Part 2. Globalisation of English

LISTENING 1. Languages in Conflict: Irish and English

The Republic of Ireland is a small country in northwestern Europe. It occupies most of the island of Ireland. Its land area is only 26,600 square miles. Its population is given at a little less than 3,000,000. A part of the island which is called Northern Ireland is a member of the British Commonwealth. Northern Ireland then is a political unit that is quite separate from the Republic of Ireland.

In the early Middle Ages - that is to say in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. - - Ireland was one of the principal cultural centers of Europe. You know, when the barbarians conquered the continent of Europe, it was Ireland that kept alive Western culture and learning. Later, however, in the twelfth century - that is to say in the late 1100s - the Norman English conquest of Ireland began. By the sixteenth century, England had gained control over the whole of Ireland. That is to say, by the 1500s England had subjugated the entire country. During this time, Irish lands were taken from their owners and given to the English and Scottish settlers. To be sure, the Irish people continually rebelled against the English, but these rebellions were always put down, or completely crushed. Throughout the eighteenth century - that is, throughout the 1700s - the Irish suffered from economic exploitation and political and religious persecution. As a result of this exploitation and persecution, the majority of the Irish people lived in great poverty.

In the late 1840s, a disaster hit Ireland; the potato crop failed because of the bad weather. You see, the potato had been the principal food of the majority of the Irish population up to that time. It is estimated that the population of Ireland in the 1830s was around 9 million people. In the four years after the potato crop failure, more than one million people died of starvation, and more than a million and a half people left Ireland in ships for Canada, the United States, and other countries. These ships were often called "floating coffins" because of the large number of people who died on board during the journey across the ocean.

In the early nineteenth century - in the early 1800s - Irish was spoken almost everywhere in Ireland. After the Great Potato Famine of 1847, however, and after the massive emigration of the following years, use of the Irish language in Ireland decreased rapidly. The English language replaced the Irish language. By 1870, only 20 percent of the Irish people spoke the national language. During the latter half of the nineteenth century - in other words from 1850 to 1900 - English was the only language taught in the schools in Ireland, and English was the language of the politicians, the clergy, and the landlords. English was, in fact, the language of the rulers; while Irish, on the other hand, was the language of the ruled.

After years of struggle, Ireland finally achieved self-government from England in 1922 and became a free republic in 1949. At that time, nationalistic feelings of pride and independence from England started a movement in Ireland to make Irish the national language of Ireland. And so, the government decreed that knowledge of the Irish language was required for all elementary school teachers. As a result, by the year 1949, only 8.2 percent of the Irish teachers lacked a certificate to teach Irish to the school children. And today, Irish is a required subject in all state schools. Knowledge of Irish has been a requirement for college matriculation in Irish colleges since 1913 (except for the famous Trinity College in the capital city of Dublin). Today, all government papers issued must be in the two languages. Newspapers now publish articles in Irish as well as in English. And you can be sure that any Irish politi­cian who wants to get elected in Ireland today must be able to make a speech in Irish, not just in English.

And so, the near-extinction of a language spoken for more than two thousand years has, perhaps, been slowed, or even stopped altogether.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16