Dellaran ([info]dellaran) wrote,
@ 2007-01-05 11:11:00
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No Béarla
(seen on [info]linguaphiles)

Here's an interesting article from the Guardian about trying to get around Ireland speaking only Irish (Gaelic):

Cá Bhfuil Na Gaeilg eoirí?

Interesting, but also depressing... I'm amazed by the amount of sheer hostility he encountered from English-speaking Dubliners.

As an American, I don't really have any right to tell the Irish what they should do with their languages, but I can't help but see a "heritage" language like Irish (or Basque, or Breton, or Navajo, or Ainu, or whatever) as a cultural treasure that needs to be preserved and fostered, not treated with disdain.

(Here's the thread in [info]linguaphiles if you want to see the discussion there.)

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[info]lanthinel
2007-01-05 04:48 pm UTC (link)
Well, the problem stems not from the Irish themselves (nor, in their own circumstances, the Basque, Bretons, Navajo, Ainu, and so forth, as well) but from British Imperial Anglicization drives during the 19th century (as noted by Benedict Anderson in his seminal work on imagined communities and the emergence of nationalism, including Britain's attempts to "imagine" the Empire). A similar thing happened in Scotland to Scots and worse yet Scots Gaelic. Gaelic became associated with the remotest and poorest communities and then families because in order to make money, which is what the Brits had, one had to learn English, use English, and to be really successful, you had to talk better than an English person did in the Received Pronunciation/BBC English.

It doesn't surprise me if the number of speakers is inflated; the Gaelic Revival in Ireland is tied to its own nationalist rise from the late 19th century and twentieth century. Its tied directly to the whole Celtic Twilight movement that folks like AE, Yeats, and Lady Gregory spearheaded in trying to "reclaim" traditional Irish myths. Also, Dublin's a craptastic place to look for Gaelic speakers who aren't playing it up for the tourists; Dublin's been a Germanic holdfast since it was founded by the Norse and the English and Anglo-Irish were always prominent there later. Further, Gaelic may still carry some of its negative associations (poverty, poor education, backwardness) strongly there. Walk into Glasgow in Scotland into downtown and start talking Scots Gaelic, and you're likely to be disliked by the lower-class Glaswegians and the upper class Anglicized Scots.

Further, the state continues to try to force Irish Gaelic on its citizens in various ways despite the fact that English remains the dominant language (you can't dial up your client in London and speak to him in Gaelic, after all). I think there's also some contention over how accurate the early efforts were. What the state's pushing is probably a very literary Gaelic that's been brushed up for the modern era, but still.

I think it'd be cool if Irish were a more mainstream and respected language myself, but convincing most folks to learn Irish or to take classes in it or to study it in anything but the more obscure parts of the academy is difficult and costly.

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[info]joyeuse13
2007-01-05 05:10 pm UTC (link)
What a great summation! Thank you! Love your icon, too. :D

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[info]ardaniel
2007-01-05 04:56 pm UTC (link)
A lot of people in the Gaelic-speaking countries don't regard the language as anything but a hallmark of poverty and ignorance, thanks to the long history of state-sponsored education only being available in English and the perception of better economic opportunities only being available in Britain and America. The concept of cultural treasures is pretty far from the minds of a lot of working-class folks *anywhere,* really, but the Church and the British government conspired to stamp out the Gaelic languages pretty thoroughly.

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[info]joyeuse13
2007-01-05 10:40 pm UTC (link)
I like his sense of humor. It's the practical jokes that amuse me the most:

"I went out busking on the streets, singing the filthiest, most debauched lyrics I could think of" and "I stood outside a bank promising passers-by huge sums of money if they helped me rob it." *Grin*

(Reply to this)

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2007-01-14 02:55 pm UTC (link)
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