Irish English The Influence Of Irish On The English Spoken In Ireland

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 2,3, RWTH Aachen University (Institut für Anglistik: Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft), course: Variety in English, language: English, abstract: Loreto Todd states in his book “Green English” one very important sentence concerning English in Ireland that depicts the basis on which this term paper is built upon: “The language spoken in Ireland is similar to the language spoken in England – similar but by no means identical”. This term paper will deal with the kind of English spoken in Ireland today1 and how it differs from English spoken in England or America2, especially taking the influence of the native language of Ireland into account. Because of the space limitations, it will only serve as an overview covering the most important grammatical features in which Irish English (IrE) differs from Standard English (StE), for instance phenomena concerning phonetics, word stress, rhythmic retentions, syntax and semantics. Concerning each field of study some striking features of IrE will be described and explained by the use of examples. It will be of special interest to what extent the differences date back to the influence of the Irish mother tongue Gaelic3. Since English is a relatively new language in Ireland, it will be the aim of this paper to find out if today’s linguistic phenomena of IrE can be traced back to the period of the language shift from Irish to English. While by now most of the Irish people’s mother tongue is English, it is still probable that the people are still influenced by their past – at least by means of language. Because of this certain approach towards IrE, all the analysed features in this term paper will be a selection of features that somehow have to do with the native language of Ireland. Before the analysis of grammatical features, a brief overlook over the terminology concerning the term ‘Irish English’ as well as an outline of the history of the English language in Ireland will be given. After the analysis, a last part will be stated in which it will be of interest to how far the Irish accent can be seen as part of the national identity of the Irish people. In the end, a final conclusion will be stated. It is important to mention that although the term IrE is used for a general variety of English in Ireland, a lot of internal distinctions could be made. These accents are linked to different regions and sometimes even differ from city to city. Because of this complexity of the topic, this termpaper will not go into detail concerning the different accents.

Six papers on Irish English are presented. "The Study of Hiberno-English" (Jeffrey L. Kallen) surveys some aspects of research on the language and offers a historical context for the subsequent papers. "A Tape-Recorded Survey of Hiberno-English in Its Context" (T. M. Tilling) reports on the early stages of an island-wide survey of the English speech of Ireland, combining traditional dialect geography and sociolinguistics. In "Linguistic Cross-Links in Phonology and Grammar" (G. B. Adams), the phonological and grammatical similarities between Irish and English resulting from extended language contact and bilingualism are examined. "The Hiberno-English 'I've It Eaten' Construction: What Is It and Where Does It Come From?" (John Harris) looks in greater detail at the Irish influence evident in one construction. Problems created by differences in structure in Irish and English are examined in "Observations on Thematic Interference Between Irish and English" (Markku Filppula), and "A Global View of the English Language in Ireland" (Kallen) urges a broader-based approach to the study of Hiberno-English than that commonly adopted, incorporating examination of all grammar and discourse phenomena, bilingualism, sociolinguistics, and reference to other English variations, not just standard English usage. (16 references) (MSE)

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2.0, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Varieties of English, language: English, abstract: Irish English (IrE) or Hiberno English is a variety of English spoken in Ireland. It has mainly been influenced by vernacular Irish and varieties of English and Scots. At first English was mainly spoken by a few English settlers who lived in the south east of Ireland and during this time their language was exposed to considerable Gaelicisation. Later several political and social changes allowed English to spread across the country and displace Irish as a native language roughly from east to west. This book investigates historical and linguistic influences on different varieties of English spoken in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Irish English shows a wide range of loan words from Latin, Irish, English, and Scots. This work gives a choice of these loan words and traces their derivation. The choice of an accent used by a speaker can depend on various conditions, e.g. social context, educational background, or regional influences. This book discusses several accents spoken in Ireland and compares their phonological features to those of Received Pronunciation. Like the use of phonological features, the syntactic architecture chosen by speakers of IrE depends on the context of use. Written IrE mostly follows the Standard English norm, whereas informal IrE speech shows several differences to Standard English. This thesis takes into account typical grammatical features of IrE and explains where and in which context they occur.

English has been spoken in Ireland for over 800 years, making Irish English the oldest variety of the language outside Britain. This 2007 book traces the development of English in Ireland, both north and south, from the late Middle Ages to the present day. Drawing on authentic data ranging from medieval literature to authentic contemporary examples, it reveals how Irish English arose, how it has developed, and how it continues to change. A variety of central issues are considered in detail, such as the nature of language contact and the shift from Irish to English, the sociolinguistically motivated changes in present-day Dublin English, the special features of Ulster Scots, and the transportation of Irish English to overseas locations as diverse as Canada, the United States, and Australia. Presenting a comprehensive survey of Irish English at all levels of linguistics, this book will be invaluable to historical linguists, sociolinguists, syntacticians and phonologists alike.

Irish English, also termed 'Anglo-Irish' or 'Hiberno-English', as in this book, is not usually perceived as having a grammatical system of its own. Markku Filppula here challenges this misconception and offers a descriptive and contact-linguistic account of the grammar of Hiberno-English. Drawing on a wide range of authentic materials documenting Hiberno-English dialects past and present Filppula examines: * the most distinctive grammatical features of these dialects * relationships with earlier and other regional varieties of English * the continuing influence of the Irish language on Hiberno-English * similarities between Hiberno-English and other Celtic-influenced varieties of English spoken in Scotland and Wales The Grammar of Irish English is a comprehensive empirical study which will be an essential reference for scholars of Hiberno-English and of value to all those working in the field of Germanic linguistics.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics - English - Grammar, Style, Working Technique, grade: 1,0, Free University of Berlin (Englische Philologie), course: Seminar "History and Varieties of English", language: English, abstract: The development of different regional varieties of English is an important field of research in historical linguistics. A multitude of theories explain the innumerable differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar that exist within the English speaking world. An important external reason for the great linguistic variation making English a ‘world language’ are the influences from foreign languages that the English language absorbed in language contact situations. The only language contact which had been for a long time regarded as quite ‘unproductive’, except from some marginal loan words, is that of English and Celtic in the British Isles. Therefore, it was excluded from serious linguistic research up to the 20th century. Modern investigations finally unveiled that the long and close coexistence had, of course, a remarkable impact on all British varieties in the areas of syntax and phonology, too (Filppula et al. 2008: 1f.). The aim of my paper is to reconstruct the linguistic development during the contact situation between Irish Gaelic (one variety of Celtic) and English on the basis of one selected grammatical feature, namely the after perfect construction in their generated contact variety: Irish English (also Hiberno-English, Anglo-Irish). After giving some general information on formation and usage of the rare grammatical construction, I will prove the after perfect construction being a result of the English-Celtic contact situation in Ireland. In that respect, I will look at interesting aspects of scholarly debates concerning the language shift, resulting in the Irish English variety as it is spoken today.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Note: 2,0, Universität Bayreuth, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Today, it is common knowledge that the English language is not only located on the British Isles and the United states. In fact, it spread like wildfire all around the world and produced over 15 different varieties of English, each of them being able to exhibit its own vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. In the following, I will provide an insight into a variety that is geographically the nearest one to the initial English language: Irish English. First of all, I will give an overview about the arrival of English in Ireland, then I will focus on a detailed analysis about the peculiarities of Irish English grammar and at the end I will draw attention to the diffusion of Irish English.