It is closely related to Manx ( Gaelg/Gailck) and Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig), the other Goidelic languages. Irish is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, also known as Q-Celtic. Status: an offical language in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland.Writing systems: Ogham, Gaelic script, Latin alphabet.Spoken in: Irish, and also in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia.Language family: Indo-European, Celtic, Insular Celtic, Goidelic.When a distinction needs to be made between Irish ( Gaeilge), Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) and/or Manx ( Gaelg), Irish is referred to as Gaeilge na hÉireann (Irish Gaelic). In Ulster and northern Connacht, Irish is known as Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig or Gaedhlag, In Munster it is known as Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn. In Middle Irish the name was spelled Gaoidhealg, in Classical Irish it was Gaoidhealg, and it was Goídelc in Old Irish. Before the 1948 spelling reform, this was spelled Gaedhilge. The official standard name in Irish is Gaeilge /ˈɡeːlʲɟə/. Irish is known as Irish, Gaelic or Irish Gaelic in English.

In 2011 1,895 people in Australia said that they use Irish as their home language, and it is possible to study Modern and Old Irish at the University of Sydney. There are Irish language courses at some universities and colleges in the USA and Canada. Whether this includes Northern Ireland is not clear.Īccording to the 2005 US census, about 18,815 people spoke Irish at home in the USA, especially in the northeastern states. According to another source, there are about 9,000 fluent speakers of Irish in Britain. Irish is the main home language for about 4,130 people in Northern Ireland. In 2011 the UK census found that 184,898 people in Northern Ireland (10.65% of the population) have some knowledge of Irish, and that 104,943 of them can speak the language to some degree. The main concentrations of Irish speakers are in the Gaeltachtaí, which are scattered mainly along the west coast of Ireland and haveĪ total population of 96,090. There are also Irish speakers in the UK ( RíochtĪontaithe), the USA ( Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá), Canada ( Ceanada) and Australia ( an Astráil).Īccording to the 2016 census, 1.76 million people in Ireland claim to speak Irish 73,803 speak it daily 111,473 speak it weekly 586,535 speak less frequently, and the rest rarely speak it. Irish is a Celtic language spoken in mainly Ireland ( Éire).

Pronounciation anesidora