Irish English Volume 1 Northern Ireland

An overview of English as it is spoken in the Northern dialect regions of Ireland.

This book focuses on the sociolinguistic consequences of historical contact between indigenous Irish peoples and newer English and Scottish settlers in what is now the territory of Northern Ireland (NI). The contact varieties that resulted represent the oldest L2 'Englishes' globally. Moreover, the degree of admixture from English, Irish and Scots in the contemporary dialects of NI reflects various external forces. Naturally, these varieties share certain structural features with sister Celtic Englishes and indeed with other vernacular Englishes globally. However, there are other linguistic traits that seem to be unique and therefore essentially local. Irish English, Volume 1: Northern Ireland provides insights into the evolution of language in 21st century NI and to promote an understanding of linguistic diversity in this region in the context of World Englishes by including: *An overview of cultural, demographic and geographic aspects of NI's languages/dialects *An extensive, though accessible, description of their structures *A history of language in NI, pinpointing regional/social differences as well as current changes *An annotated bibliography of relevant literature and a general bibliography to aid further research *Speech and text samples from the 19th-21st centuries.

An overview of English as it is spoken in the Northern dialect regions of Ireland.

This volume continues the Dialects of English series, and complements Irish English volume 1: Northern Ireland, by Karen Corrigan. Focusing on Irish English in the Republic of Ireland, the book starts by exploring the often oppositional roles of national language development and globalisation in shaping Irish English from the earliest known times to the present. Three chapters on the lexicon and discourse, syntax, and phonology focus on traditional dialect but also refer to colloquial and vernacular Irish English, the use of dialect in literature, and the modern “standard” language, especially as found in the International Corpus of English (ICE-Ireland). A separate chapter examines the internal history of Irish English, from Irish Middle English to contemporary change in progress. The book includes an extended bibliographical essay and a set of sample literary texts and texts from ICE-Ireland. Continuing themes include the impact on Irish English of contact with the Irish language, the position of Irish English in world Englishes, and features which help to distinguish between Irish English in the Republic and in Northern Ireland.

Accompanying DVD-ROM contains ... "all sound files ... as well as appropriate software for listening to the recordings. In addition there is much information about Irish English, an introduction to the phonology of this variety, as well as various items of background information which might be of interest to users of the atlas."--Page [v]. Includes Java version of the sound atlas.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Flensburg, language: English, abstract: English is the language which is spoken all across Ireland, in the Republic as well as in Northern Ireland. Different varieties of the language can be found. In the far north of the island the English which is commonly used is Ulster-Scots, a variety which is heavily influenced by Scots. Mid-Ulster English is also spoken in the north and is less Scotsinfluenced. Together Ulster-Scots and Mid-Ulster English constitute what is known as Northern Irish English (see Trudgill, Hannah 1994: p102). The variety spoken in the South of Ireland, which is sometimes called Hiberno-English (see Harris 1984: p115), will in the following be referred to as Southern Irish English. It is important to point out that the linguistic division between the north and the south of Ireland is not the same as the political borders. Northern Irish English is not only spoken in Northern Ireland but also in some areas of the Republic of Ireland, for example in Donegal. The use of Southern Irish English on the other hand is quite common in some of the southern parts of Northern Ireland (see Trudgill, Hannah 1994: p102). In the following the historical development of the Southern Irish English variety will briefly be looked at before its main features in terms of pronunciation, grammatical structures and lexis will be explored. There is only little regional variation within Southern Irish English (see Barnickel 1982: p117), and the few differences will here not be taken into consideration.

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.