Irish Nation but Which Language? Cultural and Linguistic Nationalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Ireland
Irish Nation but Which Language? Cultural and Linguistic Nationalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Ireland

Summary/Abstract: In modern history Northern Ireland has been home to uneasy community relations. The construction of a collective identity which embraces ethnic and religious diversity, and attracts the politically antagonized Protestant and Catholic communities seems to be a key to the settlement of conflicts. But one of the factors preventing a firmly established inclusive Northern Irish identity is disorientation among Protestants concerning their national belonging. Although by now it is only political loyalty to the United Kingdom that most Ulster Protestants share in a sense of Britishness, they also feel distanced from a communion with Irishness. This complicated Protestant identity kit, however, becomes more explicable with insight into Ireland’s colonial history. In addition to being politically and economically dependent on Britain, the loss of most of its native traditions and ancient vernacular by the late nineteenth century made Ireland a cultural colony as well. The failure of previous fights for political freedom made a group of primarily protestant intellectuals define and decolonize the Irish nation in a cultural sense, thus aiming to shape an independent Irish identity. The following study is mainly concerned with approaches to an ethnically and religiously inclusive Irish identity present in Protestant writings of a cultural-nationalistic orientation at the dawn of the twentieth century, and explores the linguistic identities that the authors, in their different nation-versions, associate with a culturally sovereign but largely English-speaking Irish population.

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