Nil se os mo chomhair ach dean cuardach ar alt le John Walshe ar stair na
Gaeltachta.
Post by Marion GunnPost by Tom ThomsonI don't know whether Irish Gaelic has the same problem as Scottish Gaelic
with words for community, but if it does the language may be partly to
blame for that insane definition.
I've had to think hard about that, because that's a thought which hadn't
occurred to me. I was thinking more of "Gaidhealtachd" as a handy word in
a Scottish context to distinguish highlanders from lowlanders, rather than
the linguistic term it is now also used as in Scotland, as in Ireland.
Sailing unfamilar waters now, as I wasn't aware of the difficulties that
might pose for you Scots as much as for us Irish.
Our case here, as I see it, is that "Gaeltacht" is a stupid word to use
(or at least, its current usage is stupid) in the context of Ireland, where
it is given a geographical base, instead of acknowledging that there isn't
a town or village outside of its geographically-defined area that has no
Irish speakers in it. Ergo, either we define the entire island as
"Gaeltacht" or none of it. Even worse is the ugly word "breac-Gaeltacht"
derived from it, which is a derisory term for places in which Irish
survives (nay, often thrives) outside of the govt-defined reservations aka
"Gaeltachtaí".
At a lunch the other day, someone said he had a friend whose car bore a
sticker identifying it (his car) as a "Gaeltacht", which, at least, has the
merit of being capable of bearing some linguistic sense, even a sense of
humour.
Living, as I do, in a region where there are more Irish speakers than in
many parts of the geographically-delimited (official) "Gaeltacht" regions,
I have as much reason as many to wish to see that definition changed, or
the terms "Gaeltacht" and "breac-Ghaeltacht" dropped entirely.
I don't think I am alone in thinking along these lines. Or maybe I am.
Wouldn't be a first. Maybe many friends agree only out of politeness.
mg
We have the word coimhearsnachd which is perhaps the most likely word to
Post by Tom Thomsonuse for community, but it can also mean neighbourhood - a geographical
meaning, and it's use to qualify things like sports prizes is of course
geographical as is its use to translate the names of the Spanish
comunidades autónomas, while the use in the Gaelic versions of EC, EEC,
CEC, Euratom (aka CCAE), EDC, and so forth is clearly Geopolitical - the
most common uses are for things which are nothing like a community of
people with a common language, but are geographical or geopolitical. We
have other words which sometimes mean something like community, but it's
not their primary meaning: popall means people or laity depending on
context, comann usually means a club or a members'society, and I believe
that coimh-phàirt (which may be an archaism now anyway) can't mean
community in the sense that is required for a Gaeltacht and neither can
coitcheannachd or coitcheannas or com-pairteachas. Of course the English
word "community" doesn't often mean community in the sense that the word
should be used to define a Gaeltacht - for example a community nurse
provides nursing within a geographical community, and all my EC related
examples use it in a Geopolitical sense.
Tom
PS. The word I would probably use if I wanted to write a definition of
what I think should be considered a Gaeltacht would be comann. But others
might not agree at all. Maybe my only reason for choosing that word is
because I recall two lines of poetry decrying the diminution of the Gaelic
community of Mull: 'S tha comunn mo rùin a' cnàmh anns an ùir 'sa chlachan
'tha naomh do'n clan.
PS.
There's a piece in the Irish Times today about the death of the last
native speaker of Irish in Fermanagh. Died at the age of just over a
100 years. Which reminds me, with some anger, of the preoccupation of
successive governments with supporting the language in certain
geographical areas to the neglect of others (defining geographical
areas, instead of communities as "gaeltachts" was and is the height of
insanity.
mg
--
Marion Gunn * eGteo (Estab.1991)
27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn, Baile an
Bhóthair, An Charraig Dhubh,
Co. Átha Cliath, Éire/Ireland.