1.00pm-2.00pm, Wednesday 11 February 2015

Lecture Theatre, Public Record Office, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ

There was little in this lecture about Ulster Gaelic (Ulidian)  and I think that this language should be standardised. And, as Pannu Petteri Höglund of Åbo Academi Universty has written, another important question is that of specifically East Ulster (Ulidian) words. Ciarán Ó Duibhin has collected a list of them which can presently be browsed on his web pages. The work of the language movement is not only about preservation, it is also about reanimation and restoration; and although cynical observers might scorn this, it should be noted that the need to understand the work of the old regional poets, such as Art Mac Cumhthaigh, remains a major source of interest in Gaelic among the people of Northern Ireland, including Protestants. There is thus a certain necessity to study and teach their language and its specific words to learners who take an interest in their native district’s Gaelic past; and it is quite possible that features of the language of these poets could find their way into written, maybe even spoken Gaelic as it is cultivated in Northern Ireland. However, such a development should not impede the other important goal of the language movement in Ulster, that of keeping the West Ulster language (Northern Irish) alive in Donegal; on the other hand, many East Ulster (Ulidian) words are shared in Islay and Argyll and could thus make that language more accessible to Ulster Gaeilgeoirí.