Hiberno-English (also known as Irish English[1]) is the dialect of English spoken in Ireland.[2]
English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken througout the rest of the country.
Further English expansion into the country saw an increase in the language, especially during the plantations and the introduction of the Penal Laws, which prohibited the use of the Irish language. By the mid-19th century, English was the majority language spoken in the country;[3]
Modern English as spoken in Ireland today retains some features showing the influence of the Irish language, such as vocabulary, grammatical structure and pronunciation.
Loan words from the Irish language provide for a large amount of words unique to Hiberno-English, particularly in an official state capacity (e.g. the head of government an Taoiseach, and the parliament itself, the Oireachtas). Less formally, people also use loan words within day-to-day speech, although this been on the decline in recent decades and among younger generations.[4]
Some examples include:
Word | Part of Speech | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Amadán[5] | Noun | Fool |
Craic[6] (or crack) | Noun | Fun/good time |
Garsún[7] / gasúr[8] | Noun | Boy |
Lúdramán[9] | Noun | Fool |
Sláinte[10] | Interjection | [To your] health! |
Gob[11] | Noun | Mouth |
Another group of vocabulary that is unique to Ireland is that of words derived from the Irish language. These words and phrases are often an Anglicised version of words in Irish, or a direct traslation of these words into English. In the latter case, they often give a meaning to a word or phrase that is generally not found in wider English use.
Some examples include:
Word/Phrase | Part of Speech | Original Irish | Meaning / Example Use |
---|---|---|---|
Arra[12]/ yerra[13] | Interjection | Ara / A Dhia | "Yerra, sure if it rains, it rains." |
Devil | Noun | Diabhal | Curse: e.g. "Devil take him" [14] |
Devil | Noun | Diabhal | Negation: e.g. None - "Devil a bit"[15] |
Gansey[16] | Noun | Geansaí | Jumper |
Guards[17] | Noun | Garda Síochána | Police |
Give out[18] | Verb | Tabhair amach (lit.) | Tell off |
Soft day[19] | Phrase | Lá bog (lit.) | Overcast day (light drizzle/mist) |
Whisht[20] | Interjection | Fuist (quiet) or Éist (listen) [citation needed] | Be quiet |
Another class of vocabulary found in Hiberno-English are words and phrases common in Old- and Middle-English, but which have since been lost or forgotten in the modern English language generally.
Some examples include:
Word | Part of Speech | Meaning | Origin or Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Amn't[21] | Verb | Am not | |
Childer[22] | Noun | Child | Survives from Old-English, genetive plural of 'child'[23] |
Sliced pan [24] | Noun | (Sliced) loaf of bread | Possibly derived from the French word for bread (pain) |
In addition to the three groups above, there are also additional words and phrases found in Hiberno-Irish whose origin is disputed or unknown. While this group may not be unique to Ireland, their usage is not widespread, and could be seen as characteristic of the language in Ireland.
Some examples include:
Word | Part of Speech | Meaning | Origin/Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Acting the maggot [25] | Phrase | Acting the fool, joking. | |
Banjaxed [26] | Verb | Broken, ruined, or rendered incapable of use. | Originated with British soldiers who brought it from India to Ireland, being an Urdu word originally. [citation needed] |
Bazzer [27] | Noun | Man's Haircut. | |
Bold[28] | Adjective | Naught/badly behaved. | |
Bucklepper[29] | Noun | An overactive, overconfident person | Used by Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney [citation needed] |
Chiseler[30] | Noun | Child | |
Cod acting[31] | Verb | Joking | |
Culchie[32] | Noun | Person from the countryside (derogatory) |
|
Delph[33] | Noun | Dishware | From the name of the original source of supply, Delft in the Netherlands. See Delftware. |
Feck | Verb/Interjection |
| |
Footpath[35] | Noun | Pavement/Sidewalk | Also commonly shortened to path. |
Grinds[36] | Noun | Private tuition | |
Jackeen[37] | Noun | Person from Dublin (derogatory) | |
Minerals[38] | Noun | Soft drinks | From mineral Waters [citation needed] |
Press[39] | Noun | Cupboard | Similarly, hotpress in Ireland means airing-cupboard. |
Runners[40] | Noun | Trainers/sneakers | |
Scallion[41] | Noun | Spring Onion/Green Onion | |
Shore[42] | Noun | Stormdrain or Gutter | |
Wet the tea[43]/The tea is wet[44] | Phrase | Make the tea/the tea is made |
The syntax of the Irish language is quite different from that of English. Various aspects of Irish syntax have influenced Hiberno-English, though many of these idiosyncrasies are disappearing in urban areas and among the younger population.
The other major influence on Hiberno-English that sets it apart from modern English in general is the retention of words and phrases from Old- and Middle-English.
Reduplication is an alleged trait of Hiberno-English strongly associated with stage-Irish and Hollywood films.
Irish lacks words that directly translate as "yes" or "no", and instead repeats the verb in a question, possibly negated, to answer. Hiberno-English uses "yes" and "no" less frequently than other English dialects as speakers can repeat the verb, positively or negatively, instead of (or in redundant addition to) using "yes" or "no".
The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "aimsir láithreach") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "aimsir gnáth láithreach") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is tá tú, but "you are [repeatedly]" is bíonn tú. Both forms are used with the verbal noun (equivalent to the English present participle) to create compound tenses.
Irish has no pluperfect: instead, "after" is added to the present continuous (a verb ending in "-ing"), a construction known as the "hot news perfect" or "after perfect".[47][48] The idiom for "I had done X when I did Y" is "I was after doing X when I did Y", modelled on the Irish usage of the compound prepositions i ndiaidh, tar éis, and in éis: bhí mé tar éis/i ndiaidh/in éis X a dhéanamh, nuair a rinne mé Y.
A similar construction is seen where exclamation is used in describing a recent event:
When describing less astonishing or significant events, a structure resembling the German perfect can be seen:
This correlates with an analysis of "H1 Irish" proposed by Adger & Mitrovic ,[49] in a deliberate parallel to the status of German as a V2 language.
In rural areas, the reflexive version of pronouns is often used for emphasis or to refer indirectly to a particular person, etc., according to context. Herself, for example, might refer to the speaker's boss or to the woman of the house. Use of herself or himself in this way often indicates that the speaker attributes some degree of arrogance or selfishness to the person in question. Note also the indirectness of this construction relative to, for example, She's coming now
This is not limited only to the verb to be: it is also used with to have when used as an auxiliary; and, with other verbs, the verb to do is used. This is most commonly used for intensification.
There are some language forms that stem from the fact that there is no verb to have in Irish. Instead, possession is indicated in Irish by using the preposition at, (in Irish, ag.). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines ag "at" and mé "me" to create agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from Tá … agam. This gives rise to the frequent
Somebody who can speak a language "has" a language, in which Hiberno-English has borrowed the grammatical form used in Irish.
When describing something, rural Hiberno-English speakers may use the term "in it" where "there" would usually be used. This is due to the Irish word ann (pronounced "oun") fulfilling both meanings.
Another idiom is this thing or that thing described as "this man here" or "that man there", which also features in Newfoundland English in Canada.
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).
Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of British English because it follows the Gaelic grammar for beir and tóg. English usage is determined by direction; person determines Irish usage. So, in English, one takes "from here to there", and brings it "to here from there". In Irish, a person takes only when accepting a transfer of possession of the object from someone else – and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).
In old-fashioned usage, "it is" can be freely abbreviated ’tis, even as a standalone sentence. This also allows the double contraction ’tisn’t, for "it is not".
Irish has separate forms for the second person singular (tú) and the second person plural (sibh). Mirroring Irish, and almost every other Indo European language, the plural you is also distinguished from the singular in Hiberno-English, normally by use of the otherwise archaic English word ye [ji]; the word yous (sometimes written as youse) also occurs, but primarily only in Dublin and across Ulster. In addition, in some areas in Leinster, north Connacht and parts of Ulster, the hybrid word ye-s, pronounced "yis", may be used. The pronunciation differs with that of the northwestern being [jiːz] and the Leinster pronunciation being [jɪz].
The word ye, yis or yous, otherwise archaic, is still used in place of "you" for the second-person plural. Ye'r, Yisser or Yousser are the possessive forms, e.g. "Where are yous going?"
The verb mitch is very common in Ireland, indicating being truant from school. This word appears in Shakespeare, but is seldom heard these days in British English, although pockets of usage persist in some areas (notably South Wales, Devon, and Cornwall). In parts of Connacht and Ulster the mitch is often replaced by the verb scheme.
Another usage familiar from Shakespeare is the inclusion of the second person pronoun after the imperative form of a verb, as in "Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed" (Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene IV). This is still common in Ulster: "Get youse your homework done or you're no goin' out!" In Munster, you will still hear children being told, "Up to bed, let ye" [lɛˈtʃi]
For influence from Scotland see Ulster Scots and Ulster English.
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"), "Now then" as a mild attention-getter, etc. This usage is universal among English dialects, but occurs more frequently in Hiberno-English.
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!"). (This contradiction of a negative is also seen in American English, though not as often as "I am too", or "Yes, I am".) The practice of indicating emphasis with so and including reduplicating the sentence's subject pronoun and auxiliary verb (is, are, have, has, can, etc.) such as in the initial example, is particularly prevalent in more northern dialects such as those of Sligo, Mayo, Cavan, Monaghan and other neighbouring counties.
Sure is often used as a tag word, emphasising the obviousness of the statement, roughly translating as but/and/well. Can be used as "to be sure", the famous Irish stereotype phrase. (But note that the other stereotype of "Sure and …" is not actually used in Ireland.) Or "Sure, I can just go on Wednesday", "I will not, to be sure." "Sure Jaysus [Jesus]" is often used as a very mild expletive to express dismay. The word is also used at the end of sentences (primarily in Munster), for instance "I was only here five minutes ago, sure!" and can express emphasis or indignation. 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". Will is often used where English English would use "shall" ("Will I make us a cup of tea?"). The distinction between "shall" (for first-person simple future, and second- and third-person emphatic future) and "will" (second- and third-person simple future, first-person emphatic future), maintained by many in England, does not exist in Hiberno-English, with "will" generally used in all cases.
Some Irish speakers of English, especially in rural areas, especially Mayo/Sligo in the West of Ireland, use the verb "to be" in English similarly to how they would in Irish, using a "does be/do be" (or "bees", although less frequently) construction to indicate this latter continuous present:
Hiberno-English retains many phonemic differentiations, which have merged in other English accents.
Irish English also always uses the alveolar or "light" L sound, as opposed to other English dialects which use a velar or "dark" L in word-final position. The naming of the letter H as "haitch" is standard, while the letter R is called "or", the letter A is often pronounced "ah", and the letter Z is often referred to as "e-zed" in working-class Dublin accents or parodies of same. Some words like the English word for movie "film" become "fillum" in Irish speech.
As with London and New York, Dublin has a number of dialects which differ significantly based on class and age group. These are roughly divided into three categories: "local Dublin", or the broad-working class dialect (sometimes referred to as the "working-class", or "inner city" accent); "mainstream Dublin", the typical accent spoken by middle-class or suburban speakers; and "new Dublin", an accent among younger people (born after 1970). Features include:[52]
Rhoticity and rhotic consonants vary greatly in Dublin English. In Local Dublin, "r" can often be pronounced with an alveolar tap ([ɾ]), whereas Mainstream and New Dublin almost always feature the more "standard" alveolar approximant, [ɹ].
Post-vocalically, Dublin English maintains three different standards. Local Dublin is often non-rhotic (giving lie to the repeated claim that Hiberno-English is universally rhotic), although some variants may be variably or very lightly rhotic. In non-rhotic varieties, the /ər/ in "lettER" is either lowered to [ɐ(ɹ)] or in some speakers may be backed and raised to [ɤ(ɹ)]. In Mainstream Dublin, this sound is gently rhotic ([əɹ], while New Dublin features a retroflex approximant [əɻ]. Other rhotic vowels are as follows:
In Local Dublin, long monophthongs are often dipthongized, and while some diphthongs are tripthongized. This process can be summarized with these examples:
Northern Hiberno-English (also called Ulster English) is an umbrella term for the dialects of Hiberno-English spoken by most people in the province of Ulster. The dialect has been greatly influenced by Ulster Irish, but also by the Scots language, which was brought over by Scottish settlers during the plantations.
It has three main subdivisions: South Ulster English, Mid Ulster English and Ulster Scots. South Ulster English is spoken in south Armagh, south Monaghan, south Fermanagh, south Donegal and north Cavan.[53][54][55] Ulster Scots is spoken in parts of north County Antrim and northeast County Londonderry. Mid Ulster English is used in the area between these (including the main cities of Belfast and Derry) and has the most speakers.
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