Language management and language managers: who are the Irish language managers in Breacbhaile?
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Laoise Ní Dhúda
Abstract
This article describes and analyses language management and language managers at local and micro-interactional levels in Breacbhaile. Breacbhaile is a pseudonym which is not named for ethical reasons and refers to a Gaeltacht community (an officially designated Irish language territory in Ireland) where the Irish language is spoken to a limited extent. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork over four years, a classification of Irish language managers is proposed according to their practices and motivations. This article examines the organic and institutional language management processes which are taking place every day in Breacbhaile, detailing the dynamics of language management as well as discussing the local agents and agencies of language management. This study bridges a gap in the current lack of discourse and data surrounding the “actors” or agents of language management. The following questions underpin this study; who are the Irish language managers? Who is changing the language behaviour of others? Who is trying to manage the language practices or beliefs of others? What motivates them? What influences their practices? Why are they so important in the Gaeltacht today? This investigation into localised language management offers ample evidence of vitality and agency in a Gaeltacht community undergoing latter stages of language shift to English. This ethnographic case-study showcases the decline of Irish as the dominant vernacular at community level in Breacbhaile while simultaneously profiling various language managers and their resistance to this language shift at an individual level, and thereby advancing our knowledge of the Irish language case. Considerations and implications for future language management efforts in such communities are offered. In an Irish context, these managers are asserting their authority despite widespread language shift to English in their community. The retreat at macro level and delegation of power to language communities through new legislation (i. e. Gaeltacht Act 2012) has created not only space but an integral role for language activism, managers and agencies at micro and local levels.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Department of Irish, National University of Ireland Galway (2006–2008), the Irish Research Council (2008–2009) and also benefitted from the assistance of Údarás na Gaeltachta fund to complete the transcription of interviews. Special thanks also to the people of Breacbhaile who took part in this research.
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© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: the transformation of Tibet’s language ecology in the twenty-first century
- Henan Oirat: a shrinking pool of unique linguistic features
- Language evolution and vitality of Lhagang Tibetan: a Tibetic language as a minority in Minyag Rabgang
- Variation, contact, and change in language varieties in Yul shul (northern Khams)
- Is Lhasa Tibetan Sign Language emerging, endangered, or both?
- Language vitality and glottonyms in the Ethnic Corridor: The rTa'u language
- Social network structure and language change in Amdo Tibetan
- Book Review
- Yangbin Chen: Minority education in China: balancing unity and diversity in an era of critical pluralism
- Small languages and small language communities 82 Editor: Bernadette O’Rourke
- Language management and language managers: who are the Irish language managers in Breacbhaile?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: the transformation of Tibet’s language ecology in the twenty-first century
- Henan Oirat: a shrinking pool of unique linguistic features
- Language evolution and vitality of Lhagang Tibetan: a Tibetic language as a minority in Minyag Rabgang
- Variation, contact, and change in language varieties in Yul shul (northern Khams)
- Is Lhasa Tibetan Sign Language emerging, endangered, or both?
- Language vitality and glottonyms in the Ethnic Corridor: The rTa'u language
- Social network structure and language change in Amdo Tibetan
- Book Review
- Yangbin Chen: Minority education in China: balancing unity and diversity in an era of critical pluralism
- Small languages and small language communities 82 Editor: Bernadette O’Rourke
- Language management and language managers: who are the Irish language managers in Breacbhaile?
