The Unique Development of Ireland and its Impact on Irish English

         Is there any milk in it?

8. Conditionals have a greater presence in Hiberno-English due to the tendency to replace the simple present tense with the conditional would and the simple past tense with the conditional perfect would have.

  John asked me would I buy a loaf of bread = John asked me to buy a loaf of bread.

  How do you know him? We would have been in school together = We went to school together.

9. Using a- and -ing as a passive:

    Where were you? You were a-looking (being looked for) this last hour and more.

10. Using and, noun phrase, and -ing to show that two actions happen at the same time: I went in and me trembling; In he walks and him whistling.
11. Four kinds of present tense exist in Irish English: I go to school, I am going to school, I be going to school, I do be going to school – each with a different shade of meaning.

  It also should be noticed that the cases of the use of definite article in Irish English are different from that of the English language. For example: That’s the grand morning. I had a few jars for Christmas. The wife (=’my wife’) will be expecting me. [12]

  There are also some cases of difference in the usage of prepositions:

• till is often used for to/until/ as in It’s a quarter till two;
• for ti can be heard for in order to, as in I went for ti milk the cow.
• on and of are often affected: You’ve lost my pen on me. Aren’t you a snob of a cat. What age of a man was he?
• And there are some interesting sequences: If he didn’t take the legs  from in under me = He knocked me down.
• From can be heard in the sense of ‘since’ in Ulster: He’s been here from he left the Navy.

  Certain constructions show a Gaelic influence on word order. Cleft sentences of following type are typical:

  It’s meself was the brave signer. It is out of your mind you are?

  There is an interesting double example in:

  It’s  thinking I am that it’s unyoke him we’d better do = I think that we had better unyoke him. [3,337]

  In Irish English the constructions with preposition and pronoun together are also observed:

  His back's at him = He has a backache.

  She stole my book on me= She stole my book.

  I let a squeal out of me =I squealed.

  Some plural pronouns or demonstratives are followed by is: Youse is very funny. The cars is great. Our’ns is fit for anything.

  And is used as a subordinate clause marker, as in It only struck me and (=’when’, ‘while’) you going out of the door. Sometimes the exact Standard English equivalent is unclear: How could you see me there and (=’when, ‘if’, ‘seeing that’?) I to be in bad at the time. [12]

  Irish variety of the English language has many distinctive idioms such as:

  He would waste your day astray on you = He would waste your day.

  You’ll knock a while out of it = It’ll last you for a while

  He’s the rest of yourself = He’s related to you.

  She's as light on her foot as a cat at milking.

  There's a truth in the last drop in the bottle.

  As with Australian English, there is a great deal of vivid figurative language: as mean as get out, as often as fingers and toes, as fat in the forehead as a hen, as sharp a tongue as would shave a mouse.

  Lengthy, often exaggerated expressions are common:

  That I may live long and have my eyesight and never see hide or hair of you again.

  Proverbial wisdom is widely employed:

  Charity is a slap in the mouth.

  There’s a truth in the last drop in the bottle.

  The Irish variety of the English language is renowned for some of its conversational features:

1. Tending not to use yes and no in answering questions. Irish has no words for yes/no and many Irish people therefore tend to answer, for example:

    Will you go?—I will.

    Is it yours?—It is not.

   A: Will you ask John for me?

   B: I will/I won’t.

2. Rhetorical Questions are usual:

  Now isn’t he a fine looking fellow?

   What did we want only to get our own.

3. A common practice is to reply to a question by using another question:

       A: Can you tell me where’s the post-office?

       B: Would it be stamps you’re looking for? [3,337]

  Irish vocabulary owes much to various external influences through the centuries. There are earlier borrowings from the unknown language of the pre-Celtic people, the Latin and Welsh of the earlier Christian missionaries, the Norse of the Vikings, the French of the Normans and finally the greatest influence of all, English, the language of the settlers and, ultimately, of the majority of the Irish people.

  We would like to pay you attention to the most interesting words of the Irish English language’s vocabulary. Hiberno-English vocabulary is similar to British English, though there are many variances, especially with reference to certain goods, services and institutions. Here are some examples of what you might encounter:

  Blow-in – a stranger or foreigner, basically anybody whose ancestors have not lived within sight of the parish church for at least ten generations.

  Come here! - if the person saying this is already next to you, you might feel that the concept of personal space is unknown in Ireland. Don’t worry, the phrase simply means listen up.

  Culchie - an abbreviation of "agricultural" and referring to anybody born and bred outside the few cities of Ireland.

  Deadly - in everyday conversation this means "very good", like in deadly buzz (roughly "a great time").

  Any Description of Distances, Directions and Time. The "Irish mile" is very flexible. And time is fluid. While you may expect to cover three to four miles walking at home, this will not apply in Ireland. Especially if you have to rely on directions given by locals. They might play down the distance to avoid discouraging walkers, send the same walkers on the "scenic route" or throw in helpful hints like "turn left where the dog usually sits". Get a map.

  Good man yourself! - a phrase denoting agreement or thanks and a bit of respect. Also used as a sort of non-sequitur reply to the ubiquitous greeting A'right? - the short form of How are you?

  Sambo – a sandwich and a good example of the (mainly Dublin) tendency to let words mutate into something ending with "o". Up to and including crimbo - Christmas to you and me.

  Soft old day - the Irish way of avoiding any mention of bad weather, even if it pouring down in force ten gales it will still be “a soft old day”.

  Take care! - this usually means "Goodbye".

  Yoke - a mechanical or other implement, anything from a spade to a nuclear device.

    So is often used for emphasis - I can speak Irish, so I can, or it may be tacked on to the end of a sentence to indicate agreement, where then would often be used in Standard English - Bye so, Let's go so, That's fine so, We'll do that so. The word is also used to contradict a negative statement - You're not pushing hard enough – I am so!

  To give out to somebody is to scold that person. The equivalent phrase in English-English is to have a go at.

  Yer man (your man) and Yer wan/one (your one, female) are used in referring to an individual other than the speaker and the person spoken to. They may be used because the speaker does not know the name of the person referred to, and either can be used when the sex of the person referred to is not known.

  Now is often used at the end of sentences or phrases as a semantically empty word, completing an utterance without contributing any apparent meaning. Examples include: Bye now = Goodbye. There you go now - when giving someone something. Ah now! -expressing dismay. Hold on now = Wait a minute.

  To is often omitted from sentences where it would exist in British English. For example: I'm not allowed go out tonight, instead of I'm not allowed to go out tonight.

  Bold describes someone who is impudent, naughty or badly   behaved.

  Cat – bad, terrible - The weather is cat isn't it?

  Childer – Ulster, Dublin dialect for a child.

  Press is invariably used instead of cupboard. The hot press is the airing cupboard.

  Scanty - means mean or hurtful. That's scanty. [12]

  The suffix  –een  is used as a diminutive form, expressing smallness of familiarity, as in children, girleen. [3,338]

  Speaking about the peculiarities of the Irish English, we should certainly mention that there also exists a literary form of Irish English. According to Robert McCrum, we can easily find the examples of it in its prose and poetry. He points out that the works of the Irish writer James Joyce represent a great experiment in the Irish English vocabulary. Among them Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. But the greatest example is Finnegans Wake: while writing this book James Joyce kept a notebook of the commonplace Hiberno-English phrases used by his wife, Nora Barnacle. The turns of Nora’s speech that Joyce scribbled in his notebook included delightful sentences like: He looked at his time. A knock came to the door. Can’t believe a word out of his mouth. And questions like Will I do as I am? [8,200]

  The features of Irish English can easily be found in the poetry of William Shakespeare. His plays have several Irish rhymes: ease-case, grease-grace, steal-stale and sea-play.

  Alexander Pope, the English poet and satirist, composed a famous couplet which rhymes tea with tay, as the Irish do this day:

  Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey,

  Dost sometimes counsel take – and sometimes Tea.

  Several other rhymes in Pope’s work depend on pronunciation we should consider ‘Irish’: full-rule, ear-repair, and reserve-starve.

  Later still, the English poet William Cowper composed a now familiar hymn which relies on the rhyming of way and sea:

  God moves in a mysterious way,

  His wonders to perform;

  He plants His footsteps in the sea,

  And rides upon the storm.

   The existence of the literary form of the Irish English let us say about the richness and peculiar character of this variety of English. It shows that the influence of the English language is so great that it has managed to penetrate even in the literature of Ireland, of course, having some features of the Irish language, which made it to be called Irish English. [8,181] 
 

  Gradually we have come to the conclusion of our research. Here we would like to point at the fact that the main aims of the research were achieved and the main issues covered. In our research we gave a brief overlook of the factors which influenced the Irish English language. The factors are obviously connected with the history of the two countries that is why we have tried to mention the most important events which were crucial for Irish history. They are the arrival of Henry the second, the formation of the territory of the English Pale, Oliver Cromwell’s invasion, the Gaelic revival and the mass influx of the Irish people to America. The turning points for history of Ireland were the acceptance of the Act of Union in 1801 and the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

   Observing the Irish history we have also tried to cover the most acute issues for Ireland, they are religious issue and the situation with the Irish language.

  In our research we showed the most distinctive features of the Irish English language, mainly the peculiarities of its phonetics, grammar and vocabulary and showed the regions where these peculiarities are more distinctive. We pointed out at the major dialects of the Hiberno-English: Ulster Irish-English spoken north-west and Scotch-Irish which are used by the north-east inhabitants.

  To carry out our research we have used different methods which helped us to make objective analysis of the given theme. Among them: historical method, the descriptive method, the comparative method, the method of internal and external interpretation and the contrastive method.

  As a result of our research we wanted to state the fact that Ireland had a long history of struggle with Britain, trying to remain independent and preserve the country’s traditions and the national language. We should say that Ireland was partially capable to do this. Ireland had won its independence from Britain but did not solve the language question. Despite the factors that contributed to the development of the language, it is a minority language but still with its own linguistics peculiarities.

  On the bases of the books and researches of authentic authors, we have tried to convince you that Ireland is a country which has a unique history and social development that influenced on the Irish English language. We hope that we manage to carry out our research carefully and leave you with the information to thought about because the language issues are up-to-date in our country also.

References

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