Irish English – Both Periphery and Centre
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–Irish English – Both periphery and centre IAWE 2019 University of Limerick, 20-22 June 2019 Raymond Hickey, University of Duisburg and Essen Structure of talk Language in Ireland The geography and history of Irish English Typical features of Irish English The spread of Irish English Current research in Irish English studies Irish English in the arena of varieties of English Website for Irish English: www.uni-due.de/IERC Website for Irish English: www.uni-due.de/IERC Language in Ireland Languages present during the history of Ireland pre-Celtic Celtic Latin ScandinavianAnglo-NormanEnglish 3-5c 5-6c-> 8-10c 12-14c 12c –> BCE CE -> The Normans came to Ireland (south-east) in 1169 with some English in their retinue. The Normans settled in the countryside and built fortified towers, called ‘keeps’, while the English settled in towns as tradespeople and craftsmen, in Waterford, New Ross and Kilkenny,for instance. The ruins of a Norman ‘keep’ Language varieties in present-day Ireland Irish English / Scots Northern WesternSouthern Southern Mid-Ulster Ulster Irish English Scots English Northern Ireland (UK) (Mid-Ulster English / Ulster Scots) Republic of Ireland (southern Irish English) The geography of Ireland Provinces: 4 Counties: 32 (26 in the Republic and 6 in Northern Ireland) The names and borders of Irish counties have been stable for centuries. Identification by county is very prominent in Ireland. Dublin is by far the largest city (metro area: at least 1.5m). The other cities are much smaller. Belfast (metro area: 650,000), then Cork (350,000) with Derry, Limerick and Galway all under 200,000 The history of Irish English Periods in the development of Irish English 1) First period Late 12th century to 1600 Establishment of English on the east coast in a band from Dublindown to Waterford. English is above all present in the towns; Anglo-Norman —and of course Irish —is spoken inthe countryside. Increasing Gaelicisationin the centuries after the initial invasion led to the demise of English outside the major towns. The low point for English is reached in the 16th century with Irish in a correspondingly strong position. 2)Second period 1600 to present-day This begins with a decisive military defeat for the Irish. The north of the country is particularly affected with settlers from Lowland Scotland moving to Ulster and establishing a firm presence there. Later on in the 17th century there are vigorous plantations of the south of the country (under Cromwell). By the end of the 17th century, the position of English is unassailable andthe general decline of Irish sets in with events like the Great Famine in the late 1840s and the ensuing mass emigration dealing a final blow to the language. Initial settlement of south- eastern Ireland by Anglo- Normans from Wales as of the late 12th century East coast dialect region Migration of Lowland Scots to Ulster in the 17th century Migration of northern English to mid-Ulster in the 17th century English and Scots in Ulster Present-day dialect divisions in Ulster Spread of English in Ireland Retreat of Irish westwards The Great Famine (1845-8) In the second half of the 19th century the majority of the Irish population shifted to English. By 1900 less than 10% of the population were Irish speakers. Three generations model of language shift G1 Parent: Language A Children: Language A language b G2 Parent: Language A Language B Children: language a Language B G3 Parents and children: Language B Revival of the Irish language The Gaelic League / Conradh na Gaeilge founded in 1893. Figures such as Douglas Hyde / Dubhghlas de hÍde were instrumental in raising conscious- ness about reviving the Irish language in late 19th century Ireland. The revival process has continued with varying degrees of success throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Constitutional status of Irish and English in Ireland The 26 counties of the south of Ireland became independent in 1922 as the Irish Free State. In 1937 the Constitution of Ireland came into force. According to Article 8 Irish is the official language of the country, with English enjoying co-official status. In 1949 the south became the Republic of Ireland and in 1973 became a member of the European Union (then the European Economic Community). There are many Irish-medium schools in Ireland today where English-speaking children are taught in Irish. Sign reads: “Irish school of Waterford” Irish radio and television services are available cuisle na cathrach = ‘the pulse of the city’(Dublin) TG4 (Fourth television channel) a mixed Irish / English service; súil eile = ‘a different eye’ Present-day Irish-speaking areas in Ireland There are about 30- 40,000 native speakers of Irish left on the Western Seaboard in three distinct dialect regions (less than 1% of the entire population of Ireland). If you see this sign, then you are entering an officially designated Irish-speaking area. An Ghaeltacht is a collective term for these areas. The dialects of English in Ireland English in Dublin Dublin < Dubh Linn ‘dark pool’but the usual Irish word for the city is Baile Átha Cliath ‘town at the fortified causeway’. The local pronunciation of Dublin is [dʊblɪn]. Dublin in 1610 Dublin around 1800 Areal view of Dublin looking eastwards down the River Liffey which divides the city into a North and a South side Basic split in Dublin Enregisterment of the North-South divide in Dublin The north side of Dublin is generally working class with a strong local accent (typified in the novels of Roddy Doyle) whereas the south side is more affluent and hence avoids vernacular Dublin English and favours newer varieties variously referred to as ‘D4’(from a key postal district) or ‘Dortspeak’(from the metropolitan railway service). These newer accents have been satirised in a series of novels by the journalist Paul Howard featuring a central character Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (ROCK for short). Roddy Doyle Paul Howard Website for Dublin English: www.uni-due.de/VCDE Pronunciation features of Irish English General monophthong realisation of vowels; IreEng is definitely rhotic. Lack of interdental fricatives (dental stops, alveolar stops in vernacular varieties) thinker # tinker; thank # tank Paddy’s a real “dis, dem and dose”man. Fricative realisation of /t/ (intervocalically and word-finally) city, water ; but, put N.B.: This sound is not [s], i.e. hit and hiss are not homophones. Grammatical features of Irish English Supraregional structures Verbal aspect (perfective,immediate and resultative) We’re after having our breakfast. She has the dinner cooked. Vernacular structures Verbal aspect (habitual, durative and punctual) They do be out drinking at the weekend. I gets up at half seven, so I do. Grammatical features of Irish English Overuse of definite article How’s the mother keepin’? The both of us are comin’tomorrow. The oul’ [= ‘old’] back is botherin’me lately. Feature spread from North America Feature spread from North America Syntax: the ubiquitous quotative like. Phonology: Short Front Vowel Lowering, DRESS [dræs], TRAP [trap]. Strongly retroflex /r/, i.e. [ɻ], car [kɑ:ɻ]. T-flapping: water [wɒ:ɾɚ]. GOOSE-fronting: soon [sy:n]. Young females lead in the use of features from North America The Spread of Irish English Transportation of Irish English overseas in the colonial period Transportation of Irish English overseas in the colonial period Raymond Hickey Transportation of Irish English overseas in the colonial period Transportation of Irish English overseas in the colonial period Irish emigration to Australia Transportation of Irish English overseas in the colonial period Irish emigration to the USA Current research in Irish English studies The Pragmatics of Irish English The Pragmatics of Irish English Use of ‘now’ Now, there‘s your coffee. That‘s five sixty euros, now. Goodbye, now. Use of ‘sure’ Sure he’s only kiddin’ya. Use of ‘grand’ We had a grand time at the dinner last night. A: Is my hair okay? B: Lookit, you‘re grand. ‘Bad data’[fragmentary data] for Irish English Early audio recordings and the language of emigrant letters ‘Bad Data’: the linguistic value of fragmentary material ‘Baddata’coversboth the earliest recordings of varieties of English and emigrant letters. The audiorecordings now go back more than a century. True, they often involve set texts and the individuals recorded are prominent people of society at the time, but they arestill genuine records of earlier accents of English. (Cambridge University Press, 2017) Emigrants to overseas locations during the colonial period wrote back home recounting their experiences in their new environment and trying to get news of the family members in the home country and to convince potential emigrants to leave Ireland. ‘Bad Data’: the linguistic value of fragmentary material Hickey, Raymond (ed.) 2019. Keeping in Touch. Emigrant Letters across the English-speaking World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ‘Letter from America’(1875) by James Brennan (1837-1907) Irish Identities –Sociolinguistic Perspectives Non-Nationals, the New Irish Linguistic landscapes in Ireland What languages can be seen in public spaces? Don‘t be fooled: signs in Irish are frequently not grammatically correct. Signs of languages in Ireland apart from English and Irish Restaurants catering for an up-market clientele of Irish people Stores in industrial estates catering for the actual immigrants East Europeans as a perceived group of New Irish Lithuanian Russian Polish English German English Irish (beag = “small”) Corpora for studying Irish English ICE -Ireland