Britain and Ireland: The Varying Significance of Language for Nationalism

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter we are concerned with two states: the Republic of Ireland (sometimes also referred to in English by its Irish name Eire), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK), along with the UK dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. These two states are commonly referred to as ‘Ireland’ and ‘Britain’, but these terms are problematic, since ‘Ireland’ also designates the island of Ireland, part of which, Northern Ireland, is within the United Kingdom. ‘Britain’ is problematic, since some regard it as synonymous with ‘Great Britain’, which for others means only the larger of the two major islands in the archipelago, or England, Scotland and Wales. I shall refer to the two major islands, with their respective smaller offshore islands, as ‘Ireland’ and ‘Great Britain’ respectively, and I shall refer to the states as ‘the Republic of Ireland’ and ‘the United Kingdom’ or ‘the UK’ respectively. The term ‘United Kingdom’ is appropriate when referring to the state, the political structure, but ‘Britain’ is more appropriate when referring to national identity, since ‘United Kingdom’ is a cold, formal, political designation, with which, I would argue, few identify. I would even suggest that the United Kingdom is a state, a political structure, while Britain is a nation, a human population. This view is supported by the fact that many de jure citizens of the UK, Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland, consider their nationality to be Irish and not British.