Learning Irish amid controversy
How the Irish Language Act debate has impacted learners of Irish in Belfast
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11183901 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deirdre A Dunlevy (0000-0002-1667-4689, Queen's University Belfast, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 997-1012 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0143-4632 • E-ISSN: 1747-7557 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01434632.2020.1854272 |
| OpenAlex | W3107254976 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 18 |
From January 2017 until January 2020, the Stormont assembly in Northern Ireland was suspended, with the Irish language being cited as the main stumbling block to the restoration of government. The continued debate around the necessity of an Irish Language Act (ILA) for Northern Ireland is bound up with more general divisions in society surrounding national identity, and as such, it divided political parties and the nationalist and unionist communities from which they draw their support. Through the analysis of ethnographic interviews conducted in various language learning centres across Belfast, I explore how this debate around legislating for the language impacted on the engagement of learners with the language in the city. By considering the role played by the media in the engagement of interview participants with the Irish language in Belfast, I aim to examine how the policy delay and political discourse affects those engaging with the language. This paper aims to address changing attitudes to the Irish language in Belfast in a period of political crisis, and what it means for those who use the language
Ethnography · Government (linguistics · Identity (music · Irish · Irish nationalism · Language policy · Language politics · Linguistics · Media studies · Nationalism · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy
Frame analysis
Origins of Irish-medium Education
From Dili to Dungannon
Motivational diversity among adult minority language learners
Northern Ireland
A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996
Protestants and the Irish Language
Making Sense of the Troubles
Language Shock
Reconciliation through language learning? A case study of the Turas Irish language project in East Belfast
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |