Irish (Irish: Gaeilge), a Goidelic language spoken in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada, and the United States, is constitutionally recognised as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. On 13 June 2005, EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union. The new arrangements will come into effect on 1 January 2007. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many in Southwest Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, spoken by ancient and modern Celts alike. ... The Insular Celtic language hypothesis groups the Goidelic languages, which include Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, together with the Brythonic languages, of which the modern ones are Breton, Cornish and Welsh. ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) are one of two major divisions of modern-day Insular Celtic languages (the other being the Brythonic languages). ... Writing Systems of the World today A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... Irish orthography has a reputation as being very difficult to learn and bearing only a tenuous relationship to the pronunciation. ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official Languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th UK 13,843... May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Foras na Gaeilge is the governing body of the Irish language, responsible for the promotion of the language throughout all of Ireland. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) are one of two major divisions of modern-day Insular Celtic languages (the other being the Brythonic languages). ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official Languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th UK 13,843... The Constitution of Ireland is the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland. ... June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

According to statistics released by the Government of Ireland in 2004, out of the Republic's 4.1 million citizens there are approximately 1.6 million Irish speakers. Of these, 350,000 use Irish every day, 155,000 weekly, 585,000 less often, 460,000 never, and 30,000 didn't state how often. However, these statistics are often disputed by Irish language activists and their opponents. 100,000 people has been quoted as the number of people in the Gaeltacht who use the language as their first and daily language^{[citation needed]}. It has been argued that previous censuses have overestimated the true number of Irish speakers, as those speaking it only in the schools are included. The recent 2006 Census may provide a more accurate estimate of the Irish-speaking population, because of changes to ask the respondents how often they speak the language and where. Other data state that 165,000 can speak Irish in Northern Ireland. The results of the United States Census, 2000 suggest that some 25,000 people use the language at home in the United States.^[1] The Government (Irish: Rialtas) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in the Republic of Ireland. ... Gaeltacht, plural Gaeltachtaí, is an Irish word for an Irish-speaking region. ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official Languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th UK 13,843... The 22nd United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13. ...

For the English language as it is spoken in Ireland, see Hiberno-English. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Names of the language

In English

The language is usually referred to in English as Irish, and less often as Gaelic (IPA: /ˈgeɪlɪk/), or Irish Gaelic though the latter term is seldom used or preferred by the Irish themselves. This has generally been the common name for the language in the Irish diaspora. Within many parts of Ireland, it has inevitably on occasion acquired political significance. Some people believe that referring to the language as "Gaelic" suggests that the language is as distant and unrelated to modern Irish life as the civilisation of the ancient Gaels. Calling it Irish, on the other hand, is a more neutral indication of its status as the national language of the Irish people. Irish is the term generally accepted among scholars; it is also the term used in the Republic of Ireland's Constitution. Some Irish people however, consider the use of the word Irish to push the point of view that being Irish is synonymous with being Gaelic. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ...

Use of the term Irish also avoids confusion with Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Manx Gaelic (Gaelg), the closely related languages spoken in Scotland and the Isle of Man, though the term Irish Gaelic is often used when the three languages and their relationship to one another are being discussed. Scottish Gaelic is often referred to in English as simply Gaelic (IPA: /ˈgeɪlɪk/ or /ˈgæːlɪk/). The archaic term Erse, originally a Scots form of the word Irish, is no longer used and in most current contexts is considered derogatory. Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Manx (Gaelg or Gailck), also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language spoken on the Isle of Man. ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Erse (early Scots/English for Irish) can be used as an adjective, but is more often used as a noun referring to either of the Goidelic languages Irish or Scottish Gaelic, or the people who speak them. ... Scots is an Anglic variety spoken in Scotland, where it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides). ...

In Irish

In the Caighdeán Oifigiúil (the official written standard) the name of the language is Gaeilge, which reflects the southern Connacht pronunciation /ˈgeːlʲgʲə/. Before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge; originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in classical Modern Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Middle Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish. Connacht Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. ... The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ... Middle Irish is the name given by historical philologists to the form of the Irish language from the 10th to 16th centuries; it is therefore a contemporary of Middle English. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language which can be, more or less, fully reconstructed from extant sources. ...

Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht Gaeilge mentioned above, include Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig (pronounced /ˈgeːlʲəkʲ/) or Gaedhlag /ˈgeːləg/ in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn /ˈgeːləŋʲ/ in Munster Irish. Ulster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Ulster. ... Munster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. ...

Official status

Irish is given recognition by the Constitution of Ireland as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland (with English being a second official language), despite the limited distribution of fluency among the population of that country. Since the State was founded in the 1920s as the Irish Free State (see also History of the Republic of Ireland), the Irish Government required a degree of proficiency in Irish for all civil service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.), as well as for employees of state companies (e.g. Aer Lingus, RTÉ, ESB, etc). Proficiency in Irish for entrance to the public service ceased to be a compulsory requirement in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the Language Freedom Movement. While the requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, such as teaching, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also Education in the Republic of Ireland). The need for a pass in Leaving Certificate Irish for entry to the Gardaí (police) was dropped in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. Most official documents of the Irish Government are published in both Irish and English. The Constitution of Ireland is the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) (1922–1937) was the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties that were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and... The state known today as the Republic of Ireland came into being when twenty-six of the counties of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom (UK) in 1922. ... Government Buildings in Dublin. ... The civil service (an stát-sheirbhís in Irish) of the Republic of Ireland consists of two broad components, the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State. ... Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland. ... Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ; Irish for Radio [and] Television of Ireland) is the Public Service Broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. ... The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) (Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais in Irish), sometimes called ESB Ireland to differentiate it from US utilities, is responsible for generating most of the electricity in the Republic of Ireland. ... Founded in 1966, the Language Freedom Movement was an organization dedicated to the opposition of the state-sponsored Gaelic Revival of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland. ... The Republic of Irelands education system is quite similar to that of most other western countries. ... The Leaving Certificate (Irish: An Ardteistiméireacht) (commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert) is the final course in the Irish secondary school system and culminates with the Leaving Certificate Examination. ... A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ...

The National University of Ireland, Galway is required to appoint a person who is competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3) and recently was subject of a High Court case on the matter[1] - it is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course[2]. The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway) (Irish: Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh) can trace its existence to 1845 as Queens College, Galway and was known until recently as University College, Galway (UCG) and is located in Galway, Ireland. ... The High Court of the Republic of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases, and also acts as a court of appeal for civil cases in the Circuit Court. ...

As a treaty language of the European Union, the highest-level documents of the EU are translated into Irish; in addition, the language has also recently received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, under the Good Friday Agreement. Irish will become an official language of the European Union beginning January 1, 2007. The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. ... The Irish language is a minority language in Northern Ireland, known in Irish as Tuaisceart Éireann or na sé chontae (the six counties). ... The Belfast Agreement (the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was a political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Irish is also spoken in France, but with no recognition from the French government ^{[citation needed]}.

Gaeltacht

There are pockets of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional, native language. These regions are known as the Gaeltacht. These are in County Galway (Contae na Gaillimhe), including Connemara (Conamara) and the Aran Islands (na hOileáin Árann); on the west coast of County Donegal (Contae Dhún na nGall); in the part which is known as Tyrconnell (Tír Chonaill); and Dingle Peninsula (Corca Dhuibhne) in County Kerry (Contae Chiarraí). Smaller ones also exist in Mayo (Contae Mhaigh Eo), Meath (Contae na Mí), Waterford (Contae Phort Láirge), and Cork (Contae Chorcaí). However, even within the Gaeltacht areas, the Irish-speaking populations have declined since the Gaeltacht boundaries were drawn up. Native Language Music, founded in 1996 by musicians Joe Sherbanee and Theo Bishop, is an independent adult contemporary record company based in Southern California that produces, markets, and distributes premium jazz, world, and new age music. ... Gaeltacht, plural Gaeltachtaí, is an Irish word for an Irish-speaking region. ... Statistics Province: Connacht County Town: Galway Code: G (GY proposed) Area: 6,148 km² Population (2002) 209,077 Website: www. ... Connemara (Irish Conamara), which derives from Conmhaicne Mara (meaning: descendants of Con Mhac, of the sea), is a district in the west of Ireland (County Galway). ... The Aran Islands (Irish: Na hOileáin Árann) are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: coord}}}_N_{{{west coord}}}_W_{{{region:IE_type:city}}} {{{north coord}}}° N {{{west coord}}}° W Irish Grid Reference grid}}} {{{irish grid}}} Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: County Town: Lifford Code: DL Area: 4,841 km² Elevation: Population: Website: www. ... Tír Chonaill (anglicized as Tyrconnel) was the name of a kingdom which covered much of what is now County Donegal; indeed Tír Chonaill is still the name by which it is referred to amongst its many native Irish speakers, in addition to many other Irish people. ... Dingle Peninsula as viewed from Banna Strand The Dingle Peninsula (Irish: Corca Dhuibhne) is located in County Kerry and is the most westerly point of the Republic of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Tralee Code: KY Area: 4,746 km² Population (2002) 132,527 Website: www. ... Statistics Province: Connacht County Town: Castlebar Code: MO Area: 5,397 km² Population (2002) 117,428 Website: www. ... County Meath (Contae na Mí in Irish) is the fastest growing county in the Republic of Ireland, often informally called The Royal County. ... County Waterford (Port Láirge in Irish) is a county in the province of Munster on the south coast of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2002) 447,829 Website: www. ...

Gweedore, County Donegal is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Gweedore, in Irish Gaoth Dobhair, is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: coord}}}_N_{{{west coord}}}_W_{{{region:IE_type:city}}} {{{north coord}}}° N {{{west coord}}}° W Irish Grid Reference grid}}} {{{irish grid}}} Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: County Town: Lifford Code: DL Area: 4,841 km² Elevation: Population: Website: www. ... Gaeltacht, plural Gaeltachtaí, is an Irish word for an Irish-speaking region. ...

The numerically and socially strongest Gaeltacht areas are those of South Connemara, the extreme west of Dingle and in and northwest Tyrconnell, in which a significant proportion of residents use Irish as a community language and in which children often speak the language with each other. These areas are often referred to as the Fíor-Ghaeltacht ("true Gaeltacht") and collectively have a population of just under 10,000, of which over 80% use the language daily^{[citation needed]}. The highest proportions of daily Irish speakers in the community are found in Rosmuck (over 91%)^{[citation needed]}, and around Bloody Foreland (Cnoc na Fola) in Tyrconnell (88-89%)^{[citation needed]}. Rosmuck (Irish name Ros Muc) is a village in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) of County Galway, Ireland, halfway between the town of Clifden and the city of Galway. ...

Gaeltacht summer schools are attended by tens of thousands of Irish teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports and go to céilis and are obliged to speak Irish. A céilidh (pronounced ) is the traditional Gaelic social dance in Ireland and Scotland. ...

Dialects

There are a number of distinct dialects of Irish. Roughly speaking, the three major dialect areas coincide with the provinces of Munster (Cúige Mumhan), Connacht (Cúige Chonnacht) and Ulster (Cúige Uladh). Munster (Irish: An Mhumhain, IPA: ) is the southernmost province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. ... Connaught redirects here. ... Statistics Area: 24,481 Population (estimate) 1,931,981 Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) forms one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland. ...

Munster dialects

Main article: Munster Irish

Munster Irish is spoken in the Gaeltachtaí of Kerry (Contae Chiarraí), Muskerry (Múscraí), Cape Clear (Oileán Cléire) in the western part of County Cork (Contae Chorcaí), and the tiny pocket of Irish-speakers in An Rinn near Dungarvan (Dún Garbháin) in County Waterford (Contae Phort Láirge). The most important subdivision in Munster is that between Decies Irish (spoken in Waterford) and the rest of Munster Irish. Munster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. ... Clear Island (Irish Gaelic: Oileán Chléire), also known as Cape Clear, lies south west of County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2002) 447,829 Website: www. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 52. ...

Some typical features of Munster Irish are:

1. The use of personal endings instead of pronouns with verbs, thus "I must" is in Munster caithfead, while other dialects prefer caithfidh mé (mé means "I"). "I was and you were" is Bhíos agus bhís in Munster but Bhí mé agus bhí tú in other dialects.
2. In front of nasals and "ll" some short vowels are lengthened while other are diphthongised.
3. A copula-construction involving is ea is frequently used.

The word copula originates from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things. ...

Connacht dialects

Main article: Connacht Irish

The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found in Connemara and the Aran Islands. In some regards this dialect is quite different from general Connacht Irish but since most Connacht dialects have died out during the last century Connemara Irish is sometimes seen as Connacht Irish. Much closer to the traditional Connacht Irish is the very threatened dialect spoken in the region on the border between Galway (Gaillimh) and Mayo (Maigh Eo). The Irish of Tourmakeady (Tuar Mhic Éadaigh) in southern Mayo (Maigh Eo Theas) and Joyce Country (Dúiche Sheoigheach) are considered the living Irish dialects closest to Middle Irish. Also, the northern Mayo dialect of Erris (Iorras) and Achill (Acaill) is in grammar and word-building essentially a Connacht dialect; but shows an affinity in vocabulary with Ulster Irish, due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following the Plantation of Ulster. Connacht Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. ... Connemara (Irish Conamara), which derives from Conmhaicne Mara (meaning: descendants of Con Mhac, of the sea), is a district in the west of Ireland (County Galway). ... The Aran Islands (Irish: Na hOileáin Árann) are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. ... Tourmakeady (Tuar Mhic Éadaigh in Irish) is a rural district in County Mayo in the west of Ireland. ... Keem bay on Achill island is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Ireland. ... Å“The Plantation of Ulster was a planned process of colonisation which took place in the northern Irish province of Ulster during the early 17th century in the reign of James I of England. ...

Connemara Irish is very popular with learners, thanks to Mícheál Ó Siadhail's self-teaching textbook Learning Irish. However, there are features in Connemara Irish outside the official standard—notably the preference for verbal nouns ending in -achan, such as lagachan instead of lagú, "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings give Connemara Irish its distinct sound.

The distinguishing features of this dialect include the prounouncing of 'bh' as 'w', rather than as 'v' in other parts of the country: for example 'Ní raibh' is pronounced "Ni raow" in Connacht as opposed to "Ni rev" elsewhere. In addition Connacht speakers tend to put the "we" pronoun at the end of the verb rather than with the verb itself: for example "Bhí muid" is used for 'we were' instead of "Bhíomar" elsewhere. This has become a common teaching practice in schools as it is a much easier construction of any verb in the 'we' form.

Connacht Irish tends to be more widespread than any other dialect, as most Irish teachers tend to come from there, although, obviously, there are many exceptions.

Ulster dialects

Main article: Ulster Irish

The most important of the Ulster dialects today is that of the Rosses (na Rosa), which has been used extensively in literature by such authors as the brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna, locally known as Jimí Fheilimí and Joe Fheilimí. This dialect is essentially the same as that in Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair= Inlet of Streaming Water), the same dialect used by native speaker Enya (Eithne) and her siblings in Clannad (Clann as Dobhar = Family from the Water). Ulster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Ulster. ... Statistics Area: 24,481 Population (estimate) 1,931,981 Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) forms one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Gweedore, in Irish Gaoth Dobhair, is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, Ireland. ... Enya, birth name Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (sometimes presented in the media as the Anglicised Enya Brennan; b. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Ulster Irish sounds very different and shares several unusual features with Scottish Gaelic, as well as having lots of characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today Northern Ireland, it is probably an exaggeration to see Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. Indeed, Scottish Gaelic does have lots of non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish, too. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official Languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th UK 13,843...

One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish is the use of the negative participle cha(n), in place of the Munster and Connaught version ní. Even in Ulster, cha(n), most typical of Scottish Gaelic, has ousted the more common ní only in easternmost dialects (including the now defunct ones once spoken in what is now Northern Ireland). The practice seems to be that cha(n) is most usually used when answering to a statement, either confirming a negative statement (Níl aon mhaith ann - Chan fhuil, leoga = "It is no good" - "Indeed it isn't") or contesting an affirmative one (Tá sé go maith - Chan fhuil! = "It is good" - "No, it isn't!"), while ní is preferred in answering a question (An bhfuil aon mhaith ann? - Níl = "Is it any good?" - "No").

Other regions

The dialects of Irish native to Leinster, the fourth province of Ireland, became extinct during the 20th century, but records of some of these were made by the Irish Folklore Commission among other bodies prior to this. Statistics Area: 19,774. ... The Irish Folklore Commission (Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann in Irish) was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. ...

The present-day Irish of Meath (in Leinster) is a special case. It belongs to the Connemara dialect, as the Irish-speaking community in Meath is simply a group of mostly Connemara speakers who moved there in the 1930s, after a land reform campaign spearheaded by Máirtín Ó Cadhain (subsequently one of the greatest modernist writers in the language). This article needs to be wikified. ...

In areas outside the traditional Gaeltacht, where standard Irish was learnt in schools, this has become the "dialect" of learners of the language. What has been called "Dublin Irish" or "Gaelscoil Irish" has also arisen, that is Irish heavily influenced by English. English idioms are translated directly, e.g. "Tabhair suas" for Give up when the verb "Lig" should be used. English grammar is sometimes used straight when not applicable to Irish. Often, when the speaker doesn't know a word, the English will be substituted, sometimes with "-áil" affixed. "-áil" is generally an ending for the verbal noun of a verb, but when added to an English word, this becomes the stem, e.g. vótáil (to vote). Many "Béarlachas" (false Irish based on English) words and phrases are used, e.g. pioc, sórt, saghas, féar plé etc. Also, typical interjection words often used in English and especially English influenced by America are used, e.g. like, man, so, etc. are used un-translated in Irish. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ...

Students in the Eastern part of Ireland tend to pronounce the Irish words in an English way rather than in a Gaelic way. This is possibly due to teaching inconsistency. The average Irish student would have twelve or thirteen different Irish teachers, each with a varying dialect.

Comparisons

The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in defining standard Irish. Even everyday phrases can show startling dialectal variation: the standard example is "How are you?":

• Ulster: Cad é mar atá tú? ("what is it as you are?" Note: caidé or goidé and sometimes dé are alternative renderings of cad é)
• Connacht: Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? ("what way [is it] that you are?")
• Munster: Conas taoi? or Conas tánn tú? ("how are you?")
• "standard Irish": Conas atá tú? ("how are you?")

In recent times, however, contacts between speakers of different dialects have become more common, and mixed dialects have originated. Nevertheless, many dialect speakers (especially Ulster) are still zealously trying to guard their own variety against influences from other dialects. Among non-native speakers, this can be seen as a quest for authenticity. Regional accents are commonly taught to non-natives and imitated: an urban non-native speaker of Irish in Cork City (Cathair Chorcaí) is very probably trying to emulate Coolea or Kerry dialect; one from Belfast (Béal Feirste) tends to speak an Irish modelled on the Rosses dialect of Donegal; and Galwegian Irish-speakers, living next door to Connemara, will do their best to sound like a Connemara native. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ...

Shelta

There also exists a cant called Shelta, based partly on English and partly Irish, in use by the Irish Travellers. Cant is an example of a cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ... Shelta is a language spoken by parts of the Irish Traveller people. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Irish Travellers are a nomadic or itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. ...

Linguistic structure

The features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the orthography, the initial consonant mutations, the Verb Subject Object word order, and the use of two different forms for "to be". However, initial mutations are found in other Celtic languages as well as in some Italian and Sardinian dialects, as an independent development. They are also found in some West African languages. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... Initial consonant mutation is the phenomenon in which the first consonant of a word is changed according to a certain grammatical environment. ... Verb Subject Object—commonly used in its abbreviated form VSO—is a term in linguistic typology. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, spoken by ancient and modern Celts alike. ... Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African languages. ...

Syntax

See main article Irish syntax Irish syntax is rather different from that of most Indo-European languages, notably because of its VSO word order. ...

One aspect of Irish syntax that is unfamiliar to speakers of other languages is the use of the copula (known in Irish as an chopail). The copula is used to describe what or who someone is, as opposed to how and where. This has been likened to the difference between the verbs ser and estar in Spanish and Portuguese, although this is only a rough approximation. The copula, which in the present tense is is, is usually demonstrative: The word copula originates from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things. ...

Is fear é. "It is a man."

Is Sasanaigh iad. "They're English."

When saying "this is", or "that is", seo and sin are used:

Seo í mo mháthair. "This is my mother."

Sin é an muinteoir. "That's the teacher."

One can also add "that is in him/her/it", especially when using an adjective, when it is desired to emphasise the quality:

Is fear láidir atá ann. "He's a strong man."

(Literally: "It is a strong man that is in him.")

Is cailín álainn atá inti. "She's a beautiful girl."

(Literally: "It is a beautiful girl that is in her.")

This sometimes appears in Hiberno-English, either translated literally as "that is in it", or as "so it is". Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Morphology

See main articles Irish morphology, Irish nominals, and Irish verbs. The morphology of Irish is in some respects typical of an Indo-European language. ... The nominals of Irish include the nouns, the definite article, and the adjectives. ... Irish verb forms are constructed either synthetically or analytically. ...

Another feature of Irish grammar that is shared with other Celtic languages is the use of prepositional pronouns (forainmneacha réamhfhoclacha), which are essentially conjugated prepositions. For example, the word for "at" is ag, which in the first person singular becomes agam "at me". When used with the verb bí ("to be") ag indicates possession; this is the equivalent of the English verb "to have".

Compare with Breton: Breton (Breton: Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany (Breizh) and Loire-Atlantique (historically part of Brittany) in France. ...

Orthography and pronunciation

See main articles Irish orthography and Irish phonology. Irish orthography has a reputation as being very difficult to learn and bearing only a tenuous relationship to the pronunciation. ... The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect. ...

The written language looks rather daunting to those unfamiliar with it. Once understood, the orthography is relatively straightforward. The acute accent, or síneadh fada (´), serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality. For example, in Munster Irish (Kerry), a is /ʌ/ or /ɑ/ and á is /ɔ/ in "law" but in Ulster Irish (Donegal), á tends to be /ɑː/. The acute accent ( Â´ ) is a diacritic mark used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin and Greek scripts. ...

Around the time of World War II, Séamas Daltún, in charge of Rannóg an Aistriúcháin (the official translations department of the Irish government), issued his own guidelines about how to standardise Irish spelling and grammar. This de facto standard was subsequently approved of by the State and called the Official Standard or Caighdeán Oifigiúil. Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, Canada, China, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8...

It simplified and standardised the orthography. Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one or more were selected.

Examples:

• Gaedhealg / Gaedhilg(e) / Gaedhealaing / Gaeilic / Gaelainn / Gaoidhealg / Gaolainn => Gaeilge, "Irish language" (Gaoluinn or Gaolainn is still used in books written in dialect by Munster authors, or as a facetious name for the Munster dialect)
• Lughbhaidh => Lú, "Louth"
• biadh => bia, "food" (The orthography biadh is still used by the speakers of those dialects that show a meaningful and audible difference between biadh - nominative case - and bídh - genitive case: "of food, food's". For example, in Munster Irish the latter ends in an audible -g sound, because final -idh, -igh regularly delenites to -ig in Munster pronunciation.)

Modern Irish has only one diacritic sign, the acute (á é í ó ú), known in Irish as the síneadh fada 'long mark', plural sínte fada. In English, this is frequently referred to as simply the fada, where the adjective is used as a noun. The dot-above diacritic, called a ponc séimhithe or sí buailte (often shortened to buailte), derives from the punctum delens, which was used in medieval manuscripts to indicate deletion, similar to crossing out unwanted words in handwriting today. From this usage it was used to indicate the lenition of s (from /s/ to /h/) and f (from /f/ to zero) in Old Irish texts. A diacritical mark or diacritic, sometimes called an accent mark, is a mark added to a letter to alter a words pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ... Lenition is a kind of consonant mutation that appears in many languages. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language which can be more or less fully reconstructed from extant sources. ...

Lenition of c, p, and t was indicated by placing the letter h after the affected consonant; lenition of other sounds was left unmarked. Later both methods were extended to be indicators of lenition of any sound except l and n, and two competing systems were used: lenition could be marked by a buailte or by a postposed h. Eventually, use of the buailte predominated when texts were writing using Gaelic letters, while the h predominated when writing using Roman letters.

Today Gaelic letters and the buailte are rarely used except where a 'traditional' style is required, e.g. the motto on the University College Dublin coat-of-arms or the symbol of the Irish Defence Forces, The Irish Defence Forces cap badge (Óglaiġ na h-Éireann). Letters with the buailte are available in Unicode and Latin-8 character sets (see Latin Extended Additional chart (see PDF). University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin - more commonly University College Dublin (UCD) - is Irelands largest university, with over 20,000 students. ... Monacos coat of arms A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short) is, in European tradition, a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people) and used by him or her in a wide variety of ways. ... Commissioned Officer and Senior NCO Bronze Cap Badge. ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... ISO 8859-14, also known as Latin-8 or Celtic, is an 8-bit character encoding, part of the ISO 8859 standard. ... A character encoding is a code that pairs a set of characters (such as an alphabet or syllabary) with a set of something else, such as numbers or electrical pulses. ...

Mutations

See main article Irish initial mutations Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. ...

In Irish, there are two classes of initial mutations:

• Lenition (in Irish, séimhiú "softening") describes the change of stops into fricatives. Indicated in old orthography by a dot (called a sí buailte) written above the changed consonant, this is now shown by adding an extra -h-:
  • caith! "throw!" - chaith mé "I threw" (this is an example of the lenition as a past-tense marker, which is caused by the use of do, although this is now usually omitted)
  • margadh "market", "market-place", "bargain" - Tadhg an mhargaidh "the man of the street" (word for word "Timothy of the market-place" (here we see the lenition marking the genitive case of a masculine noun)
  • Seán "Seán, John" - a Sheáin! "O John!" (here we see lenition as part of what is called the vocative case - in fact, the vocative lenition is triggered by the a or vocative marker before Sheáin)

• Nasalisation (in Irish, urú "eclipsis") covers the voicing of voiceless stops, as well as the true nasalisation of voiced stops.
  • athair "father" - ár nAthair "our Father"
  • tús "start", ar dtús "at the start"
  • Gaillimh "Galway" - i nGaillimh "in Galway"

History and politics

Stages of the Irish language

The date of introduction of Celtic languages to Ireland is an open question, debated by linguists and archaeologists.^[2] The earliest form of the language, Primitive Irish, is found in ogham inscriptions up to about the 4th century AD. After the conversion to Christianity, Old Irish begins to appear as glosses in the margins of Latin manuscripts, beginning in the 6th century, until it gives way in the 10th century to Middle Irish. Modern Irish dates from about the 16th century. Primitive Irish is the oldest known form of the Irish language, known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Britain up to about the 4th century. ... Ogham (Old Irish Ogam) was an alphabet used primarily to represent Gaelic languages. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recounted in the Gospels. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language which can be more or less fully reconstructed from extant sources. ... A gloss is a note made in the margins or between the lines of a book, in which the meaning of the text in its original language is explained in another language. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ...

Irish Language Movement

The Irish language was the most widely spoken language on the island of Ireland until the 19th century. Queen Elizabeth I encouraged the use of Irish even in the Pale with a view to promoting the reformed religon. She is reported to have expressed a desire to understand Irish and a primer was prepared on her behalf by Sir Christopher Nugent, ninth baron of Delvin. The first book in Irish was printed in 1564 in Edinburgh a translation of John Knox's 'Liturgy' by John Carswell, Bishop of the Hebridies. He used a slightly modified form of the language shared by Ireland and Scotland at the time and also used the Roman script. in 1568 the first book in Irish to be printed in Ireland was a Protestant 'catechism'it contained a guide to spelling and sounds in Irish. it was written by John Kearney, treasurer of St. Patick's Cathedral. The type used was adopted to what has become known as the 'gaelic' script. The first Bible in Irish was translated by William Bedell, Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore, in the 17th century. This was published in 1602-3 by the printer Francke. Though its number of speakers has been in decline since the 19th century, it is an important part of Irish nationalist identity. The Gutenberg Bible owned by the United States Library of Congress The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hē biblos, the book) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Work of God, The Word, The Good Book or Scripture), is the name used by Jews and Christians for their differing (and overlapping) canons... The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Kilmore is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. ... An Irish nationalist is generally one who seeks (greater) independence of Ireland from Great Britain, including since 1921 the goal of a United Ireland. ...

A combination of the introduction of a primary education system (the 'National Schools'), in which Irish was prohibited and only English taught by order of the British government, and the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) which hit a disportionately high number of Irish language speakers (who lived in the poorer areas heavily hit by famine deaths and emigration), hastened its rapid decline. Irish political leaders, such as Daniel O'Connell (Dónall Ó Conaill), too were critical of the language, seeing it as 'backward', with English the language of the future. Contemporary reports spoke of Irish-speaking parents actively discouraging their children from speaking the language, and encouraging the use of English instead. This practice continued long after independence, as the stigma of speaking Irish remained very strong. Despite the policy of successive Irish governments to promote the language the decline in the number of native speakers within the Gaeltacht has accelerated although the number of those elsewhere in the country able to speak it (as a second language) has increased albeit not to the extent that many hoped. A national school is a particular type of primary school in Ireland which is not directly financed and administered by the State: rather the affairs and policies of the school are managed by a local Board of Management, which is often directed by a member of the clergy, and includes... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right)1 Capital London Head of State King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Head of Government Prime Minister Parliament House of Commons, House of Lords This article is about the historical state called the... Starvation during the famine The Irish Potato Famine, also called The Great Famine or The Great Hunger (Irish: An Gorta Mór), is the name given to a famine which struck Ireland between 1846 and 1849. ... Daniel OConnell Daniel OConnell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), known as The Liberator or The Emancipator, was Irelands predominant political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century who championed the cause of the down-trodden catholic population. ...

Some, however, thought differently. The initial moves to save the language were championed by Irish Protestants, such as the linguist and clergyman William Neilson, in the end of the eighteenth century; the major push occurred with the foundation by Douglas Hyde, the son of a Church of Ireland rector, of the Gaelic League (known in Irish as Conradh na Gaeilge) which started the Gaelic Revival. Leading supporters of Conradh included Pádraig Mac Piarais and Éamon de Valera. The revival of interest in the language coincided with other cultural revivals, such as the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association and the growth in the performance of plays about Ireland in English, by such luminaries as William Butler Yeats, J.M. Synge, Sean O'Casey and Lady Gregory, with their launch of the Abbey Theatre. Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... William Neilson, (March 16, 1844 - February 10, 1915) Canadian businessman, founder of William Neilson Limited. ... Douglas Hyde (Irish name Dubhghlas de hÍde) (17 January 1860 - 12 July 1949) was an Irish language scholar who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945. ... Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) is an organization for the purpose of keeping the Irish language spoken in Ireland. ... The Gaelic Revival of the Irish language was mainly promoted by the Gaelic League and Douglas Hyde for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century. ... Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (known to Irish nationalists as Pádraig Pearse or by his Irish name Pádraic Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was a teacher, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. ... Eamon de Valera (born Edward George de Valera, sometimes Gaelicised Éamon de Bhailéara; October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Irelands struggle for independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century, and... A stylised Celtic cross serves as the traditional logo of the GAA. The Gaelic Athletic Association (The GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael) is an organisation which is mostly focussed on promoting Irish sports, such as hurling and camogie, Gaelic football and handball, and rounders. ... W.B. Yeats in Dublin on 24 January 1908. ... John Millington Synge John Millington Synge (April 16, 1871 - March 24, 1909) was an Irish dramatist, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. ... Sean OCasey Sean OCasey (March 30, 1880 - September 18, 1964) was a major Irish dramatist and memorist. ... A photograph of Lady Gregory from her 1913 book Our Irish Theatre Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (15 March 1852–22 May 1932), née Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish dramatist and folklorist. ... A poster for the opening run at the Abbey Theatre from 27 December, 1904 to 3 January, 1905. ...

Even though the Abbey Theatre playwrights wrote in English (and indeed some disliked Irish) the Irish language affected them, as it did all Irish English speakers. The version of English spoken in Ireland, known as Hiberno-English bears striking similarities in some grammatical idioms with Irish. Some have speculated that even after the vast majority of Irish people stopped speaking Irish, they perhaps subsconsciously used its grammatical flair in the manner in which they spoke English. This fluency is reflected in the writings of Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and more recently in the writings of Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan, Dermot Bolger and many others. (It may also in part explain the appeal in Britain of Irish-born broadcasters like Terry Wogan, Eamonn Andrews, Graham Norton, Desmond Lynam, etc.) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... (George) Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. ... Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (born April 13, 1939) is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. ... Paul Durcan is a contemporary Irish poet, born in Dublin on October 16, 1944, famous for his self-deprecating wit, and wry analysis of the condition of the Irish male in society. ... Dermot Bolger (born 1959) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin. ... Sir Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE (born 3 August 1938), generally known as Terry Wogan, is a Irish-British radio and television broadcaster who works for the BBC in the United Kingdom. ... Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was a Irish born television presenter in the United Kingdom. ... Graham Norton, real name Graham Walker, (born on April 4, 1963) is an openly gay Irish actor, comedian and television presenter. ... Desmond Lynam (born September 17, 1942 in Ennis, Ireland) is a sports presenter on British television and radio. ...

This national cultural revival of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century matched the growing Irish radicalism in Irish politics. Many of those, such as Pearse, de Valera, W.T. Cosgrave (Liam Mac Cosguir) and Ernest Blythe (Earnán de Blaghd), who fought to achieve Irish independence and came to govern the independent Irish state, first became politically aware through Conradh na Gaeilge, though Hyde himself resigned from its presidency in 1915 in protest at the movement's growing politicisation. William Thomas Cosgrave, (June 6, 1880 - November 16, 1965) served as the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932. ... Ernest Blythe (Ir: Earnán de Blaghd) (April 13, 1889–February 23, 1975), Irish politician. ...

A Church of Ireland campaign to promote worship and religion in Irish was started in 1914 with the founding of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise (the Irish Guild of the Church). The Roman Catholic Church also replaced its liturgies in Latin with Irish and English for their liturgies following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The hit song "Theme From Harry's Game" by County Donegal music group Clannad, became the first song to appear on Top Of The Pops with Irish lyrics in 1982. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, (Vatican two) was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... Hit song by County Donegal group Clannad, written by members Ciarán and Pól Brennan. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: coord}}}_N_{{{west coord}}}_W_{{{region:IE_type:city}}} {{{north coord}}}° N {{{west coord}}}° W Irish Grid Reference grid}}} {{{irish grid}}} Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: County Town: Lifford Code: DL Area: 4,841 km² Elevation: Population: Website: www. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Top of the Pops is a long-running British music chart television programme shown each week on BBC Two and now licensed for local versions around the world. ...

Independent Ireland and the language

The independent Irish state was established in 1922 (The Irish Free State 1922-37; Ireland (Éire) from 1937, also known since 1949 as the Republic of Ireland). Although some Republican leaders had been committed language enthusiasts, the new state continued to use English as the language of administration, even in areas where over 80% of the population spoke Irish. The government refused to implement the 1926 recommendations of the Gaeltacht Commission, which included restoring Irish as the language of administration in such areas. As the role of the state grew, it therefore exerted tremendous pressure on Irish-speakers to speak English. This was only partly offset by measures which were supposed to support the Irish language. For instance, the state was by far the largest employer. A qualification in Irish was required to apply for state jobs. However, this did not require a high level of fluency, and few public employees were ever required to use Irish in the course of their work. On the other hand, state employees had to have perfect command of English and had to use it constantly. Because most public employees had a poor command of Irish, it was impossible to deal with them in Irish. If an Irish-speaker wanted to apply for a grant, obtain electricity, or complain about being over-taxed, they had to do it in English. As late as 1986 a Bord na Gaeilge report noted "...the administrative agencies of the state have been among the strongest forces for anglicisation in Gaeltacht areas".^[3] The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and Irish... Map of Éire Éire (pronounced ) is the Irish name for Ireland. ... Irish Republicanism is an ideology based on the Irish nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic. ...

The new state increased attempts to promote Irish through the school system. Some politicians claimed that the state would become predominantly Irish-speaking within a generation. However, it is generally agreed that this policy was clumsily implemented (and sometimes proved even to be counter productive) . From the mid-1940s onward the policy of teaching English-speaking children through Irish was abandoned. In the following decades, support for the language was progressively reduced.

Whereas the first three presidents of Ireland (Douglas Hyde/Dubhghlas de hÍde, Sean T. O'Kelly/Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh and Eamon de Valera) and the fifth (Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh) were all so fluent in Irish that it became the working language in their official residence, later presidents struggled with any degree of fluency, its use declining to such an extent that it is only used now (if at all) in occasional speeches. Similarly, where earlier generations of Irish government leaders were highly fluent, recent prime ministers (Albert Reynolds/Ailbhe Mag Raghnaill, John Bruton, Bertie Ahern) had little fluency, struggling to pronounce passages of their speeches in Irish to their Ard-Fheiseanna (party conference(s), IPA: [ˈɑːrd ˈeʃənə]). Douglas Hyde (Irish name Dubhghlas de hÍde) (17 January 1860 - 12 July 1949) was an Irish language scholar who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945. ... Sean Thomas OKelly, Irish name: Seán Tomás Ó Ceallaigh (25 August 1882 – 23 November 1966) was the second President of Ireland (1945-1959). ... Eamon de Valera (born Edward George de Valera, sometimes Gaelicised Éamon de Bhailéara; October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Irelands struggle for independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century, and... Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (12 February 1911 – 21 March 1978) (pronounced karol o dawl-ie) served as fifth President of Ireland, from 1974 to 1976. ... Albert Reynolds (born November 3, 1932), was the eighth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, serving one term in office from 1992 until 1994. ... John Gerard Bruton (born May 18, 1947) was the ninth Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland. ... Patrick Bartholomew Ahern (Irish name: Pádraig Parthalán Ó hEachthairn) (born 12 September 1951), commonly called Bertie Ahern, is an Irish politician. ... An Ard Fheis is an annual convention, usually of a political party. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ...

It is, though, disputed to what extent such professed language revivalists as de Valera genuinely tried to Gaelicise political life. Ernest Blythe did little during his time as Minister of Finance to assist Irish language projects beyond the vested interests of already established organisations. Even in the first Dáil Éireann, few speeches were delivered as Gaeilge (in Irish), with the exception of formal proceedings. None of the recent taoisigh (plural of 'Taoiseach', meaning 'prime minister') have been fluent in Irish; however, the two most recent Presidents, Mary McAleese (Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa) and Mary Robinson (Máire Mhic Róibín) are fluent, though the latter studied the language while in office to improve her fluency. Every President of Ireland has all so far taken their inaugurational 'Declaration of Office' in the language, but they have the option of taking the English declaration at the inauguration. Language revival is the revival, by governments, political authorities, or enthusiasts, to recover the spoken use of a language that is no longer spoken or learned at home. ... The Dáil Chamber Dáil Éireann[1] is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. ... The President of Ireland (Irish: Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of the Republic of Ireland. ... Mary Patricia McAleese (Irish name Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; born 27 June 1951) is the eighth, and current, President of Ireland. ... Mary Robinson (Irish name Máire Mhic Róibín; born 21 May 1944) was the first female President of Ireland, serving from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. ... The President of Ireland (Irish: Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of the Republic of Ireland. ... The Inauguration of the President of Ireland is the formal ceremony by which the President of Ireland enters into office. ...

Even modern parliamentary legislation, though supposed to be issued in both Irish and English, is frequently only available in English^[4]. Much of publicly displayed Irish is ungrammatical, thus irritating both language activists and enemies of the language and contributing to the public image of the revival as phony and bogus.

Many public bodies have Irish language or bilingual names, but some have downgraded the language. For example, Eircom (formerly Telecom Éireann) effectively dropped Irish from its telephone directories in 1999. An Post, the Republic's postal service, continues to have place names in the language on its postmarks, as well as recognising addresses (as does the Royal Mail in Northern Ireland). eircom Group plc is the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland. ... The corporate logo. ... A small An Post post box attached to a telephone/electricity pole. ... Many place names in Ireland in the English language are either anglicisations of those in the Irish language, or completely different, such as the name for the capital of the Republic of Ireland, which in English is Dublin, but in Irish is Baile Átha Cliath. ... Royal Mails logo Royal Mail is the national postal service of the United Kingdom. ...

In an effort to address the half-committed attitude of Irish language use by the State, the Official Languages Act was passed in 2003. This act ensures that every publication made by a governmental body must be published in both official languages, Irish and English. In addition, the office of Language Commissioner has been set up to act as an ombudsman with regard to equal treatment in both languages. The Official Languages Act 2003 is a Act of the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland. ... Look up Ombudsman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Picture of a typical Irish road sign with placenames in English and Irish.

In 2002, at the launch of what was to be a new traffic management system for Dublin, it was revealed that the vast majority of signs would be in English only. The justification offered was that, in making the English lettering large enough to be easily read by motorists from a distance, there was no space to include Irish. The use of the single Irish words left, 'An Lár' (meaning city centre) was criticised on the basis that no-one would know what it meant. Even the once common method in Ireland of beginning and ending letters - beginning 'A Chara' (meaning friend) and ending 'Is Mise le Meas' - though still used in Irish, is becoming rarer in English. Image File history File links Irelandsign. ... Image File history File links Irelandsign. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ...

A major factor in the decline of spoken Irish has been the movement of English-speakers into the Gaeltacht (predominantly Irish speaking areas) and the return of native Irish-speakers who have acquired English-speaking families. This has been stimulated by government grants and infrastructure projects. "only about half Gaeltacht children learn Irish in the home... this is related to the high level of in-migration and return migration which has accompanied the economic restructuring of the Gaeltacht in recent decades".^[5] Many see this as a deliberate attempt by anti-nationalist politicians to wipe out the language. "That economic development of the kind undertaken was likely to have such consequences was readily predictable a decade ago".^[6] In a last-ditch effort to stop the demise of Irish-speaking in Connemara in Galway, planning controls have been introduced on the building of new homes in Irish speaking areas. These are supposed to ensure that the proportion of English speakers in the local population does not increase. But even this may be too little, too late, as many of those areas have a majority of English speakers, with all Irish speakers being bilingual, using English as their everyday language except among themselves.

Attempts have been made to offer some support for the language through the media, notably the launch of Raidió na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht radio) and Teilifís na Gaeilge (Irish language television, called initially 'TnaG', now renamed TG4); both have been relatively successful. TG4 has offered Irish-speaking young people a forum for youth culture as Gaeilge (in Irish) through rock and pop shows, travel shows, dating games, and even a controversial award-winning soap opera in Irish called Ros na Rún (featuring, among other characters, an Irish-speaking gay couple and their child). Most of TG4's viewership, however, tends to come from showing Gaelic football, hurling and rugby matches, and also films in English. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG; Irish for Gaeltacht Radio) is the Irish-language radio service of Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) in Ireland, and is available on 92-94FM in Ireland and via the Internet. ... TG4 is a television channel for speakers of the Irish language which was launched on 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... TG4 is an Irish television channel aimed at Irish language speakers and established as a wholly owned subsidiary by Radio Telefís Éireann in 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... Ros na Rún is an Irish language soap opera produced for Irish language TV channel TG4 (previously Teilifís na Gaeilge) which will begin its ninth season in September 2004. ... GAA teams Offaly and Louth in action Gaelic football (Irish: peil ghaelach) is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. ... Map of Ireland. ... A Rugby player Rugby football refers to sports descended from a common form of football developed at Rugby School. ...

Then again, in 1996, Nuacht TG4 (TG4 News) was getting only about 5,000 viewers daily. This figure has now risen to just under 50,000 (as of 2006). In fact the whole channel's ratings (for Irish and English programming) has steadily risen since the foundation of the station.

There is also a daily Irish-language newspaper called Lá, a weekly called Foinse, and the Irish Times and Daily Ireland have pages in Irish, with articles appended with short lists giving the meaning of some of the words used in English. Every month, another paper, Saol, and about 5 magazines are published in the language also. Lá (literally meaning Day) is the first daily newpaper in Ireland to be published in Irish/Gaeilge. ... Foinse is the biggest Irish language newspaper in Ireland. ... The Irish Times is Irelands newspaper of record, launched in the late 1850s. ... Daily Ireland is a new daily newspaper launched in January 2005 throughout the island of Ireland to cover Irish news stories from an Irish republican viewpoint. ...

More controversially the Placenames Order (Gaeltacht Districts)/An tOrdú Logainmneacha (Ceanntair Gaeltachta) (2004) requires the original Irish placenames to be used in the Gaeltacht on all official documents, maps and roadsigns. This has removed the legal status of those placenames (in the Gaeltacht) in English. Opposition to these measures comes from several quarters including some people within popular tourist destinations located within the Gaeltacht (such as Dingle/An Daingean) who claim that tourists may not recognise the Gaelic forms of the placenames. However following a campaign in the 1960's and early 1970's, all roadsigns in Gaeltacht regions have been in Irish only. Though, maps and government documents did not change. Previously Ordnance Survey (government) maps showed placenames bilingualy in the Gaeltacht (and generally in English only elsewhere). Unfortunately, most other map companies wrote only the English placenames, leading to significant confusion in the Gaeltacht since the 1970's. The act therefore updates government document and maps in line with what has been reality in the Gaeltacht for the past 30 years. Private map companies are expected to follow suit. Beyond the Gaeltacht only English placenames were officially recognised (pre 2004). However, further placenames orders have been passed to enable both the English and the Irish placenames to be used. Dingle (in Irish, An Daingean or Daingean Uí Chúis) is a growing town in County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, on the Atlantic coast some 50 km west-south-west of Tralee and 80 km west-north-west of Killarney. ...

In 1938, the founder of the Conradh na Gaeilge, Douglas Hyde (an Anglican), was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his auguration 'Declaration of Office' in his native Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect, which in effect died out with him. Over sixty years later, the majority of the Gaeltacht and Irish-speaking areas in existence as he took that oath no longer exist. The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... The President of Ireland (Irish: Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of the Republic of Ireland. ... County Roscommon (Ros Comáin in Irish) is a county located in central Ireland. ...

There is a concerted effort to promote the language among recent immigrants. In 2003, the Qur'an was translated into Irish, following a collaboration between the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin and Foras na Gaeilge. The , (Arabic: recitation, also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and Al-Quran, Turkish Kuran), is the central religious text of Islam. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... Foras na Gaeilge is the governing body of the Irish language, responsible for the promotion of the language throughout all of Ireland. ...

In June 2006, it was announced that TG4 had dubbed The Simpsons (Seasons 1-4) into Irish, and that they would be shown in August of the same year. TG4 is an Irish television channel aimed at Irish language speakers and established as a wholly owned subsidiary by Radio Telefís Éireann in 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox network. ...

Northern Ireland

Main article: Irish language in Northern Ireland

As in the Republic, the Irish language is a minority language in Northern Ireland, known in Irish as Tuaisceart na hÉireann/Tuaisceart Éireann or na sé chontae (the six counties). The Irish language is a minority language in Northern Ireland, known in Irish as Tuaisceart Éireann or na sé chontae (the six counties). ... A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. ... ...

Attitudes towards the language in Northern Ireland have traditionally reflected the political differences between its two divided communities. The language has been regarded with suspicion by unionists, who have associated it with the Catholic-dominated Republic, and more recently, with the republican movement. Many republicans in Northern Ireland, including Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, learnt Irish while in prison, a development known as the jailtacht. Although the language was taught in Catholic secondary schools (especially by the Christian Brothers), it was not taught at all in state (Protestant) schools and public signs in Irish were effectively banned under laws by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which stated that only English could be used. In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... Irish Republicanism is an ideology based on the Irish nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... Gerry Adams Gerry Adams MP, MLA, (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for West Belfast. ... The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a world-wide community of religious brothers of the Catholic church, founded by Edmund Rice, considered Blessed by the Catholic Church. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from June 7, 1921 to March 30, 1972, when it was suspended. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

These laws were not repealed by the British government until the early 1990s. However, Irish-medium schools, known as gaelscoileanna, had already been founded in Belfast and Derry, and an Irish-language newspaper called Lá ('day') was established in Belfast. BBC Radio Ulster began broadcasting a nightly half-hour programme in Irish in the early 1980s called Blas ('taste', 'accent'), and BBC Northern Ireland also showed its first TV programme in the language in the early 1990s. The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ... A gaelscoil (Plural: gaelscoileanna) is an Irish-speaking school often also co-educational usually found in Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, sometimes also known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, founded in 1922. ... BBC Radio Ulster is a BBC Northern Ireland Radio station based in Belfast. ... BBC Northern Ireland Logo. ...

The Ultach Trust was also established, with a view to broadening the appeal of the language among Protestants, although hardline loyalists like Ian Paisley continued to ridicule it as a "leprechaun language". Ulster Scots, promoted by many loyalists, was, in turn, ridiculed by nationalists (and even some Unionists) as "a DIY language for Orangemen" According to recent statistics, there is no significant difference between the number of Catholic and Protestant speakers of Ulster Scots in Ulster (see Ulster Scots language), although those involved in promoting Ulster-Scots as a language are almost always unionist. Although Ulster-Scots is now officially recognised as a language in Northern Ireland (there are also some attempts to promote it in some border counties of the Republic) many people claim it is actually little more than a dialect of English The ULTACH Trust is a charitable trust established in 1989 aimed at promoting the Irish language in Northern Ireland. ... In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be or The Establishment. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A modern stereotypical depiction of a Leprechaun of the type popularised in the 20th Century. ... Ulster Scots, also known as Ullans, Hiberno-Scots, or Scotch-Irish, refers to the variety of Scots spoken in parts of the province of Ulster, which spans the six counties of Northern Ireland and three of the Republic of Ireland. ... In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be or The Establishment. ... Unionism, in the context of Ireland, is a belief in the continuation of the Act of Union 1800 (as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920) so that Northern Ireland (created by the 1920 Act) remains part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. ... See also: DIY Network, a cable TV network. ... The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the province of Northern Ireland and in western Scotland but which has a worldwide membership. ... Ulster Scots, also known as Ullans, Hiberno-Scots, or Scotch-Irish, refers to the variety of Scots spoken in parts of the province of Ulster, which spans the six counties of Northern Ireland and three of the Republic of Ireland. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ...

Irish received official recognition in Northern Ireland for the first time in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement. A cross-border body known as Foras na Gaeilge was established to promote the language in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, taking over the functions of the previous Republic-only Bord na Gaeilge. The Belfast Agreement (the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was a political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. ... Foras na Gaeilge is the governing body of the Irish language, responsible for the promotion of the language throughout all of Ireland. ... Motto: none Anthem: Amhrán na bhFiann (The Soldiers Song) Capital Dublin Largest city Dublin Official language(s) Irish, English Government Parliamentary democracy  - President Mary McAleese  - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern Independence From UK by treaty   - Declared 21 January 1919   - Recognised 6 December 1922  Accession to EU January 1, 1973 Area...

The British government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect to Irish in Northern Ireland. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. ...

It has been claimed that Belfast now represents the fastest growing centre of Irish language usage on the island - and the Good Friday Agreement's provisions on 'parity of esteem' have been used to give the language an official status there. In March 2005, the Irish language TV service TG4 began broadcasting from the Divis transmitter near Belfast, as a result of agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Northern Ireland Office, although so far this is the only transmitter to carry it. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was signed in Belfast on April 10, 1998 by the British and Irish Governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. ... TG4 is an Irish television channel aimed at Irish language speakers and established as a wholly owned subsidiary by Radio Telefís Éireann in 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the senior minister at the Department of Foreign Affairs (An Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha) in the Irish Government. ... The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is an arm of the United Kingdom government, responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. ...

Irish in North America

The Irish language immigrated to North America along with the Irish people. Although Irish is one of the smaller European languages spoken in North America, it has cultural importance in the northeast United States and in Newfoundland. There is an undocumented amount of Irish speakers in North America, however according to the 2000 U.S. census, an estimated 25,000 Americans speak Irish fluently. TG4's hit Irish-speaking soap opera, Ros na Rún, is even televised in Pennsylvania and other northern states. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Newfoundland (French: Terre-Neuve; Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the northeast coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... The 22nd United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13. ... TG4 is an Irish television channel aimed at Irish language speakers and established as a wholly owned subsidiary by Radio Telefís Éireann in 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... Ros na Rún is an Irish language soap opera produced for Irish language TV channel TG4 (previously Teilifís na Gaeilge) which will begin its ninth season in September 2004. ... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 160 miles (255 km)  - Length 280 miles (455 km)  - % water 2. ...

Irish language today

The number of native Irish-speakers in the Republic of Ireland today is a smaller fraction of what it was at independence. This number though is significantly on the rise in the past two decades. The Official Languages Act of 2003 gave people the right to interact with state bodies in Irish. It is too early to assess how well this is working in practice. Other factors were outward migration of Irish speakers from the Gaeltacht and inward migration of English-speakers. The Planning and Development Act (2000) attempted to address the latter issue, but the response is almost certainly inadequate. Planning controls now require new housing in Gaeltacht areas to be allocated to English-speakers and Irish-speakers in the same ratio as the existing population of the area. This will not prevent houses allocated to Irish-speakers subsequently being sold on to English-speakers. Outward migration of Irish-speakers could be reduced if the state, which is the main employer in the Republic of Ireland, were to exercise its right to have certain jobs performed in Irish and relocated to the Gaeltacht. On 3rd December 2003 the Minister for Finance announced a new Decentralisation programme, moving over 10,000 civil and public service jobs to 53 locations in 25 other counties outside Dublin. The government explicitly said this was being done to boost the economy of outlying areas. None of these jobs were used to provide employment for native Irish-speakers in the Gaeltacht. The Official Languages Act 2003 is a Act of the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland. ... The Minister for Finance is the senior minister at the Department of Finance (An Roinn Airgeadais) in the Irish Government. ...

According to data compiled by the Irish Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in Gaeltacht areas possess a fluency in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments a 'complete and absolute disaster.' The Irish Times (January 6, 2002), referring to his analysis, which was initially published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse, quoted him as follows: 'It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but the number now is between 20,000 and 30,000.' The Irish Times is Irelands newspaper of record, launched in the late 1850s. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

According to the language survey, levels of fluency among families is 'very low', from 1% in Galway suburbs to a maximum of 8% parts of west Donegal. With such sharp decline, particularly among the young, the real danger exists that Irish will largely become extinct within two generations, possibly even one. While the language will continue to exist among English speakers who have learned fluency and are bilingual (though mainly English-speaking in their everyday lives) Gaeltachtaí embody more than just a language, but the cultural context in which it is spoken, through song, stories, social traditions, folklore and dance. The death of the Gaeltachtaí would make a break forever between Ireland's cultural past and identity, and its future. All sides, irrespective of their view on the methodology used by independent Ireland in its efforts to preserve the language, agree that such a loss would be a cultural tragedy of a monumental scale. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... Donegal (Dún na nGall in Irish) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. ...

An interest in the Irish language is maintained throughout the English speaking world among the Irish diaspora and there are active Irish language groups in North American, British and Australian cities. In Australia, a network of people have established special Irish schools around the country teaching the language and music. In recent years the expansion of the Irish language in Australia been so overwhelming there is too much demand for the supply of teachers.^{[citation needed]} Look up Anglophone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa and states of the Caribbean and continental Europe. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...

Several computer software products have the option of an Irish-language interface. Prominent examples include Mozilla Firefox[3], Mozilla Thunderbird[4], OpenOffice.org[5], Microsoft Windows XP[6] and Microsoft Office 2003. Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source, cross-platform, graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and hundreds of volunteers. ... Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. ... OpenOffice. ... Windows XP is the name of a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... Microsoft Office is a suite of productivity programs created or purchased by Microsoft and developed for Microsoft Windows, and Apples Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems. ...

Many English-speaking Irish people use small and simple phrases in their everyday speech, e.g. Slán ("goodbye"), Slán abhaile ("get home safely"), Sláinte ("good health"; used when drinking like "bottoms up"), Go raibh maith agat - ("thank you"), Céad míle fáilte ("a hundred thousand welcomes", a tourist board saying), Conas atá tú? ("How are you?"). There are many more small sayings that have crept into Hiberno-English. The term craic, a Scots or English loanword, has been popularised outside Ireland in its Gaelic spelling: "How's the craic?" or "What's the 'craic'?"("how's the fun?"/"how is it going?"). Céad míle fáilte is an Irish greeting meaning a hundred thousand welcomes. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Several senses of the word crack are largely restricted to Irish English, Scottish English, or Northern English: gossip or news[1] fun, enjoyment, or mischief; often in the context of drinking or music. ...

Irish in Education

The Irish language is a compulsory subject in government funded schools in the Republic of Ireland and has been so since the early days of the state^[7]. While many students learn Irish well through the Irish school system, and develop a healthy respect for it, many other students find it difficult or are taught it poorly by unmotivated teachers; these students' attitudes toward Irish tend to range from apathy to hostility.

All things being equal, for English-speakers, Irish is more difficult than Spanish or German. Irish syntax, morphology, and vocabulary are a good deal more different to English than many other European languages are; this makes learning it challenging for many. The Irish Government has endeavoured to address the situation by revamping the curriculum at primary school level to focus on spoken Irish. However, at secondary school level, it can easily be argued that Irish is still taught "academically". Students must write lengthy essays, debates, and stories in Irish for the Leaving Certificate examination. The Leaving Certificate (Irish: An Ardteistiméireacht) (commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert) is the final course in the Irish secondary school system and culminates with the Leaving Certificate Examination. ...

Recently the abolition of compulsory Irish has been discussed and while some Irish people favour such a move, many do not. In 2005 Enda Kenny, leader of Ireland's main opposition party, Fine Gael, called for the language to be made an optional subject in the last two years of secondary school. This call drew widespread criticism from many quarters although some have supported his call. Mr Kenny, despite being a fluent speaker himself, stated that he believed that compulsory Irish has done the language more harm than good. Enda Kenny Enda Kenny became leader of Fine gael in the aftermath of the 2002 general election meltdown and is responsible for rebuilding the Fine Gael party, especially its internal structures and public face. ... Fine Gael (IPA , though often mispronounced (approximate English translation: Family of the Irish) is the second largest political party in Ireland. ...

A relatively recent development is the proliferation of gaelscoileanna, i.e. schools in which Irish is the medium of education. By September 2005 there were 158 gaelscoileanna at primary level and 36 at secondary level in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland together (excluding the Gaeltacht, whose schools are not considered gaelscoileanna), which amounted to approximately 31,000 students. This has grown from a total of less than 20 in the early 1970's and there are 15 more being planned at present. With the opening of Gaelscoil Liatroma in County Leitrim in 2005 there is now at least one gaelscoil in each of the 32 counties of Ireland. A gaelscoil (Plural: gaelscoileanna) is an Irish-speaking school often also co-educational usually found in Ireland. ... County Leitrim (Irish: Contae Liatroma) is one of the counties of the island of Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland and is part of the province of Connacht, in the west of the island. ... The island of Ireland is divided into 32 counties (Irish language contae or condae, pronounced cun-day), the Republic of Ireland is made up of 26 of these; Northern Ireland is comprised of the remaining six. ...

Notes

1. ^ http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/research/lia/languages/irish_gaelic.pdf
2. ^ J.P.Mallory Two Perspectives on the Problem of Irish Origins Emania 9(1991)53, at 58: "The lexical evidence of the Irish language suggests that it was introduced into Ireland most plausibly after c.1200 BC and any attempt to set the arrival of the Irish before this date becomes increasingly difficult to sustain ... I find it difficult to imagine it as anything other than a language introduced by a population movement rather than a lingua franca or pidgin carried along trade routes ..." Regardless of this opinion, the idea remains in play, in, for example, John Waddell & Jane Conroy, "Celts and others" in Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation (1999). Venceslas Kruta in Les Celtes (2000) suggests a date late in the 3rd millennium BC.
3. ^ Advisory Planning Committee of Bord na Gaeilge, The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future, p.41. Criterion, 1986.
4. ^ Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" be provided of any law in both official languages—if not already passed in both official languages.
5. ^ The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future, p. xxvi.
6. ^ The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future, p. 47.
7. ^ The exemption from Irish on the grounds of time spent abroad or learning disability is subject to Circular 12/96 (primary education) and Circular M10/94 (secondary education) issued by the Department of Education and Science.

seeBrian O Cuiv in 'A New History of Ireland 1534-1691, Oxford 1978 ISDN 0 19 821739 0 The Constitution of Ireland is the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland. ... The Department of Education and Science (An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta) is a department of the Irish government. ...

See also

• Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
• Irish initial mutations
• Irish name
• Irish morphology
• Irish orthography
• Irish phonology
• Irish syntax
• Irish words used in the English language
• Swadesh list of Irish words
• Modern literature in Irish
• Place names in Irish
• List of Irish given names
• Common phrases in different languages
• Non-native pronunciations of English
• List of Ireland-related topics
• Céad míle fáilte
• Newfoundland Irish
• Language Freedom Movement

	Official languages of the European Union
Czech | Danish | Dutch | English | Estonian | Finnish | French German | Greek | Hungarian | Irish | Italian | Latvian | Lithuanian | Maltese Polish | Portuguese | Slovak | Slovenian | Spanish | Swedish
Source: Official EU website

Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish, although most dialects are not mutually comprehensible. ... Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. ... A formal Irish Gaelic name consists of a given name and a surname, as in English. ... The morphology of Irish is in some respects typical of an Indo-European language. ... Irish orthography has a reputation as being very difficult to learn and bearing only a tenuous relationship to the pronunciation. ... The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect. ... Irish syntax is rather different from that of most Indo-European languages, notably because of its VSO word order. ... Unnaturalized Irish words used in the English language, that have been officially and generally adopted in modern Ireland, include: Áras an Uachtaráin (Presidential Palace) [pronounced ] Ard-Fheis(eanna) (party congress(es) of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin) [pronounced ] Ard-Rí (The High King (of Ireland), name... Swadesh list of 207 words in English and Irish Gaelic. ... Although Irish has been used as a literary language for more than a thousand years (see Irish literature), and in a form intelligible to contemporary speakers since at least the sixteenth century, modern Irish literature is thought to begin with the revival movement. ... Many place names in Ireland in the English language are either anglicisations of those in the Irish language, or completely different, such as the name for the capital of the Republic of Ireland, which in English is Dublin, but in Irish is Baile Átha Cliath. ... For a discussion of Irish surnames, see Irish name. ... Here is a list of common phrases in different languages. ... Non-native pronunciations of English result from the common linguistic phenomenon in which non-native users of any language tend to carry the intonation, phonological processes, and pronunciation rules from their mother tongue into their English speech. ... This page aims to list articles related to the island of Ireland. ... Céad míle fáilte is an Irish greeting meaning a hundred thousand welcomes. ... Newfoundland Irish (Irish: Gaeilge Talamh an Éisc) is a dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland and widely spoken until the mid-20th century. ... Founded in 1966, the Language Freedom Movement was an organization dedicated to the opposition of the state-sponsored Gaelic Revival of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

External links

Irish language edition of Wikipedia

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Irish

• EU Interinstitutional Style Guide
• Irish main page at Wikisource
• (German)Die araner mundart (a phonological description of the dialect of the Aran Islands, from 1899)
• Gaeilge ar an ghréasán Irish online recources
• A Plan to save the Irish Language - includes background info from authoritative sources
• Foras na Gaeilge
• Foinse - weekly newspaper
• Irish Language Information and Resources
• Irish at Ethnologue
• Gaelic Dictionaries
• Online English-Irish dictionary
• Braesicke's Gramadach na Gaeilge (Engl. translation)
• North American Association for Celtic Language Teachers
• The Celtic League, American Branch (CLAB)
• Celt Digital, The Celtic World on the Web
• Irish Hamilton
• Irish language for children in SE Asia
• Gaelscoileanna
• Online Irish Language Art Resource

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ) is an international Web-based free-content encyclopedia. ... Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ... The Aran Islands (Irish: Na hOileáin Árann) are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. ... Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with native language biblical texts. ...

Northern Ireland

• Ultach Trust
• Lá
• BBC Northern Ireland Irish language