Newfoundland Irish
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| Newfoundland Irish Gaeilinn Talamh an Éisc |
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| Spoken in: | Canada | |
| Region: | Newfoundland, mostly on Avalon Peninsula | |
| Total speakers: | none; extinct | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Goidelic Irish Newfoundland Irish |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | ga | |
| ISO 639-2: | gle | |
| ISO 639-3: | gle | |
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Newfoundland Irish (Irish: Gaeilinn Talamh an Éisc) is a dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland and widely spoken until the mid-20th century[citation needed] . It is very similar to the language heard in the southeast of Ireland centuries ago, due to mass immigration from the counties Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Cork.
Seven English colonies were established by royal charter in Newfoundland between 1610 until 1628, and London-based mercantile companies used Celtic-speaking peasants to settle each one. The colonists were primarily Welsh peasants but there were also many Irish peasants who usually only spoke Irish. The language was commonly spoken in rural areas until the mid-20th century. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that as many as 90% of the Irish immigrants to Newfoundland in the 17th and 18th centuries only spoke Irish.[citation needed]
Court records show that defendants often required Irish-speaking interpreters, which indicates that the dominant language in many areas of the Avalon Peninsula was Irish rather than English. Ecclesiastical documents bolster this case; for example, in the mid-1760's a Methodist missionary named Reverend Laurence Coughlan converted virtually the whole North Shore to Methodism. Observers credited the success of his evangelical revival at Carbonear and Harbour Grace to the fact that he was fluently bilingual in English and Irish. Meanwhile the Roman Catholic bishops also realized the importance of Irish-speaking priests. In letters to Dublin Bishop James Louis O'Donel requested a Franciscan missionary for the parishes of St. Mary's and Trepassey, indicating that it was absolutely necessary that he should speak Irish.
A 2001 census report indicates that there are 10 men in Newfoundland whose mother tongue is a Gaelic language [1]PDF (8.25 KiB). However, the report does not specify which Gaelic languages are included in this figure. In principle, it is possible that these 10 people speak Newfoundland Irish; however, it is also possible that they are immigrants from Ireland who speak "Irish" Irish. Scholars at Memorial University of Newfoundland have concluded that Newfoundland Irish became extinct during the 20th century [2].
Both the Irish language and Hiberno-English have had a clear and noticeable impact on the dialect of English spoken in Newfoundland, known as Newfoundland English.
Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with its own distinctive name in the Irish language, Talamh an Éisc, literally "Land of the Fish [singular]" but meaning "the Fishing Ground".[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Newfoundland: The Most Irish Place Outside of Ireland
- Dictionary of Newfoundland English Online
- Statistics Canada 2001 Census InformationPDF (15.3 KiB)
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