This article will explore the impact of various language education policies and their measures on Irish Sign Language (ISL) in Irish deaf education. The focus will be on how previous and current policy decisions regarding language education have affected the use and recognition of ISL as a legitimate language in the education system. The article…

Linguistic imperialism--a term used to conceptualize the dominance of one language over others--has been debated in language policy for more than two decades. Spolsky (Language policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004), for example, has questioned whether the spread of English was a result of language planning, or was incidental to…

This paper explores linguistic landscapes and the enactment of public visibility and presence of non-majority linguistic groups in EU member states. Non-majority linguistic groups gain power, visibility and presence through the introduction of bilingual or multilingual signposts on roads, streets, squares, and public buildings in towns and cities…

The apparent gap between positive attitudes and low levels of everyday usage of the language is often cited as one of the greatest challenges facing Irish language revitalisation. In a context of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in the Republic of Ireland, this article reports on a research project which set out to explore the…