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Irish in Ireland
xx-xx-xxxx http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic/web/document/irlandes/an/i1/i1.html Research Centre of Wales |
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| Irish in Ireland | |
1. Introduction
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2. The language in the country
2.1. General information on the language community
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2.2. Geographical and language background
Ireland lies off the western coast of Europe and is part of the group of islands that include Great Britain. The island of Ireland is approximately 84 400 sq. km. The main features of its physical geography are a large limestone plain, containing considerable areas of bogland and many large lakes, in the centre of the island ringed almost completely by coastal highlands of moderate height.
Nearly two-thirds of the population live in towns and villages. The main towns are nearly all situated on the coast and originated as ports and trading centres. In general, the north-eastern, eastern and southern regions are the more urbanised and industrialised and they contain the larger towns. Dublin is the capital of the Republic (pop. O 9M), and the other large centres are Cork (0 15 M), Limerick (0 07 M), Galway (0 04 M) and Waterford (0 04 M).
In the mid-nineteenth century the population of that part of the island comprising the present Irish state was 6.5 M, but widespread famines in 1846-47 caused a sudden decline to 5-1 M by 1851, due to death and emigration. Emigration primarily to North America and Great Britain - continued to be the dominant demographic characteristic until 1961, when the population was only 2.6 M. Improved economic performance has, however, reversed these trends in recent decades and the present (c. 1991) population ofthe state is 3-6 M. By comparison with European patterns, a very high proportion of Ireland's population is concentrated in the younger age-groups. Nearly half the population is under 25 years.
In 1991, some 1 095 830 persons (32% of the national population) were returned as Irish-speakers in the Census of Population. The ratio of Irishspeakers, as measured in the census, had increased steadily throughout the twentieth century from 18% in 1911. National percentages, however, hide important regional variations. The designated Irish-speaking areas on the west coast (collectively referred to as the Gaeltacht) contain only 2 3% of the national population, but 45% of Irish-speaking homes.
Census data, of course, at best only measure the ability to speak Irish. Recent surveys would suggest that only about 5% of the national population use Irish as their first or main language. A further 10% use Irish regularly but less intensively in conversation or reading. In the state generally, these levels would appear to have remained stable over recent decades. As opposed to these relatively low ratios of spoken or active use of Irish, the ratios of passive use, primarily listening/watching Irish language radio and television programmes, are considerably higher. About 25% of the population watch some Irish language programme weekly.
In the Gaeltacht, where Irish has never ceased to be spoken, its use is very much higher than the national average. For example, in 1973, which is the last year in which a survey was conducted in all Gaeltacht areas, frequent and extensive home use of Irish was reported by about 60% of respondents (as compared to 5% nationally) and differences in work and social contexts are of the same order.
While in 1911, Irish-speaking families were predominantly found within the small farming sector in the western regions, by 1981 the urban professional, administrative and service classes had emerged as the groups with the highest relative and absolute proportions of Irishspeakers. While the current socio-economic status of the residents of the Gaeltacht areas reflects small farm and village occupations, in the urban areas Irish is now more likely to be used among higher socio-economic groups, particularly, but not solely in the public sector. There is also a strong relationship between use of Irish and educational attainment. In survey data, there is a marked association between those with high levels of ability in Irish and those reporting intensive use of Irish. But in turn, high levels of competence in Irish are associated with high levels of education and not with the home. Therefore, bilingualism is more prevalent among the more highly educated groups.
Although Ireland achieved political independence in 1922, it remained a dependent economy within the larger economic units of the British Isles and, since 1973, the EC. With several other states on the European periphery it shares the characteristics of a colonial past, a large agricultural sector, and weak industrial and urban infrastructure. The post-independence phase of development in the pattern of language contact cannot be understood except within the this political and economic context.
The development policies followed by the new state did not succeed in stabilising either the national economy or that of the western region which contained most Irish-speaking districts. Output in the agricultural sector did not grow between 1922 and 1960, and all rural areas suffered extensive out-migration. Substantial changes in economic policies in the 1960s reversed these trends and even rural areas - although somewhat later than their urban counterparts - enjoyed a measure of prosperity in the 1960s and 1970s. At this point, however, the social and regional structure of the state had been transformed. Agriculture was no longer the main occupation and the majority of the population lived in towns and cities.
Even in the past few decades there have been some significant changes in the social and economic organisation of Irish society. Within the middle class occupations there has been substantial growth in skilled manual, service and professional employment, and a decline in public sector employment.
2.3. General history and history of the language
Evidence of human settlement in Ireland dating back to about 6000 BC has been found, but the most important settlers -the Celts- came much later, in successive waves from about 600 BC to the time of Christ. Linguistically, the Celts, who spoke Irish, belonged to the IndoEuropean family of languages. Christianity was introduced into Ireland in the 5th century and it is from this period that written historical sources become available. The distinctive aspect of Irish Christianity was the central role played by monasticism. The great monasteries were centres of learning and culture and the largest of them may have functioned as towns, although due to their generally remote locations none developed as such into medieval times. For two centuries, from around 800 to about 1000, Ireland experienced a series of invasions by the Vikings. Their attacks were initially directed at the wealth of the monasteries, but Vikings subsequently settled to establish trading centres around the Irish coast. Most of the larger towns were, in fact, founded by them. In the 12th century the Normans with their superior military resources - quickly dominated three quarters of the island, and established the first political foothold for England in Ireland, but they were not able to sustain their initial position. By the end of the 1 5th century, they had either been assimilated into the local population or pushed back, by successive counter-attacks, to a small area around Dublin on the east coast.
The Tudor monarchs began a series of military campaigns over the 16th and early 17th centuries which overthrew the native political system and established, for the first time, the dominion of England over all of Ireland.
The history of language contact in Ireland is closely related to the political, social and economic interaction between the island and its nearest and more powerful neighbour, England. Even as late as the sixteenth century the Irish language was the sole or main language used in Ireland and the English monarchy had established only a modest and tentative foothold in eastem Ireland. But the political changes which began in the seventeenth century with the Tudors had profound long-term consequences for the spatial and social distribution of the two languages. The dispossession and dispersal of the Irish aristocratic families introduced relatively large numbers of native-born English to form a new landlord class. Furthermore, the new colonists were Protestant, the dispossessed Irish and old Anglo-Norman were Catholic. The persistence of this religious divide consolidated and sustained the cultural division between the relatively small Protestant English-speaking ascendancy and the majority of the native Irish-speaking population. To the political and religious barriers, a series of legal enactments were added in the 18th century which prevented Catholics from participating in economic or political affairs. While the developments within the upper class gave a decisive impetus to the process of language shift, the role of the towns, as the main locations of British military and administrative influence, were also significant. Over the eighteenth century the shift to English spread through the urban network, diffusing more slowly but relentlessly into the rural hinterland along a general east-west axis. The first Census of Population to include a question on language was undertaken in 1851. While difficulties of interpretation arise because of the nature of the data, it has been calculated that about 45% of the population were Irish-speaking during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, but this percentage had declined to just under 30% by the mid-nineteenth century. The nineteenth century saw the gradual emergence of the Catholic majority as a powerful political force. The first half of the century was dominated politically by the struggle for Catholic Emancipation which succeeded in 1829 in having virtually all the legal disabilities against Catholics removed - and the Great Famine in the 19840s. Because the Great Famine was relatively more severe in western and poorer regions, most of those who died or emigrated were Irish-speakers. This not merely altered the demographic balance between the two language communities but the subsequent rise of large-scale emigration added a powerful new weight to the incentive to learn English. The second half of the century was dominated by campaigns for political independence and land reform. In the 1880s, both these struggles coalesced into a broad political movement for Home Rule. Although not successful, the following decades saw the growing emergence of the Irish nationalist movement. Simultaneously, as the linguistic shift to English entered an advanced phase, a movement for the preservation of Irish emerged. The most influential organisation of this type the Gaelic League (est. 1893), in fact, took the offensive, aiming for the restoration of the vernacular language rather than just simply trying to preserve it. Although the movement started very slowly, within fifteen years after its foundation some 950 branches had been established throughout Ireland. Its influence was very considerable. In the early twentieth century the language movement was incorporated in the wider political independence struggle. A military rising in 1916 was crushed, but the rebellion continued, and the sustained War of Independence in 1919-21 led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 which conceded Free State status to 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland. The remaining six counties in the north-east Northern Ireland - remained within the UK. While the Anglo-Irish War was still in progress (1917-1922), the Provisional Government established a Department of the National Language. Despite the well established dynamic of decline and the unpromising contemporary pattern of bilingualism - no more than 18% of the populations were Irish-speakers, the newly independent state in 1922 launched a comprehensive strategy to reverse the process of shift towards English and restore Irish as the national language. The crucial difference between the Irish case and the language policy of other European nationstates, of course, was the fact that by the beginning of the twentieth century, Irish was the language of a dominated, peripheral minority rather than an elite group. The establishment of the Free State was followed by a civil war, which lasted until Ig23. A*.er this, the normal processes of democratic government were successfully established and maintained. Ireland remained neutral during the Second World War and in 1948 the Republic of Ireland Act was passed, removing the remaining constitutional link with Britain. In 1973, Ireland became a member of the European Communities
2.4. Legal status and official policies
The 1937 constitution gives recognition to two languages, Irish and English, but declares the minority language, Irish, as the first official language. The language revival strategy formulated in the 1920s to give social effect to this constitutional provision had three elements. The first was the maintenance of Irish as the spoken language in those areas where it was still the community language. As these areas were among the most impoverished and remote areas in the state, this dimension of the strategy quickly took on the character of a regional economic development programme. However, in 1926 the Irish-speaking areas contained only 16% of the national population. Elsewhere the objective was revival, for Irish-speakers were only a tiny scattered proportion of an almost entirely English-speaking population. Accordingly, the state looked to the educational system for an increase in the numbers of Irish-speakers in society and Irish became a compulsory element of the curriculum. This was the 'Revival' part of the strategy, but it is not often enough noted that it was only part of a wider programme, which contained a substantial maintenance element as well. Both these dimensions of the strategy were serviced by a third, which was concerned with the provision of the necessary infrastructure for maintenance and revival dimensions alike. (e.g. constitutional and legal status of Irish; standardisation and modernisation of the language etc.). To reverse the process of language shift to English the state had to try to create counter-pressures of sufficient persuasiveness. To this end it used its authority to change the structure of the language market prevailing in the Ireland in order to enhance the symbolic, cultural and economic value attaching to competence to speak Irish. Some of the more significant policies sought to influence aspects of the operation of educational and labour market mechanisms. Proficiency in Irish was required for the award of national educational certificates for accreditation in many professions and for entry into the public service. Many of these requirements, however, have been aiscontinued since the 1970s.
3. The use of the language in various fields
3.1. Education
The teaching of Irish was made compulsory throughout the education system in the 1920s, the ultimate objective was to have all educational programmes taught through Irish. This policy was vigorously pursued by the state up to the 1950's at which point just over half the state's primary schools were offering an immersion programme of a full or partial type i.e. programmes where the teaching medium was Irish. Subsequently, however, this pattern slowly yielded to the type of programme in which Irish was generally only taught as a subject and other subjects were taught through English. Furthermore, although the proportions of children receiving post-primary education increased rapidly in the period since 1960, the effect of this on acquisition of proficiency in Irish was countered by the discontinuation of the policy of making Irish a compulsory subject for state examinations in 1973. Only one university college (Galway) provides a limited number of primary degree courses through Irish.
All Irish children continue to learn Irish in both primary and postprimary school as a subject, but despite some thirteen years experience in the case of the average child, these programmes do not generally produce highly competent active users of Irish. The speakingo use Irish are related to the duration and intensity of Irish language programmes in the schools. Thus, those who received immersion-type teaching in their school years were ten times more likely to be now using Irish intensively than those who had studied Irish as a subject only. Apart from those who were exposed to immersion type courses, it is usually amongst those who stay in the system the longest and who take the academically most demanding syllabus that become proficient in Irish. In 1983, nearly three quarters of current users of Irish had post-primary schooling and nearly half had taken the higher level course in Irish.
Thus, notwithstanding the failure to sustain the immersion type programmes, it remains clear that if the schools had not continued to produce a small but committed percentage of bilinguals, the maintenance of urban-based Irish-speaking networks of would long since have failed.
3.2. Judicial authorities
Theoretically, Irish has full legal standing in all courts, but in practice most of the business of the courts is conducted in English. Anyone appearing in court has the right to use either of the two national languages, Irish and English. In the case where a witness or a defendant demands the right to use Irish, that person must be accommodated, though this may lead to delays in processing the case, especially if the judge or counsel for wither side is not proficient in Irish. Official interpreters are not provided. Documents in Irish are admitted without problem. Language use in Business Language policies were not comprehensive enough to affect all sectors of the economy, and the acceleration of economic development since 1960, which occurred as a consequence of a series of development programmes, greatly modified the impact of the language policies. The growth of the private sector in this period made it possible, because of the expansion of white-collar occupations, for much larger numbers of well educated middle-class children to advance socially without the necessity of acquiring or maintaining a competence in Irish. . Recent surveys suggest that the proportion of respondents who speak Irish frequently at work is about the same as the proportion reporting frequent use of Irish at home, i.e. 2 or 3%. Somewhat more respondents (8%) reported that they ever hear Irish spoken at their workplace, while a lower percentage said that they read or write Irish. (Of course, if those not in the workforce are excluded, these ratios can be doubled, so that about 10% of respondents at work speak Irish at least occasionally).
3.3. Public authorities and services
Public sector employment had in the past been of great importance to the survival of Irish. As recruitment to the state sector, until the early seventies, required a good competence in Irish, it followed that it was this sector of the middle-class that was most likely to be supportive of Irish. In fact some 60% of persons with a fluent competence in Irish are found in the middle and working class fractions dependent on state employment. However, among the public sector fractions themselves there are differences, with the upper middle and the working class fractions having the largest and the smallest proportion of competent bilinguals respectively.
Nonetheless, in recent decades proficiency in Irish is only required for a small number of public service posts, usually those in agencies dealing directly with Irish language policy in the Gaeltacht, schools and media. Outside of these agencies Irish is rarely used, but the public's right to use Irish in its dealings with state institutions is protected by the constitution. In practice, however, a citizen's insistence on speaking Irish with or writing in Irish to state bodies can cause lengthy delays in having their case dealt with.
The use of Irish in street and road signs is almost universal, although usually in a bilingual format. The use of Irish in standard official forms and documents is more limited and variable.
3.4. Mass media and information technology
Although television, and to a lesser extent radio, programmes in Irish attract a significant audience among Irish-speakers, the average Irish language output from the main state radio and television stations in the late 1980s was, with one exception, under 5% of total output. Furthermore, the bulk of Irish language television programming is carried on the second, and less popular, channel. In earlier decades the actual volume of Irish language programmes was much the same, but many of the television programmes were carried on the main, and at the time, only channel. However, an Irish language television service is planned for 1995.
The position of Irish language programming on the four national radio stations is different in only one case. In 1972 a radio station was set up to service the Irish-speaking areas along the west coast. This station broadcasts entirely in Irish, and it is primarily a local radio service whose reception was initially confined to those areas. But since the early 1980s it has been broadcast nationally on the VHF network. Apart from this, the other national or independent local stations carry very little Irish language programmes.
There are no daily newspapers in Irish, but one of the main English language dailies carries regular columns in Irish. There are two weekly newspapers in Irish and a number of mon*hly journ*ls, all with fairly small readerships.
3.5. The Arts
In 1990 about 80 books were published in Irish; in 1991 about 90 and about 100 in 1992. Irish traditional music has a large following and the Irish language is used quite a lot in concerts and folk sessions. There is a reasonably large corpus of recorded Irish language songs available on cassette and CD.
Irish language productions in theatre or cinema are limited. There are two well supported festivals associated with the Irish language Slsgadh (for schools and youth) and Oireachtas na Gaeilge.
3.6. The business world
The policies put in place in favour of the use of Irish in business have not been important enough to effect all economic sectors, and the acceleration of economic development, which became evident from the 1960s as the result of the implementation of a number of programmes of development, greatly modified the impact of linguistic policy.
The growth of the white collar sector during this period, permitted a growing number of educated middle class to climb the social echelons without having to learn or maintain their knowledge of Irish.
Recent studies show that the proportion of people questioned who often speak Irish at work is practically the same as the proportion of those who ,maintain that they speak Irish at home, that is 2-3%. A greater number of people questioned (8%) maintained to have never heard Irish at work whilst a lower percentage of people claim to read or write Irish: (It is obvious that if we do not consider those not working the rates could be doubled so that 10% of the people questioned at work speak Irish at least from time to time).
3.7. Family and social use of the language
The age-specific language data in the census shows that the national increase in the proportion of Irish-speakers was primarily caused by a continual improvement - since the 1920s in the proportion of young adult cohorts able to speak Irish. In 1981, 51% of the age-group between 15-19 years were returned as Irish-speakers in the census. As children do not begin schooling in Ireland until they have reached the age of four, the ratio of Irish-speakers in the young childhood cohort (3-4 years) is generally taken as a measure of the incidence of Irish-speaking homes. The percentage hardly moved from the 5% level since the 1920s. It is thus clear that the above average ratios of Irish-speakers in young adult groups is due to the schools rather than home or community bilingualism. Although over time the proportion of Irish-speakers in older adult cohorts also improved and continues to improve, the improvement is much smaller than the ratio of Irish-speakers in school-age cohorts would suggest. The constant 'slippage' from the relatively high levels of ability attained at school as the cohort moved into adulthood clearly reflects the low incidence of bilingualism in society.
The traditional Irish-speaking communities now account for less than 2% of the national population, they are very scattered and fragmented and a substantial minority of the residents in these areas do not use Irish frequently or, in many cases, at all.
Outside of the small Gaeltacht areas, only about one quarter of those who grew up in Irish language homes use Irish with the same intensity in their current homes. The marked variations in the ratios of Irish-speakers in different age-groups suggests a widespread discontinuity in use-patterns over the life-cycle of bilingual persons. Use of the language appears to be most intensive during school-years after which it is discontinued in the case of many individuals. These discontinuities are indicative of the weak position of bilingualism in Irish society generally. Except in Gaeltacht areas bilingualism in Ireland is based rather loosely on a thin distribution of family and social networks which have a degree of underpinning from a variety of state policies in education, work-place and media institutions (see below). But these networks are dispersed and weakly established and are very vulnerable to the loss of members over time as they are not sufficiently large or vibrant enough to easily attract and retain replacements. However, it would also appear that a significant proportion of current users of Irish began to use the language in their adult years. This group did not have an Irish language home background, and did not appear to have had any strong association with Irish during their school years. How and why this group began to use Irish is not entirely clear from the research, but in the past it appears that Irish began to be used 'on marriage or on the establishment of their own households' (CILAR 1975). This group includes many of the small but growing minority of parents who have chosen Irish medium education for their children, and there is evidence to suggest that these schools help to establish or affirrn home bilingualism and to introduce parents to Irish-speaking networks.
The existence of this last group of Irish-speakers, despite their small size, is evidence that Irish-speaking networks possess a capacity to recruit new members. This must be set against their overall inability to ensure an efficient reproduction of bilinguals.
Overall, attendance at religious services in Ireland is high (c. 80%), but survey evidence suggests that regular attendance at Mass or religious services conducted in Irish is low. Nonetheless, about 20% attend such services at least occasionally.
About 20% of national survey samples report attendance at music, dance and sports events where at least some Irish is used. The trend towards more popularly attended events may simply reflect their greater availability in general. However, it is clear that attendance has doubled and even trebled since 1973.
Attendance at both religious and cultural events in Irish would, of course, be much higher in Gaeltacht areas.
3.8. Transnational exchanges
We have no information about exchanges in recent years with any other groups speaking the same language, mainly because of the lack of recognition accorded to the Berbers in the neighbouring countries.
4. Conclusion
Outside of the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht areas, the establishment of self-generating lrish-speaking cornmunities has proved to be an elusive objective. The maintenance of bilingualism over recent decades largely derives, therefore, from the capacity of the educational system to produce, within each new generation, a sufficiently large number of competent bilinguals to replace those who, for one reason or another, are not retained within Irish-speaking networks.
The political and social climate is now very different from that during which the original language strategy was formulated. The speed with which social change has occurred in Ireland, and the ambiguous feelings, inherited from colonial times, about Irish identity do not provide a secure ideological base for Irish language policy.
The rather complex mixture of success and failure, of growth and decline to be found in the present bilingual pattern indicates that while falling far short of the original policy objective, some modest element of revival and maintenance has been accomplished. Quite clearly, Irish is not a dead language but neither do the current number and distribution of its speakers suggest that a viable future has been secured.
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