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Irish language situation

Language use and ideologies in the performance of Irish traditional singing in Australia Mahesh Radhakrishnan, Macquarie University Language & Social Inclusion, 12/10/2012. Irish language situation. Before 17 th C: Irish language (Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Gaeilge ) dominant in Ireland

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Irish language situation

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  1. Language use and ideologies in the performance of Irish traditional singing in AustraliaMahesh Radhakrishnan, Macquarie UniversityLanguage & Social Inclusion, 12/10/2012 (c) Mahesh Radhakrishnan

  2. Irish language situation • Before 17th C: Irish language (Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Gaeilge) dominant in Ireland • 17th C: English began to supercede it (Hindley 1991). • Late 17th-late 18th C: “Gaelic revival” of language and artistic traditions in waves. Last wave closely tied with Irish nationalism (O'Laoire 2005; O'Reilly 2001:79). • 20th C: Irish language still declining. Irish independence-policy of compulsory Irish language education. • Despite pronouncements of language death (e.g. Hindley 1991), Irish is classified as “safe” according to institutional support and demographic factors (McCloskey 2001).

  3. Irish traditional singing • Important part of Irish language community, Irish cultural scene and “folk music” scene. • “Sessions” Staged concerts Conversation Banter Image adapted from youtube video of Sydney Gaelic Club Irish session Image from http://psam.jalbum.net/Triantan/

  4. Banter -Regional Provenance (I) -Name of Song (I) -Explanation (E)

  5. Banter “Oftentimes there are people in the audience who are learning the language and it’s to sort of throw a little bit to them. We’ve also found it sort of interesting too that if you sort of throw it y’know throw out the odd commentary in Irish that there are people there who have the language and you can you can pick them because… you can see a response from them. They’re always the ones that laugh at the right place...” - Judy Pinder, singer, Interview, January 2012.

  6. Irish in Australian history • Irish prevalent in 19th C Australia but at the margins (Lonergan 2003:154) and viewed with suspicion by authorities (O'Farrell 2000:27). • Possible Irish words in AusE- “waddy”, “brumby”, hard “yakka”, “bludger” (Lonergan 2003).

  7. Linguistic diversity & social inclusion of Irish • Challenge to assumed Anglo-Celtic cultural homogeneity in Australia and the monolingual mindset (Clyne 2005). • “Otherness” of Irish- expression of multicultural identity. Irish as a LOTE- Mossie Scanlon, singer. • Shift from traditional essentialising language ideologies towards pluralistic perspectives embracing hybridity (Cronin 2005; McCloskey 2001). • Resistance to English language hegemony

  8. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl” • Old love song written before the Gaelic revival telling of unrequited love most probably due to difference in status between protagonists. • Status difference through language barrier. Song reframed in relation to revivalist concerns with Irish language loss.

  9. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl” “Deireann an cailín - 'Pray sir and let me be' leis. Ní thuigeann sí é. Is strainséar éina thír féin. Tá air an Bhéarla a úsáid. Cuireann sé brón orm.” Transl. “The girl said ‘Pray sir and let me be’ to him. She did not understand him. She is a stranger in her own land. She uses English. That makes me sad”.) - Marc O'Conaill, Email, March 2012.

  10. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl”

  11. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl” Banter before song now…some peoples have said that all cats are grey in the dark, but … it was also indicative of their different stations in life as well.”

  12. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl” Song lyrics- Verse 1 and 2

  13. An Cailín Gaelach, “The Irish girl” Song lyrics- Verse 3 and 4

  14. Conclusions • Irish traditional singing in contemporary contexts provides interesting perspectives on language use and language ideologies. • The use of Irish spills over from song repertoire into talk. • Songs are framed through banter in staged performances.

  15. References Clyne (2005). Australia's language potential. Kensington. UNSW Press. Cronin, M. (2005). Irish in the new century. Cois Life Teoranta. Hindley, R. (1991). The death of the Irish language: A qualified obituary. Routledge. Lonergan, D. (2003). An Irish-centric view of Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics (Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 151-159). McCloskey, J. (2001). Voices silenced: Has Irish a future. Cois Life Teoranta. O'Farrell, P. (2000). The Irish in Australia: 1788 to the present. University of Notre Dame Press. O'Laoire, L. (2005). Irish music. In J. Cleary & C. Connolly (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Modern Irish Culture (pp. 267-284). London. Cambridge Univ Press. O'Reilly, C. C. (2001). Irish Language, Irish Identity: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the European Union. In C. O'Reilly (Ed.), Language, ethnicity, and the state (Vol. 1, pp. 78-103). Basingstoke. Palgrave. Radhakrishnan, M. (2012). Irish traditional singing and South Indian Carnatic singing: Performance, language choice and language ideologies, and musicolinguistic artistry (PhD thesis, currently under examination).

  16. References Web image sources: http://psam.jalbum.net/Triantan/ and Youtube of Sydney Gaelic Club Irish session uploaded by Lyaksej on 4/03/2011. Images accessed 11/10/12. Email: Mahesh.Radhakrishnan@mq.edu.au

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