GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)

[Keola Donaghy]

I spent a month in Ireland last summer, and met with a number of the
individuals involved in the perpetuation of the language, via the
gaelscoileanna (Irish immersion schools), the Linguistics Institute of
Ireland and other efforts. While there was concern, I never encountered a
the sense of desperation that this story imparts. Has anyone seen the
"report" alluded to? I searched the web and could not find it. The
situation there is far more complex than simply 50,000 speakers and 1,500
speakers dying each year, and it would be useful to know what other facts
were assembled to draw this conclusion.

I also wonder what "country" is being referred to. "Gaelic"  is spoken in
more than one. James McCloskey at UC-Santa Cruz ("Voices Silenced: Has
Irish a Future?", 2001) says that there are 20,000-30,000 native Irish
speakers, and 100,000 who use it to some degree in their daily lives. I
was told during my visit that somewhere between 6 and 8 percent of the
elementary through high school students in Ireland attend schools in the
gaelscoileanna program.

Toward the end of my visit, I was informed that legislation had been
proposed that would guarantee Irish speakers the right to interact with
their government in their own language, and it seems to have passed
(http://www.cnag.ie/). They interpretted this to me that if someone called
or walked into a government office, that office would be compelled to
provide an Irish-speaking employee whom that person could conduct
business.

There is Irish language TV programming, radio stations, newspapers and
websites. While it may indeed require a considerable effort to maintain
the current number of speakers or increase it, I certainly don't share
this reports' pessimism. I hope I live long enough to see it proved wrong.

Keola

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Keola Donaghy
Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
University of Hawai'i at Hilo

keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
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Penei ka ~Qölelo a Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>:
>GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS'
>Sep 29 2003
>
>http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13459583_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-GAELIC--EXTINCT-IN-40-YEARS--name_page.html
>
>GAELIC is in terminal decline and could be extinct as an everyday
>language within 40 years, it was claimed yesterday.
>
>Just one per cent of the country admits to having a working knowledge of
>it, with 1500 speakers dying each year.
>
>Last year, the number of Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552 the lowest
>number ever.
>
>American academic Dr Daniel Abrams studied the language and found that
>if Gaelic declines at its current rate, it will vanish as a working
>tongue by 2040.