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Language Policies and Language Ideologies: Comparisons between the Irish and Galician Contexts

Language Policies and Language Ideologies: Comparisons between the Irish and Galician Contexts. Dr Bernadette O’Rourke, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh B.M.A.O’Rourke@hw.ac.uk February 2008. Irish and Galician Contexts. Linguistic Differences. Irish - Celtic English - Germanic.

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Language Policies and Language Ideologies: Comparisons between the Irish and Galician Contexts

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  1. Language Policies and Language Ideologies: Comparisons between the Irish and Galician Contexts Dr Bernadette O’Rourke, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh B.M.A.O’Rourke@hw.ac.uk February 2008

  2. Irish and Galician Contexts

  3. Linguistic Differences • Irish - Celtic • English - Germanic • 7th Celtic Nation? • Galician/Castilian - Romance

  4. Linguistic Proximity and Language Shift • Dutch to English (Clyne 1988) • ‘dialectalization’ (Kloss 1967) • …the politically-motivated process which occurs when enough structural similarity exists between a dominant and a subordinate language to classify the latter variety as a substandard dialect • A language is a dialect with an army (Weinreich 1968) • Power relations

  5. Irish 1851 - 5% monolingual 1922 - 18% 2006 - 43 % Active use 5 - 10 % Galician 1877 - 88% monolingual 2001 - 91% Active use 68 % Demographic Differences

  6. Euromosaic Definition of Minority Language • The concept of minority by reference to language groups does not refer to empirical measures, but rather, to issues of power. That is, they are language groups, conceived of social groups, marked by a specific language or culture, that exist within the wider societies and states, but which lack the political, institutional and ideological structures which can guarantee the relevance of these languages for the everyday life of members of such groups (Nelde et al 1996: 1).

  7. ‘ Who ’ speaks the language • ‘ sociolinguistically naive ’ (Dorian 1981) • Profile of Galician speakers • Older age group • Rural • Lower socio-economic groups

  8. Language ‘ tip ’ • In terms of possible routes towards language death, it would seem that a language which has been demographically highly stable for several centuries may experience a sudden ‘tip’, after which the demographic tide flows strongly in favor of some other language (Dorian 1981: 51)

  9. ‘demographic tide’ in favour of Castilian Spanish • Symptoms of language decline (Joshua Fishman 1991, 2001) • Decline amongst younger generation • Intergenerational transmission of language • 43.9% drop in past 50 years (MSG 1994)

  10. Irish Official language of State Privileged - ‘state ostensibly dedicated to its protection ’ (Fishman 1991) Galician Co-official Autonomous Community of Galicia Spanish official language of Spanish State Galician ‘right’, Castilian ‘obligation’ Socio-political Differences

  11. Language as symbol of political struggle • Irish context – independence ‘removed urgency’ (Paulston 1994) • Galician context - ‘militant’ form of ethnicity (Paulston 1994) • Galician Nationalist Party (Bloque Nacionalista Galego -BNG) • Galician language ---- nationalist ideologies (Iglesias 1998; O’Rourke 2005; 2006) • Increased language use

  12. Complexity of Factors affecting Language Maintenance and Shift

  13. Similarities • Socio-historical trajectories • Non-autochthonous centres of political, economic and cultural power • England (later Great Britain) • Castile (later Spanish State) • Language stigmatised • Similar socio-demographic profiles

  14. Low-prestige Languages • Languages are seldom admired to death but are frequently despised to death (Dorian 1998) • Language policy and planning focus • Raising low-prestige status • Changing negative language attitudes and ideologies • Removing deep-rooted stigmas

  15. Language Policies in Ireland and Galicia • Irish - Post-independence (1922-present) • Galician - Post-autonomy (1981-present)

  16. Language Policies • Language policy has to do with decisions (rules, regulations, guidelines) about the status, use, domains and territories of language(s) and the rights of the speakers of the languages in question (Schiffman 2000)

  17. Overt Constitutions Laws White Papers Covert Language practices Language beliefs Laws, regulations, customary practices What does language policy look like?

  18. Who develops language policy? • Government (top-down) • Institutions (schools, businesses, hospitals etc.) • Individuals (bottom-up)

  19. Language Policies and Language Ideologies • Assumptions and beliefs about what kind of linguistic order is beneficial for a community or nation influence the foundation of language-planning goals (Rajend et al 2000) • Language policy reflects the ideological views or orientation of society, government, institution, individual…(Schiffman 2000) • [language policy reflects]…visions of language as a resource, problem, or a rights or ideologies of linguistic pluralism… (Woolard 1998)

  20. Irish and Galician • Overt Language Policies • Top-down and Bottom-up Language Policies • Phases in Language Policy • Language Ideologies

  21. Overt Irish Language Policy • Article 8 Irish Constitution …the Irish language as the national language is the first official language … the English language is recognised as a second official language

  22. Overt Galician Language Policy Article 3 of Spanish Constitution • 1. Castilian is the first official language of the State. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it. • 2. The other Spanish languages are also official in their respective Autonomous Communities in accordance with their Statutes. • 3. The wealth of Spain’s different linguistic varieties is its cultural patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection.

  23. Language Policy Time Span • Irish - 1922 -present (8 decades) • Galician - 1981 - present (3 decades)

  24. Phases in Language Policy for Irish (Ó Riagáin 1997) • 1922 – 1950s Revival • 1950s – 1970s Stagnation • 1970s –present Laissez-faire

  25. 1922 – 1950s Revival • ‘gaelicisation’ • Irish key symbol construction and legitimisation of a collective national identity. • education system, media and public sector. • Implicit goal - Irish-speaking country • Ideology - strong intervention on part of the state • top-down control • Rewards for competence in Irish

  26. 1950s – 1970s Stagnation • 1965 White Paper on the Restoration of the Irish Language • ‘bilingualism’ national aim • 1973 - end to compulsory passing of Irish • Teaching Irish as subject • Weakening of state policies • Move away from authoritarian implementation of policies • Ideology • De-emphasises traditional symbols of identity. • Modern element - language as a ‘right ’

  27. 1970s –present Laissez-faire • Bottom-up policies • Gaelscoileanna movement • RnaG • TnaG – TG4 • ...reluctance on the part of the government to clearly define policy and planning initiatives for the Irish language according (Ó Flatharta 2004) • ‘ Survival ’ policies (Ó Riagáin 1997)

  28. Recent Language Policy Initiatives • The Official Languages Act 2003 • First piece of legislation to provide a statutory framework for delivery of public services in Irish • Objective - ensure better availability and higher standards of public services through Irish

  29. A Policy Based on Individual ‘Rights’ • …the more language policy singles out Irish speakers as the target for language policies on the grounds of their rights as a minority group the less plausible it becomes to sustain existing policies to revive Irish (Tovey 1988: 67) • … the provision of state services to Irish speakers may find that such speakers do no exist in enough numbers nor are they sufficiently concentrated to meet the operational thresholds required to make the service viable (Ó Riagáin 1997)

  30. 2006 Government Statement on the Irish Language. • The aim of the 20th century government policies was to reinstate Irish as the main language spoken by the people, but the Government now plan to focus firmly on the practical development of a bilingual society where as many people as possible use both Irish and English with equal ease (Taoiseach Bertie Ahern 2006)

  31. 21 year strategy • 13 objectives including... • Full implementation of the Languages Act • The provision of services to parents who wish to raise their children through Irish • The continued development of high quality Irish language programmes on TV and radio • Continued teaching of Irish as a subject at school • Further development of all-Irish secondary schools

  32. Language Policy in Galicia • 1981- 2004 Laissez Faire • 2004- present Revival

  33. 1981- 2004 Laissez Faire • Centre-right government • Lukewarm policies • Maintaining status quo • Non-interventionist • Equal co-existence of Castilian and Galician • Ideology – Harmonious bilingualism • Ignores socio-historical context - Galician subordinate • Bottom-up nationalist support

  34. 2004- present Revival • 2005 - change in socio-political context • Galician Socialists and Galician Nationalist Party (BNG) • Ideology – Language conflict • Positive discrimination • 2007 – Act (Decreto 124/2007) regulating use of Galician in education • Minimum 50% subjects in Galician – maths, history, geography, science • ‘Catalan model’ – Libertad Lingüística (Linguistic Freedom)

  35. Irish 1922-1950s – momentum 1950-1970 – stagnation 1970-present – laissez faire …language policy in relation to Irish is at a critical stage (Ó Riagáin 2001) Galician 1980-2004 – laissez faire 2005-present - momentum Trends in Top-down Language Policy in Ireland and Galicia

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