Irish, The Corpse That Sits Up And Talks Back Analysis

In “Why I Choose to Write in Irish, the Corpse that Sits Up and Talks Back”, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill argued for the survival of minority languages, especially her own Gaeilge (Irish) language. She compared the issue of preserving minority languages as important as the issue of the “preservation of the remaining rain forests is for biological diversity”. She fears that the death of minority languages and the dominance of English would “reduce everything to the level of most stupendous boredom”. (53)

The author did not bash on the English language, only that if all other minority languages died and it was the only one that remained then the lack of diversity will just be plain dull. She also pointed out how the imaginative depth of Irish as a language is just so much more so than English that it is sometimes impossible to translate Irish thoughts to English without sounding like a lunatic, without sounding absurd. She argued that English is more

(46) As such, she described it as

“…a language of enormous elasticity and emotional sensitivity; of quick and hilarious banter and a welter of references both historical and mythological; it is an instrument of imaginative depth and scope, which has been tempered by the community for generations until it can pick up and sing out every hint of emotional modulation that can occur between people.” (47)

An example of this imaginative depth inherent in the Irish language that is limited in its English translation is the concept of the “otherworld”. The author pointed out that this is a concept widely recognized and accepted as real by the Irish speakers, but not so by the English speakers. The Irish sees the otherworld as an alter-reality, something that exist side-by-side with our reality; whereas the only way to describe it in English leads to it being just a figment of the imagination, something not felt or present.