New Speakers of Irish in the Global Context

Bernadette O’Rourke is Professor of Sociolinguistics and Hispanic Studies at the University of Glasgow. She is author of Irish and Galician in the European Context (Palgrave 2011) and co-author (with Gabrielle Hogan-Brun) of the Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities (2019). She was Chair of COST Action on New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe (2013-17). She is a Fellow of the Smithsonian Institute for Folklife on the Sustaining Minoritized Languages in Europe (SMiLE) project (2018-present).John Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Irish in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is author of several publications in Irish and English about Irish language policy, Irish language media, Irish and socioeconomic development and new speakers of Irish. John was a leading member of the COST Action on New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe (2013-17) and jointly led two Working Groups (on new speakers and indigenous minority languages and on new speakers and subjectivities).

• ContentsAcknowledgementsFigure 1 Map illustrating Language Planning ProcessFigure 2 Transcription protocolChapter 1: Re-thinking the Sociolinguistics of IrishIntroductionDisrupting old ideas, creating new tensionsGiving a voice to new speakersJohn’s storyBernie’s storyOutline of bookChapter 2: New speakers, new paradigms? Building a theoretical frameworkIntroductionNew speaker research: origins and developmentsNew speakers and broader debates around language and societyNative speaker ideologies in language revitalisation movementsNew speakers, new paradigms?New speakers of minority languages: questions of authenticity, authority, and legitimacy Rethinking new labels and frameworksConclusionChapter 3: National, official and minoritised: the context and background of IrishIntroductionRevival period and new speakers Phases of language policy and new speakers GaeltachtLegal and administrative statusIrish in the education systemStandardisationIrish in Northern IrelandRecent policy initiatives and Irish language networks ConclusionChapter 4: Becoming a new speaker of IrishIntroductionFieldwork conducted by JohnClárKarenRoibeárdCianJasonFieldwork conducted by BernieMáireJoanneLiamMicheál JaneConclusionChapter 5: New speakers of Irish and identitiesIntroductionIrish speakers and identitiesPrimary Irish-speaking identityIrish language identity linked to standard language or dialectAmbiguous or mixed linguistic identityPrimary English-speaking identityIntersection of linguistic and sexual identities ConclusionChapter 6: Ciorcail chomhrá – ‘safe spaces’ for the cúpla focalIntroductionThe ciorcal comhrá phenomenonSafe spaces and ‘breathing spaces’ for the languageNew speakers at Cluain LíTá cúpla focal agam – ‘I have the few words’The ciorcal comhrá as a ‘safe place’ to use IrishExpert speakers and the native speaker ideology Beyond the ciorcal comhrá: the Gaeltacht as an authentic spaceConclusionChapter 7: ConclusionsNew speaker storiesTheoretical insights from the studyPolicy implicationsNew speakers and the GaeltachtReferencesIndex