This study aims to provide a description and analysis of Irish language use and attitudes towards it in three geographically and ideologically distinctive communities in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, by examining four separate, but related, issues: (i) Attitudes towards Irish in three contrasting Gaeltacht regions (an urban, ‘revival’ area in Northern Ireland and two rural, ‘survival’ Gaeltachtaí in the Republic of Ireland); (ii) The level of Irish-English bilingualism in these regions amongst cohorts of males and females of various ages and from divergent socio-economic backgrounds; (iii) The influence which positive or negative attitudes towards Irish exert on language choice; (iv) Whether psycho-perceptual factors like attitudes are as salient to the process of declining Irish-English bilingualism as socio-economic ones such as social class or personal network ties. Data relating to language use and attitudes were collected in the three study areas by using different methodologies, including the administration of a questionnaire (in two versions: English and Irish) as well as semi-structured interviews. The data collected thus were analysed and compared in order to determine the extent to which different attitudes towards the Irish language existed in these communities that are also distinctive in other ways. Another important objective was to try and identify the factors that influence and shape such differences. In this regard, particular attention was paid to: (i) state intervention (in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) with respect to particular types of support for Irish as well as successful and unsuccessful language policies operating within these two states; (ii) language use in the community and home domains and (iii) Irish in the media. The data gathered by questionnaire was analysed by performing factor and multivariate analysis of variance and the interview data was also interrogated. Both types of analyses were performed with the aim of assessing and explaining different attitudes towards the maintenance and the future of the Irish language in the three study areas as well as usage differences with respect to independent the variables of age, gender, and educational level. The analysis of the questionnaire data revealed which sociodemographic variables have an influence on the attitudinal dimensions taken into consideration and Irish language use in the three study areas where this study took place. iii The interviews carried out in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were instrumental in probing further the issues tackled by the questionnaire. They also functioned to explore additional aspects of language orientation, namely, whether informants held positive or negative attitudes towards different accents and dialects of Irish across the island of Ireland, particularly the newer revival varieties about which there has been much media attention but less scholarly investigation.

This thesis is a structural analysis of the DP in Irish. The thesis is based on analysis of a number of different types of noun phrases and a consideration of the observed patterns in relation to other languages and syntactic theory in general. The proposal accounts for the typical data that has been analysed previously in the literature as well as novel data not yet accounted for within existing analyses. As well as providing a full structural account of the Irish NP, the findings of this thesis provide evidence in Support of the universal existence of a number of functional projections, which have been shown to be projected for language in general.

Within popular culture and academic scholarship alike, a standard narrative exists about the rightful (non-)place of the Irish language in post/colonial society. It is a tautological narrative because the apparent unfitness of Irish for the exigencies of postmodern life both explains its disappearance and prevents its full revival (i.e., Irish is outmoded because it is outmoded). That Irish requires costly government expenditures to stabilize it only confirms its inherent infirmity. Yet the ’problem’ of indigenous language is not so neatly resolved, especially as it threatens to erupt, symptom-like, in unexpected (i.e., Anglophone) contexts. The usual post/colonial paradigms cannot fully account for the disjunctive position of Irish. Critical theory, on the other hand, offers a way to think the striking disconnect between the constitutional fact of Irish as the ’first official language,’ for example, and the reality that almost no one speaks it. Lacan called this type of disconnect a symptom. ’Symptomal torsions’ are everywhere evident in the Republic: from bilingual road signs to the near total displacement of the language onto reluctant school-children. Such measures guarantee that Irish will not be spoken in the more unruly space of the streets. The containment of Irish alongside its official valorisation makes certain that it (and the associated ’barbarism’ of the pre-colonial past) cannot return in unforeseen ways. Yet return it does; all the cultural products analysed in the dissertation have some relationship to this return of the linguistic repressed. Each text highlights the fraught interface between the indigenous language and its imperial replacement, in both the North and the Republic. They may be humorous and satirical, as in the short films of Daniel O’Hara, or they may be resistant and political, as in the H-Block oral testimonies. They may be eulogistic, as with Brian Friel’s language play, Translations, or they may be more recognisably post/colonial, as in the essays of native intellectuals explaining their choice of English over the 'mother tongue'. This research draws on textual analyses along with (analytic and continental) philosophies of language. It constructs a methodology based on close readings of literary, filmic, and archival texts through various modes of critical theory. By examining the ways in which these texts both converge and diverge, this research elucidates those intersections between language, power, and the colonial legacy that would otherwise remain obscure.

Crynodeb o Cynnwyo y Trao lhawd Rlagair 0 Lluoliad Carnwyllion ac ychydig sylwad; iu ar natur yr ardal. Rhennir corff y traethawd hwn yn duwy ran. Yn y gyfrol gyntaf trafodir seineg, ffonoleg, morffoffonoleg, a morffoleg tafodieithoedd Carnwyllion; yn yr all ran ceir disgrifiad o gystrawen y tafodieithoedd hyn. Y Rhan Gyntaf Yn Adran 1 ceir trafodaeth ar ffiniau tafodiri. thoedd y Gymraeg a chreffir ar ddamcaniaeth sy'n cysylitu ffiniau tafodieithol ä ffiniau gweinyddol yr Oesoedd Canol. Oirheinir ' ffini. iu'r maenorau yng nghwnwd Carnwyllion a chynigir y ddamcaniaethl bod ffiniau m 5n dafodieithoedd Carnwyllion yn dilyn ffiniau min unedau gweinyddol yr, 0esoedd Canol. Y mae a wnelo all, ran yr adran hon ä chymhwyso'r ddamcaniaeth at weddill tafod li ithoeddl Cymru. f Yn Adran 2 creffir ar sut yr ymgodymodd Mr. Robert OwenJores ä Thai o'r problemau ffonolegol'a morffo fonolegol sy'n gyffredin i dafodieithoedd Maenorau Llan-non, Llanedi a Hengoed a'r tafodieithoedd y bu of yn eu hastudio. Creffir, yn ogystal, ar ddilysrwydd mabwysiadu ffonem gyplysiadol ar gyfer discº, rifio'r treigladau a dilysrwIdd ystyried deunydd gramadegol wrth sefydlu ffonemau. Crybwyllir damcaniaeth Mr. Eric Hamp mai fel sylweddoliad morffoffonemau y dylid ystyried troigladau'r Gymraeg. a

No description available.

The primary objective of this thesis is to provide an objective critical assessment of the life and works of End 6 Muirgheasa (Henry Morris). 6 Muirgheasa was among the most prolific Irish Language folklorists of his time. His publications transcended many disciplines including antiquities, archaeology, philology and musicology. Influenced in his youth by leading contemporary scholars and folklorists including Joseph H. Lloyd and Dr Douglas Hyde, he published collections of folksongs and folk literature not to mention many articles relating to antiquities and archaeology. His publications demonstrate not only his zeal and dedication, but his extensive knowledge of manuscript and oral sources. After working his way through the primary education system as a monitor or assistant teacher, he studied for one year at St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Dublin. His legacy has ensured the preservation and publication of much of the surviving literary tradition of Gaelic Ulster. This thesis attempts to evaluate the value of his work as well as the motives which sustained 6 Muirgheasa's lifelong pursuit to collect and publish the poetry and literary gems of Ulster. Chapter 1 will discuss and contextualise his life with special reference to those who Influenced him during his youth including J.H. Lloyd and Douglas Hyde. Chapter 2 is concerned with his published works and offers a fresh appraisal of their merit in light of the various published review articles which evaluated their scholarly contribution. Chapter 3 will evaluate the various folklore collection methodologies employed by 6 Muirgheasa while Chapter 4 focuses on the contribution of those who assisted him in his collecting endeavours. Chapter 5 offers an overview and evaluation of his attempts to collect Irish manuscripts. Chapter 6 attempts to evaluate the methods employed by 6 Muirgheasa while editing texts. The final chapter, Chapter 7, will evaluate and contextualise his attempts to sanitise the material he edited.

No description available.

No description available.

e cuspir an trachtais sea leargas a thabhairt ar ghneithe eagsula dechomhreir agus de sheimeantaic na mBriathra Frasacha sa Ghaeilge. Deantar scagadh ar na struchtuir sea a leanas a nglactar leo uile mar Bhriathra Frasacha, struchtuir ina bhfuil: Briathar+Dobhriathar; Briathar+Reamhfhocal (go minic, bionn Ainmfhocal 6 . . chnuasach teoranta ainmfhocal mar chuid den aonad reamhfhoclach seo); Briathar+Dobhriathar+Reamhfhocal. Leiritear go bhfuil diftiochtai comhreire idir na struchtuir reamhluaite sea ach, mar sin fein, maitear sa trachtas sea gur Briathra Frasacha iad na struchtuir sea uile siocair go bhfeidhmionn siad araon mar aonaid 6 thaobh na comhreire agus 6 thaobh na bri de. Is ionduil go mbionn an iliomad brionna meafaracha leis na Briathra Frasacha. Da , thairbhe seo, bionn deacrachtai go minic ag mic leinn Tl agus T2 leis na struchtuir sea a thuiscint agus a usaid i gceart de bharr nach leir d6ibh cen bunus ata leis na brionna meafaracha sin agus cen d6igh ar fhorbair siad 6n bhunbhri litriuil. Sa trachtas seo, baintear leas as teoirici a thainig chun cinn i reimse na Seimeantaice Cognafche i dtaca le tabhacht an mheafair i bhfas ilbhrionna focal chun na patruin a bhaineann le forbairt ilbhrionna na mBriathra Frasacha a chioradh agus a rianu. Deantar iarracht sa trachtas tuiscint a chothu ar na Briathra Frasacha d'fhonn cur chuige nios eifeachtai a fhorbairt chun eolas agus feasacht an mhic leinn i dtaca leis an ghne thabhachtach sea den teanga a chothu agus, da reir sin, cur le scileanna ginearalta cruinnscribhneoireachta an mhic leinn.

This thesis takes a sociolinguistic perspective regarding the Welsh in Patagonia, discussing the subjective perceptions held by Chubut Province residents of the vitality of the Welsh language and culture in their surroundings. Drawing upon the theories and taxonomy of Vitality, suggested by Giles, Bourhis and Taylor (1977), a questionnaire was developed to uncover the subjective perceptions of Welsh language and culture in the Chubut Province. This questionnaire was distributed between September and November 2004 in seven urban areas, with 369 completed questionnaires being returned by inhabitants of these municipalities. The distribution of the questionnaires included a wide cross-section of society to reflect perceptions of the strength of the Welsh language amongst the society as a whole and not just the 'Welsh community'. The concept of a 'Welsh community' in the Chubut Province is problematised in the thesis, with informants self-reporting their affiliation and fluency in oral Welsh. Analysis of the questionnaire results has shown generally positive trends in informants' responses, suggesting that Welsh in the Chubut Province has medium strength vitality, a stronger than might be expected finding. Factor analysis uncovered seven different factors. Further analysis of these factors through Oneway ANOVA and Scheffe post-hoc tests uncovered significant differences in responses uncovered in relation to the informants' location, their self-reported affiliation to the 'Welsh community' and their self-reported fluency in oral Welsh and. Some significant differences existed in responses according to the informants' age, although fewer than had been predicted. Additionally, ten focus-group style interviews were held with members of the 'Welsh community' in the Chubut Province. These interviews suggest opportunities for further development or re-working of the ethnolinguistic vitality concept, with informants noting the importance of tourism, transnationality and the wider linguistic economy in determining the ethnolinguistic vitality of Welsh in the Chubut Province.