New Professors’ Inaugural Lecture Series: An t-Ollamh Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin

An dúchas, an anaithnideacht agus an seachadadh teanga  /  Nativeness, anonymity and language transmission

An t-Ollamh Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, Ollamh Bunaithe le Nua-Ghaeilge

Ina léacht, pléifidh an t-Ollamh Ó hIfearnáin trí choincheap atá go mór chun tosaigh i ndíospóireachtaí shochtheangeolaíocht na mionteangacha agus déanfaidh critic orthu i bhfianaise obair allamuigh i gcomhthéacs na Gaeilge. Rinne na glúine de chanúineolaithe, antraipeolaithe agus de bhéaloideasóirí nasc idir an dúchas agus an bharántúlacht. Coincheap idé-eolaíochtúil atá sa bharántúlacht ina samhlaítear teanga mar neach nádúrtha. Is de thoradh na tuisceana sin a labhraítear go meafarach faoi theangacha amhail is gur ainmhithe nó neacha beo iad. Tá fréamhacha an dioscúrsa sin sa rómánsachas agus is é a mhúnlaigh cuid mhaith de bhunsmaointe ceannasacha na sochaí comhaimseartha. De réir na smaointe sin, bíonn ‘fíorchainteoirí’ na dteangacha ‘barántúla’ lonnaithe in áiteanna agus i bpobail faoi leith, dúnta isteach orthu féin, agus a séala sin ar an teanga a labhraíonn siad. Is minice ná a mhalairt a bhíonn na ‘cainteoirí is barántúla’ ina seandaoine tuaithe agus iad ina gcónaí i gceantair iargúlta nó, b’fhéidir, ina mbaill d’íosaicme uirbeach nach mbíonn an deis acu imeacht óna gceantar dúchais. Thar aon rud eile, samhlaítear a gcuid cainte a bheith ceangailte le dúiche faoi leith, agus an chaint sin a bheith coimeádach, gan athrú, mar a bheadh fuinneog ar an gcianaimsir inti; ar an am a raibh máistreacht ag an bpobal ar an teanga ghlan cheart agus meas acu uirthi. Tá an coincheap idé-eolaíochta céanna le brath ar fhormhór na ngluaiseachta athbheochana teanga agus cultúir timpeall na hEorpa. Ba mhian leo, chomh fada agus ab fhéidir, an pobal labhartha a choinneáil slán ó ‘smál’ an ilteangachais agus na teagmhála teanga. Múnlaítear an teanga athbheochana ar an gcineál teanga a shamhlaítear a bheadh ann dá mbeadh pobal mór aonteangach ann arís, gan anáil ná tionchar na teanga móire iasachta uirthi.

Is fíor go bhfuil ceantar dúchais ag gach mórtheanga ach carnann na teangacha sin a gcuid cumhachta agus a n-údarás ón dóigh a samhlaítear iad a bheith anaithnid. Creidtear gurb iad teanga an oird domhanda iad; is iad teangacha na céille agus na réasúnaíochta, an ghnó agus na forbartha, an ardchultúir agus na cumarsáide idirnáisiúnta iad. Is teangacha ar le gach áit agus le gach duine iad ach nach mbaineann le dúchas duine ar bith. Ní hé bun agus barr tograí lucht na hathbheochana cultúr agus teanga ghléghlan na ‘gcainteoirí deireanacha’ réamh-nua-aimseartha a choinneáil beo, mar sin féin. Cé gurb iad an dúchas agus an bharántúlacht a spreag na gluaiseachtaí athbheochana an chéad uair, tá sprioc eile acu. Ba mhian leo na teangacha mionlaithe a fhorbairt agus iad a chur á labhairt ar bhonn níos fairsinge, ó thaobh ceantar agus feidhme de. Caithfidh siad an dóigh a aimsiú leis an teanga a dhéanamh ‘normálta’ – a bheith dúchasach agus anaithnid ag an am céanna. Léiríonn dúshlán an chomhréitigh idir an dúchas agus an anaithnideacht ceisteanna faoi nádúr na teanga agus faoi sheachadadh na teanga i bpobail nach mbeidh aonteangach choíche arís.

In his talk, Professor Ó hIfearnáin will discuss and critique three conceptual elements that are pre-eminent in the contemporary sociolinguistics of minority languages, drawing on fieldwork from the Irish and wider Gaelic context. Nativeness in language and culture has been linked directly to notions of authenticity by generations of dialectologists and anthropologists (including ethnologists and folklorists). Authenticity is itself an ideological construct that tends to see language as a natural object. It has, for instance, given rise to the ways that languages are metaphorically described as living beings in the romantic discourses that have dominated our society. ‘Real’ speakers of ‘authentic’ languages – typically elderly rural peasants in isolated communities or perhaps in the marginalised, urban working class – are seen as locally-orientated, producing language in and of their location and community. Their speech is thus seen as conservative, static, linked to a particular place and a window to somewhere out-of-modern-western time, when the speech and values of the volk were clear and valued. Language revival initiatives in Europe have largely continued this ideological concept, seeking to isolate speakers and communities from ‘contamination’ due to multilingualism and language contact. They largely model the revived or revitalised language on an imagined monolingual existence.

Majority languages may also have their core ideological homelands, but in their modern standardised varieties, their authority and power are essentially based on their anonymity. They are attributed as the languages of world order, reason, commerce and development, high and international culture and communication. They are the languages of everywhere and yet of nowhere in particular. However, the core aims of minoritised language revivalist movements are not simply to preserve the undiluted language and culture of pre-modern times among the ‘last speakers’ but to expand their language beyond its residual communities in both space and function. Despite nativeness and authenticity providing the motivation to undertake the revival enterprise, the ultimate goal is to negotiate a path that values nativeness and yet ‘normalises’ the language; to make it both authentic and anonymous. The balance of nativeness and anonymity has implications for received thinking on the nature of language and for intergenerational language transmission in communities which are never likely to be monolingual again.

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Tá Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin ina Ollamh Bunaithe le Nua-Ghaeilge in Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh. Ba in Ollscoil Luimnigh a bhí sé ag obair ó 1996 go 2017 agus in Ollscoil na Briotáine Uachtaraí ar feadh roinnt blianta roimhe sin, tar éis dó tréimhsí a chaitheamh mar iarchéimí agus léachtóir in Ollscoil Utrecht agus in Ollscoil Uladh, Cúil Raithin. Tá BA (1988) agus PhD (1994) i Léann na Gaeilge aige ó Ollscoil Uladh, Cúil Raithin. Díríonn formhór a chuid taighde agus teagaisc ar cheisteanna teanga agus sochaí ón 17ú haois go dtí an lá inniu, agus go háirithe ar theangeolaíocht agus ar shochtheangeolaíocht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge agus mionteangacha eile.

Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin is Established Professor of Modern Irish in NUI Galway. He was previously at the University of Limerick from 1996 until 2017. Before then, he taught in the Department of Breton and Celtic at University of Rennes 2 from 1990, after periods as a lecturer and research student in the University of Ulster at Coleraine and Utrecht University. He holds a BA (1988) and PhD (1994) in Irish from the University of Ulster at Coleraine. His research and teaching mostly focuses on questions of language and society, from the 17th century to date, and in particular the contemporary linguistics and sociolinguistics of Irish and other minoritised languages.