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The Passive Exclusion of Irish in the Linguistic Landscape: A Nexus Analysis

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Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape

Part of the book series: Language and Globalization ((LAGL))

Abstract

The contradiction presented within the above quote from a national Irish newspaper is actually a laconic articulation of the problem facing the Irish language revival movement in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) today. That is, despite there being less than 5 per cent of the population of the ROI who have Irish as their first language, virtually all Irish people have experienced the compulsory teaching of Irish from age 4–18 at school. Yet, as suggested by other Irish language researchers (for example, Kelly-Holmes, 2005; Ó Laoire, 2005), for many Irish people, this seems to be where the Irish language is literally ‘left behind’: at school.

Some 1.4 million people reported in the last census that A) They speak Irish and B) They never do.

Myers, 2013

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Authors
  1. Jo Thistlethwaite
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  2. Mark Sebba
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

    Rani Rubdy

  2. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

    Selim Ben Said

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© 2015 Jo Thistlethwaite and Mark Sebba

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Thistlethwaite, J., Sebba, M. (2015). The Passive Exclusion of Irish in the Linguistic Landscape: A Nexus Analysis. In: Rubdy, R., Said, S.B. (eds) Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape. Language and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137426284_2

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