“Mind your language: the decline of Irish in the nineteenth century”

Alan Fernihough

QMS/QUB

Abstract: Matching complete individual-level data from the 1901 population census to highly disaggregated GIS data, we trace the rapid retreat of the Irish-speaking frontier westwards over the 19^th century. We find that intergenerational language transmission played a key role and occurred across multiple geographical strata. While Irish-speaking within households mattered, we also show that Irish-speaking amongst the previous generation in a person’s district was just as important for language retention. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of education. However, the individual-level relationship between English literacy and Irish-speaking in post-Famine birth is primarily driven by differences in pre-Famine literacy at the district level. Since pre-Famine literacy rates predate the establishment of the national schooling system, this suggests that education’s influence on Irish speaking was driven by economic incentives rather than the activities within the nascent school system. Finally, we highlight several smaller additional economic, cultural, and social forces.