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An overcoat wrapped around an invisible man? Language legislation and language revitalisation in Ireland and Scotland

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Abstract

New legislation in Ireland and Scotland is expected to stimulate a significant increase in the provision of public services in Irish and Gaelic in coming years. This article considers the implications of these enactments for language revitalisation, by examining the measures which public bodies are expected to implement in order to increase their bilingual service provision. Drawing on Strubell’s ‹Catherine Wheel’ language planning framework, it identifies weaknesses in the measures and suggests way of overcoming them. It is argued that, for this legislation to have a significant linguistic impact, careful strategies are needed to equip speakers of Irish and Gaelic to use their languages in relation to public services, given the dominance of English in these domains. In particular, strategies are needed to recruit and deploy bilingual staff in an effective manner. Without careful planning, there is a risk that these enactments will not bring about meaningful changes in language practice and may become largely symbolic rather than functional.

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Personal Communications

  • Veronica McGloon (Donegal County Council), to John Walsh, 6 May 2006.

  • Pádraig Ó Ceithearnaigh (Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge), to John Walsh, 24 April 2006.

  • Seán Ó Cuirreáin (An Coimisinéir Teanga), to John Walsh, 7 May 2006 and 26 April 2007.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Miquel Strubell i Trueta for providing further information about the Catherine Wheel model, and to Pádraig Ó Ceithearnaigh, Acting Director of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and the language commissioner, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, for their comments on an earlier draft.

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  1. School of Irish, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    John Walsh

  2. Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, 19 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, Scotland

    Wilson McLeod

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Walsh, J., McLeod, W. An overcoat wrapped around an invisible man? Language legislation and language revitalisation in Ireland and Scotland. Lang Policy 7, 21–46 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-007-9069-0

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