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Darian Wyatt Professor Diane Godfrey GCU 114 15 April 2014 Irelands Loss of Cultural Diversity Over the past decades, many countries are experiencing a loss of cultural diversity. Language death, cultural death, and a loss or replacement of certain traits among a group of people are the main issues in all countries experiencing a loss of cultural diversity. Upon the long list of countries experiencing a loss of cultural diversity, Ireland can be found. Though Ireland isnt one of countries that has the worst case of a loss in cultural diversity, its issues in language death and the loss or replacement of certain traits in the Irish culture are being taken seriously by Irish government and its people. Language death is defined as the complete displacement of one language by another in a population of speakers. What this means is that language death is basically when new language or another language slowly take of the area till all other smaller languages have replaced. When the last people of a small language dies, the language dies along with it due to the fact that the new generations arent learning the original language of their people but the new introduced language instead. Though Ireland hasnt experienced language death, at the rate it is experience language loss; language death is not far behind. Today, language loss is the main issue happening in Ireland linked to a loss of cultural diversity. The language in Ireland that is at risk for dying is the

Irish language, also known as Irish Gaelic or Gaelic. Arriving in Ireland in the fourth century AD the language began to evolve and became the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history and was the dominant language spoken by the Irish people for most of the countries recorded ancient history. The language first became at risk during the seventeenth century and significantly increased in the nineteenth century due to a combination of the Great Famine of 18451852 (when Ireland lost 2025% of its population either to emigration or death) and the overtake and the British rule. After the two, the number of Irish speakers decreased and was recorded at less than 15% of Irelands population. Since then the language continues to be loss due to new generations of Irish people not being taught the language but instead the languages that are taking over the Irish language. So what is Ireland doing to prevent the Irish language from becoming extinct? Today schools are teaching the language to Irelands future generations. The people of Ireland are also teaching the language to their young as teaching it to themselves. They are even putting together public marches to protest to protect and bring back the Irish language. With a combination of the peoples concerns as well as Irelands government being concern in the loss of this historical language, there is hope in saving the Irish language.

(The image above shows a group of protestors marching in Dublin Ireland in 2005 for the promotion of saving the Irish language. IMAGE URL: http://media.irishcentral.com/images/MI+Irish-language-march.jpg) The other thing that puts Ireland on the list for a loss of cultural diversity is a loss or replacement of certain traits among a group of people. What I mean by this is many old Irish traditions are extinct due to new traditions being introduced to Ireland. Any example of some traditions that can no longer be found in Ireland today would be Irish blessing, old Irish wedding traditions, and Irish death traditions. All of these traditions where a big part of old Irish and the people that lived in that time but have been lost in todays modern Ireland. Though somethings have been lost to the 21st century, Ireland is working hard to save some of their cultural diversity. I think many countries should follow in the footsteps of Ireland in a way that they too should try and revive ancient languages. If all countries with languages in

danger work hard to teach the young of their people the language, a part of world history can be saved and continued to be passed down from generation to generation.

Citations 1. Carnie, A. (n.d.). Modern Irish: A Case Study in Language Revival Failure. http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~carnie/publications/PDF/En 2. Language death. (2014, August 4). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_death 3. O'Neil, D. (n.d.). Cultural AnthropologyTerms. Cultural Anthropology Terms. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://anthro.palomar.edu/tutorials/cglossary.htm#sectC 4. COUNIHAN, P. (2014, February 16). 10,000 march in support of saving the Irish language in Dublin. IrishCentral. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/10000-march-in-support-of-saving-the-Irishlanguage-in-Dublin.html 5. Irish Culture Traditions in Ireland The Celtic Culture. (n.d.). Irish Culture Traditions in Ireland The Celtic Culture. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.yourirish.com/traditions/