What is it about?
This paper investigates 'new speakers' of Irish, fluent and regular speakers who were not raised with Irish but acquired it later in life. Becoming a new speaker of Irish is an emotional experience and interviewees reported a range of emotions including pride, well-being, shame and frustration. The paper considers how the emotional experience of learning a minority language such as Irish differs from language learning in general.
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Why is it important?
Emotions can be powerful and may impede or facilitate the transition from learner to new speaker. Therefore, it is important that we map them and understanding their roles throughout the life cycle. Research in the field has examined emotions and language learning in general, rather than minority languages in particular. The data suggests that the emotional experience is distinct in the case of new speakers of minority languages.
Perspectives
While conducting research on new speakers of Irish, Basque and Catalan, a large amount of the data was coded as 'emotional', leading our research team to the conclusion that this topic was worth investigation in its own right. We found similarities in the emotional experiences reported in the three contexts and the findings also resonated with our own personal experiences as new speakers.
John Walsh
National University of Ireland, Galway
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The role of emotions and positionality in the trajectories of ‘new speakers’ of Irish, International Journal of Bilingualism, July 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1367006917720545.
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