Irish English (Southern)

[This page was created by the following students at Brigham Young University, in 2024: Nicholas Day, Aggie Murray, Sydney Jo Pedersen, and Dallin Salway]

Background

Centuries ago, Irish Gaelic was the native language of the population living on the island of Ireland. Despite recent efforts to revitalize Irish Gaelic, its use has dwindled over the most recent centuries due to British rule and the imposition of the English language.1 The use of English in place of Gaelic spread from the Eastern shore, near London, to the West.2 However, due to both religious and national identities, Hiberno English (more commonly known as Irish English) maintained its unique varieties rather than conforming to the varieties of their British neighbors. although Gaelic is spoken only by a minority of the Irish population, this language has influenced the pronunciation, lexicon, and syntax of Irish English.3

Within the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, there are two main linguistic sections:

  • Northern Ireland — the six countries presently in Northern Ireland with the addition of Donegal in the Republic of Ireland
  • Southern Ireland — the remaining countries in the Republic of Ireland4

Although Northern Irish English is not the focus of this section, it is important to note that varieties in and near Northern Ireland are greatly influenced by Scots and Scottish English.

Pronunciation

Although the region of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are typically divided into two linguistic sections, there is regional variation within both sections.5 Below is a list of pronunciation features within Southern Ireland that vary by region:

West

  • Dental TH-stopping.6 In place of interdental fricatives, people living in the West of the Irish region typically use [t] and [d], pronounced with the tongue touching the back of the teeth.
    • Ireland 12 (2:12): “Mrs. Harrison…thought it was a fair price for a cure.”
    • Ireland 3 (0:56): “I graduated with my master’s in ’95.”
  • Low central onset for /aɪ/, /au/, and, uniquely, /ɔɪ/.7 This feature is similar to Canadian Raising found in Canadian and Northern American varieties of English, except that this occurs before voiced consonants as well.
    • Ireland 2 (0:23): “According to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end.”
      • [bɔɪlɪŋ]
    • Ireland 12 (0:24): “She was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice.”
      • [pɹɔɪvɪt]

South and Southwest

  • Raising of /ɛ/ to /ɪ/ before nasals.8 This feature results in a PIN-PEN merger similar to that found in Southern American English.9
    • Ireland 9 (2:59): “My grandfather gave me fifty pence.”
      • [pɪns]
  • Alveolar TH-stopping.10 Although dental stops are used in place of interdental fricatives in the West, in the South and East, TH-stops are alveolar: [d], [t], or [ɾ].11
    • Ireland 9 (2:19): “This course of treatment might be expensive, either five or six times the cost of penicillin.”
      • [iɾɚ]
    • Ireland 9 (2:51): “I remember when, in the are outside his house at the age of ninety-three, cutting timber…”
      • [tɹi]
    • Ireland 9 (2:55): “…I was with my father at the time.”
      • [fɑɾɚ]
  • TRAP-raising.12 Words in the TRAP class may raise and occasionally tense the /æ/ to a [e] or a [ɛ].
  • GOOSE-backing. The /u/ in the GOOSE class is extremely backed.
    • Ireland 9 (0:52): “When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her.”
      • [gu̠s]

Midlands

  • Shift of [tj] to the velar stop /k/ in word-medial position.13
    • fortune – [‘fɔrkuːn]

Northern Features That Occur in the Transition Zone

  • Maintained [θ] and [ð].14 In Southern Irish English, interdental fricatives are typically stopped. In the transition between the North and South, however, interdental fricatives may be retained.
  • GOOSE-fronting.15 The fronted allophone [ʉ] may be used in the GOOSE class of words.
  • BAG-raising.16 This is a feature typical of Northern United States and Canada. The [æ] vowel may be raised to a [e] or a [ɛ] before a velar stops.

Other Features of Southern Irish English

  • THR-flapping. In addition to TH-stopping, in THR-clusters, the/r/ may be flapped or even trilled.
  • The use of the clear [l] in all positions. In SAE, the clear [l] is typically only used in word-initial and some word-medial positions. In the word-final position, the /l/ is realized as a dark [ɫ] that is more vowel-like. The tongue may not even touch the roof of the mouth. In Irish English, however, the clear [l] is used in all positions, including word-final.
    • Ireland 15 (4:00): “I grew up in Tarbert…and went away to a boarding school at thirteen.”
      • [sku̠l]
  • /ŋ/ dropping.

Pronunciation of GFTA Words

WordStandard American EnglishIrish EnglishLinksTimestamp
House[haʊs][hʌʊs]https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-9[2:49]
Yellow[jɛloʊ][jɛlo]https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-9[0:45]
That[ðæt][ðæ̠t̚]https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-12[0:27]
Zoo[zu][zu̠]https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-9[0:19]
Five[faɪv][fʌɪv]https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-12[2:06]

Grammar

Although much of Irish English grammar resembles Received Pronunciation and Standard American English norms, there are many distinct grammatical features present in Irish English. Below are just a few:

Perfects

In Hiberno, or Irish English, there are six kinds of perfects:18

  • The ‘indefinite anterior’ perfect: This perfect resembles the past preterite in Standard American English, but it shares the same semantic meaning as the past perfect.19
    • Were you ever in Kenmare? – ‘Have you ever been in Kenmare?’20
  • The after perfect,21 or the immediate perfective:22 This form refers to the immediate past.23
    • You’re after ruinin’ me – ‘You have just ruined me.’24
  • The ‘medial-object’ perfect, or the resultive perfective:25 Rather than following the SVO construction typical of Standard American English, this perfect uses a SOV construction.26
    • I have it forgot – ‘I have forgotten it.’27
  • The be perfect:28 In Standard American English, the present perfect tense is formed by placing the present tense of ‘have’ before the past participle of a verb. In this construction, however, a conjugation of ‘be’ is used in place of ‘have’.29
    • All the tourists are gone back now – ‘All the tourists have gone back now.’30
  • The ‘extended now’ perfect:31 This form resembles the present tense, but refers to an event that began in the past but extends to the present.32
    • I’m not in this [caravan] long – ‘I haven’t been in the [caravan] long.’33
  • The ‘standard’ have perfect: This is the form typically used in Standard American English.34
    • And we haven’t seen one for years round here.35

Periphrastic Do

There are three forms of the periphrastic do that consistently occur in Irish English.36

  1. Periphrastic do/does followed immediately by the main verb (do/does + V)
  2. Periphrastic do/does followed by the copula be (do/does be + V)37
  3. The expanded form (do/does be + V-ing)38

Forms can also occur in the negative, interrogative, and imperative forms followed by be.

Below are examples of each of these forms pulled from the Hiberno English Corpus (spelling pulled directly from source).39

  • Two lorries of them now in the year we do burn.40
  • When I do be listen’ to the Irish here, I do be sorry now, when you’re in a local having a drink, nobody seems to understand it.41
  • Well, it’s generally cut, but sometimes it gets, it doesn’t be up to the mark, don’t you know it’d be bad, like oats, if you met a bad year, to get it right.42
  • ‘And do you leave ’em [fairies] food’ he sez to her ‘durin the night’ ‘We do,’ she sez. ‘And does it be eaten in the mornin’?’43
  • Whether it is Lutherarians of Protestants or Catholics, live up to it. Don’t be guessing, or don’t be doubting.44

Plural Subject-Verb Concord

In Standard American English, verbs are conjugated to match the number of their subjects. Irish English sometimes treats plural nouns as singular nouns by pairing a verb conjugated for a singular noun with a plural one.45 Below are a few examples from the HE corpus:

  • Oh, my mother and father was born and reared in Dublin.46
  • There was four boys of us, and there’s three of them dead.47
  • …and I think, at the pace the people is going they are not going to stick it.48
  • They were in the country that time, the British, the British was in the country.49
  • …but then, sons of theirs comes over here, an odd time has come.50
  • Oh well, only, they gets pensions, you know, and i get the old-age pension.51
  • Them is all reclaimed land.52
  • We keeps about tens cows that way, you know, and few cattle.53

Indirect Questions

In Standard American English, the subject and verb are only inverted in direction questions. For example:

  • Are you going to the store?

However, in indirect questions, the subject and verb remain in the SV construction:

  • I was wondering if you were going to the store.

In Irish English, indirect questions may retain word-inversion.54 They may also omit the introductory if or whether required in indirect questions in Standard American English.55 Below are a few examples from the HE corpus:

  1. I don’ know was it a priest or who went in there one time with a horse-collar put over his neck.56
  2. I wonder what is he like at all = The leprechaun. = I don’ know what is it at all.57
  3. Oh, how long, wait till I see how long would it be?58

Double Modals

In Standard American English, only one modal auxiliary verb can occur within a clause. However, in some varieties, including Southern American English, two modal verbs may occur in the same clause. This occurs in Irish English, especially in areas influenced by Ulster Scots (e.g., counties Down and Antrim).59

  • Example: He might could go.60

Relative Clause Formation

No Relative Marker:

Speakers of Irish English form relative clauses – clauses that describe a noun – without using specific words or particles, such as who or what, to explicitly introduce the clause.

  • Example: The girl I met at school was kind. (the who does not present)61

Resumptive Pronoun:

This is a type of pronoun that is used in a sentence to refer back to a noun or pronoun in contexts where a gap might typically occur, such as in relative clauses. They “resume” the reference to the noun, helping to clarify or complete the structure of the sentence.

  • Example: I’ve a cousin a nurse, she lives Ederney.62

Using For to as an Infinitive

More commonly found in older varieties of English, the use of for to as an infinitive marker is a construction where for precedes the infinitive to and its verb.

e.g., He went to Cork for to buy a house.63 – ‘He went to Cork to buy a house.’

Negative Concord

This grammatical phenomenon is where multiple negative words appear in a clause, but the clause still expresses a single negation.

e.g., They’re not interested in no gambling.64 – ‘They aren’t interested in gambling.’

Emphatic Cleft

This is a grammatical construction used to emphasize a particular part of a sentence to show strong emotion or highlight a speaker’s attitude. It typically involves a clause structured to give extra focus to the subject or object of the sentence.

e.g., It’s to Dublin she’s going.65 – ‘She’s going to Dublin’ (with added emphasis on Dublin).

Lexicon

Below are a list of some common lexicon found in Irish English:

  • Class ‘excellent’ (e.g., “ah class!”)66
  • Gobshite ‘foolish person’67
  • How’s she cutting? ‘How are you doing?’68
  • I’m grand. ‘I’m okay.’69
  • Amn’t ‘am not’70
  • Fierce ‘very’ (e.g., this is fierce fun)71
  • Mad ‘fond of’72
  • Bold ‘misbehaved’73

Sometimes, lexical terms are a combination of old words and present regional words.

  • e.g., chisler can mean ‘child’74
  • e.g., cog can mean ‘cheat’75

Although Irish is not commonly spoken, some Irish words still enter the dialect

  • e.g., sláinte meaning ‘health’76

Pragmatics

Hedging

In order to avoid being direct, speakers of Irish English may utilize hedging to soften statements. This reflects Irish cultural norms against “forwardness.”77

  • Ex. I’d say, you know, like78

Distinctive use of expressions like no bother or intensifiers like very.79

Taboo Words

Words that are considered curse words or obscenities and other religious exclamations are prevalent in Irish English. However, their force is often diluted and is seen as less strong compared to other English varieties.80

Code Switching and Politeness

Irish English speakers often use specific communication strategies to make interactions feel less hierarchical or unequal. These strategies include code-switching (using a variety that aligns more closely with their conversation partner to make the conversation feel more balanced), and referring to shared cultural knowledge or experiences to build a sense of connection.81

References

  1. O’Sullivan, Joan. “Sociolinguistics in Ireland.” English Language and Linguistics 23, no. 2 (06, 2019): 502-507. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S136067431700051X
  2. Hickey, Raymond. “Irish English: phonology” In 1 The British Isles edited by Bernd Kortmann, Clive Upton and Edgar W. Schneider, 71-104. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110208399.1.71
  3. O’Sullivan, “Sociolinguistics in Ireland,” 502.
  4. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 76.
  5. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 76.
  6. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 80.
  7. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 80.
  8. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 79.
  9. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 78.
  10. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 78.
  11. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 78.
  12. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 79.
  13. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 80.
  14. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 77.
  15. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 77.
  16. Hickey, “Irish English: phonology,” 77.
  17. Lewis, Benny. “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.” YouTube, March 25, 2017.
  18. Filppula, Markku. The Grammar of Irish English. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1999.
  19. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  20. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  21. Corrigan, Karen P. “Grammatical Variation in Irish English.” English Today 27, no. 2 (06, 2011): 39-46. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078411000198
  22. Hickey, Raymond. “Southern Irish English.” In Language in the British Isles, edited by David Britain, 2nd ed. (University Press, 2007): 135-151.
  23. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  24. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  25. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  26. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  27. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  28. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  29. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  30. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  31. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  32. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  33. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  34. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  35. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 90.
  36. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  37. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  38. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  39. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  40. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  41. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  42. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  43. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  44. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 130.
  45. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  46. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  47. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  48. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  49. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  50. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  51. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  52. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  53. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 155.
  54. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 167.
  55. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 167.
  56. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 168.
  57. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 168.
  58. Filppula, The Grammar of Irish English, 168.
  59. Corrigan, “Grammatical Variation in Irish English,” 39.
  60. Corrigan, “Grammatical Variation in Irish English,” 39.
  61. Corrigan, “Grammatical Variation in Irish English,” 39.
  62. Corrigan, “Grammatical Variation in Irish English,” 39.
  63. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  64. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  65. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  66. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  67. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  68. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  69. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  70. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  71. Lewis, “Irish English: How We Actually Talk.”
  72. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  73. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  74. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  75. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  76. Hickey, “Southern Irish English.” 135.
  77. Vaughan, Elaine and Brian Clancy. “The Pragmatics of Irish English.” English Today 27, no. 2 (06, 2011): 47-52. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078411000204
  78. Vaughan, “The Pragmatics of Irish English,” 47.
  79. Vaughan, “The Pragmatics of Irish English,” 47.
  80. Vaughan, “The Pragmatics of Irish English,” 47.
  81. Vaughan, “The Pragmatics of Irish English,” 47.