Language as resistance: Oppositional linguistic practices in Irish communities worldwide

PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2014

Almost 2 million people in the North and South of Ireland identify as Irish speakers and an estimated 70 million around the globe can claim Irish heritage. While Irish ancestry may be distant for many, the Irish language is active in numerous diasporic communities, as documented in some limited research (e.g. Ihde 1994, Ó hEadhra 1998, Noone 2012a) and evidenced by the existence of cultural and language groups. Census figures indicate that over 30,000 people currently speak the language in Canada, the United States and Australia alone, yet no general account of Irish-language use in the diaspora exists. Linguistic practices within Irish communities worldwide vary widely with regard to Irish-language use, with each community subject to distinct concerns, histories and discourses (§4). As such each has different possibilities for creating social meaning through language use. The aim of this thesis is: (i) to explore Irish-language learners’ and speakers’ characterisations of patterns of language use and language-community formations between sites in the Republic and Northern Ireland (chiefly Galway, Dublin, Derry and Belfast) and in the diaspora (Melbourne, Australia; Boston, U.S.; and St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada) (§5-7); and (ii) to examine the (Foucauldian) discourses within which Irish-language use is implicated as a meaningful social practice within and across these communities (§8). Research is based on open-ended qualitative interviews with 86 learners and speakers regarding the Irish language and their own language practices, and in extensive participant observation of cultural and language-related activities in each site (§3). Thematic content analysis of interview data provides the basis for ethnographic descriptions of each site. Foucauldian discourse analysis is used to discover and delineate the predominant discourses (and counter-discourses) within which Irish-language use is implicated as a meaningful social act, and that are enacted or actively resisted within and across communities, as well as key subject positions made available within these discourses. The research predominantly targets learners and teachers of Irish, and those involved in language maintenance in each of these communities, and focuses particularly on elective bilinguals – speakers who have learnt Irish in the classroom and who do not use Irish as their primary language. The focus on this kind of bilingual speaker is of paramount importance for two reasons: firstly, because attitudinal research has been largely silent on elective Irish bilinguals, and secondly, because elective bilinguals are likely to be crucial to the language’s survival. Patterns of bilingualism in Gaeltacht regions are shifting and changing, and, as such, circumstantial bilinguals make up decreasing proportions of the language’s speaker community. Urban language communities (largely made up of L2 speakers), however, are increasing in size and activity. This thesis argues for an incorporation of post-structuralist, social constructionist approaches to identity within sociology of language, particularly with regards to elective bilinguals and in diasporic contexts. As such, in addition to contributing to a broader description of Irish-language communities worldwide, this thesis demonstrates the contributions that a critical discourse analytic approach can make in endeavouring to understand the changing position of linguistic minorities in post-modernity.

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies (Special Issue on ‘Irish Otherness’) 16(1): Article 4., 2016

Almost 2 million people in the North and South of Ireland identify as Irish speakers and an estimated 70 million around the globe can claim Irish heritage. While Irish ancestry may be distant for many, the Irish language is active in numerous locations in the diaspora, as documented in research profiling communities across the globe (e.g. Callahan, 1994; Garland 2008; Giles 2016; Kallen 1984, 1994; Noone, 2012a; Ó hEadhra, 1998;Ó Conchubhair 2008; Walsh & NíDhúda 2015 inter alia) and evidenced by the existence of many cultural and language groups. Census figures indicate that at least 25,000 people currently speak the language in Canada, the United States and Australia alone (Statistics Canada, 2013; United States Census Bureau, 2015; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012), yet very few in-depth general accounts of Irish-language use in the diaspora exist. Linguistic practices within Irish communities worldwide vary widely with regard to Irish-language use and language ideologies, with each community subject to distinct concerns, histories and discourses. As such, each has distinct possibilities for creating social and cultural meaning, possibilities that are fundamentally shaped by the socio-cultural and politico-historical contexts within which the Irish language has existed in the last 200 years. This paper investigates how the Irish language is recruited in constructions of cultural authenticity in three sites in the Irish diaspora: Boston, U.S.; Melbourne, Australia; and St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Research is based on open-ended qualitative interviews with 41 learners and speakers regarding the Irish language and their own language practices, and in extensive participant observation of cultural and language-related activities in each site. Thematic content analysis of interview data provides the basis for ethnographic descriptions of each site. A Foucauldian understanding of discourse (e.g. Pennycook, 1994; Foucault, 1981, 1972) affords the identification and delineation of predominant discourses within which Irish-language use is implicated as a meaningful social act, and that are enacted or actively resisted within and across communities, as well as key subject positions made available within these discourses. This approach provides the basis for an exploration of (i) the processes of authenticating a cultural practice within discourse; (ii) how such processes shape the changing configurations of who is included and who is excluded within dominant politico-cultural discourses; and (iii) the various formations of community that exist within and across the diaspora space. The paper shows that the role of the Irish language in authenticating Irish cultural identity is subject to reworkings across time and space, as exemplified in the variety of local meanings it has taken on across the three diaspora sites featured.

Ethnicities, 2011

This paper is about linguistic justice issues in the post-colonial context of an Irish-speaking region in the south-west of Ireland, drawing on a study of political mobilization around the Irish-medium education policy of the region’s secondary school. I explore how the incipient Irish state was involved in a nationalizing project of developing strategies to constitute the Irish polity into a particular nation bound by an language of ‘archaic belonging’. Ithen examine how this nationalizing project was disrupted by structural shifts in the economic and demographic basis for the Irish-speaking communities on the Irish western seaboard. It is in this historical context that the Irish language emerges as a necessary nodal point around which political identity is formed. Local linguistic struggles are conceived as attempts to impose particular kinds of order on a field of meaning.

Anthropological Forum, 2014

The urban and suburban combine to make up the linguistic landscape of the capital city of Ireland. The boom and bust years have, no doubt, had an influence on the language used there. Hickey (2005) hypothesized significant phonological changes motivated by local disassociation. However, to date we know very little about social distribution of the features, the functions that they perform, and how they relate to social identities in Dublin. This poster deals with an ethnographic study of language use among adolescents in a Dublin suburb. The results of the study will have implications for an urban variety of English that has not been explored in much depth, along with aiming to extend and enhance methodological practices when engaging with social networks. The heterogeneous area in question, 7 miles from the centre of the city, can be seen to represent the changing face of Dublin and Ireland. The intention is to identify salient variable linguistic patterns at the, phonological and sociopragmatic levels, and to understand the social meanings of variation: the relationship between linguistic behaviour and adolescent speech communities. As male respondents will be the predominant focus, it may be possible to enhance understanding of the nature of masculine identities hitherto developed by Kiesling (2005) among others. Observation and free recording techniques, successfully employed by Eckert (2000), lead to general interviews that provide linguistic data, and language ideology attitudinal information. It is possible to gain insights on identity construction, orientation and affiliations which reflect respondents’ social and cultural positions, and give insights into inter-group relationships and identity negotiation. In order to verify this data, the methodology tools of the Survey of Regional English (SuRE, see Asprey, Burbano-Elizondo & Wallace, 2006), such as the Identification Questionnaires (IdQ) and an Affiliation Score Index (ASI), can be suitably employed. Identity construction can involve several often overlapping complementary relations, a series of boundaries and symbols (e.g. values, beliefs, ways of talking etc.) that distinguish speech communities in a context (Bucholtz and Hall 2010). I aim to create a thick sociolinguistic description of linguistic realities for the adolescents in question. The significant sociolinguistic processes and sociocultural factors that contribute to the construction of local identity will be examined alongside indexical fields, and other factors that determine employment of linguistic resources. The poster will conclude with implications for variation and change within Dublin. References found in download.

This paper describes the language contact situation in the Republic of Ireland with particular focus on English and Irish, and the current language policies that encourage the use of these official languages. Data from regular censuses in Ireland are linked to a case study of linguistic landscapes in two South Dublin neighbor-hoods to reveal to what extent English, Irish, and other languages are present in public spaces in Ireland’s capital. These results are compared to the attitudes regarding English and Irish held by members of the community in South Dublin, which are based on semiguided interviews with young Dubliners from these neighbourhoods.

Intercultural Relations, 2017

The present paper is devoted to the topic of the Irish language and its relation to Irish identity in the modern world, taking into account crucial aspects of the language’s revitalisation and protection. The focus is predominantly on particular ways of achieving the ambitious goal of societal bilingualism in Ireland in the long term. The notion that language and identity are interrelated is the leitmotif of this chapter. Approaching the issue from socio-linguistic and ethnographic perspectives, the revitalisation of the Irish language may trigger the interest of the wider public, assuming that language is an invaluable part of spiritual, nonmaterial culture. Indeed, we consider that the death of the Irish language would be a serious loss not only in the sphere of Ireland’s cultural and national heritage, but also in the wider European sphere.

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2020

From January 2017 until January 2020, the Stormont assembly in Northern Ireland was suspended, with the Irish language being cited as the main stumbling block to the restoration of government. The continued debate around the necessity of an Irish Language Act (ILA) for Northern Ireland is bound up with more general divisions in society surrounding national identity, and as such, it divided political parties and the nationalist and unionist communities from which they draw their support. Through the analysis of ethnographic interviews conducted in various language learning centres across Belfast, I explore how this debate around legislating for the language impacted on the engagement of learners with the language in the city. By considering the role played by the media in the engagement of interview participants with the Irish language in Belfast, I aim to examine how the policy delay and political discourse affects those engaging with the language. This paper aims to address changing attitudes to the Irish language in Belfast in a period of political crisis, and what it means for those who use the language.

This paper describes the language contact situation in the Republic of Ireland with particular focus on English and Irish, and the current language policies that en- courage the use of these official languages. Data from regular censuses in Ireland are linked to a case study of linguistic land- scapes in two South Dublin neighbor- hoods to reveal to what extent English, Irish, and other languages are present in public spaces in Ireland’s capital. These results are compared to the attitudes regarding English and Irish held by members of the community in South Dublin, which are based on semi-guided interviews with young Dubliners from these neighbourhoods.