Codeswitching, identity and ownership in Irish radio comedy

This article analyses data from a very popular radio comedy sketch show in Ireland in order to shed light on the ways in which the comedy harnesses, reflects and refracts attitudes towards language ownership, identity and practice in the Republic of Ireland. The specific focus is on a type of sketch in which a certain type of code-mixing and the politics of language in Ireland are central to the comic appeal of the sketch.We highlight some of the most salient aspects of language choice and use in Ireland today and we argue that the comedy in question, in particular the pragmatics of the codeswitching and mixing, can only be fully understood if it is situated within the wider context of the current status of Irish. We analyse how the comedy constructs the participants and the audience in relation to identity and language and we find that the attitudes conveyed in this construction are highly ambivalent as regards ownership and use of Irish.