Tírdhreach agus Teanga – Language and Landscape – Cruth na Tìre agus Cànan

Please note that this is an in-person event with limited tickets.

Ireland, Scotland and Wales have long and rich traditions of multilingual engagement with the landscape, both natural and built. Their landscapes have inspired great literature, which  in turn has influenced landscape design and representation. Informed by the consultation process that preceded the publication of a new national heritage plan, Heritage Ireland 2030 (February 2022), this conference explores the linked legacies of language and landscape. How has the physical environment been reflected in language and literature? How can cultural and linguistic heritage be given recognition in national heritage policy? How does the language in which a landscape is read, imagined and described shape processes of interpretation and evaluation? The conference will investigate how the assessment and management of a country’s heritage might accommodate questions of language, possibly the most intangible yet significant of its attributes.

Invited speakers will address topics ranging from the Dinnshenchas of medieval Ireland, through representations in later literary genres and in the material cultures of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, to the contemporary context of Northern Ireland’s Place-Name Project. It will conclude with a performance of songs in Irish and Scottish Gaelic that will embody aspects of the conference theme.

Is dlúthchuid de thraidisiúin bhuacacha chianársa na hÉireann, na hAlban agus na Breataine Bige é aird a dhíriú go hilteangach ar an tírdhreach, idir tógtha agus nádúrtha. Spreag tírdhreach na dtíortha sin ardlitríocht a chuaigh i bhfeidhm ina huain ar dhearadh agus ar shamhlú an tírdhreacha féin. Faoi anáil an phróisis chomhairliúcháin as ar eascair an plean oidhreachta náisiúnta Oidhreacht Éireann 2030 (Feabhra 2022), fiosróidh an chomhdháil seo oidhreacht chomhnasctha na teanga agus an tírdhreacha. Cén chaoi a léirítear cruth na tíre sa teanga féin agus sa litríocht? Cén chaoi ar féidir aitheantas a thabhairt don oidhreacht teanga agus chultúir i bpolasaí oidhreachta an Stáit? Cén tionchar ar phróisis an léirmhínithe agus an mheasúnaithe a bhíonn ag na teangacha trína léitear, trína samhlaítear agus trína gcuirtear síos ar an tírdhreach?

Tabharfaidh aoichainteoirí páipéir a scrúdóidh an léargas a thugtar ar an tírdhreach in iliomad seánraí liteartha agus sa chultúr ábharach araon. Tosófar le Dinnshenchas na meánaoiseanna in Éirinn agus uaidh sin anuas trí na haoiseanna chuig tionscnamh reatha na logainmneacha i dTuaisceart Éireann. Cuirfear clabhsúr ar an gcomhdháil le cur i láthair amhrán i nGaeilge na hÉireann agus na hAlban, bunaithe ar ghnéithe de théama an lae.