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Irish ( ), also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of the population. It is considered to be an important part of the island's culture and heritage. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is an official language of the European Union and an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland. A speaker of the language may be called a 'Gaeilgeoir' both in Irish and in English. Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. It began to decline under English and British rule after the seventeenth century. The nineteenth century saw a dramatic decrease in the number of speakers especially after the Great Famine of 1845 � 1852 (where Ireland lost half its population either to emigration or death). Irish-speaking areas were especially hard hit. By the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers (Gaeilgeoirí) have been in the minority except in areas collectively known as Gaeltachtaí (singular: Gaeltacht). Ongoing efforts have been made to preserve, promote and revive the language. Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 to 80,000 people. In the Republic, there are over 72,000 people who use Irish as a daily language outside of education as a spoken vernacular, as well as a larger minority of the population who are fluent but do not use it on a daily basis. While census figures indicate 1.66 million people in the Republic with some knowledge, a significant percentage of these know only a little Irish. Numerous Irish speakers reside in Britain, the United States and other countries. |