Introduction

196
Melanie Swiatloch
will not be undertaken in a linguistic way but is rather used as a means to show
correlations between language differences and possible means for identity.
2.1. A Note on the Irish Language: Developments From the Past Until Today
When it comes to identity issues language plays an important role, particularly
when the native language – as in the case of the Irish – has largely been taken
away from a people. While the government of the Republic of Ireland nowadays
officially promotes the Irish language in several ways (school, radio, television),
the North is lacking any official support. But even in the South this was not always
the case. Official support and the recognition of the Irish language as the
official language of the Gaeltacht4 only started shortly after the foundation of the
Irish Free State5. The invasion of Ireland began quite early in the twelfth century when Henry II
with the permission of Pope Adrian IV marched into the country due to religious
reasons6 (Hickey 30). Dublin, which is the anglicised form of Baile Átha Cliath,
became a popular place to settle for the English. Following the Charter of Dublin
in 1172, “English has existed continuously in Dublin” as Raymond Hickey, professor
of linguistics, points out, since Dublin had a promising position on the east
coast (31). Still, the Irish language resisted further invasions during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. Only another century later, in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, did the English extend their place of residence over the whole of
Ireland. With the so-called plantations, a well-planned settlement strategy, the
English occupation reached its climax7. While Irish, for example, was still the language
of the court when at least one Irish person was involved, this changed
completely from the seventeenth century onwards when Irish was “banned from
public life” (Hickey 33ff). During the eighteenth century the Penal Laws8 completed
the exclusion of the Catholic Irish from the political as well as the social
4 The Gaeltacht or An Ghaeltacht is a region where Irish is the dominating language. The term
here refers to Irish-speaking regions in Ireland (Britannica 1001).
5 The Irish Free State was founded in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed 6 December,
1921 by David Lloyd George (GB), Arthur Griffith, and Michael Collins (IE). It came to an end
in 1937 when Éamon de Valera introduced proposals for a new constitution. The Irish Free
State from then on was termed Éire. It was succeeded by the Republic of Ireland in 1949 (Britannica
1015ff).
6 The argument was that the church in Ireland “had fallen into a state of disarray” (Hickey 30).
7 The first known plantations took place in the counties Offaly and Laois during 1549 – 1557
(Hickey 35).
8 The Penal Laws were a series of laws that were aiming at the restriction of Catholic religion.
They imposed civil disabilities of a severe degree on Catholics in the 16 th and 17 th centuries.
Punishments for living out the Catholic faith included imprisonment, fines but also death for
those priests practicing their ministry in Great Britain or Ireland. Other laws included, for example,
the ban from voting, holding public offices, owning land or teaching (Britannica 254).