Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Gaeilge, Irish Gaelic, Erse, Gadhelisch
CLASSIFICATION		Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic
ORTHOGRAPHY		Latin
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		gle
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Connacht (Western Irish) Donegal (Northern Irish Ulster) Munster (Southern Irish).
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

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Information from: “The dialects of Irish: Study of a changing landscape” . Raymond Hickey (2011) Walter de Gruyter Mouton

Endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
20,000-40,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Whether all the 64,265 individuals registered by the 2006 census are native speakers of Irish is uncertain.... If for argument’s sake one subtracts about a third, because the officially specified sizes of the Gaeltacht areas are exaggerations and because not everyone, even in the core of these areas, has grown up speaking Irish as a first language, then one reaches a figure of somewhat over 40,000 for the native speakers of all Gaeltacht areas....In fact this figure may in itself be too optimistic. If one considers the number of persons in the Gaeltacht who use Irish on a daily basis outside education – 17,687 – and compares it to the population of the entire state – 3,990,863 – then one reaches a percentage figure of 0.44%. Given that the number of active native speakers is probably not higher than that of those in the Gaeltacht who use Irish on a daily basis outside education, then the percentage of active native speakers in present-day Ireland would be between around 0.5%, i.e. 20,000 or perhaps a little above that."

DATE OF INFO: 2006

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Chief among the reasons for the retreat of Irish is that young people – typically teenagers – who are growing up in Irish-speaking households very often do not use Irish amongst themselves, especially if there are English-speaking coevals with them."

"Those few areas where Irish is strongest are characterised by the use of English in public domains, such as business, banking, the media, etc. Irish is, however, used for communication in the home, exclusively in some instances."

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Official language in Republic of Ireland, official language of the European Union as of 2007

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Compulsory school subject in Ireland, Irish-medium school in Belfast, Irish-language radio and television

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

English

Scripts (Writing system)

Latin

More on Orthography

The present-day written standard is laid out in the Caighdeán Oifigiúil, ‘official standard’ (Government of Ireland 1958).

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<20,000
Native speakers worldwide

MORE ON VITALITY

A number of children learn the language, but their number appears to be decreasing in the Irish-speaking areas.

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

Irish is being used widely as a second language in all parts of the Republic of Ireland as well as in Northern Ireland.

PLACES: Republic of Ireland

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
106,210
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"72,000 in Ireland (2006 census). Less than 20,000 L1 speakers (Salminen 2007). Population total all countries: 106,210."

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Widely used as L2 in all parts of the country (2007). A number of children learn the language but the number is decreasing (2007)."

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Taught as an official language in schools and encouraged by the government.

Scripts (Writing system)

Latin Script; Ogham Script (no longer in use)

PLACES: Western isles northwest and southwest coasts; Galway, part of Mayo, Kerry, Donegal, Meath, Cork, and Waterford. Also in Canada, United Kingdom, United States.

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
77,185
Native speakers worldwide
CHILDREN
Aged 3-18: 19,582
YOUNG ADULTS
Aged 25-64: 41,209
OLDER ADULTS
Aged 65 and above: 16,367
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
These figures represent the Republic of Ireland and do not include the speakers in Northern Ireland.

These figures represent the number of respondents to the Irish census who reported speaking Irish on a daily basis outside of the educational system. In nearly all age groups, more women reported speaking Irish than men.

DATE OF INFO: 2011 (census)

TRANSMISSION

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
44,000
Native speakers worldwide

		2007	Europe and North Asia	Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages	211-282	C. Moseley	London & New York: Routledge				Tapani Salminen	Salminen, Tapani. 2007. "Europe and North Asia." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 211-282. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD			<20,000		10000-99999					Irish is being used widely as a second language in all parts of the Republic of Ireland as well as in Northern Ireland.			Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)		A number of children learn the language, but their number appears to be decreasing in the Irish-speaking areas.			Republic of Ireland
0199255911		2005	The World Atlas of Language Structures			Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer	Oxford University Press	New York				2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.																				52.5,-9.0
	3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing	Paris		http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub			44,000		10000-99999								Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						53.7876,-9.1845
		2011	The dialects of Irish: Study of a changing landscape	The dialects of Irish: Study of a changing landscape			Walter de Gruyter Mouton	Berlin			Raymond Hickey					20,000-40,000	2006	10000-99999	"Whether all the 64,265 individuals registered by the 2006 census are native speakers of Irish is uncertain.... If for argument’s sake one subtracts about a third, because the officially specified sizes of the Gaeltacht areas are exaggerations and because not everyone, even in the core of these areas, has grown up speaking Irish as a first language, then one reaches a figure of somewhat over 40,000 for the native speakers of all Gaeltacht areas....In fact this figure may in itself be too optimistic. If one considers the number of persons in the Gaeltacht who use Irish on a daily basis outside education – 17,687 – and compares it to the population of the entire state – 3,990,863 – then one reaches a percentage figure of 0.44%. Given that the number of active native speakers is probably not higher than that of those in the Gaeltacht who use Irish on a daily basis outside education, then the percentage of active native speakers in present-day Ireland would be between around 0.5%, i.e. 20,000 or perhaps a little above that."	Government, business, in the city, social gatherings	English	Official language in Republic of Ireland, official language of the European Union as of 2007		Compulsory school subject in Ireland, Irish-medium school in Belfast, Irish-language radio and television	Virtually all speak English	Endangered (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	12	"Chief among the reasons for the retreat of Irish is that young people – typically teenagers – who are growing up in Irish-speaking households very often do not use Irish amongst themselves, especially if there are English-speaking coevals with them." "Those few areas where Irish is strongest are characterised by the use of English in public domains, such as business, banking, the media, etc. Irish is, however, used for communication in the home, exclusively in some instances."	12	14
	17th	2013	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th Edition (2013)			Paul M. Lewis; Gary F. Simons; and Charles D. Fennig	Dallas, Texas: SIL International			http://www.ethnologue.com Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th Edition (2013)		Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.				106,210		100000	"72,000 in Ireland (2006 census). Less than 20,000 L1 speakers (Salminen 2007). Population total all countries: 106,210."			Taught as an official language in schools and encouraged by the government.				Vulnerable (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	11	"Widely used as L2 in all parts of the country (2007). A number of children learn the language but the number is decreasing (2007)."			Western isles northwest and southwest coasts; Galway, part of Mayo, Kerry, Donegal, Meath, Cork, and Waterford. Also in Canada, United Kingdom, United States.
		2011	Irish Census Profile 9: What we know	Irish Census				Dublin, Ireland	Stationery Office	http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/census/documents/census2011profile9/Profile,9,What,we,know,full,doc,for,web.pdf		Irish Central Statistics Office. 2011. Irish Census, Profile 9: What we know. Dublin: Stationery Office.		Aged 65 and above: 16,367	Aged 25-64: 41,209	77,185	2011 (census)	10000-99999	These figures represent the Republic of Ireland and do not include the speakers in Northern Ireland. These figures represent the number of respondents to the Irish census who reported speaking Irish on a daily basis outside of the educational system. In nearly all age groups, more women reported speaking Irish than men.							Vulnerable (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	11

Irish

Language metadata

Language information by source

Endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,000-40,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20,000

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

106,210

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

77,185

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

44,000

Discussion

Irish

Language metadata

Language information by source

Endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,000-40,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20,000

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

106,210

Vulnerable

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

77,185

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

44,000

Discussion

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Sources of information

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