Gaeilge (Scholarly Articles)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10379/1360

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Titim na banríona: Léamh ar an ghearrscéal ‘Nábla agus Paidí’ le Seán ’Ac Fhionnlaoich
(COMHAR Teoranta, 2020-10-30) Ó Laoire, Lillis
I gcomhthéacs forléargais ghearr ar an litríocht réigiúnach, mionmhíniú é an t-alt seo ar ‘Nábla agus Paidí’, scéal le Seán ’Ac Fhionnlaoich (1910–1982). Léirítear gur scéal é a tharraingíonn as síshean chas an bhéaloidis agus as tuiscintí an ghearrscéil nua-aimseartha araon. Éiríonn leis an údar casadh nua a bhaint as an ábhar thraidisiúnta lena mhodh reacaireachta. Tig an plota cuid mhaith le finscéal sí faoin fhuadach. San insint agus i struchtúrú an scéil a fheictear tionchar na nualitríochta. Leagtar béim ar phearsantacht agus ar chumas oibre an phríomhcharachtair mná agus ar a cumann lena fear. Nochtar cumann bisiúil sona ach ceann a bhfuil beagán teannais ann a bhaineann lena ceird mar bhailitheoir cnuasaigh trá. Ní thugtar barraíocht sonraí áitiúla agus gluaiseann an insint ar aghaidh go gasta mar a bheadh saighead i dtreo na sprice. Faoina dheireadh, fágtar athrú buan doleigheasta ar na carachtair agus ar a gcumann lena chéile. Tá téamaí na hinscne agus na háite nasctha le tuiscintí an chreidimh sí, cé nach luaitear an focal féin oiread agus uair amháin. Maítear go gonta cosúlachtaí le gearrscéalta áirithe mara de chuid Liam Uí Fhlaithearta agus Mháirtín Uí Chadhain chomh maith, agus le dráma J.M. Synge, Riders to the Sea. Maítear gurbh fhiú a thuilleadh comparáide a dhéanamh eatarthu. Seoid bheag de scéal é seo nár tugadh faoi deara i gcanóin na critice cheana.
‘Right an turn agadsa’: The reflexivity between language socialisation and child agency in exploring ‘success’ in FLP
(Elsevier, 2022-09-09) Smith-Christmas, Cassie; Irish Research Council; Horizon 2020
The article explores the mutual relationship—or reflexivity— between language socialisation and child agency. It discusses two respective models developed to: (a) better theorise successful language acquisition in a ‘Family Language Policy’ context (b) conceptualise how children construct their agency through language. These models are implemented in analysing interactions in a family in which the mother is making concerted efforts to transmit the autochthonous minority language Scottish Gaelic to her children. It shows how although initially her attempts in fostering her son Billy's Gaelic linguistic development appear to be ‘unsuccessful,’ later in the interaction, Billy actively uses Gaelic in playing a card game, evidencing his linguistic competency and his embedded knowledge of the power of language in achieving certain interactional functions.
M'Airiuclán hi Túaim Inbir: Speaker and Setting
(Four Courts Press, 2019) Ní Dhonnchadha, Máirín
[No abstract available]
Logainmneacha agus an dinnseanchas
(Comhar, 2022-03) Ó hAisibéil, Liam
San alt gairid seo, féachfar le léargas ginearálta a thabhairt ar an nasc atá idir logainmneacha na hÉireann agus traidisiún liteartha agus scéalaíochta an dinnseanchais.
On the meaning of 'baile (buile)', and the interpretation of the poem beginning 'Rop tú mo baile'
(National University of Ireland, 2016) Ní Dhonnchadha, Máirín
[No abstract available]
Old names for the River Suck and associated sites
(Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, 2020) Ní Dhonnchadha, Máirín
This paper examines the evidence indicating that the names Bré and Dubainn Bré (and variants thereof) may be regarded as older, alternative names for the river Suck. It also considers textual references to some other toponyms associated with the Suck, including the pools named Duiblind Fhroích and Duiblind chríche Cíarraige, and the fort named Dúnad Átha Deirg alias Dún Díarmata. Inter alia, it suggests that the toponymy of the materials discussed raises interesting questions as to the authors' knowledge of the landscape and motivation for referencing it.
‘New speakers’ on Irish language community radio: new understandings of linguistic variation on Raidió na Life
(Routledge, 2021-07-19) Walsh, John; Day, Rosemary
This article examines the use of Irish on the community radio station Raidió na Life which has broadcast to Dublin since 1993. By admitting and indirectly valorising a variety of linguistic styles, Raidió na Life can be seen to function as a space for new speakers of Irish, fluent and regular users who were not raised with Irish as their language of primary socialisation in childhood. Based on interviews and focus group research, the article analyses the influence of Raidió na Life on the use of Irish among volunteer broadcasters. Furthermore, it discusses their ideologies in relation to linguistic variation and to how the station uses Irish and other languages
Using a 'Family Language Policy' lens to explore the dynamic and relational nature of child agency
(Wiley, 2021-06-01) Smith-Christmas, Cassie; Horizon 2020
This article contributes to a dialogue between childhood studies and the sociolinguistic subfield ‘Family Language Policy’ (‘FLP’). The article argues that the two fields provide complementary vantage points for exploring child agency. It explains a revised version of a model I developed to conceptualise child agency in FLP, consisting of four intersecting dimensions: compliance regimes; linguistic norms; linguistic competence and generational positioning (Smith-Christmas, Handbook of home language maintenance and development. De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 218–235, 2020a). The article examines two conversational excerpts as a means to illustrating the dynamic and relational nature of child agency and how it is both shaped by as well as shapes interactional practices over time and space.
Critical perspectives on language and kinship in multilingual families by Lyn Wright (Book Review)
(Wiley, 2021-04-12) Smith-Christmas, Cassie
[No abstract available]
‘Our cat has the power’: the polysemy of a third language in maintaining the power/solidarity equilibrium in family interactions
(Routledge, 2021-01-30) Smith-Christmas, Cassie; Horizon 2020
This article examines how power and solidarity in family relations are negotiated along linguistic lines, and in particular, the role of a third language in this negotiation process. It takes as its case study a transnational family in Ireland who practise a strongly pro-Polish FLP and where the parents are seen as authorities in Polish and their daughters are seen as authorities in English, the dominant societal language. The paper takes a microinteractional approach to analysing excerpts where family members engage in language-learning activities using Irish, the national autochthonous minority language. The paper demonstrates how in many ways, Irish operates as a neutral, third space for family members to negotiate power/solidarity alignments, and thus contributes to the family s maintenance of the power/ solidarity equilibrium. The paper also demonstrates the polysemy inherent in how these negotiations play out at an interactional level, especially vis-à-vis the family s pro-Polish FLP, as well as the polysemy of Irish-as-a-language within the scope of the family s interactions as a whole.
Irish pirate radio 1978-1988: How political stasis allowed unlicensed radio to flourish and innovate
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2020-10-12) Walsh, John; Greene, Brian
The history of pirate radio in Ireland remains understudied by comparison with other countries with histories of unlicensed broadcasting. This is surprising given the extent and longevity of a large pirate radio scene which was at its zenith between 1978 and 1988. Drawing on our own archive of Irish pirate radio recordings, interviews with those involved and pirate paraphernalia, we contend that the cultural, social, political, economic., and technological influence of Irish pirate radio was far-reaching. However, although the pirates were influential and left a lasting legacy, they ultimately lost out in the new licensed regime rolled out from 1989.
Building a language community through radio in the age of social media: the case of Raidió na Life
(Intellect, 2020-04-01) Day, Rosemary; Walsh, John
This paper investigates the motivations of volunteers in participating in broadcasting on a community radio station in the age of social media. The station chosen broadcasts in Irish, a minority language in Ireland, although it is also the state s national and first official language. It was founded to support and develop the community of Irish speakers in an English-speaking environment. Raidió na Life is based in Dublin and broadcasts to a mixed and dispersed population of Irish language speakers. One of the original aims of the station was to build a sense of community and linguistic empowerment for these people. Data generated by interviews and focus groups reveal that volunteers do not seem to share these clear-cut aims, in fact they seem to lack a sense of themselves as language or community activists. However, the performances of their roles as voluntary broadcasters, particularly in their engagement with their audiences on air and online, appear to be having the desired effect of building social, cultural and linguistic networks.The article demonstrates how social, communicative and cultural benefits can accrue through traditional broadcasting and new social media, even where practitioners are unaware of this dimension to their work. The element of fun or enjoyment keeps people volunteering and makes it personally worth their while. This is found to be more important than any sense of language or community activism as a motivation for participation in the station and is actually one of the reasons why Raidió na Life has manged to stay so successfully on air for the past 27 years.
Double-voicing and rubber ducks: the dominance of English in the imaginative play of two bilingual sisters
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2020-05-05) Smith-Christmas, Cassie; Irish Research Council; Smithsonian Institute; Sustaining Minoritized Languages in Europe (SMiLE)
Through analysis of a video recording of two bilingual siblings playing with rubber ducks, this article explores the concept that imaginative play can serve as a potential site for language shift. The article argues that the siblings use English as a means to double voice (Bakhtin, M. M. (1981[1963]). The Dialogic Imagination (C. Emerson and M. Holquist). Austin: University of Texas Press) their imaginary narrative, thus transmuting the adult world and demarcating their play from the ongoing interaction with their mother. By triangulating this microinteractional analysis with interviews with the siblings mother and Irish immersion pre-school leader, the paper further argues that the dominance of English in imaginative play may relate in part to the pro-Irish Family Language Policy (FLP) enacted by their mother and the robust Irish language ethos of the pre-school; in other words, the siblings sense of agency is heightened by using English, the language they are not supposed to speak. The paper concludes by discussing the conundrum this explanation poses for language maintenance efforts, as it is only through initiatives such as pro-minority language FLPs and minority language immersion classrooms that children are able to acquire the minority language in the first place.
How to turn the tide: the policy implications emergent from comparing a ‘post-vernacular FLP’ to a ‘pro-Gaelic FLP’
(Springer Verlag, 2020-02-14) Smith-Christmas, Cassie; NicLeòid, Sìleas L.; Irish Research Council; Soillse; Smithsonian Centre for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
This paper compares the sociolinguistic trajectory of a latent speaker mother to that of a new speaker mother. Drawing on Shandler (TDR 48(1):19 43, 2004), it introduces the term post-vernacular FLP as a means to conceptualise the latent speaker mother s emblematic use of Gaelic with her child as a seed from which language revitalisation can be cultivated, rather than a terminus. The paper discusses how the latent speaker mother s current ideological landscape in many ways encapsulates the tepidity of the older generation s ideologies. This contrasts to the new speaker mother, who has undergone the ideological transformation necessary to take an activist stance towards the language and implement a pro-Gaelic FLP. The paper then considers the linguistic confdence barrier as described by both mothers, particularly in terms of using child-directed speech in Gaelic, and shows how the new speaker mother overcame this particular barrier. The paper concludes by discussing the policy implications of this analysis, and poses the crucial question: what specifc on-the-ground measures can be taken to transform post-vernacular FLPs to pro-Gaelic FLPs?
The role of emotions and positionality in the trajectories of ‘new speakers’ of Irish
(SAGE Publications, 2017-07-28) Walsh, John
Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the emotional experiences and positionality of new speakers of Irish, fluent and regular speakers who were not raised with Irish in the historical Irish-speaking heartland known as the Gaeltacht. The role of emotions in facilitating the transition to new speakerhood is considered, as is their influence on the speakers continued use of Irish and on their positionality in relation to other speakers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is based on semi-structured narrative interviews conducted with participants identified as active and competent new speakers of Irish. It is part of a larger European project on the topic of new speakers. Data and Analysis: The sample size is 46 interviews from a database of 100 Irish speakers and was analysed using NVivo qualitative analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Becoming a new speaker of Irish is a deeply emotional process, both before and after the transition, as subjects grapple with additional obstacles to acquisition and use due to the language s minoritised status. The emotions involved in adopting a minoritised language such as Irish appear to be qualitatively different from other languages because of the additional obstacles involved in mastering a language with a weak sociolinguistic profile. Originality: The paper s originality stems from the fact that it is the first systematic study of emotions and positionality among new speakers of Irish and is distinct from existing quantitative studies of language attitudes. An additional innovation is its theoretical framework which aims to guide understanding of emotions and positionality among new speakers of minoritised languages in particular rather than majority languages in general. Significance/Implications: The paper is theoretically significant because existing work on language and emotions has not focused on minoritised languages. Significance attaches to the related finding that the emotional process is not the same for minoritised languages and other more dominant languages.
National identity and belonging among gay ‘new speakers’ of Irish
(John Benjamins Publishing, 2019-03) Walsh, John; Irish Research Council
New speakers refer to people who use a language regularly but are not traditional native speakers of that language. Although this discussion has been going on for some time in other sub-disciplines of linguistics, it is more recent in research about European minoritised languages. A feature of discourse around such languages relates to their perceived suitability for diverse urban settings removed from their historical rural heartlands. Irish is an example of a minoritised language which was long associated with conservative rural communities, a reified Catholic discourse of national identity and language ideologies based on nativism. Such an approach not only marginalised urban new speakers of Irish but also exhibited hostility to LGBTQ citizens who did not befit its particular version of Irishness. In this paper, a framework of Critical Sociolinguistics is used to analyse identity positions and ideologies expressed by urban new speakers of Irish who identify as gay and/or queer.
An Gael agus an raidió: Craoltóireacht na Gaeilge tar éis bhunú an stáit
(Comhar, 2018-09) Walsh, John; Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí
Léiríonn an caidreamh idir an chraoltóireacht agus an Ghaeilge san 20ú Aois go leor idé-eolaíochtaí casta maidir leis an gcainteoir dúchais agus leis an bhfoghlaimeoir, agus faoin gceangal idir tógáil na féiniúlachta agus an polasaí teanga i mblianta luatha an stáit. Go deimhin, bhí an raidió ina láthair chatha idé-eolaíochta ina raibh allagar ar siúl faoi pholasaí teanga an stáit agus léirigh sé an teannas a bhí de dhlúth agus d inneach sa pholasaí sin.
Enactments concerning the Irish language, 1922 - 2016
(Clarus Press on behalf of the School of Law, Trinity College, Dublin, 2016) Walsh, John
The Official Languages Act (henceforth OLA) of 2003 gave limited expression to the constitutional status of Irish as first official language by obliging public bodies to provide a restricted number of services in Irish. Although it emerged from campaigns in favour of greater rights for Irish speakers, the OLA in fact grants only very limited rights in the legal sense, none of which are related to the provision of public services. Indeed, apart from a small number of public bodies, there is no requirement for civil servants to be competent in Irish and no legal basis for recruiting bilingual staff except in very restricted cases. Instead, public bodies have certain limited obligations, mostly in the written realm, and an independent Language Commissioner (An Coimisinéir Teanga) has powers to investigate complaints related to failures to fulfil such obligations, as well as other promotional and educational functions (s 21). Section 21(f) outlines another of the Coimisinéir’s functions, the power to investigate failures to fulfil obligations created by enactments other than the OLA which are related to the Irish language: to carry out an investigation, whether on his or her own initiative, on request by the Minister or pursuant to a complaint made to him or her by any person, to ascertain whether any provision of any other enactment relating to the status or use of an official language was not or is not being complied with. The prominence of the OLA since 2003 has given the impression that the state’s obligations in relation to the Irish language are limited to it. 1 In fact, apart from the OLA the Irish language is mentioned in over 150 pieces of legislation enacted since the foundation of the state. The purpose of this paper is to examine these enactments and to assess their significance as a somewhat forgotten aspect of Irish language policy. In so doing, the paper will shed light on an aspect of the historical development of language policy since 1922 and contribute to greater understanding of the legislative framework for the promotion of Irish. This study can be situated in a broader academic context of language law and language rights, sub-fields with links both to the disciplines of law and sociolinguistics/language policy. Particular attention has been paid to the intersection of language rights and policy in bilingual jurisdictions or entities such as Canada, Wales, the Basque Country and Catalonia. 2
“Tá cuid de na mná blasta/Some Women Are Sweet Talkers”: Representations of Women in Seán Ó hEochaidh’s Field Diaries for the Irish Folklore Commission
(Asociación Española de Estudios Irlandeses, 2017) Ó Laoire, Lillis
This article discusses representations of women in diaries written by Sean O hEochaidh as part of his work as a field collector for the Irish Folklore Commission (1935-1971). Focusing on a number of well-described events and characters, the article reveals the collector's attitude to women as they emerge from his writing. It also shows how women could help or hinder his collecting work. The disparities of the lives of a number of working women from Donegal during the period are also highlighted.
Aithníonn queeróg queeróg eile: Gaeilgeoirí aeracha aontaithe agus gluaiseacht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge
(Anthropological Association of Ireland, 1998) Woods, Jeannine
Fásann an páipéar seo as staidéar ar “Gaeilgeoirí Aeracha Aontaithe,” grúpa caidrimh do dhaoine homaighnéasacha le suim acu i nGaeilge. Tríd an eagras a shuíomh laistigh de ghluaiseacht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge, déanaim anailís ar ghnéithe den teanga ó pheirspictíocht shochtheangeolaíoch, ag tarraingt ar smaointí Sapir, a deir While language is a symbol system which reports or refers to or otherwise substitutes for direct experience, it does not as a matter of actual behaviour stand apart from or run parallel to direct experience but completely interpenetrates with it ... [language] not only refers to but can even mould, interpret and discover experience [Sapir 1949:11]. Sa chomhthéacs seo, léirím go bhfuil “Gaeilgeoirí Aeracha Aontaithe” (nó an GAA, mar a thugann siad orthu féin) ar ceann de na guthanna laistigh de dhioscúrsa na Gaeilge a threascraíonn na déantúis idé-eolaíocha curtha i bhfeidhm ar an nGaeilge ag gléasanna ceannasacha ón naoú haois déag i leith. D’fhéadfaí maíomh go bhfuil an dioscúrsa sin mar chuid de “réabhlóid shiombalach” (Bourdieu 1 991:131) atá ar bun sa chultúr, a dhearbhaíonn gur féidir an iomaí éispéireas agus féiniúlacht bheith mar chuid den Ghaeilge agus den Ghaelachas.

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