Attitudes to language and bilingualism in residential care for older persons in Ireland

Abstract

Language as a primary vehicle for communication and cognition is intimately linked to the construction of identities and social relationships, and to social participation and inclusion. By means of appraisal analysis (a tool grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics) of interview data, we explored attitudes to language(s), speakers and language use in a nursing home for older people in Ireland, where a large proportion of residents and staff are bilingual in Irish and English. We found that in their interviews, participating residents accord high value to their bilingualism and status of native Irish speakers. Participating staff members emphasize the value of Irish for relationship building and positive interactions among residents and staff. Residents’ strong bilingual identities and language preferences set a standard for deliberately bilingual practices, which affirm the local linguistic and cultural identity, while also actively including non-Irish speaking residents by treating both languages as resources for belonging.