Irish on the air: Media, discourse, and minority language development

Linguists have long pointed to the modern mass media as one of the main culprits in the worldwide erosion of minority languages and dialects. While the media get the blame for their role in the recent, accelerated obsolescence of languages, how they function in this role has not in fact been explored. Neither have the counter-examples--of minority-language speakers using the media to promote their socially or historically disfavored language--become part of mainstream discussion of the media's role in the death or preservation of language.;These counter-examples, of which Irish is one, give a broader framework from which to examine the media's impacts. The research here will investigate how Irish-language radio in Ireland is used for the development of an endangered language that some already consider obsolete. The discussion of the Irish example is intended to increase understanding of the media's role in language-death processes, as well as to advance the use of pragmatic or discourse-level analyses in endangered-language research.;The two Irish-language stations under consideration provide useful but differing evidence concerning the practices of a minority language producing language within a particular discourse domain. One attempts to conserve existing linguistic practices as they occur in everyday use in traditional, rural Irish-speaking communities, or Gaeltachts, and the other promotes innovative use of language in an urban environment. Also included is a review of language-use strategies in place at the urban station (to deal with the limitations of non-fluent speakers in a bilingual discourse environment in which fluency is expected), and an account of the presence of English discourse markers or pragmatic particles that occur in Irish talk on the air.;The Irish case provides a basis of comparison for other work on linguistic, social, and political effects in bilingual cultures. It more fully explicates the potential positive role of media in minority-language development, and illustrates other possible linguistic practices that can be used to encourage regeneration of a dying language by expanding the contracting language's domain of use through broadcast media channels.