Group Identity, Group Strategies, and Language in Northern Ireland

Abstract

The article discusses the role of language in the intergroup context in Northern Ireland, focusing on speech education. The prevalence and status of speech teaching in Belfast schools vary according to the ethnic type of school, state versus Roman Catholic: The subject is more widespread and is always compulsory in the Catholic sector. The article explores the reasons for this bias from the perspective of ethnolinguistic identity theory (ELIT), combining theoretical predictions with modest, suggestive data from the school context and with findings from social scientific research in Northern Ireland. Thus possible explanations are discussed in terms of their theoretical probability. Speech teaching can be analysed as both a dominant and ethnic group strategy, and it is argued that status in the guise of language standardization is perceived as a means of advancing ethnic group interests. The article concludes with a brief synthesis of findings and speculations relating to the possible existence of ethnolinguistic varieties in Northern Ireland.

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