The Speckled People:A study in language ecology in Ireland. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barnes, Lawrie
• Is Part Of: English Academy review. Volume 34:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 99
• Page End: 114
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: bilingualism -- code-switching -- endangered languages -- family bilingualism -- Hugo Hamilton -- Irish language -- language ecology -- language maintenance -- language shift -- multilingualism -- onomastic erasure -- The Speckled People; South African literature (English) -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; English language -- Africa -- Periodicals; 820.9968
• DOI: 10.1080/10131752.2017.1333229
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1013-1752

Abstract

Abstract : In Hugo Hamilton's The Speckled People (2003. Glasgow: Harper Collins) the changing linguistic landscape of Ireland is viewed through the eyes of Hugo, who was brought up in an Irish-German bilingual home. This article examines Hugo's childhood memoirs from an ecological perspective. Applying the analogy of an ecosystem to the linguistic landscape portrayed in the book, three contrasting linguistic worlds are identified: Irish, German and English. The Irish world relates to the world of Hugo's father, a nationalist who is dedicated to the revival of the Irish language, while the German world relates to the world of his mother and is closely linked to her past in Nazi Germany. The article examines the interplay between these different worlds, recognizing the role of code-switching in portraying them. It highlights the significance of name changes, which are viewed as onomastic erasure in the discourse of decolonization. There is also a focus on the role of the Gaeltacht in preserving the Irish language, drawing an analogy to the preservation of an endangered species in a nature reserve. Throughout, the present is viewed against the backdrop of Ireland's long history of oppression in which English played the role of a killer language, destroying the ecological balance.