Medieval Anglo-Saxon Gaeilgeoir

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Comhluadar Week in the Gaeltacht

Documentary programme about the Comhluadar/Glór na nGael Gaeltacht Week for Irish-Speaking families, which took place in August. Very interesting, and lovely to hear all the kids.

http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=17%3A10333499%3A18237%3A19-10-2014%3A

Labels: Brian Ó Broin, Ciarán Ó Muirí, Comhluadar, Families, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Glór na nGael, Marcas Mac Ruairí, Teaghlaigh

Seachtain Comhluadar sa Ghaeltachta

Clár doiciméadach faoi Sheachtain Gaeltachta Chomhluadar/Glór na nGael, a tharla i mBaile an Fheirtéaraigh mí Lúnasa. An-suimiúil, agus cuirfidh glórtha na bpáistí gliondar ar do chroí!

Eagraítear an tseachtain seo gach bliain do theaghlaigh a bhfuil an Ghaeilge mar chéadteanga acu.

http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=17%3A10333499%3A18237%3A19-10-2014%3A

Labels: Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, Brian Ó Broin, Ciarán Ó Muirí, Comhluadar, Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Glór na nGael, Marcas Mac Ruairí

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Irish and Language Snobs / Gaeilge agus Baothghalántacht Teanga

A chara, – It’s a delight to read Una Mullally’s view of the Irish language (“Irish – A language for all speakers”, Monday March 17th), coming as it does from a fluent urban speaker. She’s absolutely right to note that we need to start looking outside the Gaeltacht if we’re serious about achieving the 250,000 daily speakers sought by the Government by 2030. I fly in the face of conventional wisdom in my belief that this number is very possible, but it can only be done if non-Gaeltacht Irish speakers begin to shoulder the burden that Gaeltacht people have been predominantly carrying since the foundation of the State – using the language at home.

Ms Mullally is right to note that snobbery exists within the language, but should go a little easier on Gaeltacht people. Yes, there is a certain Gaeltacht hostility towards “46A Irish” and the dialect of the urban Gaelscoil, but it is there firstly because of the difficulty Gaeltacht people have speaking Irish with city folk, whose Irish is often a non-fluent schoolroom mishmash, but secondly because there is the whiff of the language hobbyist about many urban speakers. They’re delighted to “come down” to the Gaeltacht and practise their Irish on the natives, but when they go home, it’s back to English again. Native speakers are rightly annoyed by this. City speakers of Irish will earn respect when it becomes clear that they are using Irish as a home language with their children, not just for one-night-a-week hobbyism or for the day job.

When this happens (and I think it will), that 250,000 daily-speaker figure will rapidly become achievable. Is mise,

BRIAN Ó BROIN, PhD

Department of English,

William Paterson University

New Jersey

http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/letters/irish-and-language-snobs-1.1733828?page=1

Labels: 250000, An Ghaeilge, City Irish, gaeilge, Gaeilge Uirbeach, Gaeltacht, Irish language, Snobbery, Snobs, Straitéis, Una Mullally

Monday, April 15, 2013

The changing Irish language demographic

Brian Ó Broin, William Paterson University

MultiLingual #135, April/May 2013

http://www.multilingual.com/articleDetail.php?id=2022

Summary of Article

While Irish is obviously losing ground in its traditional rural territories on the coast of Western Ireland, there is some evidence that reverse language shift is occurring in the towns and cities. The schoolroom Pidgin spoken by second-language speakers of Irish is gradually coming into community and family use as an urban Creole, and this may develop into a new dialect of Irish.

There has been a rise in competent L2 speakers of Irish, mostly because of Gaelscoileanna, and this community is having a huge influence on the language and issues surrounding it.

Ongoing government recognition of Irish-speaking areas ("An Ghaeltacht") has damaged Irish as a national language, as people living outside the Gaeltacht then consider themselves to be living in English-speaking areas. Furthermore, popular perceptions of the Gaeltacht follow an erroneous post-colonial script that portrays the Gaeltacht as noble, Celtic, rural, old-fashioned, and inevitably moribund, and the rest of Ireland as practical, urban, modern, and English-speaking.

Government action in recent years has greatly raised the status of the Irish language at national and European levels, most obviously in the establishment of a Language Commissioner and in giving Irish working-language status in the European Union. There has also been a significant improvement in Irish-language media services.

Labels: Éire, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Ireland, irish, Irish language, irish studies, L1, L2, language, linguistics, sociolinguistics

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Villanelle don Imirceach

Dán uaim in Comhar na míosa seo darb ainm "Villanelle don Imirceach"

A poem by me in this month's Comhar, entitled "Villanelle don Imirceach" ("A Villanelle for the Emigrant")

http://www.iriscomhar.com/nuacht2.php?ID=25&PHPSESSID=e6e04c99f9d97b63f66899ecca2030d4

Labels: comhar, Éire, emigration, gaeilge, Gaelic, Gaeltacht, Ireland, iris, irish, literary, poem, poetry

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Bille Lochtach, ach le Gealladh Faoi ("A Flawed [Gaeltacht] Bill, but Showing Promise")

Brian Ó Broin, "Bille Lochtach, ach le Gealladh Faoi". Gaelscéal 25ú Iúil 2012. lth. 11.

Summary: The new Gaeltacht bill has problems, particularly in how it approaches Údarás na Gaeltachta, but it shows promise, particularly in the way it suggests that certain areas and networks that are not currently in the Gaeltacht may receive quasi-Gaeltacht recognition. But has any place or network earned such recognition yet? Outside of West Belfast (maybe), this author suggests that there are no such places yet.

Achoimre: Tá lochtanna sa bhille nua Gaeltachta, go háirithe mar a dhéileáileann sé le Údarás na Gaeltachta, ach tá gealladh faoin bhille sa chaoi ina dtugann sé le fios go dtabharfar aitheantas quasi-Gaeltachta do cheantair agus gréasáin áirithe nach bhfuil sa Ghaeltacht go hoifigiúil faoi láthair. Ach an bhfuil áit nó gréasán ar bith a bhfuil an stádas seo tuillte aige/aici? Taobh amuigh d'Iarthar Bhéal Feirste (b'fhéidir), níl, dar leis an údar seo.

Bille Lochtach, ach le Gealladh Faoi

Brian Ó Broin

Na lochtanna is mó a fhaigheann daoine ar an mBille Gaeltachta nua ná go gcuireann sé deireadh le toghcháin Bhord Údarás na Gaeltachta. Buille trom is ea sin do dhaonlathas sa Ghaeltacht, ach faraor caithfear glacadh leis nach raibh mórán cumhachta ag an Údarás ariamh i gcomparáid leis na Comhairlí Contae. Is iad na sainmhínithe Gaeltachta agus Pobail Gaeilge sa bhille is mó a tharraing m'airdse, ámh.

Pobal faoi leith is ea gnáthphobal na Gaeltachta. Daoine iad a labhair Gaeilge go nádúrtha neamhchoinsiasach, díreach mar a labhair a dtuismitheoirí agus a seantuismitheoirí Gaeilge. Níor chuir éinne isteach orthu, agus níor chuir siadsan isteach ar éinne eile. Faraor, ámh, tá an saol sin athruithe. Le teacht na mbóithre móra nua, teilifís saitilíte, raidió áitiúil as na bailte móra, tithe saoire agus turasóireacht, tá an pobal nádúrtha sin ag imeacht. Tá an Ghaeltacht ag athrú go tapa, agus an Ghaeilge ag sleamhnú aisti. Ach is léir fós féin go bhfuil pobal Gaeilge sa tír. An é rud é gurb é sainmhíniú na Gaeltachta atá lochtach, agus muid ag druidim le ré ina bhfuil i bhfad níos mó Gael ina gcónaí i mbailte ná faoin tuath?

Creimeadh nádúrtha atá ar siúl sa Ghaeltacht, díreach mar atá ar siúl i gceantair caomhnaithe cultúir ar fud an domhain. De na 18 teangacha Algancuacha a labhraíodh i "dtearmainn" in oirthear na Stát Aontaithe sa 20ú haois, níl ach trí cinn á labhairt inniu, agus níl fágtha de chainteoirí dúchais acu ach 2,500 (a bhformhór acu seandaoine).

Mar sin, má táimid chun an Ghaeltacht "a shábháil", ní mór dúinn teacht ar réiteach radaiceach ar an bhfadhb, agus sin sainmhínithe nua Gaeltachta a chruthú, ó is léir go bhfuil cainteoirí Gaeilge in Éirinn nach bhfaigheann aitheantas faoin chóras mar atá. Níl sábhail na teanga chun tarlú faoin tuath. Caithfear an cath teanga a leathnú amach thar theoireannacha na Gaeltachta agus isteach sna bailte agus na cathracha. Agus caithfear é a dhéanamh ar bhonn náisiúnta. Ní thabharfar aird ar bith do mhionphobail i gceantair iargúlta (níor tugadh ariamh), ach tarraingeoidh pobal náisiúnta aird.

Rinne an Staidéar Cuimsitheach sár-obair ar shainmhíniú Gaeltachta cheana féin, le gach focheantar lipéadaithe "A", "B", nó "C" de réir méid na gcainteoirí dúchais iontu, ach faraor chuaigh sé thar théarmaí tagartha an Staidéir breathnú thar theorainneacha na Gaeltachta chun catagóir "D" a aimsiú - áiteanna ina bhfuil an Ghaeilge láidir agus ina mbeadh todhchaí don teanga. Seo seans do phobail teanga ar fud oileán na hÉireann léarscáil na Gaeilge a athrú ó bun - más toil leo sin a dhéanamh i ndáiríre!

Don chéad uair, tugtar aitheantas do "Bhailte Seirbhíse Gaeltachta" sa bhille - sé sin, "bailte atá suite i Limistéir Pleanála Teanga Gaeltachta, nó tadhlach leo". Is éard atá i gceist, is dócha, ná Gaillimh, Trá Lí, Leitir Ceanainn, Dún Garbhán, agus a leithéid, ach is deacair a dhéanamh amach céard a dhéanfar sna bailte seo nach bhfuil á dhéanamh cheana féin chun an t-aitheantas a bhaint amach. Agus cén leas a bhainfidh siad as an aitheantas? An t-aon easpa atá le tabhairt faoi deara iontu go dtí seo ná i réimse áiseanna don phobal Gaelach. Réitíodh an fhadhb i mBéal Feirste le Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, a fheidhmíonn mar mhaighdeog a gcasann pobal Gaeilge Bhéal Feirste thart air, ach níl a leithéid in aon áit eile in Éirinn ach Doire (áit nach ndeachaigh pobal na Gaeilge thar an tairseach chriticiúil go fóill). An dtabharfadh an bille seo seans do na "bailte seirbhíse" seo cultúrlanna a bhunú a fheidhmeodh mar fhócáis do phobal na Gaeltachta in aice leo agus dá bpobail Gaelacha féin? Nár dheas é sin a fheiceáil? Ach an dtarlóidh sé faoin bhille seo? Níl tagairt ar bith sa bhille seo do chaiteachas breise don phlean ach amháin go "go soláthróidh an t-Oireachtas é."

Don chéad uair freisin, tugtar aitheantas do "Líonraí Gaeilge" sa bhille - pobail labhartha nach gá dóibh a bheith sa Ghaeltacht mar a aithnítear í faoi láthair. Ach arís tá fadhbanna suntasacha bainteach le seo, go háirithe i dtaobh sainmhínithe. Cad is "Líonra Gaeilge" ann? Níor leor, mar shampla, comharthaí Gaeilge os cionn siopaí áitiúla chun aitheantas a fháil, ná rang Gaeilge d'aosaigh sa halla paróiste, ná Gaelscoil. Go deimhin, ba dheacair aitheantas dáiríre a thabhairt do "Líonra Gaeilge" ar bith nach mbeadh cainteoirí dúchais ann.

An bhfuil áiteanna in Éirinn a d'fhéadfadh cur isteach ar aitheantas éigin faoin bhille? Taobh amuigh de Iarthar Bhéal Feirste, ní léir domsa go bhfuil faoi láthair. An t-aon rud a thaispeán an G-Team dúinn in earrach na bliana seo ná chomh lag is atá an Ghaeilge fiú sna pobail is láidre Gaeilge sa tír. An bhféadfadh Cluain Dolcáin (a bhfuil cáil an Ghaelachais uirthi, is cosúil) cur isteach ar aitheantas, mar shampla, fiú nuair is léir nach bhfuil thar scór teaghlach as 10,000 ansin ag labhairt Gaeilge mar theanga bhaile?

Anuas ar sin, cé a thabharfaidh breithiúnas ar na h-iarratais? Ní léir in aon chor go mbeidh teangeolaithe ná gníomhaithe teanga páirteach sa phróiséas in aon chor, agus is mór m'fhaitíos dá réir go mbeidh "líonraí" ag fáil aitheantais faoin bhille seo nach bhfuil ar siúl acu ach cur i gcéill.

Is trua go bhfuil orainn dul in iontaoibh an Aire chomh mór sin i dtaobh aithint na gceantar nua, ach i ndeireadh báire is léir freisin go gcaithfear sainmhíniú nua a thabhairt don fhocal "Gaeltacht" má tá an Ghaeilge chun maireachtáil. Tús lag atá sa bhille seo, ach tús is ea é mar sin féin.

CRÍOCH

Beathaisnéis: Is comhollamh le teangeolaíocht é Brian Ó Broin in William Paterson University, New Jersey. I mbliana bhí sé ina eagarthóir ar Thógamar le Gaeilge Iad (Coiscéim & Comhluadar), faoi thógáil clainne le Gaeilge.

Labels: Bille Gaeltachta, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Gréasáin Teanga, Irish language, Language Networks

Thursday, August 02, 2012

An Bille Gaeltachta 2012 - Gealladh Faoi, ach é lochtach go fóill

An article by me on the new Gaeltacht Bill in Gaelscéal 25ú Iúil, 2012. My point: it's deeply flawed, but there are glimmers of hope in it for urban Irish-speaking communities not recognised under current legislation.

San alt seo, scagaím an Bille Gaeltachta 2012 agus déanaim go bhfuil gealladh faoi, ach go bhfuil go leor le déanamh go fóill ag an rialtas agus ag na pobail ar mhaith leo a bheith aitheanta faoin bhille nua.

Bille Lochtach, ach le Gealladh Faoi

Brian Ó Broin

CRÍOCH

Labels: Baile Átha Cliath, Béal Feirste, Belfast, Bille Gaeltachta, Clondalkin, Cluain Dolcáin, Dublin, gaeilge, Gaelic, Gaeltacht, Irish Government, Irish language, Networks, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Urban Irish

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Fishing for an English Sign Irish Times 2nd June 2012

A chara, – Well done to Alex Findlater (May 31st) for turning a story about a trout about into one about the Irish language.
And pity the poor tourists in north Galway, driving around looking for a place called Clonbur when all the local signs say “An Fhairche”. Why in heaven’s name would we expect visitors to Ireland to know that there is another language spoken in Ireland? I mean, it’s only our national culture.
A solution springs to mind: if it’s a Gaeltacht area, you’d think the village, the Gaeltacht authorities, the county council, the Department of the Gaeltacht, the Ordnance Survey, and whoever else has a stake, would write to the mapmakers of the world asking them to use the official name of the town when mapping the area. The Indians did it with Mumbai and the Chinese with Beijing. Then the headlines of the world would read “Huge trout caught in An Fhairche”. That would solve Mr Findlater’s problem in a jiffy, wouldn’t it? This would be made even easier if Irish newspapers (The Irish Times included) chose to use Irish placenames when reporting on Gaeltacht stories. – Is mise,
BRIAN Ó BROIN,
Bloomfield,
New Jersey, US.

www.irishtimes.com

Labels: An Fhairche, Clonbur, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Irish language, Irish Times, Logainmneacha, Placenames

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Urban Irish Language Community

The video of this lecture is available here

Professor Brian Ó Broin of William Paterson University (WPUNJ) gave a paper on the Urban Irish-language community to the Irish studies program at the University of Connecticut, Storrs on March 27th, 2012. Professor Ó Broin claims that the urban Irish-speaking community has grown noticeably in recent decades, but that several problems have arisen:
1) Second-language speakers are part-time speakers, often speaking a sophisticated pidgin. Their language activity often reflects a split cultural identity, whereby they readily take on a Gaelic identity for Irish-language events, but revert to English culture for day-to-day living.
2) A significant number of people are choosing to raise their children in Irish but, not being native speakers themselves, feel that they are facing significant parenting problems, having no experience of Irish as a home language themselves. Members of this community (and their children) are less likely to identify themselves as language enthusiasts, since the language is a normal vehicle of daily communication for them, but they are more likely to express worry about their linguistic standards, probably because they are more likely to find themselves in challenging linguistic situations (like discussing emotions, for example) than second-language speakers.

3) Urban Irish has a very different phonetic system than Gaeltacht Irish, being based on English. This has had the knock-on effect of causing a noticeable simplification of morphology. Syntactic findings remain provisional, but urban speakers *seem* to form non-standard subclauses more than Gaeltacht speakers. Urban speakers retain a sophisticated lexicon.

Thanks to Mary Burke, Brendan Kane, Fred Biggs, and Cuán Ó Flatharta.

Labels: Dublin, gaeilge, Gaelic, Gaeltacht, Irish language, lexicon, morphology, phonetics, syntax, University of Connecticut, Urban Dialect, Urban Irish