Whose Language Is It? Struggles for Language Ownership in an Irish Language Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine how struggles over language ownership are played out in a minority language setting, focusing on the case of Irish in the Republic of Ireland. The article examines the more or less serious struggles that emerge between so-called native, or L1, and nonnative, or L2, speakers of Irish in a language learning environment and the effect of these struggles on language acquisition and language choice. The discussion of these issues is based on a qualitative study of language ideologies held by 33 undergraduate students pursuing an Irish language degree. The study highlights some of the social and cultural differences that exist between these native speakers of Irish and second language learners and the need to find ways in which the two groups can work more productively together.

Keywords:

• Irish
• native speakers
• learners
• language ownership

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the contribution made by Aisling Ní Bheacháin at the data collection stage of the project and for insights provided in the preliminary analysis of the data. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Notes

²The Fleadh Cheoil is an Irish traditional music competition. There are various stages to the competition that are held at county and provincial level leading to the All-Ireland Fleadh. The competition is run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Society of the Musicians of Ireland), an organisation that is dedicated to the promotion of the Irish music, song dance and language.

³The GAA are the initials for the Gaelic Athletic Association, an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games that include traditional Irish sports.