The Irish Language in Northern Ireland: The Politics of Culture and Identity

The phrase "our own language" has come to symbolize the importance of the Irish language to Irish identity for many Nationalists in Northern Ireland. However, different interests compete to have their version of the meaning and importance of the Irish language accepted. Talk about the Irish language can usefully be divided into three discourses, all of which are vehicles for competing constructions of the meaning and significance of the Irish language for Irish people in the North today. One of these discourses has been adopted in part by institutions and individuals in positions of power and influence, while the other two present alternative, oppositional ideological constructions. This book investigates the role of the Irish language movement in the social construction of competing versions of Irish political and cultural identity in Northern Ireland, arguing that for some Nationalists, the Irish language has become an alternative point of political access and expression.