LINGUISTIC POLICY EFFECTS OF THE EU ENLARGEMENT

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On the situation of Polish in Ireland
Ewelina Debaene Dept.
of Russian and Slavonic Studies School of
Languges, Literatures and Cultural
Studies Trinity College Dublin
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Some facts about Polish

• The second largest Slavic language after Russian
  - spoken by most of the 38 million inhabitants of
  Poland (census 2002) and there are about 43
  million first language speakers of Polish
  worldwide.
• In 2004 Polish was awarded its status as an
  official language of the EU.
• Notorious for its endless consonant clustres
• W Szczebrzeszynie chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie.

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Polish in Ireland

• There are around 200 000 Poles in Ireland (PPSN)
  (Irish Times Feb. 16, 2007)
• Polish press 3 weeklies, 1 fortnightly, 2
  monthlies
• Polish website
• Irish media Polish Herald, 8-page-long Polish
  supplement, (Media and Multicultural Award for
  the contribution to the integration of cultures)
• Radio broadcast time in Polish
• The TV station City Channel co-produced by the
  most popular Polish news magazine Wiadomosci   
• State exams sat in Polish, both at the Junior
  Certificate and Leaving Certificate levels
  Polish is one of the 15 mother-tongue languages
  examined in the Leaving Certificate level
• Polish infrastructure Polish shops, bars
• Polish religious and cultural organisations
• Ireland's first ever Polish bank is set to open
  in 2007 in Limerick
• Polish schools in Dublin and Limerick
• Scheduled flights on 32 routes between Ireland
  and Poland offered by at least 7 airlines.

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Polish in Ireland (contd) A unique phenomenon

• Polish community in Ireland constitutes
  approximately 5 percent of the whole population.
  There are more speakers of Polish in Ireland than
  the native Irish speakers.
• Poles now constitute about 8 per cent of the
  workforce and are the biggest group of immigrants
  representing one country.
• Rise in commercial value of Polish on the
  linguistic market advertisements (radio/TV),
  professional needs (job ads).

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Polish Language Programmes -Department of Russian
and Slavonic Studies

• Day time programmes European Studies, TSM,
  envisaged also in the School of Business
• Evening programmes
• Collaboration with the the Jagiellonian
  University in Krakow (Socrates Erasmus Exchange)
• Collaboration with the Polish Embassy in Dublin
  summer scholarships to Poland, Polish cultural
  events
• Extramural courses Introduction into Polish
• cultural history in the 20th century
• Thomas Brown lectureship redepolyed from
• Russian to Polish in 2007/2008

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Evening programmes
Courses offered at beginner, lower-intermediate
and advanced levels
Student numbers
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Motivation
1. personal - Polish spouses(-to-be)
2. integrative and instrumental motivation
- response to the changing linguistic landscape
- job requirements
- travels to Poland
- investment in property in Poland
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Support from the Polish Embassy and the Ministry
of Education for the provision and maintenance of
Polish language skills in Ireland

• Patronage over the Polish weekend school in
  Blackrock (since 2005)
• Polish summer courses 12 scholarships funded in
  2007 (Bureau for Academic Recognition and
  International Exchnage 9 Polish for the Best
  3)
• Polish language lectorship in TCD part-funded by
  the Polish Ministery of Education (matched
  funding The Dept. of Russian and Slavonic
  Studies, TCD)

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RESEARCH PROJECT Second language acquisition
and native language maintenance in the Polish
Diaspora in Irealnd and France
Launched in June 2007 in the Polish Embassy in
Dublin Funding body Irish Research Council for
the Humanities and Social Sciences

• Longitudinal research project designed to
  investigate the Polish Diaspora in Ireland from a
  linguistic and social perspective. The main
  focus
• Second language acquisition
• First language maintenance
• Integration into the host
• community

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Areas to be addressed

• How do newly arrived Polish people in Ireland
  acquire and use English?
• How does the acquisition of socio-linguistic
  competence in English relate to their integration
  into the community?
• What difficulties do they encounter?
• Do they transmit Polish language and culture to
  their children and, if they do, how exactly does
  this happen?
• Do people send their children to Saturday school
  to learn Polish or to other Polish institutions
  (social/cultural/religious)?
• Do they pass their Polish traditions onto their
  children?
• How does the acquisition of English take place
  among their children?
• Do the Polish children learn Irish as well as
  English?
• SOCIOLINGUISTIC INTEREST IN THE INFLUENCE OF L2
  ON L1 (switching between language varities),
  Marcelina Szumer Ponglish (Metro, Jan. 31,
  2007)

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Popularity of Polish Possible Threats

• Hindrance to SLA
• Creating a hermetic babble by the Polish
  community (cf. parallel society)
• Limited integration into the host culture
• Ban on the use of Polish in the work place (SIPTU
  intervention)
• The issue of Polish names given to Polish
  children born in Ireland

Some concerns
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Thank you for your attention! Dziekuje!
Ewelina