Old languages in a new country: publishing and reading in the Celtic languages in nineteenth-century Australia

Abstract

The history of the Irish language in nineteenth-century Australia, and of its use among Irish immigrants, is not very clear. On the one hand, Patrick O’Farrell has maintained that the Irish were overwhelmingly anglophone on arrival or else assimilated linguistically with great rapidity; on the other hand, Dympna Lonergan has maintained that Irish did survive as a spoken language for some time. It is difficult to decide between these two positions. Historians rely principally on written documentation for evidence of past behaviour, but it is not necessarily a reliable guide to spoken language.