Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-04
PLAN TO REESTABLISH
THE IRISH LANGUAGE
Daily Letter by Frederic J. Haskin

WASHINGTON, March Sire
land is falling Irish nowadays. The
Irish Free State conducts business
largely in the old Gaelic ongue.
All of the members of the Dali Fire
n speak Irish, according to iufor-
nation here. The Government let
ter heads are printed in Irish and
even whea the letter is written in
English, n salutation is "a cara
my dea..
To show that the language is in
common, Irish speakers at meetings
in this country often open their
talks with a few words in Gaelic.
When De Valera held his meetings
here he liked to do this even though
scarcely anyone in the audience
could understand the Gaelic words
of greeting.
Several years ago it was estimated
that one-sixth of the Irish people
spoke the native tongue, and the
proportion is growing steadily.
This is a triumph for a language
which was a medium for literature
ten centuries ago, and then drop
ped back almost out of sight. Only
the peasants in some of the Irish
villages ciung to the pleasing twist
Of the Gaelic words, and for them it
was the language of the fireside.
The vocabulary which remained in
use was made up chiefly of words
describing the life of kitchen, farm
and courtship, and some of the
quaint language of the Celtic fairy
lore: so that George Moore summed
up irish as a wonderful language
that had not been to school.
Of late years, when Irish has be-
gun to he revived in the cities of
Ireland the old fashioned state of
the language has been apparent.
There were no equivalents for such
modern contrivances as the automo-
bile, traiLs, or telephones and it has
been necessary to coin words to
bring up-to-date the vocabulary
which Is go rich in words of emo
ton and affection.
Not to Suppiant English
Gaelic is not taking the place of
English, nor is there any prospect
Of its doing so. The Irish people
will undoubtedly continue to speak
English because 1t is necessary for
communication in the cities. The
staus of the language can probably
be compared best TO the status of
French IN southeastern Canada. In
the Province OF Quebec. French is
widely spoken, but English is also
understood almost everywhere. The
two languages are used together
signs on streets and shops being in
both tongues. Both are taught in
the schools. Irish is approaching
this state. 1t is being taught in the
elementary schools, and for some
years the National University of Ire
land has required all students en-
tering to have a knowledge OF the
language.
There are two why the
Irish people want to speak their ma
| tive tongue. One is that it is their
heritage. an ancient speech-the old
est language now spoken-which
has somehow been kept alive
through centuries of English domi-
nation. II has survived because the
native Irish of the peasant class
chung to ii in many districts even
loved its hrogue and it's music. They
when the schools taught only Eng
lish to the children. The conse-
quence was that in such places the
children got very little benefit out
OF their brief schooling in the
strange English tongue. They re-
turned home with a stilted knowl-
edge OF reading anQ WfltlnS IN Eng
lish and continued talking the local
dialect without attempts at higher
education.
The Irish affection for Gaelic is
at the root a matter of patriotic
sentiment. They know that centu-
ries ago, when the clans of Ireland
were fighting between themselves,
they could be rallied together to at
tack some common enemy on the
plea OF common speech. In later
days this too was the belief OF
Padraic Pearse and his compan-
lions who prior to their rebellion in
1916 had taught Irish in st. Endas
school and recruited their small
force parity from their pupils.
The Irish think also OF how the
turns and twists OF English as 1t Il
Ispoken in Ireland were brought owe
from the Gaelic. He went of
with himself" or He put his speah
on me-" or rs 1t to see you they
Gamer" OF II saw a woman and she
walking" show the influence Of tbs
Gaelic. Originally such roundabout
structures were evolved by persons
thinking in Gaelic and translatinf
literally into English, or. sometimes
lthey simply represented attempts q