Back Gaeltacht Afrikaans جيلتخت Arabic Gaeltacht AST Гэлтахт Byelorussian Гэлтахт BE-X-OLD Gaeltacht Breton Gaeltacht Catalan Gaeltacht Czech Gaeltacht Welsh Gaeltacht Danish
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A Gaeltacht (/ˈɡeɪltəxt/ GAYL-təkht, Irish: [ˈɡeːl̪ˠt̪ˠəxt̪ˠ], pl. Gaeltachtaí) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.[1] The Gaeltacht districts were first officially recognised during the 1920s in the early years of the Irish Free State, following the Gaelic revival, as part of a government policy aimed at restoring the Irish language.[2]
The Gaeltacht is threatened by serious language decline.[3] Research published in 2015 showed that Irish is spoken on a daily basis by two-thirds or more of the population in only 21 of the 155 electoral divisions in the Gaeltacht. Daily language use by two-thirds or more of the population is regarded by some academics as a tipping point for language survival.[4][5]
- ^ Webster's Dictionary – definition of Gaeltacht
- ^ Maguire, Peter A. (Fall 2002). "Language and Landscape in the Connemara Gaeltacht". Journal of Modern Literature. 26 (1): 99–107. doi:10.2979/JML.2002.26.1.99. S2CID 161439552.
- ^ Mac Donnacha, Joe, 'The Death of a Language', Dublin Review of Books, Issue 58, 16 June 2014: http://www.drb.ie/essays/the-death-of-a-language
- ^ RTÉ News Report of Friday 29 May 2015
- ^ NUASHONRÚ AR AN STAIDÉAR CUIMSITHEACH TEANGEOLAÍOCH AR ÚSÁID NA GAEILGE SA GHAELTACHT: 2006–2011