The Acquisition of Irish: A Case Study

by a young child, for whom Irish is a second language, English her first. The data on which it is based was recorded by her mother at home over a period of one year — February 1984—March 1985. The child was exposed to the second language in an Irish-medium playgroup (Naionra) for two years and subsequently attended an Irish-medium national school. The home language is mainly English but Irish is spoken in a limited number of contexts and with certain people. The analysis shows how language em…