Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Wed 01 Jan 2010Slipping into the broad tongue in a truly multicultural land
It is often the butt of jokes, but a new TG4 film about but the Ulster- Scots language takes a different approach, writes FIONOLA MEREDITH
THE MOST STRIKING thing about The Hamely Tongue – Cultúr Ceilte, a documentary about Ulster-Scots to be shown on TG4 tonight, is that it avoids both mockery and hostility: the usual default positions. Instead, director Deaglán Ó Mocháin, an Irish language activist, has made a generous and engagingly open-minded film – offered in the spirit of comradeship – which traces the surprisingly radical history of the Ulster-Scots people, and finds common ground between the two linguistic and cultural traditions.
Choose a Subscription type - required
