Tony Crowley, The Politics of Language in Ireland 1366-1922 (London 2000)

Seán de Fréine, The great silence (Dublin, 1965; 2nd edn, Cork, 1978).

Hindley, Reg (1990) The Death of the Irish Language. London: Routledge.

Brian Ó Cuiv, A View of the Irish Language (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1969)

Wagner, Heinrich, 1958. Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish-Speaking Districts, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

T. F. ORahilly, Irish Dialects Past and Present (Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1932)

The Last of the Celts, Marcus Tanner (Yale University Press, 200_?)

James McCloskey Voices Silenced: Has Irish A Future? (Cois Life)


If so, can you provide a brief, brief summary?

Crowley - haven't read it.

deFréine - a bit rambling but very interesting look at the psychological harm done to the Irish by the rapid changeover from Irish to English language.

Hindley - controversial when published. Use of statistics to 'prove' that Irish would die out unless drastic [but in his mind unlikely] measures were taken.Some of his informants felt betrayed at his use of anecdotal evidence. He has since climbed down somewhat from his bleak viewpoint.

O Cuiv - collection of fine essays on aspects of the language from varying points of view.

Wagner - haven't read it.

O Rahilly - interesting account of dialects if somewhat on the scientific side.

Tanner - tends toward that irritating habit of setting up 'aunt sallys' so that they can be knocked over.

McCloskey - haven't read it.

Seanfhear

GRMA!

I haven't read the mentioned Crowley but you might be interested in what seems to be a continuation of that work:

Tony Crowley, Wars of Words: The Politics of Language in Ireland 1537-2004 (OUP 2005)

It makes a very interesting read.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=nTDqBq367SYC&dq=Wars+of+Words:+The+Politi cs+of+Language+in+Ireland&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=NAMNuonytv&sig=z9Hs kEuk3ztjPK28WIpFAUsFUOI&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA4,M1

Taster

I've got (and read):

- Wagner, Heinrich, 1958. Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish-Speaking Districts, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

(I've got the 1st and 4th volume and I've photocopies of some pages of the 2nd and 3rd volumes).
The first volume first describes the people who have been interviewed to make the atlas, and the places where they live, then it describes the phonetic symbols used, and then the most part of that volume are 300 maps of Ireland (+the Isle of Man) giving the way people say words or short sentences in 88 dialects (even some that are dead now). Every answer is in phonetical transcription, placed on the map, on the place it is used. On the top of the page, there's an orthographic transcription of the most important words/sentences that are in phonetics on the map. At the end of the volume, there's an English index of all the words that have been asked, and an Irish index of all the words and sentences that have been answered by speakers.

The 3 other volumes are divided in chapters, each one being the answers of other questions (translations of words or sentences) in the same places; there are 1175 questions/translations, that have been asked in all of the 88 points (plus 6 or 7 points in Scotland, in the 4th volume). In this volume, there are no maps (except one at the beginning, that shows where are the 88 points), just the list of all the translations the speakers gave. At the end of each chapter, there is a list of some common or interesting words that have also been recorded by Wagner (the author) in the same place. For some places there are shorts texts too.

The 2nd volume gives the stuff that has been recorded in Munster, the 3rd: in Connaught, the 4th: in Ulster, Scotland and the Isle of Man. See: http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/cat/e/e2-7-4.html

My opinion is: it's a must-have if you are interested in Gaeltacht Irish. Of course it's a bit expensive, especially if you buy the 4 volumes at the same time ! But it's worth the money.




- T. F. ORahilly, Irish Dialects Past and Present (Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1932)
>>I've already described it on another thread, I even typed its contents.

"Of course it's a bit expensive, especially if you buy the 4 volumes at the same time ! But it's worth the money. "

All this talk of 'expensive' is bullshit -if you have not got the money to buy a book, then you need to take a break from learning and focus on things like food, shelter, and clothing.

In the case of 50 or 100 dollars as 'expensive' it depends on if you need such a book or not. In most cases one won't and so it would be like burning the money. Getting the right book at the right time is an art, I suppose.

quote:

All this talk of 'expensive' is bullshit -if you have not got the money to buy a book, then you need to take a break from learning and focus on things like food, shelter, and clothing.

Níl achan nduine ábalta €140 a chaitheamh ar leabhair theangeolaíochta, a fhir. Char ins mé sin ach ionas nach mbeadh iontas ar na daoiní nuair a tchífeadh siad praghas na leabharthach sin, sin a’ méid.
Muna dtuigeann tú sin... ’S dócha nach bhfuil achan nduine gomh saidhbhir leat !

I was talking about people complaining about small amounts of money, like 20 for a book, and in the next sentence talk about the destiny of the language -seems small beer in that context.

Cé 'bhí ag gearán fá leabharthaí ar €20 ?

Agus cé a bhí? Ó bhliain go bliain, bíonn cúpla ansiúd agus anseo ag gearán faoi!

Really appreciate the information you've provided, Lughaidh!

And Sgm and Bearn too! Thanks guys.