Northern Irish Gaeilgeoirí: an investigation of Irish speakers' identification with the Irish Language

Two groups of Irish speakers from Northern Ireland (NI) participated in the study, one involving third level students from a Catholic, Nationalist or Republican background (CNR). The other involving individuals from a Protestant, Unionist or Loyalist (PUL) tradition, linked to an Irish language centre in Belfast.

The study is framed within a social constructionist paradigm, viewing interaction and experience as central constituents in the construction of individual and collective identities (Jenkins, 2014; Woodward, 2004). Consistent with the research paradigm, a range of narrative inquiry research methods are employed (Esin et al., 2014), combining visual arts, written and spoken narratives. The approach to narrative analysis involves Bucholtz and Hall’s (2004) socio-cultural linguistics framework in conjunction with Braun and Clarke’s (2019) Thematic Analysis model.