The official status of the Irish language has remained high in the Republic of Ireland from foundation. This reflects the dominance of the language in Irish cultural and social history until the nineteenth century and its role in Irish cultural identity. In 2022, strong recognition was added in Northern Ireland also.
The decline of the Irish language was the result of two factors: the Great Irish Potato Famine and the repeal of Penal Laws. The Potato Famine led to a decline in the Irish-speaking population. The repeal of Penal Law made Catholics interested in learning English as a way to get ahead in life.
Its conclusion is that in spite of its status as the official language of Ireland and an official EU language, Irish Gaelic is in fact in decline and must be considered as an endangered language.
It is believed that Irish remained the majority tongue as late as 1800 but became a minority language during the 19th century. It is an important part of Irish nationalist identity, marking a cultural distance between Irish people and the English.
Welsh is the only Celtic language not classified as endangered by UNESCO. The Cornish and Manx languages became extinct in modern times. They have been the object of revivals and now each has several hundred second-language speakers.
There are approximately 16 Celtic languages to have ever existed. Of those, only six are still spoken today: Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Breton, Cornish and Welsh.
In Ireland, Gaelic (called Irish by those who live there) is recognised as the official language of the nation, and it is required to be taught in all government-funded schools. Meanwhile in Scotland, English is the official language and Gaelic is recognised as a minor language.
This is a new trend: even today, many Irish people don't speak the native language as a result of the country's long history of British rule from 1169-1922. They don't speak Irish because for many years they did not want to speak it. This attitude led to it falling into almost total disuse for a long time.
Not only is the Irish language the best part of a millennium older than English, the latter language was not spoken in any large measure in Ireland until the 1400s and did not become the main language of Ireland until the 1860s, having gained its dominant position by over a million Irish speakers dying due to famine ...
Irish is a Celtic language (as English is a Germanic language, French a Romance language, and so on). This means that it is a member of the Celtic family of languages. Its “sister” languages are Scottish, Gaelic, and Manx (Isle of Man); its more distant “cousins” are Welsh, Breton, and Cornish.
Irish has lots of idioms or phrases that have a literal meaning and a figurative one. Like English, some of these are fairly common usage in the language and can make speaking and understanding Irish more difficult for a beginner.
The Irish language case
This was followed in 1537 with The Statute of Ireland – An Act for the English Order Habit and Language that prohibited the use of the Irish language in the Irish Parliament. In 1541, further legislation was passed which banned the use of Irish in the areas of Ireland then under English rule.
The Irish language gives you an insight into the Irish way of thinking. The very way that you express yourself in Irish is different to in English (just to add to your challenges!). For example, you don't say “I'm hungry,” in Irish. Rather, you say, literally, “Hunger is on me.” (Tá ocras orm. /Taw uk-ross ur-rum.
Those indicating an ability to speak Irish represent 40.4 per cent of Ireland's population aged 3 years and older, and is a slight increase from the 39.8 per cent of the overall population who indicated an ability to speak Irish in 2016.
The Irish government also believes the language should be saved. It has made clear steps in an attempt to promote the Irish language. In 2021, the Official Languages (Amendment) Act was passed. It will require 20% of new public service employees to be competent in the Irish language by the year 2030.
Scots, Irish Gaelic, 17th century English and Hiberno-English (the variety of English spoken throughout Ireland) have all influenced the development of Northern Irish English, and this mixture explains the very distinctive hybrid that has emerged.
The Newfoundland accent uncannily recalls the Irish accents of Waterford, Kilkenny, and Cork: This woman's may be the closest match yet. The Newfoundland Irish accent like you've never heard it before!
Irish received official recognition in Northern Ireland for the first time in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement, and status as an official language in 2022.
Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union.
Did you know? English and Irish (Gaeilge) are the official languages in the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is where you'll hear the soft strains of Ullans (Ulster-Scots). You'll find Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas predominantly along the west coast, where Irish is widely spoken.
Scotland and Ireland are close neighbours, and it is no surprise that commercial ancestral Y-DNA testing and the resulting hundreds of Y-DNA Case Studies conducted at Scottish and Irish Origenes have revealed lots of shared ancestry among males with Scottish or Irish origins.
What is Celtic's Irish connection? An Irish identity has been strongly imbued in the fabric of Celtic ever since the club's foundation in 1887. The club was established by an Irishman, Brother Walfrid, whose goal was to help improve the conditions in which the Irish immigrant population in Glasgow lived.