Irish language
| Irish | |
|---|---|
| Irish Gaelic Gaelic | |
| Standard Irish:Gaeilge Gaeilge na hÉireann | |
| File:Gaelic-font-Gaelach.svg "Gaelach" in traditional Gaelic type | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈɡˠeːlʲɟə] |
| Native to | Ireland |
| Region | Ireland, mainly Gaeltacht regions |
| Ethnicity | Historically white Irish, now Irish people of all ethnicities |
Native speakers | 73,804 in Ireland (2016)[1] 4,166 in Northern Ireland[2] L2 speakers: 1,761,420 in the Ireland (2016),[1] 104,943 in Northern Ireland (2011)[2] |
Early forms | |
Standard forms | An Caighdeán Oifigiúil |
| Latin (Irish alphabet) Irish Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland (Statutory language of national identity (1937, Constitution, Article 8(1)). Not widely used as an L2 in all parts of the country. Encouraged by the government.) File:Flag of Europe.svg EU |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Foras na Gaeilge |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ga |
| ISO 639-2 | gle |
| ISO 639-3 | gle |
| Glottolog | iris1253 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Linguasphere | 50-AAA |
| File:Irish speakers in 2011.png Proportion of respondents who said they could speak Irish in the Ireland and Northern Ireland censuses of 2011. | |
Irish or Irish Gaelic is a language spoken in Ireland and (less commonly) Northern Ireland.
A Gaelic language[change]
Irish is a Gaelic language, so it is similar to Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic. It is less similar to Breton, Cornish, and Welsh.
Celtic languages are divided into two groups. These are the p-Celtic languages and the q-Celtic languages. Irish and Scots Gaelic are q-Celtic languages, and Welsh is a p-Celtic language. For this reason, many Irish speakers can understand some Scots Gaelic, but not Welsh.
Irish has no "yes" or "no" words.
History[change]
Before the United Kingdom[change]
Queen Elizabeth I of England tried to learn Irish and asked her bishops to translate the Bible into Irish.[4] This was an unsuccessful attempt to split the Catholic people from their clergy.
In the United Kingdom[change]
Until the 19th century, most people in Ireland spoke Irish. However, after Ireland joined Britain in 1801 to form the United Kingdom, this changed. Ireland’s state schools became part of the British system and had to teach English. Sometimes, they were not allowed to teach Irish.
The Catholic Church also began to discourage Irish. So did the Irish Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell. He was an Irish speaker himself, but he thought people should speak English since most job opportunities were in the English-speaking United States and wider British Empire.
Irish today[change]
Today, Irish is the first official language of Ireland, and there are around 2 million Irish speakers.
In practice, the Irish government still uses English more than Irish. Also, most people in the country speak English in their day-to-day lives. However, many people speak Irish among friends or family. It is also taught in all Irish schools, according to the law.
In parts of Ireland called the Gaeltacht (Gaeltachtaí in Irish), people still speak Irish as their first language. In these areas, up to 70% of the people speak Irish. The newest Gaeltacht in the country is on Falls Road in Belfast City, where the whole community tries to use Irish as its first language. This area is called the Gaeltacht Quarter.[5]
Literature[change]
There were great poets who wrote in Irish. Their poems became songs. Often they told stories about the heroes of old times.
Common words and phrase[change]
- aon = one (ain)
- dó = two (doe)
- trí = three (tree)
- ceathair = four (ka-her)
- cúig = five (coo-igg)
- sé = six (shay)
- seacht = seven (shocked)
- ocht = eight (uckt)
- naoi = nine (knee)
- deich = ten (dje)
- céad = one hundred (kayd)
- dhá chéad = two hundred (gah kayd)
- Dia Dhuit = Hello (literal translation is "God be with you") (jia gwitch)
- Céad Mile Fáilte = One hundred thousand welcomes (kayd me-lah fall-tcha)
- Ceist ag éinne? = Anyone have a question? (kesht ag ayn-ye)
- Éire = Ireland
- go maith = good (go mah)
- Slán = goodbye (slahn)
- Leabhar = book (lao-er)
- Madra = dog (madjra)
Related pages[change]
References[change]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "7. The Irish language" (PDF). Cso.ie. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "2011 Census, Key Statistics for Northern Ireland" (PDF). Nisra.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- ↑ "Full list".
- ↑ The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Volume IV Irish Women's Writings and Traditions Deane, Seamus Angela Bourke Andrew Carpenter Jonathan Williams 2002 New York University Press New York New York page 365
- ↑ "Sin Fein talks about the Gaeltacht Quarter". Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
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