John Walsh

It is time to debate the role and influence of the Irish language in contemporary Irish society, argues John Walsh of FIONTAR in this new occasional paper. Drawing on historical arguments that Irish is more than a code of communication and has a broader role to play in society, Walsh elaborates examines theories of development and sociolinguistics in order to deepen our understanding of this role.

Since the period of linguistic and cultural revival which preceded the founding of the state, it has been argued that the Irish language is more than a code of communication and has a broader influence on society. This claim has been pursued by generations of scholars, from Thomas Davis to Joseph Lee. In this occasional paper, John Walsh re-examines these historical arguments in the context of theories of socio-economic development and sociolinguistics. He examines conflicting approaches to the relationship between linguistic vitality and socio-economic development in an international context. Combining insights from a variety of disciplines, he argues that we need a new theoretical framework which will ensure a central role for the protection of threatened languages in the process of socio-economic development. The paper also makes practical suggestions about how language policy and development policy can be more closely integrated in the future.