has several articles with some articles appended with short lists giving the meaning of some of the words used in English. Another paper, Saol, and about 5 magazines are also published in the language, as well as internet-only publications such as "Beo!". The immigrants magazine Metro Ăireann also has articles in Irish every issue, as do many local papers throughout the country, including university publications such as Trinity News. The BBC offers a website for beginners called Blas ("a taste").Blas website URL
Thanks in large part to Gael-Taca and Gaillimh Le Gaeilge a large number of residential developments are named in Irish today in most of the Republic of Ireland.[3]Sunday Times article on Gael-Taca URL] Currently residential developments cannot be named in Irish-only in Northern Ireland.
The Placenames Order (Gaeltacht Districts)/An tOrdĂș Logainmneacha (Ceanntair Gaeltachta) (2004) requires the original Irish placenames to be used in the Gaeltacht on all official documents, maps and roadsigns. This has removed the legal status of those placenames in the Gaeltacht in English. Opposition to these measures comes from several quarters including some people within popular tourist destinations located within the Gaeltacht (namely in Dingle/An Daingean) who claim that tourists may not recognise the Irish forms of the placenames.
However following a campaign in the 1960s and early 1970s, most roadsigns in Gaeltacht regions have been in Irish only. Maps and government documents did not change, though. Previously Ordnance Survey (government) maps showed placenames bilingually in the Gaeltacht (and generally in English only elsewhere). Unfortunately, most other map companies wrote only the English placenames, leading to significant confusion in the Gaeltacht. The act therefore updates government documents and maps in line with what has been reality in the Gaeltacht for the past 30 years. Private map companies are expected to follow suit. Beyond the Gaeltacht only English placenames were officially recognised (pre 2004). However, further placenames orders have been passed to enable both the English and the Irish placenames to be used. The village of Straffan is still marked variously as An SrafĂĄin, An CluainĂnĂ and Teach StrafĂĄin, even though Irish has not been the spoken widely there for two centuries.
Irish vehicle registration plates are bilingual: the county of registration is shown in Irish above the plate number as a kind of surtitle, and is encoded from English within the plate number. For example, a Dublin plate is surtitled Baile Ătha Cliath and the plate number includes "-D-".
From 1964 The Bible was translated at Maynooth for Roman Catholics for the first time under the supervision of Professor PĂĄdraig Ă Fiannachta and was finally published in 1981.An BĂobla Naofa (Maynooth 1981) The Church of Ireland Book of Common Prayer of 2004 is published in both English and Irish.
The Irish language is a compulsory subject in government funded schools in the Republic of Ireland and has been so since the early days of the state. However, the curriculum was arranged in the 1930s by Father Timothy Corcoran SJ of UCD, who could not speak the language himself. The Irish Government has endeavoured to address the unpopularity of the language by revamping the curriculum at primary school level to focus on spoken Irish. However, at secondary school level, students must analyse literature and poetry, and write lengthy essays, debates and stories in Irish for the Leaving Certificate examination. The exemption from learning Irish on the grounds of time spent abroad, or learning disability, is subject to Circular 12/96 (primary education) and Circular M10/94 (secondary education) issued by the Department of Education and Science.
In March 2007, the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, announced that more focus would be devoted to the spoken language, and that from 2012, the percentage of marks available in the Leaving Certificate Irish exam would increase from 25% to 40% for the oral component.Department of Education & Science, 2007-03-11, Minister Hanafin announces increase in marks for Oral Irish to 40% in exams. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. This increased emphasis on the oral component of the Irish examinations is likely to change the way Irish is examined. Independent, 2007-07-12. Pupils lap up hi-tech learning of Irish. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.Learnosity, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment: Ireland. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
Recently the abolition of compulsory Irish has been discussed. In 2005 Enda Kenny, leader of Ireland\'s main opposition party, Fine Gael, called for the language to be made an optional subject in the last two years of secondary school. Mr Kenny, despite being a fluent speaker himself (and a teacher), stated that he believed that compulsory Irish has done the language more harm than good.
A relatively recent development is the proliferation of gaelscoileanna (schools) in which Irish is the medium of education. By September 2005 there were 158 gaelscoileanna at primary level and 36 at secondary level in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland together (excluding the Gaeltacht, whose schools are not considered gaelscoileanna), which amounted to approximately 31,000 students. This has grown from a total of less than 20 in the early 1970s and there are 15 more being planned at present. With the opening of Gaelscoil Liatroma in County Leitrim in 2005 there is now at least one gaelscoil in each of the 32 traditional counties of Ireland. In Gaeltacht areas, the medium of education has been traditionally through Irish, these institutions are known as GaelcholĂĄistĂ whereby all subjects as well as government exams are carried out through Irish. English is the second language of the majority of these students.
The Irish Equality Authority recently questioned the official State practice of awarding 5-10% extra marks to students who take all their examinations through Irish.The Equality Authority (22 november 2006). "Landmark Decision for Leaving Certificate Students with Dyslexia". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
The Royal Irish Academy\'s 2006 conference on "Language Policy and Language Planning in Ireland" found that the study of Irish and other languages is declining in Ireland. The number of schoolchildren studying "higher level" Irish for the Leaving Certificate dropped from 15,719 in 2001 to 14,358 in 2005. To reverse this decline, it was recommended that training and living for a time in a Gaeltacht area should be "compulsory" for teachers of Irish.2006 RIA language conference report
Although the Gaeltacht is defined as an entirely Irish-language speaking area, the Irish government also pays families living in the Gaeltacht areas with school-age children to speak Irish. These are inspected and graded according to ability. In the 2006-07 school year, 2,216 families received the full grant of âŹ260 p.a., 937 families received a reduced grant and 225 families did not meet the criteria. This payment scheme is called Sceim Labhairt na Gaeilge, the first example in Europe where citizens are paid to speak their first official language.Irish Independent, 20 November 2007, page 11.
Supplementing the formal curriculum, and after the end of the primary (usually from 4th class onwards) and secondary school years, some pupils attend an "Irish college". These programmes are residential Irish language summer courses, and give students the opportunity to be immersed in the language, usually for periods of three weeks over the summer months. Some courses are college based while others are based with host families in Gaeltacht areas under the guidance of Bean an tĂ. Students attend classes, participate in sports, art, drama, music, go to cĂ©ilithe and other summer camp activities through the medium of Irish. As with the conventional school set-up The Department of Education establishes the boundaries for class size and qualifications required by teachers.
Sign at Irish medium school in Newry
As in the Republic, the Irish language is a minority language in Northern Ireland, known in Irish as Tuaisceart Ăireann.
Attitudes towards the language in Northern Ireland have traditionally reflected the political differences between its two divided communities. The language has been regarded with suspicion by unionists, who have associated it with the Roman Catholic-majority Republic, and more recently, with the republican movement in Northern Ireland itself. Many republicans in Northern Ireland, including Sinn FĂ©in President Gerry Adams, learnt Irish while in prison, a development known as the jailtacht.Allen Feldman. Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland.U of Chicago P, 1991. Chapter 3. Although the language was taught in Catholic secondary schools (especially by the Christian Brothers), it was not taught at all in state schools and public signs in Irish were effectively banned under laws by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which stated that only English could be used.
These laws were not repealed by the British government until the early 1990s. However, Irish-medium schools, known as gaelscoileanna, had already been founded in Belfast and Derry, and an Irish-language newspaper called LĂĄ Nua ("New Day") was established in Belfast. BBC Radio Ulster began broadcasting a nightly half-hour programme in Irish in the early 1980s called Blas ("taste, accent"), and BBC Northern Ireland also showed its first TV programme in the language in the early 1990s.
The Ultach Trust was also established, with a view to broadening the appeal of the language among Protestants, although hardline DUP politicians like Sammy Wilson ridiculed it as a "leprechaun language"."Unionist fear of Irish must be overcome", newshound.com, quoting Irish News, 6 February 2003. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. Ulster Scots, promoted by many loyalists, was, in turn, ridiculed by nationalists (and even some Unionists) as "a DIY language for Orangemen"."The rich heritage of Ulster Scots culture", newshound.com, quoting Irish News, 16 November 2002. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. According to recent statistics, there is no significant difference between the number of Catholic and Protestant speakers of Ulster Scots in Ulster (see Ulster Scots language), although those involved in promoting Ulster-Scots as a language are almost always unionist. Ulster-Scots is defined in legislation (The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) Northern Ireland Order 1999) as: the variety of the Scots language which has traditionally been used in parts of Northern Ireland and in Donegal in Ireland.Initial Periodical Report by the United Kingdom presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter. Council of Europe, Legal Affairs Office (1 july 2002). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.(internet archive copy as of 14 May 2005)
Irish received official recognition in Northern Ireland for the first time in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement. A cross-border body known as Foras na Gaeilge was established to promote the language in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, taking over the functions of the previous Republic-only Bord na Gaeilge.
The British government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect to Irish in Northern Ireland.
It has been claimed that Belfast now represents the fastest growing centre of Irish language usage on the island - and the Good Friday Agreement\'s provisions on \'parity of esteem\' have been used to give the language an official status there. In March 2005, the Irish language TV service TG4 began broadcasting from the Divis transmitter near Belfast, as a result of agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Northern Ireland Office, although so far this is the only transmitter to carry it.
The Belfast city council has designated the Falls Road area (from Milltown Cemetery to Divis street) as The Gaeltacht Quarter of Belfast, one of the four cultural quarters of the city. There is a growing number of Irish-medium schools throughout Northern Ireland (see picture above), and, at English-medium schools, it is becoming more and more common that Irish be taught to children.
Under the St Andrews Agreement, the government has legislated to introduce an Irish Language Act. A consultation period ending on 2 March 2007 could see Irish becoming an official language, having equal validity with English, recognised as an indigenous language, or aspire to become an official language in the future.
The language spread of Irish Gaelic in the United States according to U. S. Census 2000 and other resources interpreted by research of U.S. ENGLISH Foundation, percentage of home speakers.
An interest in the Irish language is maintained throughout the English speaking world among the Irish diaspora and there are active Irish language groups in North American, British, and Australian cities. In Australia, a network of people have established special Irish schools around the country teaching the language and music.
The Irish language emigrated to North America along with the Irish people. Although Irish is one of the smaller European languages spoken in North America, it has cultural importance in the northeast United States and in Newfoundland, and according to the 2000 Census, approximately 26,000 people in the U.S. speak Irish at home.MLA Language Map Data Center, Irish Gaelic. Retrieved on 2007-07-22
The Irish language came to Newfoundland in the late 1600s and was commonly spoken among the Newfoundland Irish until the middle of the 20th century. There is direct evidence to suggest that as high as 90% of the Irish in Newfoundland spoke only Irish as their mother tongue. Records from Newfoundland\'s courts, where defendants often required Irish-speaking interpreters, indicate that the dominant language of the Avalon Peninsula was Irish rather than English. Today it remains the only place outside of Ireland that can claim a unique Irish name (Talamh an Ăisc, meaning Land of the Fish), and an area where Irish is natively spoken. In 2007 a number of Canadian speakers founded the first "Gaeltacht" outside of Ireland in an area near Kingston, Ontario (see main article Permanent North American Gaeltacht). The site (named Gaeltacht Bhaile na hĂireann) is located in Tamworth, Ontario and is to be a retreat centre for Irish-speaking Canadians and Americans.Gaelport, Irish at home in Canada, 17 February 2007Gaelport, First Gaeltacht abroad planned for Canada, 23 January 2007
The Irish language reached Australia in 1788, along with English. In the early colonial period, Irish was seen as an opposition language used by convicts and repressed by the colonial authorities.Cumann Gaeilge na hAstrĂĄile. The Irish Language in Australia. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. Although the Irish were a greater proportion of the European population than in any other British colony, the use of the language quickly declined. As legal barriers to the integration of the Irish and their descendants into Australian life were progressively removed, English became the language of social advancement. The 2001 census revealed that there are 828 speakers of the language in the country."Languages Spoken At Home" from Australian Governament Office of Multicultural Interests website. Retrieved 27 December 2007
In May 2007, the University of Cambridge in England started offering courses in Modern Irish and Medieval Irish. Irish becomes subject at Cambridge University. BreakingNews.ie (5 January 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
Many Australian slang words are Irish-derived and there are arguments that Australian English is more influenced by Irish than other varieties of English. There is a small movement to re-establish the language in contemporary Australia.Transcript of Lingua Franca of 1998-09-26, Why Learn Irish?. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. The Special Broadcasting Service transmits Irish language radio and television.
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