Muiris Ó Laoire

The Language Planning Situation in Ireland

Language planning for the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland has featured prominently in international language policy and planning literature over the years. Researchers in the field may not be up to date, however, with recent developments in the area of Irish language planning and their impact on the language ecology. This monograph describes the language planning situation in the Republic of Ireland in its historical and social contexts as well as delineating language policy and planning for the Irish language implemented over the past number of years, showing developments in education, community, media, religion and local politics.

The Material Culture of Multilingualism

Due to the all-embracing nature of multilingualism, it is customary that research on multilingualism deals not only with purely linguistic matters, but extends to the domains of psychology and sociology as a result, creating new, specific knowledge on multilingualism. Our understanding of multilingualism has increased with research expanding into various provinces of human interest such as emotions, (cf. Dewaele, 2006; Pavlenko, 2005), aging (De Bot and Makoni, 2005), economics (cf. Cenoz and Gorter, 2008; Grin and Vaillancourt, 1997), awareness (Jessner, 2006), dynamic systems (Herdina and Jessner, 2002), complexity (Aronin and Singleton, 2008; Larsen-Freeman, 1997), affordances (Singleton and Aronin, 2007; Aronin and Singleton, 2010), and time (Singleton, Aronin and Carson, 2007). Researching yet another domain, namely that of material culture or the materialities of multilingualism, would appear to be a logical continuation of this trend in multilingualism studies.

Current multilingualism : a new linguistic dispensation

This volume approaches current multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation, in urgent need of research-led, reflective scrutiny. The book addresses the emergent global and local patterns of multingual use and acquisition across the world and explores the major trends that characterize todays multilingualism. Its fifteen chapters discuss a range of issues relating to the quintessential and unique properties of multilingual situations.

Language Education for Language Revival

Preschools and schools have shown themselves to be critical contexts for both language loss and revitalization. In communities where formal schooling is linked to economic advancement, without a school system in which the language to be revived (L-[r]) has its proper place, all other revival efforts are likely to falter. Research to date on education for language revival often centers on educational equity questions, status and institutionalization issues, and the assessment of efficacy of varying bilingual/immersion programs. Building on this research, this essay reviews specific pedagogical issues that are seen to fuel and foster language learning for language use in the speech community.

The multiple faces of multilingualism: Language nominations

Language nominations are appellations commonly assigned by language users to their languages, such as mother tongue, foreign language, heritage language, languages of new minorities. They are the markers of the diversity of multilingualism, indicating both the linguistic and societal characteristics of languages and the perspectives of their users. The changeability of nominations over time reflects the evolution of sociolinguistic situations within local and global communities, including attitudinal development, regarding the range of languages sharing particular environments (language ecology). Cumulatively, language nominations can be regarded as a naturally evolving classification reflecting the diversity of the functions and status of languages in the contemporary world – a classification that provides useful tools for monitoring the dynamics of multilingualism in particular communities and within a specific timeframe. This paper introduces and describes the notion of language nominations and shows the roles that specific language appellations may play for multilingual individuals and multilingual societies. It also demonstrates how language nominations can be used in research on multilingualism. Key-words: Multilingualism; language nominations; liminality, identity, language and timespace, linguistic diversity, mother tongue

Learners’ Reflections on Their Narratives on L2 and L3 Learning

The research in this chapter builds on two previous studies reported in Singleton and O Laoire (2006a), Singleton and O Laoire (2006b); Laoire and Singleton (2009), both of which indicated that in learning an L3, learners tend to draw on the language(s) they perceive as being closer to the target language (pyschotypology). Following a recent study by Markey (2011) into the nature of crosslinguistic influence and transfer from Irish as L2 to French as L3, this study investigates the extent to which the study of Irish as an L2 is facilitative of instructed acquisition of an L3. It also examines whether L3 learners of French, German and Spanish can consciously exploit the language awareness that the L2 learning experience confers. This qualitative-type study yields data from 15 learners of an L3 who have Irish as a long-standing L2 in four different educational contexts in Ireland. Specifically, it analyses the extent to which Irish can or otherwise promote conscious involvement in language learning and metalinguistic awareness, which are generally believed to be facilitative of instructed language acquisition.