Languages of Ireland

Languages of Ireland
Official language(s)	Irish (42%) English (94%) (Hiberno-English, Mid Ulster English)
Minority language(s)	Scots Shelta
Main immigrant language(s)	Polish
Main foreign language(s)	French (20%)
Sign language(s)	Irish Sign Language Northern Ireland Sign Language
Common keyboard layout(s)	Irish QWERTY
Source	ebs_243_en.pdf (europa.eu)

There are a number of languages used in Ireland. Several have originated from within the island and others have been introduced through foreign settlement. The principal functional language of most residents is English, though a large minority of the population claim some ability to use Irish. Under the Irish constitution, both languages have official status, with Irish being the national and first official language.

Languages

Prehistorical languages

The earliest linguistic records in Ireland are of Primitive Irish, from about the 5th century AD. Languages spoken in Iron Age Ireland before the arrival of the Celts or Gaels are now irretrievable, although there are some claims of pre-Celtic traces in Irish toponymy.^[1]

Modern languages

Irish

The ancestor of Primitive Irish was introduced by the Celts. Primitive Irish gradually evolved into Old Irish, spoken between the 5th and the 10th centuries, and then into Middle Irish. Middle Irish was spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man through the 12th century, when it began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and the Manx language in the Isle of Man. Today, Irish is recognized as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland and is officially recognized in Northern Ireland and in the European Union. 60,000 people speak Irish on a daily basis in the Gaeltacht. In the over 80 years since the independence of the South, efforts to revive Irish as an Active daily vernacular of most of the nation have relied on compulsion and have generally failed thus far however in trying to achieve this, more and more people are becoming Passive speakers of Irish (who watch Irish language TV, listen to Irish language radio, read Irish language newspapers and magazines) with an estimated 10% (400,000+) of the population of the Republic who would be classified as fluent, near fluent or reasonably good Passive speakers.

Although the use of Irish in educational and broadcasting contexts has soared with over 600 Irish-language primary/secondary schools and creches, English is still overwhelmingly dominant in almost all social, economic and cultural contexts. In the media, there is an Irish language TV station TG4, Cúla 4 a children's channel on satellite, 5 radio stations such as the national station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Raidió na Life in Dublin, Raidió Fáilte in Belfast as well as youth radio stations Raidió Rí-Rá and Anocht FM and three newspapers, Lá Nua a Belfast daily, Foinse a weekly, Saol a monthly. There are also occasional columns written in Irish in English-language newspapers, including The Irish Times, The Irish News, The Irish Examiner, Metro Eireann, Irish Echo and Evening Echo. All of the 40 or so radio stations in the Republic have weekly Irish language programming. Similarly, RTÉ run Nuacht, a news show, in Irish and Léargas, a documentary show, in Irish with English subtitles. The Official Languages Act 2003 gave many new rights to Irish citizens with respect to the Irish language, including the use of Irish in court proceedings.^{[citation needed]} All Dáil debates are to be recorded in Irish also. In 2007, Irish became the 21st official language of the European Union.

English

English was first introduced by the settlers in the 12th century. It did not initially take hold as a widely-spoken language as the settlers assimilated into the Irish culture and became 'more Irish than the Irish themselves'. In later plantations, such as the Ulster Plantation of the 17th century, settlers were forbidden to mingle with the natives. Through English rule, the language became that of power and that of the landed classes and since Irish speakers were generally poor and lived on the worst land, Irish was seen as a backward language, suited to agriculture but not useful for those who wanted to engage in a modern career. Consequently most Irish people have spoken English as a native language since 1850 and English medium education was promoted by the British Authorities and the Roman Catholic Church.

The two main dialects of English in Ireland are Hiberno-English (mainly found in the provinces of Connacht, Leinster and Munster) and Mid Ulster English (mainly found in Ulster).

Ulster Scots

Ulster Scots is a dialect of Scots spoken in some parts of County Donegal and Northern Ireland. It is promoted by the Ulster Scots Agency, a cross-border body. Its status as a recognized language as opposed to a dialect of Scots is still debated.

Shelta

Shelta is a cant, based upon both Irish and English, generally spoken by the Irish traveler community.

Sign languages

Irish Sign Language is the sign language of most of Ireland. It has little relation to either spoken Irish or English, and is more closely related to French Sign Language than to British Sign Language.

Northern Ireland Sign Language is used in Northern Ireland, and is related to both ISL and BSL in various ways. ISL is also used in Northern Ireland.

Immigrant languages

With increased immigration into Ireland, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people speaking languages (the top ten listed) such as Greek, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Spanish, Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic.

Extinct language

Norman language

Norman settlers introduced the Norman or Anglo-Norman language during the Norman invasion of Ireland of 1169. The language continued to be used for certain legal purposes long after it had died out among the populace.

Yola

Yola was a dialect of Middle English, surviving in County Wexford up to the 19th century.

Fingalian

Fingalian was similar to Yola but spoken in Fingal up until the mid-19th century.

Language education

In primary schools, most pupils are taught to speak, read and write in Irish and English. The vast majority of schools teach through English, although a growing number of gaelscoileanna teach through Irish and English. Most students at second level choose to study English as an L1 language and Irish and other Continental European languages as L2 languages. Irish is not offered as an L1 language by the Department of Education. Prof. David Little (November 2003) said that there was an urgent need to introduce an L1 Irish Gaelic Curriculum. He quoted from a report by An Bord Curaclaim agus Scrúduithe The Curriculum and Examinations Board) Report of the Board of Studies for Languages, Dublin 1987: "It must be stressed … that the needs of Irish as L1 at post-primary level have been totally ignored, as at present there is no recognition in terms of curriculum and syllabus of any linguistic differences between learners of Irish as L1 and L2."^[2]. The Continental European languages available for the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate include French, German, Italian and Spanish; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Some schools also offer Ancient Greek, Hebrew Studies and Latin at second level.

Students who did not immigrate to Ireland before the age of ten may receive an exemption from learning Irish. Pupils with learning difficulties can also seek exemption. A recent study has revealed that over half of those pupils who got exemption from studying Irish went on to study a Continental European language.^[3] The following is a list of foreign languages taken at Leaving Certificate level in 2007, followed by the number as a percentage of all students taking Mathematics for comparison (mathematics is a mandatory subject).^[4]

Total Mathematics students in 2007 was 49,043.

References