Twitter and the Irish Language, #Gaeilge -- Agents and Activities: Exploring a Data Set with Micro-Implementers in Social Media

This paper considers agentic-activities relating to the Irish language on Twitter and who is engaged with them? To answer this question, this study draws on Twitter data and filters it using the linguistic identifiers, '#Gaeilge' and the word 'Gaeilge' (Irish language). Tweets with these identifiers are conceptually considered as formulations of agentic practice with respect to language (Sabatier, P. [2007]. "Theories of the Policy Process." Boulder, CO: Westview Press). Individuals who use the #Gaeilge identifier in particular are viewed within this study as micro-implementers. Their communications provide partial insight into agentic activities within the Twittersphere specifically, related to and about the Irish language. To explore this data, peak, network, content and sentiment analyses were conducted. The study's findings illustrate that there are a number of influential hubs in this network. They are in the main micro-level individuals as opposed to macro-level or governmental institutions promoting the Irish language. This paper demonstrates the potential for in-depth research into agentic practices of minority linguistic communities within Twitter, and outlines the limitations of a computational approach in conducting such research.