by Bernie O’Rourke On Friday 30th October, the Irish Language Commissioner, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, launched a Research Report on New Speakers of Irish. The report was prepared by Heriot-Watt LINCS Professor Bernadette O’Rourke and colleagues Dr. John Walsh and Dr. Hugh Rowland of the University of Ireland, Galway. This joint venture between Heriot-Watt University and the […]
Tag: New Speakers
“I can write it, I can understand it, but I’ve never spoken it”
by Nicola Bermingham Last Wednesday, 11th March, Nicola Bermingham held a seminar at the School of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. The seminar, entitled “I can write it, I can understand it, but I’ve never spoken it”: challenges faced by immigrant “new speakers” in Galicia, formed part of the Soillse seminar […]
Irish in a multilingual world
In my previous post, I mentioned that new speakers of Irish are bringing the language into new contexts. While some speakers still try to model their Irish on what was traditionally spoken in the Gaeltacht, many others deliberately move away from this model. They break the rules of grammar and adopt hybridized forms of language. […]
An Irish of the future
A few weeks back I uploaded some information on the upcoming round of WorkGroup Meetings as part of the COST EU Action on “New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe“. The meetings which will be held at Heriot-Watt between 6-7 March 2014. The project involves researchers from some 17 European countries. In the project we are interested in finding […]
New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe
The recent resignation of the Irish-language commissioner in Ireland, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, featured strongly in the Irish media just before Christmas. Irish is the official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is one of the only minority languages in Europe and perhaps in the world to have this level of official status. However, despite this apparent protection […]
Events: BAAL Conference 2013
This year, the 46th Annual conference of the British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) will take place at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh from 5 – 7 September. The event is organised by the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies (LINCS) with Dr Bernadette O’Rourke as principal organiser. The local organising committee includes Ms. Rita McDade, Professor […]
Save the Date for this Weekend!
We have just a few places left at our New Speakers in Minority Languages conference, which will feature guest speakers such as Alexandra Jaffe, from California State University, and Alan Davies from the University of Edinburgh. If you want to come, contact Dr Bernie O’ Rourke.
New Speakers of Minority Languages: Conference Reminder
You might think that, after the Multilingual Debate on the 23rd March, the staff of LINCS could be doing with a rest. On the contrary, yet again, the department is pleased to announce a leading event on an incredibly topical subject. As we announced back in February, LINCS is holding a conference on New Speakers […]
New Speakers of Minority Languages: A Dialogue
Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh University are pleased to announce this one and a half day event to bring together scholars working on ‘new speakers’ of minority languages in different parts of the world where traditional communities of speakers are being eroded. In these contexts, new speakers often emerge as a result of revitalization efforts and […]
New Speakers of Minority Languages: A Dialogue
In many parts of Europe, traditional communities of minority language speakers are being eroded as a consequence of increased urbanization and economic modernization. While native speaker communities are dying out, at the same time, “new speakers” of these languages are emerging. To a considerable extent this trend is as a result of more supportive language […]