Irish-Speaking in the Pre-Famine Period: A Study Based on the 1911 Census Data for People Born before 1851 and Still Alive in 1911

Abstract:The object of this paper is to provide detailed geographical data on the level of Irish-speaking amongst those who were aged 60 or more in 1911, these being survivors of the generation born during or not long before the Famine. Whilst some of those born during this period who were brought up as Irish-speakers in areas within which subsequent generations no longer spoke the language will have lost their command of Irish later in life, these data are presented as offering at least a minimum figure for Irish-speaking in each area in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The use of data from the 1911 census in respect of dispensary districts and the smaller district electoral divisions provides a much more detailed indication of the geographical spread of the language during the period in question than could be provided by my earlier paper on this subject. That paper, offering data in respect of those born in each of the decades between 1770 and 1870, was based on age data for Irish-speaking from the 1851 to 1881 censuses of population-and those earlier censuses provided data only in respect of much larger geographical areas, viz. baronies. The validity of the 1911 census 60+ data as a method of deriving estimates of Irish-speaking in the period before the Famine is discussed. The pattern and scale of monoglot Irish-speaking in 1911 amongst those aged 60 and over is also presented.