The Interconnections between the Growth of National Mass Movements and the Decline of the Native Language in 19th-Century Ireland

Abstract

This paper is part of a longer study (see Pintér 2008) into the history of language policy in Ireland, and is concerned with one of the most complex language-related issues of modern Ireland: In the early 20th century, the nearly extinct native tongue was reconstructed as a powerful symbol and rallying point of national politics. In what follows I aim to explore the origins of this phenomenon and seek to answer two key questions: 1. What interconnections existed between the dramatic decline of the Irish and the contemporaneous spread of national mass movements in Ireland in the 19th century? 2. To what extent was the language policy of early 20th-century nationalist Ireland grounded in the linguistic attitudes and behavior of political movements in the previous century?