ge carries within it the hidden and not so hidden codes of its speakers' worldview. In terms of mythic significance, it is important to emphasize the "speaking" aspects of language: literature is always slightly abstracted, slightly intellectual - the speaking language of rhythm, shading, volume and pause is the truer reflection of the linguistic psyche.
The Irish more than any other people are aware of the important role language plays in their character, both as individuals and as a national identity. Irish poet-playwright-cultural figure William Butler Yeats, who will be much quoted and discussed throughout the pages of this paper, would write, "Gaelic is my national language but it is not my mother tongue." Meanwhile Padraic Colum, another Irish cultural figure to be much utilized in these pages, describes an Irish "poet and scholar who, when asked at his entrance into Dublin University what languages he knew, replied, 'Latin, Greek, Hebrew,' and added, 'but I dream in Irish.'"
It has been the particular tragedy of the Irish people that during se
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