Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-04-03
IRELAND is
TALKING IRISH
NOWADAYS
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

Washington, April 2.--Ireland Il
talking irish nowadays. The Irish
Free State conducts business large
ly in the old Gaelic tongue. All Of
the members of the dahl eireanr
speak Irish, according to informa'
tion here. The government letter
heads are printed in irish, and ever
when the letter is written in Eng
lish, the saluation is "a cara'--my
dear.
To show that the language is ir
common use, Irish speakers ~
meetings i'm this country often oper
their talks with a few words ir
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 1t was esti-
mated 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
ned back almost out of sight. Only
the peasants in some of the Irish
villages clung to the pleasing twist
of the Gaelic words. and for them
Lit 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 be 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 auto.
mobile. trains, or telephones, and
1t has been necessary to coin words
to bring up to date the vocabulary
which is so rich in words of emo
tion and affection.
got 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 it is necessary for
communication in the cities. The
status 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. II is being taught in the
elementary schools. and for some
years the National University OF
ireland has required all students
entering to have q knowledge OF
the language.
There are two reasons why the
Irish people want to speak their
native language. One is that 1t IS
their heritage, an ancient speech
the oldest language now spoken
:
alive through centuries of Engllsh
domination. 1t has survived be-
cause the native Irish OF the peas
ant class loved its brogue and its
music. They clung to 1t in many
districts even when the schools
taught only English to the child
rem. The consequence was that in
such places the children got very
little benefit out of their brief
schooling in the strange English
tongue. They returned home with
a stilted knowledge of reading and
writing in English and continued
talking the local dialect without
attempts at higher education.
The Irish affection for Gaelic
is at the root matter Of patriotic
sentiment. They know that cen-
turies ago, when the clans of Ire
land were fighting between them
selves, they could be rallied to-
gether to attack some common en-
emy on the plea of common
speech. In later days this, too,
was the belief of Padraic Pearse
and his companions who, prior to
their rebellion in 1915 had taught
Irish in ST. EnSas chool and re-
cruited their small force partly
from their pupils.
The Irish think also of how the
turns and twists of English as It is
spoken in Ireland were brought
over from the Gaelic. "He went
off with himself" or He put his