Summary

The article discusses the profound impact of the Irish language on thought and emotion, emphasizing the unique cultural and cognitive perspectives it provides, which are at risk as the language declines.

Abstract

The essay delves into the philosophical and linguistic implications of language loss, using the Irish language as a case study. It posits that language shapes our worldview and emotional experiences, as illustrated by the distinct expressions and idioms in Irish that convey a sense of custodianship, impermanence, and mysticism. The author references the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to argue that language influences our perception of reality, suggesting that Irish speakers may perceive the world differently due to linguistic structures and sounds inherent in the language. The article also touches on the historical context of Irish, its decline amid globalization, and the cultural significance of its unique phonetics and storytelling traditions. It concludes by reinforcing the idea that language is a foundational element of culture and thought processes, with the Irish language serving as a poignant example of the depth and nuance that can be lost when a language dwindles.

Opinions

The author believes that the loss of a language, such as Irish, entails the loss of a unique way of thinking and feeling about the world.
It is suggested that the Irish language, with its particular expressions and structures, fosters a sense of custodianship over possessions and a perception of emotions as transient states.
The essay supports the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that language shapes and limits our understanding of the world (linguistic determinism) and that different languages can lead to different perceptions of reality (linguistic relativity).
The author implies that the phonetic elements of Irish, rich in vowels and certain consonants, contribute to a distinct emotional resonance and cultural identity.
The article acknowledges the historical significance of the Irish language in preserving ancient texts and fostering a culture of poetry, music, and mystical storytelling.
The author hints at the idea that learning a new language can fundamentally alter one's thought patterns, as depicted in the science fiction film "Arrival."
There is an underlying advocacy for the preservation of the Irish language to maintain the rich tapestry of cultural diversity and cognitive perspectives it represents.

The mysticism of the Irish Language

When a language is lost, the feeling it shaped within all of its speakers, is lost too. This is not something we can quantify or qualify, but as languages are products of cultures developing, how we give articulation to our thoughts matters. Language matters. As the philosopher of language Wittgenstein famously put it,

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

This essay will discuss the limitations of language on thought with a focus on the Irish language to illustrate this.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: Austrian-British Philosopher of Language, Logic, Mind, and Mathematics¹.Wikipedia, creative commons

While research has since shown that private internal thought is not fundamentally limited by the limitations of a particular language. Feeling physical or emotional pain is an example of this in practice and a longstanding frustration for doctors attempting to understand the suffering of their patients. As the playwright Brian Friel summarises,

“it can happen that a civilisation can be imprisoned in a linguistic contour which no longer matches the landscape of fact.”

Dying languages, like that of the Irish language raise the matter of what is lost of ‘a soul of a nation’ or the emotional connection a group of language speakers have to the world around them. Do they find sufficient tools within their vocabulary to describe the world around them from the community which their language? Moreover, is language fundamentally limited by the world itself since it came from it to begin with?

For those unaware, in the midst of globalisation and generations of decline, the Irish language is on the wane. Cultures are made up of the people who define them and they are constantly changing, Irish is one of the many languages around the world to ebb away amid globalisation and colonisation. While much is gained with those changes, much is also lost too.

The historical decline of the Irish language illustrated visually on a regional basis.

So when we lose a language we lose a manner of not only thinking through language but a way of feeling about the world. On the most basic of levels, people see this when they hear others refer to ‘French as the language of love’ and so on. People think and feel in their languages as they relate to the world around them. For the Irish it can be a feeling of mysticism.

Linguistic determinism

Common expressions in a language can exemplify that relationship along with material and indeed spiritual values to the world. Irish Gaelic has its expression for ‘thank you’ as ‘go raibh maith agat’ which literally means ‘may there be good with you’. Moreover, ‘hello’ would translate literally in the Irish language as ‘God be unto you’ or ‘dia duit’.

In the English language one might state typically ‘the pen is mine’ but an Irish speaker would say ‘is liomsa an peann’ which translates to ‘the pen is with me’. From which the speaker may derive more of a sense of custodianship than of possession.

An additional example may be an Irish speaker stating ‘tá athás orm’ or meaning ‘there is joy on me’ rather than plainly stating ‘I am happy’. The speaker may potentially derive from that, a greater sense of impermanence around that state of joy.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that this happens from linguistic relativity in terms of how a culture through a language affects one another. That in essence, if you speak one language you can’t properly understand the same thing in another. The examples above from the Irish language and those I will note later, attempt to show this. Their thesis also links into linguistic determinism which essentially means how you speak defines how you understand reality itself. So if say in one language, you only refer to things from a perspective of ‘this feeling is upon me’ as in the Irish language versus ‘I am X feeling’ in the English language, your own personal relationship to yourself and the feelings you have might be inclined to be understood by you, the language speaker, as more permanent in English than say in the Irish language.

Sometimes for the Irish even to this day in the English speaking predominance some words hit their marks bang on in a way an English word might not. ‘Uafásach’ or ‘terrible’ is one of my favourite examples of this. It just feels apt to describe something bad.

A vibrating tuning fork will excite an adjacent tuning fork of the same note. Music and sound can have effects on us broadly, this is why sometimes we crave the happy songs when we are down or a sad piece of music when we are down. We are impacted by sound and language can impact our feelings on the world around us. While this is may sound spurious, if you have ever run a mile without music playing or with it, you know the difference. It is a motivational aid.

Different sounds in languages can matter too. The Irish language has twice as many ‘a’ and ‘i’ letters within it and half as many ‘e’ and ‘t’ letters compared to English. Furthermore, about 20% more vowels are used within the Irish language broadly and a higher percentage of letters ending with the letter ‘n’. Babies cry with the sound of ‘a’. As horrific as it can be to hear at times as a parent, we are hardwired to act when we hear it in order to help keep the child alive. It is a natural sound.

Some different spiritual traditions around the world use the ‘a’ sound in chants to purify and get some form of the connotative power of that sound in their practices. Onomatopoeically the higher use of certain sounds in a language, can have an impact on your feelings to the world around you.

Therefore, if we take it that such sounds have an impact and subscribe to the ideas of both linguistic determinism and relativity, we could find merit in the idea that Irish language speakers have a different way of looking at the world. The ‘land of saints and scholars’ as Ireland was known, arguably was so in part, from the impact of the Irish language enlivening a culture of poetry, music and mystical storytelling. The author Thomas Cahill even made the claim that the Irish saved western civilisation, through the efforts of diligent efforts of early Irish Christian monks to keep ancient texts alive. Be that an argument stretched or not, depending on your view. There is no denying the traditions of storytelling and song within Irish culture historically.

All of us have different feelings on the world around us, the language we relate to it has an impact. In an extreme manner, the film ‘Arrival’ looked at this idea and more particularly on the idea of linguistic determinism to examine what it would mean to learn a new language and think differently as a result. So differently in fact, that the brain’s neuroplasticity allowed one redefine its relationship to the perceptions of temporal reality itself. Science fiction indeed, though for those wondering about why we think the way we think along with, why do we say things this way or that… Such stories matter and bring awareness to controversial the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

The visual language of an alien species from the film ‘Arrival’. Credit Paramount Pictures.

To conclude, all languages may have some impact on how we think and feel about the world around us. It matters because so much of our culture and predispositions are sourced from our language to begin with.