Event language
UI language
Although Irish holds official and national status in Ireland, it occupies a minoritised position, with relatively few active, habitual speakers alongside a broader base of passive competence shaped by language policy. Since the foundation of the Irish state (Republic of Ireland), terminology development has largely been undertaken by official bodies; however, systematic work on LGBTQ+ terminology has only emerged in recent years. The first part of this paper situates Irish within its sociolinguistic context and examines early, informal efforts to develop LGBTQ+ terminology. It also engages critically with ongoing discussions and the importance of sustained, reciprocal collaboration between grassroots communities and institutional authorities, such as the Irish-language Terminology Committee. The second part focuses on the grassroots methodologies adopted by the Terminology Working Group of the queer arts collective AerachAiteachGaelach (‘GayQueerIrish’). These approaches are contrasted with more traditional top-down institutional models of term creation and dissemination. The paper outlines the group’s processes, including the creation of a tailored Irish-language corpus for term identification, community-wide consultation, and subsequent collaboration with the Terminology Committee to facilitate authoritative uptake and dissemination across the wider Irish-speaking community.
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