LANGUAGE
PLANNING IN
NORTHERN ISLAND
By: Junamy Clueh J. Talingting
History of Northern Island
Irish Language
Language Planning and
Policy
NORTHERN ISLAND
Cavan
Donegal Province
Monaghan of Ulster
NORTHERN ISLAND
The two main urban centres are:
Belfast (East of the Province)
Londonderry or Derry (West of the Province)
Population
1.6 million (based on 2001 Census)
At present…
__________ (based on)
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
1921 – it came into being as greater part
of Ireland
Until the early 1970s – possessed a
powerful form of self-government
British Government imposed direct rule
from London over NI. This remained the case until
1998.
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
1998 ( ‘The Belfast Agreement’ or “The
Good Friday Agreement’)
- through which power would be shared
between different parties
- through which the Republic of Ireland
and UK would share political sovereignty.
This remains in place.
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
Until 1990s – language issues were not
considered to be a significant feature of
NI
Irish Language emerged as an area of
serious political interest during the
multi-party discussions which
culminated in the Good Friday
Agreement (1998)
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
Language issues was more difficult by the
paucity of reliable sociological data
regarding languages other than English.
Objective and quantitative information on
other languages is non-existent.
In two recent volumes on language issues in NI,
the Republic of Ireland and Scotland (Kirk & O
Baoill, 2011) a number of contributor referred to
the case of various other languages
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
Other languages:
Albanian Punjabi
Arabic Sign
Bengali Ulster Scots
Cantonese
Farsi
Hindi
Mandarin
Other Chinese
Continuation
NORTHERN ISLAND
Through personal communication (2003, April 8) by the Equality
Commission for Northern Ireland
there exist small number of speakers of various languages associated
with diverse communities of peoples of;
Chinese (8000)
African (1600) Filipino (350)
Indian (1500) Persian (350)
Arabic (1500)
Irish Traveller (1500)
Pakistani (1000)
Portuguese (700)
Bangladeshi (500)
Continuation
IRISH LANGUAGE IN THE MODERN
PERIOD UNTIL 1991
The dynamics of language shift
have their origins in the Early
Modern Period
Irish language – the dominant language at
the outset of the 16th century (Nicholls, 1972:
O Cuiv, 1976)
described by some as ‘The Great Irishry’
Irish language was pre-eminent in all
domains replacing Latin as the language in
learned class, secular and ecclesiastical.
Northern Ireland
ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS USE ONLY IN
POCKETS ALONG THE EASTERN
SEABOARD.
English Language is associated
with Anglo-Normans (who invaded
Ireland in the 12th century)
Irish language – the dominant language at
the outset of the 16th century (Nicholls, 1972:
O Cuiv, 1976)
described by some as ‘The Great Irishry’
Irish language was pre-eminent in all
domains replacing Latin as the language in
learned class, secular and ecclesiastical.
Northern Ireland
