‘To have’ Irish in Corca Dhuibhne: Language ideologies and practices in a minority language community

Slavec, Nastja (author), Baskar, Bojan (mentor), Coleman, Steve (comentor)

The Irish language is the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, yet only a dwindling minority of the population speaks it. After centuries of language shift to English, today Irish has solely a symbolic value as an element of Irish national identity. This master’s thesis is based on ethnographic research in the Gaeltacht (a traditionally Irish-speaking community) on the Corca Dhuibhne peninsula in south-west Ireland. In the thesis I focus on the linguistic attitudes and practices of local native or first language Irish speakers, and analyse their relationship with (monolingual) English speakers, with new speakers of Irish as a second language, and with the Irish state. I show how speaking or having (as Irish people say) Irish in Corca Dhuibhne is shaped by a complex interplay of diverse and opposite linguistic ideologies. These are firstly, the ideology of Irish as the national language, which the state has promoted since its establishment in the 1920s, and, secondly, an older linguistic ideology that sees the Irish language as inferior and in subordination to English and has persisted despite state linguistic policies. I conclude that while Irish speakers in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht frequently adopt a discourse about Irish as the national language, the fact that they are a linguistic minority is revealed through their feelings and experiences.

• Language: English
• Keywords: lingvistična antropologija, manjšinski jeziki, jezikovna manjšina, jezikovna ideologija, jezikovne prakse, Irska, irščina, Gaeltacht, West Kerry, Corca Dhuibhne.
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2019
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-110913
• Publication date in RUL: 20.09.2019

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: ‘Imeti’ irščino v Corca Dhuibhnu: Jezikovne ideologije in prakse v manjšinski jezikovni skupnosti

Abstract

Irščina je narodni in prvi uradni jezik Republike Irske, vendar jo govori le še manjšina prebivalstva. Po stoletjih jezikovne asimilacije v angleščino ima irščina danes le še simbolni pomen za irsko narodno identiteto. Pričujoča magistrska naloga temelji na etnografski raziskavi v Gaeltachtu (tradicionalno irsko-govoreči skupnosti) na polotoku Corca Dhuibhne na jugozahodu Irske. V nalogi se osredotočam na jezikovne ideologije in prakse maternih oz. naravnih govorcev irščine ter analiziram njihov odnos do države, (enojezičnih) govorcev angleščine in novih govorcev irščine kot drugega jezika. Na to, kaj »imeti« (kot pravijo Irci - to je govoriti) irščino v Corca Dhuibhnu pomeni, vpliva kompleksen preplet različnih in celo nasprotujočih si jezikovnih ideologij. To sta ideologija irščine kot narodnega jezika, ki jo irska država uveljavlja vse od svoje ustanovitve v 20. letih prejšnjega stoletja, ter starejša ideologija, ki irščino pojmuje kot manjvredno in podrejeno angleščini in je, kljub državni jezikovni politiki, še vedno prisotna. Čeprav govorci irščine v Corca Dhuibhnu pogosto uporabljajo diskurz o irščini kot narodnem jeziku, v nalogi prikažem, kako se preko njihovih občutkov in izkušenj razkriva dejstvo, da so pravzaprav jezikovna manjšina.

• Keywords: linguistic anthropology, minority language, linguistic minority, language ideology, language practice, Ireland, Irish, Gaeltacht, West Kerry, Corca Dhuibhne.