New Speakers of Irish in the Global Context: New Revival?

This volume is the first full-length publication to systematically unpack and analyze the linguistic practices and ideologies of ＂new speakers＂ specifically in an Irish language context. The book introduces the theoretical foundations of the new speaker framework as it manifests itself in the Irish setting, describes its historical precedents, and traces its evolution to today. The book then draws upon a rich set of data and research methods, including participant observation and ethnographic fieldwork to examine the new speaker phenomenon in Irish in greater detail. Areas of analysis include new speakers’ language practices and usage and the ways in which they position their linguistic identities both within their respective communities and in juxtaposition with ＂native＂ speakers. While the book’s focus is on Irish, the volume will contribute to a greater understanding of new speaker practices and ideologies in minority language contexts more generally, making this key reading for students and scholars in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, language policy and planning, anthropology, and Irish studies.

Bernadette O’Rourke is Professor of Sociolinguistics and Hispanic Studies at the University of Glasgow. She is author of Irish and Galician in the European Context (Palgrave 2011) and co-author (with Gabrielle Hogan-Brun) of the Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities (2019). She was Chair of COST Action on New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe (2013-17). She is a Fellow of the Smithsonian Institute for Folklife on the Sustaining Minoritized Languages in Europe (SMiLE) project (2018-present).

John Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Irish in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is author of several publications in Irish and English about Irish language policy, Irish language media, Irish and socioeconomic development and new speakers of Irish. John was a leading member of the COST Action on New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe (2013-17) and jointly led two Working Groups (on new speakers and indigenous minority languages and on new speakers and subjectivities).