Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

The Irish language – its prestige and the attitude of its speakers
stated that almost the same number has a positive experience with the language at school.
Committed Irish linguists have reacted to these widespread negative images and are working
on how to improve the image of the language. The general attitude among the Irish population
is divided. While they are not actively engaged in reviving the language on the one hand, on
the other hand they are not willing to see it die. Sympathy and dislike appear to split the Irish
people, but it seems as though, generally, there is an increasing linguistic awareness among
them. They don’t appear to be unconcerned about the complete loss of their language.
Furthermore the traditional image of the Irish language linked to poor farmers appears to
be a thing of the past.
On the other hand, if people question the relevance of the language in their daily life they’ll
notice that the domains for the Irish language are very limited. That leads to lack of motivation
to improve competence in the language, since, usually, time spent in further education in other
skills has a more favorable impact on the daily life of Irish people, i.e. is related to their work
life. Hence, this attitude towards the language is also understandable. Considering English as a
language linked to success is not only an Irish phenomenon; however that perception in Ireland
has different consequences compared to other European countries, for many historic and social
reasons. Crystal states “that the lack of awareness of endangered languages is simply another
manifestation of the general lack of awareness about languages among the public at large” and
that the “chief aim is to develop in people a sense of the value of a language” (Crystal 200:
98). However, one may ask, how will the Irish public at large become aware of the language if
the Irish language is rarely used? How will they develop a sense of the value of their language
if in fact it doesn’t seem to have a great prestige in the linguistic market? Commitment seems
strongly to be linked to achievement, one mainly commits oneself to something which is
followed by a practical consequence; and it seems that the practical consequence which one
expects is a type of capital - following Bourdieu’s concept - either economic or symbolic, less
often cultural (Bourdieu 1991: 230). Since until now having a good competence in the Irish
language is rarely linked to the achievement of “economic capital” such as higher wages,
better job opportunities, the language is not something in which an Irish person invests time or
money. However the knowledge of the Irish language is to a certain extent linked to a symbolic
capital; it seems that everybody who can speak Irish gains admiration – the results of the survey
prove that. Undoubtedly the knowledge is linked to a cultural capital, since usually it is linked
to bilingualism and to further qualifi cations such as a language-connected knowledge of Irish
heritage.
Concluding this paper it has to be highlighted that the political parties in the last years
did not show true commitment to the Irish language in order to enhance the prestige of
the language and to change people’s negative attitudes towards it. Recent examples of this
include the suggestion to reduce the language teaching and careless handling of the EU budget
which was provided for the language, the lack of support for the training of translators and
interpreters and the consequent loss of job opportunities for Irish speakers. One might come
across favorable statements about the Irish language from political parties designed to shore
up people’s expectations, but their actions turn out to be different. And if the political leaders
show inaction as happened in the recent EU-case, that inaction is in itself an action.
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