Irish language

Irish or Irish Gaelic is a language spoken in Ireland and (less commonly) Northern Ireland.

Irish
Irish Gaelic Gaelic
Standard Irish:Gaeilge Gaeilge na hÉireann
"Gaelach" in traditional Gaelic type
Pronunciation	[ˈɡˠeːlʲɟə]
Native to	Ireland
Region	Ireland, mainly Gaeltacht regions
Ethnicity	Irish
Native speakers	73,804 in Ireland (2016) 4,166 in Northern Ireland L2 speakers: 1,761,420 in the Ireland (2016), 104,943 in Northern Ireland (2011)
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Gaelic Irish
Early forms	Primitive Irish Old Irish Middle Irish Early Modern Irish
Standard forms	An Caighdeán Oifigiúil
Writing system	Latin (Irish alphabet) Irish Braille
Official status
Official language in	Ireland (Statutory language of national identity (1937, Constitution, Article 8(1)). Not widely used as an L2 in all parts of the country. Encouraged by the government.) EU
Recognised minority language in	UK (Northern Ireland)
Regulated by	Foras na Gaeilge
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ga
ISO 639-2	gle
ISO 639-3	gle
Glottolog	iris1253
ELP	Irish
Linguasphere	50-AAA
Proportion of respondents who said they could speak Irish in the Ireland and Northern Ireland censuses of 2011.

A Gaelic language

Irish is a Gaelic language, so it is similar to Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic. It is less similar to Breton, Cornish, and Welsh.

Celtic languages are divided into two groups. These are the p-Celtic languages and the q-Celtic languages. Irish and Scots Gaelic are q-Celtic languages, and Welsh is a p-Celtic language. For this reason, many Irish speakers can understand some Scots Gaelic, but not Welsh.

Irish has no "yes" or "no" words.

History

Before the United Kingdom

Queen Elizabeth I of England tried to learn Irish and asked her bishops to translate the Bible into Irish. This was an unsuccessful attempt to split the Catholic people from their clergy.

In the United Kingdom

Until the 19th century, most people in Ireland spoke Irish. However, after Ireland joined Britain in 1801 to form the United Kingdom, this changed. Ireland’s state schools became part of the British system and had to teach English. Sometimes, they were not allowed to teach Irish.

The Catholic Church also began to discourage Irish. So did the Irish Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell. He was an Irish speaker himself, but he thought people should speak English since most job opportunities were in the English-speaking United States and wider British Empire.

Irish today

Today, Irish is the first official language of Ireland, and there are around 2 million Irish speakers.

In practice, the Irish government still uses English more than Irish. Also, most people in the country speak English in their day-to-day lives. However, many people speak Irish among friends or family. It is also taught in all Irish schools, according to the law.

In parts of Ireland called the Gaeltacht (Gaeltachtaí in Irish), people still speak Irish as their first language. In these areas, up to 70% of the people speak Irish. The newest Gaeltacht in the country is on Falls Road in Belfast City, where the whole community tries to use Irish as its first language. This area is called the Gaeltacht Quarter.

Literature

There were great poets who wrote in Irish. Their poems became songs. Often they told stories about the heroes of old times.

These are Gaeltacht areas

Common words and phrase

• aon = one (ain)
• dó = two (doe)
• trí = three (tree)
• ceathair = four (ka-her)
• cúig = five (coo-igg)
• sé = six (shay)
• seacht = seven (shocked)
• ocht = eight (uckt)
• naoi = nine (knee)
• deich = ten (dje)
• céad = one hundred (kayd)
• dhá chéad = two hundred (gah kayd)
• Dia Dhuit = Hello (literal translation is "God be with you") (jia gwitch)
• Céad Mile Fáilte = One hundred thousand welcomes (kayd me-lah fall-tcha)
• Ceist ag éinne? = Anyone have a question? (kesht ag ayn-ye)
• Éire = Ireland
• go maith = good (go mah)
• Slán = goodbye (slahn)
• Leabhar = book (lao-er)
• Madra = dog (madjra)

Related pages

• Gaelic languages
• Celtic languages
• History of Ireland