A national language is useful as one means of creating social cohesion at the level of the whole country. It is also a symbol of national identity and of a nation's distinction from other countries. Probably no nation will ever be fully satisfied with a language that is a national language in the symbolic sense only, but the symbolic function of a…

Attempts to ascertain why Irish revivalist efforts have not led to a revitalization of the language of the type associated with Hebrew. Analyzes the historical issues surrounding these efforts outside the "Gaeltacht" community, with a view to understanding the conditions and processes that should have existed for revitalization. (33…

Examines the question of language revitalization against the background of the use of Hebrew as the language of public life in Israel and of Irish as an official language of Ireland. Notes that the organizing principles of nationalism are complex and disputed. The different linguistic outcomes in these two countries point up the complexity and…

Argues that there is no pressure to make Irish an official language in Northern Ireland because the sociolinguistic preconditions for bilingualism do not exist. The article demonstrates that those Irish who do not speak or learn Irish have no less a sense of having an Irish identity than do fluent speakers or those learning Irish. (26 references)…