爱尔兰语

爱尔兰语(Irish language)

或称爱尔兰盖尔语（Irish Gaelic language）

爱尔兰的塞尔特语（Celtic language），以拉丁文书写，约於西元5世纪由基督教引入。爱尔兰语的发展大致分为三个时期：古爱尔兰语（Old Irish，西元前7世纪至西元950年）、中古爱尔兰语（Middle Irish，约西元950～1200年）和现代爱尔兰语（Modern Irish，约自西元1200年开始）。欧甘文字（Ogam writing）较古爱尔兰语早。古爱尔兰语和中古爱尔兰语为传递散文和诗等丰富文学的工具。古典现代爱尔兰语在爱尔兰和苏格兰盖尔登（Gaeldom）为高等文学媒介，且一直延续至现代。（参阅Scottish Gaelic language）。爱尔兰语的辨识在英文规则影响下式微，至1800年成为无书写形式的语言，这般消逝和转变起因於爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒（Irish Potato Famine），以及之後大幅提升英语而急遽削减了爱尔兰语使用者的数量。爱尔兰语在19世纪晚期、20世纪初期被正身为文学用语，而在1921年独立之时成为官方语言。虽然爱尔兰西部沿海确实存在着一小群人所使用的社群语言，成千上万的爱尔兰国民和其後裔亦或多或少地参具备完整爱尔兰语使用能力，此举的可贵之处在於将文化识别能力传承下去，几乎可以肯定爱尔兰语文化仍能在21世纪中存留着。

English version：

Irish language

Celtic language of Ireland, written in the Latin alphabet introduced with Christianity in the 5th century. Irish is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Irish (7th century-c. 950), Middle Irish (c. 950-1200), and Modern Irish (from c. 1200). Ogam writing predates Old Irish. Old and Middle Irish are the vehicles of a rich literature of prose tales and verse. Classical Modern Irish was the exclusive literary medium in Ireland and Scottish Gaeldom into modern times (see Scottish Gaelic language). Literacy in Irish declined under English rule; by 1800 it was all but an unwritten language. The deaths and emigration resulting from the Irish Potato Famine and a massive shift to English afterward drastically reduced the number of Irish-speakers. Irish was revived as a literary language in the late 19th and early 20th century, and with Irish independence (1921) it was made official. Though it is a true community language only for a small number of people on Ireland's western coast, hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens and people of Irish descent have partial to complete competence in Irish. Its value as a token of cultural identity most likely ensures its survival well into the 21st century.