Biography
I am a sociolinguist interested in investigating the conditions in which linguistic diversity is promoted, maintained or lost. This includes aspects of language policy around minority language maintenance, revitalisation and revival, but also pathways towards bi/multilingualism in a broader sense. I explore these issues both at an individual level and at a societal level.
My current research focus is on aspects of language policy and language education policy. I have published on the standardisation of modern Irish and on perceptions of linguistic variation in Irish among teachers and students (primary, post-primary, third level). I am interested in the changing relationship between self and society in the late modern age and in the ways that these changes interact with language.
Research supervision: I am available to supervise research projects in sociolinguistics and in a range of areas across language and language education studies, including research on language and language education policy. I am particularly interested, though not exclusively, in research on Irish and other minority languages.
Tá suim faoi leith agam taighde ar ghnéithe de shochtheangeolaíocht na Gaeilge a stiúradh. Tá mé ar fáil mar stiúrthóir ar thaighde ar an nGaeilge agus fáiltím roimh thionscnaimh a scríobhfar i nGaeilge chomh maith.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Volmering, Nicole; Dunne, Claire M.; Walsh, John; Ó Murchadha, Noel, Irish in Outlook: A Hundred Years of Irish Education, Lausanne, Peter Lang, 2024, 334pp
Ó Murchadha N., Flynn C.J., Teachers as new speakers of a minority language: Identity, speakerness, and ideologies on variation in Irish, International Journal of Bilingualism, 26, (5), 2022, p584 - 600, p584-600
Noel Ó Murchadha & Lauren Kavanagh, Language ideologies in a minority context: An experimental study of teachers' responses to variation in Irish, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 26, (2), 2022, p197 - 220
Standardization, new speakers and the acceptance of (new) standards in, editor(s)W. Ayres-Bennett & J. Bellamy , The Cambridge handbook of language standardization, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp347 - 370, [Michael Hornsby & Noel Ó Murchadha]
Opportunities and challenges in the reform of Junior Cycle language curricula in, editor(s)Murchan, D & Johnston, K. , Curriculum Reform within Policy and Practice: School and system change at second-level in Ireland., London, Palgrave, 2021, pp105 - 124, [Devitt, A. & Ó Murchadha, N.]
Ó Murchadha, N., Review of Immersion Education: Lessons from a Minority Language Context, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2021, p909 - 912
Natasha A. Spassiani, Maria Clince & Noel Ó Murchadha, 'It will make more people feel included if they can talk to them in their first language': The experience of university students with an intellectual disability engaging in a formal Irish Sign Language Course, British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49, (4), 2021, p467 - 474
Noel Ó Murchadha, The Irish language in Ireland: An overview, Linguistic Minorities in Europe, 2021
Standardization, new speakers and the acceptance of (new) standards in, editor(s)W. Ayres-Bennett & J. Bellamy , The Cambridge handbook of language standardization, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp347 - 370, [Michael Hornsby & Noel Ó Murchadha]
Noel Ó Murchadha, Múnlaí teanga na Gaeilge agus an idé-eolaíocht teanga, TEANGA: The journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, 27, 2020, p44 - 64
An Aird ar an Éagsúlacht Teanga, an Daonteangeolaíocht agus Canúintí na Gaeilge [Folk linguistics and the dialects of Irish] in, editor(s)Ó hIfearnáin, T. , An tSochtheangeolaíocht: Taighde agus Gníomh [Sociolinguistics: Research and Practice, Dublin, Cois Life, 2019, [Ó Murchadha, N.]
Noel Ó Murchadha, Review of Normative Language Policy, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 41, (8), 2019, p736 - 738
New speakers and language in the media: Audience design in Breton and Irish broadcast media in, editor(s)Smith-Christmas, C., Ó Murchadha, N., Hornsby, M. & Moriarty, M. , Ideologies and Practices of New Speakers of Minority Languages, London, Palgrave, 2018, [Moal, S., Ó Murchadha, N. and Walsh, J.]
Ó Murchadha, N. & Migge, B., Support, Transmission, Education and Target Varieties in the Celtic Languages, London, Routledge, 2018
New speakers, new concepts? in, editor(s)Smith-Christmas, C., Hornsby, M., Moriarty, M. & Ó Murchadha, N. , Ideologies and Practices of New Speakers of Minority Languages , London, Palgrave, 2018, [Ó Murchadha, N., Smith-Christmas, C., Hornsby, M. & Moriarty, M.]
Ó Murchadha, N. & Flynn, C.J., Language educators' regard for variation in late modernity: Perceptions of linguistic variation in minority contexts, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 22, (3), 2018, p288 - 311
Ó Murchadha, N. & Flynn, C.J., Educators' target language varieties for language learners: Orientation towards 'native' and 'non-native' norms in a minority language context, Modern Language Journal, 102, (4), 2018, p797 - 813
Ó Murchadha, N., Review of Standardizing Minority Languages: Ideologies of authority and authenticity in the global periphery, Language Policy, 17, (3), 2018, p405 - 407
An nua-aoiseacht dhéanach agus ról tosca síceolaíochtúla sóisialta san aistriú teangeolaíochta [Late modernity and the role of social psychological factors in linguistic change] in, editor(s)Ó hIfearnáin, T. and Walsh, J. , An Meon Folaithe: Idé-eolaíochtaí agus iompar lucht labhartha na Gaeilge [The Covert Disposition: Ideologies and practices of the Irish-speaking population], Dublin, Cois Life, 2018, [Ó Murchadha, N.]
Ó Murchadha, N., An Ghaeilge sa Nua-Aoiseacht Dhéanach [The Irish Language in Late Modernity], 1, An Spidéal, An Clóchomhar, 2018
Reflections on New Speaker Research and Future Trajectories in, editor(s)Smith-Christmas, C., Ó Murchadha, N., Hornsby, M. & Moriarty, M. , New Speakers of Minority Languages: Linguistic Ideologies and Practices, Palgrave, 2018, pp338 - 353, [Smith-Christmas, C. & Ó Murchadha, N.]
Ó Murchadha, N. & Ó hIfearnáin, T., Converging and diverging stances on target varieties in collateral languages: The ideologisation of linguistic variation in Irish and Manx Gaelic, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2018
Smith-Christmas, C. Ó Murchadha, N., Hornsby, M. & Morisrty, M., New Speakers of Minority Languages: Linguistic Practices and Ideologies, London, Palgrave, 2018
Ó Murchadha, N. & Migge, B., Support, transmission, education and target varieties in the Celtic languages: an overview, Language, Culture and Curriculum, 30, (1), 2017, p1 - 12
Spassiani, N.A., Ó Murchadha, N., Clince, M., Biddulph, K., Conradie, P., Costello, F., Cox, L., Daly, E., Daly, O., Middleton, C., McCabe, K., Philips, M., Soraghan, S. & Tully, K., Likes, dislikes, supports and barriers: the experience of students with disabilities in university in Ireland, Disability & Society, 32, (6), 2017, phttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0968
Language, Culture and Curriculum, 30, 1, (2017), Ó Murchadha, N. & Migge, B., [eds.]
Ó Murchadha, N., The efficacy of unitary and polynomic models of standardisation in minority language contexts: Ideological, pragmatic and pedagogical issues in the standardisation of Irish, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37, (2), 2016, p199 - 215
Authenticity, authority and prestige: Teenagers' perceptions of variation in spoken Irish in, editor(s)Kristiansen, T. and Grondelaers, S. , Experimental studies of changing language standards in contemporary Europe, Oslo, Novus, 2013, pp71 - 96, [Ó Murchadha, N.]
Ó Murchadha, N., Emerging target varieties of Irish as a result of Irish language planning, Caplletra, 53, 2012, p193 - 209
Caighdeáin, caighdeánú agus torthaí ar chaighdeánú na Gaeilge' [Standards, standardisation and the results of the standardisation of Irish] in, editor(s)Farr, F. & Moriarty, M. , Language, Learning and Teaching: Irish Research Perspectives, Berlin, Peter Lang, 2012, pp167 - 194, [Ó Murchadha, N.]
The perception of Standard Irish as a prestige target variety in, Kristiansen, T. & Coupland, N. , Standard Languages and Language Standards in a Changing Europe, Oslo, Novus, 2011, pp97 - 104, [Ó hIfearnáin, T. and Ó Murchadha, N.]
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Walsh, J. & Ó Murchadha, N. et al., Position paper on research themes and profiles related to new speakers of indigenous minority languages, 2015
Ó Murchadha, N., Caighdeánú na Gaeilge' [The Standardisation of Irish], An Linn Bhuí: Iris Ghaeltacht na nDéise, 15, 2011, p109 - 125
Ó Murchadha, N., Caomhnú agus cothú na Gaeilge i gceantar Gaeltachta de chuid Chatagóir B: Cruthú pobal labhartha Gaeilge' [Preserving and sustaining Irish in a Category B Gaeltacht area, An Linn Bhuí: Iris Ghaeltacht na nDéise, 14, 2010, p183 - 188
Ó Murchadha, N., Staid reatha na Gaeilge i nGaeltacht na nDéise' [The current state of Irish in the Déise Gaeltacht], An Linn Bhuí: Iris Ghaeltacht na nDéise, 13, 2009, p140 - 154
Research Expertise
Recognition
Representations
External Examiner, University of Limerick
Member of Advisory Committee for project on 'Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Society'
Member of Management Committee for Cost Action IS1306: New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Opportunities and Challenges
Working Group Leader for COST Action IS1306 (WG 1 and WG7)
External Examiner National University of Ireland, Galway - MA in Language Planning.
Awards and Honours
Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Researcher
FAHSS, Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Limerick
Advanced Scholar, University of Limerick
Memberships
Irish Association of Applied Linguistics
Centre for Applied Language Studies