Historian battles to save forgotten Ullans
By Conor Macauley
The Irish News, Tuesday January 25 1994
A LITTLE known native Ulster language will become extinct if it does not get government backing, a historian has claimed.
Ullans - a centuries -old mix of Gallic, Norse, English and Norman French - used daily across the north of the province, will die out if it does not get parity of funding with Irish, says Dr Ian Adamson.
Dr Adamson, best known for his thesis that the Cuchulainn legends prove Ulster's historical independence from the rest of Ireland, wants the "hidden" language to get £1 million a year in grants.
He claims Ullans, from which we get the words `sheugh' (ditch), `thole' (endure), `poustie' (strong) and `aiblins' (maybe) is known by 100,000 people across the north.
But Dr Adamson, who is also an Ulster Unionist councillor in Belfast, is so worried about its future that he has set up a special academy to promote its study and encourage its revival.
Ullans, he claims, is particularly strong in pockets around Ballymena, Ballyclare and Lifford, Co Donegal, but is only used at home because people fear being mocked for speaking it.
"It's very difficult to get people to speak it because they are very shy but the further into the country you go, the more of it you will hear.
"People are reluctant to use it in front of strangers who might make fun of them, but they will use it in the family home, although is in decline because of the prevalence of English in the media."
Now he wants Department of Education funding to take Ullans out of "a dark age of four centuries without any formal education or literary-based linguistic research".
He hopes to collect its literature, develop standard study texts and start lessons for enthusiasts.
"It's a language that has developed and has a literary tradition in its own right. I think it's something that people could be proud of."
Dr Adamson, who is a member of the Ultach Trust for the promotion of Irish,
said the study of Ullans might encourage some Protestants to go on and learn
Gaelic. |
