This volume brings together eighteen scholars via sixteen chapters to discuss the Irish language through three broad perspectives: (i) a sociolinguistic study of the languages used in Ireland as they exist today, (ii) as they have existed in the past, and (iii) a sociolinguistic analysis of how the Irish language has engaged with English in the modern era. Most of the authors work in Irish universities and their research is generally presented in an accessible way that indicates the authors have experience teaching such material to non-experts. In this regard, the book may be useful for undergraduate classes focused on sociolinguistics more generally, but is certainly of high value to more advanced scholarship on the specific matter of the study of languages in Ireland.
The first section, which includes five chapters, including one written by the book's editor, is an examination of the modern languages spoken in Ireland, with an emphasis on Irish (Gaelic), English, and the inter-relationship between the two as seen in Irish English with its occasional code-switching. The chapters include excellent discussions supported by numerous examples and data from case studies. Anne Barron & Irina Pandarova's (chapter 5) contribution presents an interesting blend of method and theory in its approach to the pragmatics of Irish English and ultimately indicates that further studies in this direction would be fruitful, even if such studies demand careful appreciation of the challenges inherent to pragmatic interpretations.
The second section, consisting of six chapters, examines Irish sociolinguistics from a historical perspective. These studies begin as early as the first Irish/Anglo-Saxon encounters in the fifth century AD, but focus predominantly on historical and linguistics phenomena of the most recent few centuries. Kevin McCafferty's (chapter 10) discussion of grammatical borrowing (Irish borrowing from English) presents and draws from two fascinating databases, the Irish Emigration Database and the related Corpus of Irish English Correspondence (CORIECOR), which present a tremendous amount of data to scholars of Irish language and history.
The final section, with five chapters, explores engagement with Irish and Irish English through education and entertainment, predominantly via print (including translations of Irish into English) and film. Kathleen Shields' (chapter 15) examination of the translation of two Irish texts, Midnight court and the Tain Bó Cuailgne, introduces a particularly insightful discussion of how making such texts available for different audiences at different times is fraught with political and social considerations and agendas.
This volume presents a wide variety of methods and theoretical perspectives and ranges in scale from a close scrutiny of phonetic changes to broad historical trends that can be tracked across centuries. This diversity of approaches introduces both breadth and depth to its intended topic with great efficacy.
