Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Radoslava Pekarová

The Influence of the Irish language on Irish English Grammar

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D.

2009

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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

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Acknowledgement I would like to thank to Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D. for his guidance and valuable advice.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................ 5

1. Historical account: Establishment of English in Ireland ................................ 6

2. Anglo-Irish, Irish English or Hiberno-English? ........................................... 14

3. Controversy about the Irish Influence ..................................................... 18

4. Grammar .............................................................................................. 21

4.1 Irish English Usages of the Definite Article ........................................ 23

4.2 Special Use of Reflexive Pronouns .................................................... 27

4.3 Structures to Denote Tense Aspects in Irish English ........................... 31

4.3.1 Perfective Aspect .................................................................... 31

4.3.1.1 The Indefinite Anterior Perfect ....................................... 31

4.3.1.2 The ‘After Perfect’ ......................................................... 33

4.3.1.3 The ‘Medial-object’ Perfect ............................................. 35

4.3.1.4 The Be Perfect .............................................................. 39

4.3.1.5 The Extended-now Perfect ............................................. 41

4.3.2 Present Habitual Aspect ........................................................... 42

4.4 Irish English Use of Prepositons ....................................................... 47

4.4.1 The Preposition on .................................................................. 48

4.4.2 The Preposition in ................................................................... 50

4.4.3 The Preposition with ................................................................ 52

4.4.4 The Preposition of ................................................................... 53

Conclusion .............................................................................................. 545

References………………………………………………………………………………………………56

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Introduction

Irish English is said to be the oldest variety of English outside Britain

(Hickey, 2007) and between varieties of English has a special position which is

confirmed by Siedmund and Pietsch (2008: 87), “Irish English represents one of

the most interesting and intriguing language contact situations in the English

speaking world. It involves contact between two genetically related, but

typologically fairly distant languages – Irish and English…” If we think about

other varieties of English, such as American or Australian English, we have to

realize that none of them was influenced by any of the native languages of the

countries as in the case of Irish English. Nowadays Irish English represents two

languages which have been coexisting next two each other for centuries.

During this time English of the Irish adopted many features of the natives and

this is the area of my interest.

The thesis deals with some peculiarities of Irish English namely with

those of Irish English grammar which are influenced by the Irish language.

However, this is still an extensive area for studies and thus only some of the

structures of Irish English grammar were chosen for the purposes of the thesis.

The structures chosen have clear parallels in the Irish language which,

however, does not imply that their origin is clear as is shown in discussion

within the individual sections.

The paper begins with a short historical account of a gradual establishing

of English in Ireland because it is necessary to realize that although Ireland is

seen as an English-speaking country, it lasted for a long time until this became

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truth. During this long struggle the structures of English in Ireland were

adjusted to the needs of the native inhabitants so that they could express

themselves better. The thesis further deals with the neglecting of the influence

of Irish on English generally: it was believed a long time that Irish made no

impact on English; however, nowadays it turns out being completely untrue. As

is shown in the thesis, especially in the chapter dealing with the story of the

Irish influence, even some Standard English features have the Irish parallels.

Further there is dealt with the terminology referring to Irish English as there

exist three different types of terms and the chapter shows a short overview of

their usage. The rest of the study discusses the chosen grammatical structures

and describes the extent of the Irish influence.

The aim of the thesis is to introduce some of the distinctive features of

Irish English which one can hardly encounter in everyday life and to emphasize

the influence conducted by the Irish language which is clearly reflected in the

English language of the inhabitants of Ireland.

1. Historical account: Establishment of English in Ireland

This chapter deals with the history of the English language in Ireland.

The establishment of English in Ireland was a long process lasting for centuries.

During this time the language became a weapon: it should have helped Britain

to gain control over Ireland. However, it was not until the 19th century when

English became the dominant language.

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Two stages or waves of establishing the English language in Ireland are

recognized. The first one is connected with the Norman invasion in 1169 which

brought English and Norman French to Ireland. The status of English in Ireland

was rather low then because it was spoken mainly by servants of the Normans.

The high status was enjoyed by Latin, which was introduced in Ireland since

the arrival of religion, and by French (Kallen, 1997). Although the Normans

expanded in Ireland, their language declined quite rapidly and they themselves

became gaelicised (Filppula, 1999) or hibernicised using Todd’s (1999)

terminology. Though English managed to endure longer, gradually it declined

as well. Hogan (qtd. in Filppula, 1999) describes the language situation in 14th

and 15th centuries as follows:

Irish came down again into the plains and up to the walls of the towns.

With the exception of those who carried on the Dublin government, or

lived in or near the Pale1, the great Norman families, never having been

English, now became thoroughly Irish. The English yeomen and small

free holders steadily forsook the land, going to England or the Pale.

The area of the Pale (see Figure 1 below) was important for the survival

of English in Ireland. It is the only area in Ireland where English influence was

uninterrupted since the Norman invasions and thus the English language could

continue to exist in Ireland. However, outside the Pale and especially in rural

1 The Pale – the term comes from Latin palus ‘stake’, it was established at the time of Henry II’s

expedition and consisted of the territories conquered by England, where English settlements and rule were most secure (Encyclopædia Britannica Online)

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areas the impact of English was slight. Later even the area of the Pale shrank.

The assimilation of the settlers by the native Irish had, according to Hickey

(2007), two main reasons, namely that the English settlers were Catholic and

the English government adopted Protestantism later; and that the connections

with England were still rather loose. There were made various attempts by

English rulers “to halt the process of gaelicisation” in Ireland such as the

Statutes of Kilkenny (Filppula, 1999: 4) – they imposed “heavy penalties on

those who were found using Irish”. However, these and other measures were

of no effect.

Figure 1 The area of the Pale (Hickey, 2008)

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In the 16th century the Irish language spread even to Dublin. In 1578

Lord Chancellor William Gerrard criticised the use of Irish by the English

(Hickey, 2007). Todd (1999: 47) comments it by saying that, “… the Irish had,

slowly but surely, assimilated the invaders.” However, this was not allowed to

continue.

In the 16th century the second wave of English started which is marked

by the beginning of the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-1558). The second wave is

characteristic of “the organised settlement of the Irish landscape which was to

have the greatest consequence in terms of anglicisation” (Hickey, 2007: 35). It

was a system for planting English settlers in Ireland in order to anglicise the

Irish. The main plantations are those of Munster and Ulster (see Figure 2

below). The numbers of settlers were quite high when we imagine that in 1611

the ratio of the settlers and the Irish in Ulster was three Irish to two Planters

(see Table 1 below) and yet further waves of English speakers followed later

(Todd, 1999).

Table 1 Estimated numbers of the English settlers in Ireland in individual

counties of Ulster in 1611 (Todd, 1999: 48)

County Irish Planters Total

Antrim 8,965 7,074 16,039 Armagh 4,355 2,393 6,748 Cavan 8,218 6,485 14,703 Derry 5,306 4,428 9,734 Donegal 8,589 3,412 12,001 Down 8,643 6,540 15,183 Fermanagh 5,302 1,800 7,102 Monaghan 3,649 434 4,083 Tyrone 10,245 8,085 18,330 Total for Ulster 63,272 40,651 103,923

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Figure 2 Areas of English settlements (Encyclopædia Britannica Online.)

“The final blow to the old Irish society”, according to Hogan (qtd. in

Filppula, 1999), was done by the Cromwellian Settlement in the 1650s which is

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connected with confiscation of land of the natives and their resettlement. The

confiscated estates were granted to the English which substantially changed the

demography of Ireland. “In all provinces except Connacht [i.e. Connaught in

the map above], the landowners were English-speaking Protestants” (Filppula,

1999: 7) an in addition, Bliss (qtd. in Filppula, 1999) states that, “the great

houses formed centres where the English language was spoken: tenants and

servants alike had to learn some English in order to communicate with their

masters.” This situation when the Irish were either forced to the west of the

country or to stay and learn the language of their masters deprived of any

political rights helped to spread English in Ireland. However, despite all the

adopted measures Irish continued to have the dominant position as Ó Cuív

(qtd. in Filppula, 1999) states “… in 1731 … some two-thirds of the population

still used Irish as their everyday means of communication, while as late as 1791

about half of the population were either monoglot Irish or had Irish as their

preferred language.” Although the numbers of speakers of Irish remained

relatively, it is obvious that the English language spread slowly but surely

throughout Ireland.

According to Filppula (1999) it was in the first half of the 19th century

when English speakers started gradually to outnumber Irish speakers. In

addition, the Great Famine in the 1840s was an important factor in the spread

of English: the number of native Irish speakers was reduced approximately by

25%, which was about 2 million people (Hickey, 2007), due to starvation and

emigration caused by the Famine. Since then the decline of Irish spread quite

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rapidly and by the census of 1891 the number of the Irish speakers dropped to

little over half a million (Ó Cuív qtd. in Filppula, 1999).

According to the study “Europeans and their Languages” (2006) the

present language situation in Ireland is following: 94% of the Irish claim

English as their mother tongue and 11% claim Irish as their mother tongue2. As

regards the actual use of Irish in Ireland, 40.8% of the Irish claim they are able

to speak Irish (according to the Census 2006). In the areas of Gaeltacht3 (see

Figure 3) the number of speakers is even higher: 70.8% of the Irish say they

speak Irish. Table 2 below provides data about numbers of speakers of the Irish

language. The increasing numbers show that the Irish language is still very

important for the inhabitants of Ireland.

Table 2 Changes in numbers of Irish speakers since 1926 according to the

Census 2006

Year Irish speakers Non-Irish speakers

1926 540,802 2,261,650 1936 666,601 2,140,324 1946 588,725 2,182,932 1961 716,420 1,919,398 1971 789,429 1,998,019 1981 1,018,413 2,208,054 1986 1,042,701 2,310,931 19914 1,095,830 2,271,176 19964 1,430,205 2,049,443 2002 1,570,894 2,180,101 2006 1,656,790 2,400,856

2 The study enabled multiple choice, i.e. it was possible to mark more languages as mother

tongues 3 Gaeltachts - areas in Ireland where Irish Gaelic is spoken primarily 4 The substantial increase of the speakers of the Irish language between the years 1991 and 1996 is explained by changed formulation in the Census question (Gaelic: Revitalising Gaelic a National Zaset, 1999)

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Figure 3 Areas of Gaeltacht

Co. Donegal Co. Mayo Co. Meath Co. Galway Co. Kerry Co. Waterford Co. Cork

From the historical account stated above it is obvious that the

establishment of the English language in Ireland was a long and complicated

process – or rather a struggle between two languages that later became a

struggle for power. Although English won and is now the main language in

Ireland, the result of the struggle was not always sure. The Irish played in the

past an important role in lives of the Irish which is reflected in their handling

the English language. And as shows Table 2 above Irish is again gaining its

prestige which can be in the future again mirrored in the usage of English in

Ireland.

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2. Anglo-Irish, Irish English or Hiberno-English?

Regarding the terminology used in relation with the English language

spoken in Ireland, all three above mentioned terms can be found in the works

of linguists. There is much dispute over the terms. This chapter shows various

attitudes towards their usage. Some authors use just one of the terms to

denote English in Ireland and the others use all of them to indicate different

influences made on English. For example, Henry (1977:20) sees three major

strands and calls them Anglo-Irish, which is “a characteristically rural variety

compounded of Irish and English or English and Scots”; Hiberno-English, which

is defined by him as

a more urban, regional and standard variety tending towards

international or so-called Standard English. This derives ultimately from

British settlers in Ireland and its germinal period was the seventeenth

century.

Finally Ulster Scots being from the same period as Hiberno-English. On the

other hand, Todd (1999) distinguishes two main traditions, namely Planter

English and Hiberno-English and further she divides Planter English into two

varieties – Anglo-Irish and Ulster Scots. Her division generally corresponds with

Henry’s one.

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Traditions of English in Ireland according to Todd:

Planter English Hiberno-English

Anglo-Irish Ulster Scots

However, concerning the usage of the terms, she defines them almost the

other way round. Anglo-Irish is defined by Todd (1999: 57) as,

a variety of English that is spoken over most of Ireland. It is descended

from the English brought to Ireland by planters from England, modified

by contacts with Irish, Ulster Scots and Hiberno-English.

Hiberno-English, Todd (1999:71) explains,

is a range of English spoken by people whose ancestral mother tongue

was Irish. It is strongest in the vicinity of the Gaeltachts, in rural areas

and in parts of the country such as Sperrin Mountains in Tyrone, where

pockets of Gaelic speakers survived until the 1960s.

The third group - Ulster Scots – is defined as, “a variety of Scottish English

spoken mainly in parts of Antrim, Donegal and Down. Its influence can be

found as far as south Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh.” (Todd, 1999: 59) In

addition, throughout her work she uses the term ‘Irish English’ to refer to

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English spoken in Ireland in general. This approach, however, is completely

denied in an interview with Dolan:

The term Irish English is misnomer, because it works on the principle

that ‘Irish English’ is similar to Australian English, American English or

Canadian English, which it isn’t. English was transported to these

countries, but didn’t mix with the native languages. In Ireland, Hiberno-

English means that you have two languages in kind of unruly shotgun

marriage together, fighting all the time over the centuries, for syntax,

pronunciation, vocabulary, idiom. (Amador-Moreno, 2007)

For Dolan there is the only one correct term and thus Hiberno-English. On the

contrary, there are studies by Raymond Hickey in which he uses the term Irish

English to refer to English in Ireland and offers his own explanations for the

terms mentioned above. Hickey (2005) identifies three terms, namely Anglo-

Irish, Hiberno-English and Irish English and for him it is Hiberno-English that

should not be used:

Hiberno-English is a learned term which is derived from the Latin term

Hibernia ‘Ireland’. The term enjoyed a certain currency in the 1970s and

1980s, but in the 1990s, many authors ceased to employ it, as it

contributes nothing in semantic terms and is unnecessarily obscure,

often requiring explanation to a non-Irish audience or readership. (20)

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But he admits that some authors, “such as Dolan and Filppula, continue to

employ the term” (20). He claims Anglo-Irish is:

… an established term in literature to refer to works written in English by

authors born in Ireland. It is also found in politics to refer to relations

between England and Ireland. The difficulty with the term is its

occurrence in these spheres and the fact that, strictly speaking, it implies

an English variety of Irish and not vice versa. It should be mentioned

that within the context of other varieties – Canadian English, for instance

– the term is still used to refer to English in Ireland (Kirwin 1993). (20)

Filppula (1999) also refuses the term Anglo-Irish with a similar argument to

Hickey’s one stating that this term is especially connected with “English

literature written by Irish people” (34) and claims that, “In recent linguistic and

dialectological studies … the term ‘Anglo-Irish’ is not so common…” (34). Hickey

(2005) advocates the use of ‘Irish English’ as, “the simplest and most

convenient term. It has the advantage that it is parallel to the designations for

other varieties, e.g., American, Australian, Welsh English, and can be further

differentiated where necessary” (20). Filppula (1999: 34) explains that the

term Irish English “has been gaining ground in the most recent research… An

alleged advantage of this term over Anglo-Irish and Hiberno-English is its

neutrality.”

From the discussion above it is obvious that it is difficult to draw a

conclusion which would offer a right term referring to English in Ireland. To

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sum up, the term Anglo-Irish is now seen as obsolete and thus one can choose

between two expressions – Irish English or Hiberno-English.

3. Controversy about the Irish Influence

This chapter discusses different approaches to the Irish influence on

English. The extent of the influence was seen as minor for a long time. Todd

(1999: 32) says, “… the claims by generations of writers on the history of the

English language that ‘outside of placenames… the influence of Celtic upon the

English language is almost negligible’ (Baugh, 1959: 85) or that the Celtic

languages gave no more than ‘a dozen words to English (Wakelin, 1972: 126).”

Filppula et al. (2008: 13) calls this a Germanist view,

Anglo-Saxon intruders drove out or exterminated the native British and

Romano-British population… As a consequence of this massive ‘ethnic

cleansing’, it was believed, the English people are of virtually pure

Germanic extraction…

Todd finds an explanation for the overlooking of the Irish influence, “Many

writers have acknowledged the existence of a ‘few’ Celtic words, but,

interestingly, the individual words in that ‘few’ tend to vary from scholar”

(Todd, 1999: 34). In addition, she emphasizes the importance of the

phenomenon known as ‘multiple etymologies’5 as a significant reason for this

5 Multiple etymologies: similar form occurs in more than one of the languages in contact and

enhances the likelihood of its selection by all the speakers. (Todd, 1999: 34)

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behaviour of linguists. To illustrate her claims about overlooking of the Irish

origin of some English words she chooses such a fundamental part of the

English language as is a third person feminine pronoun she. In the Oxford

English Dictionary a reader learns that the origin of she is “of difficult

etymology” (oed.com) and further there is explained that the third person

feminine personal pronoun is derived from the combination of an Old English

demonstrative pronoun and an Old Norse demonstrative pronoun that was

often used in Old Norse as a personal pronoun. On the other hand, Todd

(1999) gives us another explanation: she implies that the possible origin of the

English third person feminine pronoun she may be derived from the Irish third

person feminine pronoun sí meaning she that even was and is pronounced in

the same way as the present-day she. In the table below (Table 3) shows Old

English personal pronouns together with their present forms. On the base of

this table Todd claims that, “The change from he(o) to ‘she’ is much less easy

to account for.” (33) Especially when it is compared with a simple change from

Old Celtic sí ’to the English spelling preserving the pronunciation.

Table 3 Comparison of the Old English personal pronouns with their present-

day forms

Case Male Female Neuter Plural

Nominative he = he he(o) = she hit = it hie = they

Accusative hine = him hie = her hit = it hie = they

Dative him = to him hi(e)re = to her him = to it him = to them

Genitive his = his hi(e)re = her his = its hiera = their

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Regarding the spread of this etymology from Ireland to England, Todd

(1999) gives a satisfactory explanation, “Irish clerics and scribes were to be

found in many communities in England and we do not even have to discount

that the Scandinavians were partly responsible for the dissemination of ‘she’

because:

… the early Scandinavian settlements (ninth century and earlier) in this

country were mainly Danish and were on the Eastern side of England.

Norwegian settlements occurring somewhat later (mainly in the first half

of the tenth century by men who had been living in Ireland) were in

the northwestern counties and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.

(M. Wakelin, English dialects: An Introduction, 1972: 18, bold Loreto Todd)

An evidence of a gradual assimilation of the old Britons with the Anglo-Saxons

is Härke’s (qtd. in Filppula et al. 2008: 16) argument in which he describes

some archeological findings,

… by the seventh century, men buried with weapons (i.e. Anglo-Saxons)

had the same stature averages as those without (i.e. the Britons),

whereas earlier skeletal data indicate a clear separation of the two

groups.

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The evidence of the Celtic survival in Britain can be found in Sykes’s study

(2006, qtd. in Filppula et al. 2008) based on the research of mithocondrial DNA

and patrilinear Y-chromosome,

Overall, the genetic structure of the Isles is stubbornly Celtic, if by that

we mean descent from people who were here before the Romans and

who spoke a Celtic language… we may feel about ourselves and about

each other, we are genetically rooted in a Celtic past. The, Irish, the

Welsh and the Scots know this, but the English sometimes think

otherwise. (18)

Consequently one can conclude that besides Todd’s claims about the

spread of the Celtic ‘sí’ by the Irish clerics and scribes, it could be well possible

that the Anglo-Saxons adopted some other Celtic words as the ‘tribes’ coexisted

next to each other.

4. Grammar

The previous chapter discusses the neglect of the Irish influence and

provides evidence that such attitude toward Irish was wrong. This and following

sections introduce and examine some of the peculiarities of Irish English

grammar which are either influenced by Irish or are of Irish origin.

Todd (1999) explains why some of the features of the Irish languagel

were adopted by Irish English. The process that produced Irish English is called

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relexification6 – when the Irish started to use English as a means of

communication with the English, they learned the English vocabulary but

preserved the grammatical structures of their mother tongue. In the following

chapters is shown that the Irish just exchanged Irish vocabulary for English in

many case and preserved the grammatical patterns of their original language.

Todd (1999) gives an clarification for such a process saying that

Relexification is widespread process in communities where one group of

people tries to learn the language of another under conditions of

pressure or segregation. By this process, the Irish produced a form of

English that reflected Irish influence at every linguistic level from the

sound patterns and the rhythms, to the vocabulary, the idioms and the

sentence structure. (76)

Another example of the preference of the Irish sentence structures can be seen

in the sentences below. Todd (1999) explains that, “Contemporary linguists

would say that Gaelic speakers prefer ‘nominal’ to ‘verbal’ structures.” (92)

Hiberno-English Gaelic Meaning

Give me the full of it. Tabhair domh an lán de. Fill it.

Put ears on you. Cuir cluasa ort. Listen attentatively.

He got his death. Fuair sé bás. He died.

6 Relexification - The process of replacing a word or group of words in one language with a corresponding word or group of words from another language, without grammatical adjustment of the items introduced. (Oxford English dictionary)

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The following sections demonstrate the influence of the Irish language

on some of the features of Irish English grammar which are incorrect in StE but

well-established in Irish English speech.

4.1 Irish English Usages of the Definite Article

This chapter discusses the Irish influence on Irish English choice of a

determiner – namely of the definite article the. The definite article is overused

in Irish English and its usage in Irish English reflects the Irish usage in many

cases. Hickey (2005: 153-154) explains that in Irish there is only one article,

namely the definite one. However, this has much broader usage in Irish than in

English. Both Filppula (1999) and Hickey (2007) identify several categories

where the definite article is overused in comparison with the standard form.

Though both authors mention mostly similar group, the categories listed below

are drawn from Filppula (1999) who distinguishes more nuances in the non-

standard usages than Hickey (2007). The following are the groups identified by

Filppula (1999) where there is a clear substratal7 influence:

a) plural count nouns with generic reference

You’d need the wellies when crossing them fields. (Hickey, 2007: 251)

7 Substratum vs. superstratum influence: A substratum influence is one derived from a

dominated language [i.e. from Irish in this case], a superstratum from a dominant language [i.e. from English in this case]; Substratum languages can affect all features of grammar, whereas superstratum languages tend to affect vocabulary only. (Oxford English Dictionary)

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b) non-count abstract nouns and concrete mass nouns

Do you like sugar in the tea? (Hickey, 2007: 251)

c) quantifying expressions involving most, both, and all

Well, you see, the both of them have to work to do the mortgage like. (Hickey,

2007: 252)

d) the numerals one and two, when used as predeterminers or on their own

acquiring the meanings ‘same’ and ‘both’, respectively

But the two parishes were the one, one time. Mullagh and Milltown were the

one parish. (Filppula, 1999: 58)

e) names of languages and branches of learning

If you go out in the world the Irish, is no good to you. (Hickey, 2007: 251)

f) physical sensations or states , names of diseases and ailments

God, I’m parched with the thirst. (Hickey, 2007: 251)

I had a bout of the flu the past few weeks. (Hickey, 2007: 252)

g) names of social and ‘domestic’ institutions

The husband said, she was getting out of the bed that night. (Hickey, 2007:

251)

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h) names of geographical areas and localities, monuments, and streets

… you would get people that’d give you a good deal of the lowdown of the

County Wicklow. (Filppula, 1999: 60)

i) expressions involving reference to body parts or items of clothing

There’s nothing done by the hand. (Hickey, 2007: 251)

j) terms for members of the family

Go in not to see the mother. (Hickey, 2007: 252)

k) terms for parts of the day, week, or year, names of festive days or seasons

And then they could be up late in the night playing music. (Hickey, 2007: 252)

Well, how did the Christmas go for you? (Hickey, 2007: 252)

l) expressions involving –ing form of verbs, used to refer to trades and

professional or general activities

But America = is a better country in that line of the labouring… (Filppula, 1999:

62)

m) names of persons when qualified by a title

There was a couple of houses there, Mr. Geoghegan, a stevedore lived and

then after that, there was the Mr. Oaks lived in this house […] (Filppula, 1999:

63)

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n) reference to means of transport

They’ll come out there on the bus to where I’m telling you, down the road.

(Filppula, 1999: 63)

o) sentences containing nouns with a strong emotional colour

That’s the grand morning! (Filppula et al. 2008: 170)

In the groups e), f), g) and h) can be observed some inconsistency in the usage

of the definite article (Filppula, 1999), though Hickey (2007) does not mention

any.

Some of the above mentioned features of non-standard usages of the

definite articles can be found also in other varieties of English (Filppula, 1999).

However, all the features above have their parallels in the Irish language.

Filppula (1999: 66) draws the Irish categories of the usage of the definite

article from New Irish Grammar by the Christian Brothers (1976: 6-8):

a) phrases referring to rates, prices, etc. in a distributive sense, e.g. uair sa

bhliain’ once a year (cf. the HE example twice the week);

b) certain surnames used on their own without the Christian name;

c) titles;

d) place-names, including names of counties;

e) names of the seasons;

f) days of the week;

g) names of certain month and feasts;

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h) names of languages used ‘in a wide or general sense’;

i) abstract nouns, again used in a wide or general sense;

j) names of certain illnesses

Filppula (1999) gives also examples of the usages of the definite articles from

the Irish language that correspond with the usages of them in Irish English.

Among them there are abstract nouns “formed from the corresponding agent

nouns by adding the suffix – (e) acht, e.g. sclábhaí ‘labourer’ sclábhaíocht

‘labouring’...” (examples are drawn from Ó Siadhail, 1980, qtd. in Filppula,

1999: 66) as it is in the category l); further use of the article to express

“…certain emotions such as surprise, joy, pathos, fright,…” (Filppula, 1999: 66

– 67). The latter mentioned category corresponds with the section o).

4.2 Special Use of Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexives pronouns are used in an object position in StE. In Irish English

reflexive pronouns can also stand in a subject position. Such reflexives are

called by linguists dealing with the topic ‘unbound reflexives’ (UBRs) (Hickey

2002, 2007, Filppula 1999, Fritz 2006). Filppula (1999: 80) explains the usage

of the term ‘unbound’, “they [UBRs] are not locally bound by antecedent.” UBRs

are a well-known phenomenon of Irish English (Hickey 2007) and it is another

example of the preservation of the Irish forms in grammar. The UBRs have a

stable and firm position in IrE which is supported by Fritz’s (2006) findings. He

explains that this feature of IrE managed to survive the Irish emigration to

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Australia and in addition with almost the same frequencies of usages as occurs

in Ireland.

Was it himself that come? (Todd, 1999: 93)

Regarding the meaning of unbound reflexives, according to Filppula

(2008:350),

absolute reflexive like himself is sometimes described as a polite form of

reference to the ‘man of the house’ … there appear to be other

functions, too … an absolute reflexive is often used with reference to

that person or those persons who constitute the ‘topic’ of the

conversation in some way or another”,

as it is in the example below.

… when Cromwell came over here… he was s’posed to say, he’d drive the Irish

to hell or Connacht … The Irish used to say … the Irish went to Connacht and

left hell for himself. (Filppula, 2008: 349)

As regards the origin of this usage, it can be argued that it can be found

already in earlier English (e.g. Shakespeare used unbound reflexives in some

his plays(Hickey, 2007)) which means the possibility of the English

superstratum influence. This is, for example, recognized by Filppula (1999),

Hickey (2007), Odlin (1997), who are ready to clarify the case. Odlin (1997: 41-

29

42) says that, “Although superstrate influence in some reflexive structures

cannot be ruled out, it is an implausible explanation in a number of cases…”

Odlin (1997: 44-45) adds further evidence for substrate influence in reflexives,

namely

• their occurrence in focus position (And it’s himself that told me that up in a

pub… (Odlin, 1997: 39)) and as independent subjects (I don’t remember

himself. (Odlin, 1997: 41));

• their presence in some constructions which seem to be made by a non-

native English speaker (And it [fish] could fry himself. (Odlin, 1997: 42));

• the structures of certain Irish English sentences are similar to their Irish

equivalents

Irish: “Seall sios,” ars esan, “co leis siod.” Chaidh a fear ad sios

“look down” said he “who with-him there” went the man down

‘s sheall e. “Tha,” ars esan, “leibh péin”.

and looked he “Are” said he “with you-self” (Odlin, 1997: 42)

“Look down,” he said, “and see whose they are.” The man went and looked.

“It’s yours,” he said. (Odlin, 1997: 42)

“Go down and have a look whose cask is that that throw the hinges. This man

who went down, “It belongs to yourself,” he says. (Odlin, 1997: 42)

30

• the tendency of reflexives to occur as the first conjoin in co-ordinate noun

phrases.

Himself and his brother N. was going with the ---- cattle… (Odlin, 1997:43)

Another evidence for the substratal influence is the distribution of the

feature across Ireland: the UBRs are most frequent in the western parts

(Filppula 1999: 81) of Ireland where there is the strongest and continuous

influence of the Irish language.

Although Odlin (1997) together with Filppula (1999) provide us with

sufficient amount of evidences that prove the Irish origin, Filppula (1999) points

out the presence of UBRs in Early Modern English on the basis of the Helsinki

Corpus8 and states 65 occurrences of UBRs found in the corpus. Filppula (1999)

draws the conclusion that this feature reflects both – the superstratal and

substratal influence.

On the contrary, Odlin (1997) argues that superstratal influence does not

offer satisfactory explanations of some structures such as focus position of

reflexives and adds that, “In every case except … [the second point mentioned

above] there are structural parallels in Irish and Scottish Gaelic and in … [the

second point mentioned above] a paradigmatic gap in Gaelic seems to account

for the unusual reflexive construction” (45). And indeed, Filppula et al. (2008)

admits that there were no occurrence of UBRs in focus position in earlier

English in Helsinki corpus.

8 Helsinki Corpus – the part dealing with Early Modern English covers the period and contains

over 550,000 words

31

From the discussion stated above one can conclude that the Irish

language played a significant role in establishing of the UBRs in Irish English

and the possible superstratal influence on the feature was minimal.

4.3 Structures to Denote Tense Aspects in Irish English

4.3.1 Perfective Aspect

One can distinguish more nuances when denoting perfective aspect in

Irish English than in StE. Filppula (2008) distinguishes 5 other types of Irish

English perfects which existence could be well explained by the Irish influence.

The following sections discuss the extent of the role of the Irish language in the

formation of the different types of perfective aspects.

4.3.1.1 The Indefinite Anterior Perfect

Regarding its meaning Filppula (2008: 330) explains that the indefinite

anterior perfect “denotes events or states of affairs which take place at an

unspecified point in a period leading up to the moment of utterance.”

Were you ever in Kenmare? (Filppula, 2008: 330)

Parallel uses of the indefinite anterior perfect [IAP] can be found in both

languages – in English as well as in Irish. In addition, according to Visser (qtd.

in Filppula, 1999: 96) the present-day perfect ‘have + past participle’

32

construction was not established until after Shakespeare’s time and the cases of

usage of the preterite form can be found in Old and Middle English. However,

on the other hand, Filppula (1999: 97) argues, that, “If the IAP has well-

established roots in the superstratum, as seems to be the case on the basis of

the literature, it could be assumed to feature quite prominently in present-day

dialectal varieties.” On the basis of his research, Filppula (1999: 97) points out

that although this phenomenon is not “uncommon in the conservative dialects”,

it is not “pervasive” especially in the comparison with number of occurrences in

Irish English.

On the other hand, Ó Sé (qtd. in Filppula, 1999: 97) explains that the

Irish preterite is normally used with reference to ‘experiences in indefinite past

time’, i.e. to indefinite anterior events/ states, including also expressions with

riamh ‘(n)ever’ which corresponds with the meaning of the IAP.

Irish has no equivalent of the English have perfect, which helps to explain the

HE use of the preterite for perfect aspect. Also the existence of the feature in

Hebridean English9 and the number of occurrences of the IAP in IrE favouring

the non-standard form (Filppula, 1999: 95) support the substratal influence.

However, superstratal influence cannot be excluded

… because of the viability of the superstratal parallel in EModE and even

later stages, and in the absence of qualitative features unique to HE, it

seems hard to argue for anything more than reinforcing influence on the

HE IAP from the direction of the Irish substratum … (Filppula, 1999: 98)

9 Hebridean English – a variety of English in Scotland strongly influenced by Gaelic

33

To sum up, the arguments for the superstratal influence provide

information about the existence of the pattern in earlier English. However, on

the other hand, the influence of the Irish language is supported by the

corresponding parallels in the Irish language, by the existence of the similar

feature in Hebridean English and by the high frequencies of usage in present-

day Irish English. And thus it is obvious that the Irish influence on the feature

was substantial, at least by reinforcing the existence and preservation of the

feature.

4.3.1.2 The ‘After perfect’

The second type, the after perfect (AFP), is a well-known feature of Irish

English and can be found in many studies dealing with grammatical peculiarities

of Irish English (e.g. Todd, 1999; Hickey, 2005, 2007; Filppula, 1997, 1999,

2008; Odlin, 1991, etc.). This type is considered “the most stereotypical”

(Filppula, 2008: 331) one. Its form consists of be + after + V-ing. Filppula

(1999: 99) explains that,

… AFP refers to an event or activity which has taken place in the more or

less recent past but the effects of which persist some way or other into

the present moment or … into a secondary point of time orientation in

the past, which makes them equivalent to StE past perfects.

You’re after ruinin’ me. (Filppula, 2008: 330)

34

This feature is also confirmed by Odlin (1991: 563), “The closest equivalent in

Standard English to after-constructions is the use of present perfect and past

perfect construction.

The AFP referring to the recent past is also called ‘hot news perfect’ by

Harris (qtd. In Filppula, 1999: 99) which is a term that “emphasises the aspect

of immediate recentness of the event or activity.” Hickey (2008: 197) adds that,

“In contemporary Irish English it only has past reference, though it can occur in

the future perfect on occasions.” Although in the present-day speech this

construction is quite rare, it is still one of the best-known grammatical features

of Irish English.

As to the origin, there exist a parallel in Irish, “…way to express ‘hot

news’ in Irish is to use tar éis [tréis] or some other lexical equivalent of after

plus a ‘verbal noun’” Odlin (1991: 563).

Tá sé tréis imeacht.

(lit. ‘He’s after going’)

‘He has just gone.’ (Filppula, 1999: 101)

Filppula (1999: 106) is also sure about the origin of the AFP not only because of

the “Irish parallel” but also because on the basis of his research there are no

plausible parallels in earlier English. This is supported, according to him, by the

presence of a parallel construction in Hebridean English.

Another opinion is offered by McCafferty (2002) who implies that StE

could have helped to establish this construction in Irish English. One can “find

35

after V-ing used in non-finite adverbial clauses in which there is very often a

strong implication of a relationship of recency or immediacy between the

adverbial and finite clauses” in some varieties of StE (13). McCafferty (2002:

14) explains,

It is possible that, as Gaelic speakers adopted English, such non-finite

clauses were reanalyzed, making them available for finite use, as in I’m

after hearing about Mcgann on news. Native speakers of such a heavily

nominal language as Gaelic might be predisposed to do so, and their

search for categorial equivalence in their newly-acquired second

language would certainly be encouraged by the overlapping uses of the

English present participle and the Gaelic verbal noun.

To conclude, the origin of this structure is quite obvious, although the

possible superstratal influence cannot be excluded completely.

4.3.1.3 The ‘Medial-object’ Perfect

The third type, or using Filppula’s (2008) terminology the medial-object

perfect (for its characteristic word order), “focuses on the result, or resulting

state, of an action rather the action itself; verbs used in this way are typically

dynamic and transitive… occasional instances of other types also occur

especially in the conservative rural varieties, such as the verb of ‘inert

perception’ or ‘intellectual activity’…” (Filppula, 2008: 330).

36

I have it forgot. (Filppula, 2008: 330)

This perfect is also known as “resultative perfect”, “stative perfect” or

“perfect of result” (qtd. in Filppula, 1999: 108). In tables below there are

shown frequencies of uses of the MOP in the areas of Ireland. Table 4 shows

that this feature of Irish English is more frequent in the western parts of Ireland

and the ratio of occurrence of MOP in comparison with the standard form. And

again - the standard form is gradually more frequent throughout the area of

Ireland in the east parts and as regards MOP it is vice versa. The higher

frequency of occurrence of MOP in the western parts supports substratal origin

of the feature.

Table 4 Filppula (1999: 110) – frequencies of the MOP compared to those of

the ‘standard’ have perfects in the HE corpus

Area MOP Have perfect % MOP

Clare

Kerry

Wicklow

Dublin

14

15

8

3

13

24

41

25

51.9

38.5

16.3

10.7

HE total 40 103 28.0

To clarify the origin of the structure I start with the set of properties of MOP

according to Harris (qtd. in Heine and Kuteva, 2006: 176):

a) It only occurs in transitive sentences.

b) The participle is placed after the direct object

37

c) It is only used with dynamic verbs (do, write, spend, etc.), not with stative

verbs (know, recognize, resemble)

d) It resembles the possessive ‘have’-construction and is best analyzed as a

complex construction consisting of a main verb have-clause and a subjoined

clause containing a participle, i.e. something along the lines of [I have [my

dinner eaten]].

e) Rather than a perfect (anterior), it appears to be essentially a resultative

construction, focusing on the state rather than a past event that gives rise to a

present state. Accordingly, adverbials which focus on an anterior event are

excluded.

f) The scope of negation can be either the whole construction or the subjoined

clause alone.

Heine and Kuteva (2006: 176) explain that it is in a sharp contrast with StE

while “the Irish English possessive perfect agrees with the corresponding

construction of Modern Irish in all the major properties listed” above. Regarding

the origin of the structure, Hickey (2007: 211) completely denies any possibility

of the superstratal influence saying that, “… input varieties of English after the

fifteenth century were unlikely to show O + PP [object + past participle] word

order and hence unlikely to have provided a model for speakers of Irish shifting

to English.” Further he explains that,

… the past participle in Irish always follows the object with transitive

verb. A word order which placed this before the object would have had

38

to be explicitly learned by individuals shifting to English, and equally

many of the Irish would have retained the word order of their native

language.” (211)

However, according to other studies, such as Heine and Kuteva (2006), this

structure can be already found in early English, and thus there is again the

question of whether this structure is a result of retention of early English or of a

substratal influence. Harris (qtd. in Heine and Kuteva, 2006: 176) argues that

features similar to the ones listed above for Irish English are well attested in

earlier forms of British English, hence, that the Irish English construction

reflects an earlier state found in the history of British English, more precisely,

that it is a retention of the older English split perfect10. Filppula (1999) also

admits that this construction is present in early English; however, on the basis

of his research, Filppula (1999) claims that this construction became gradually

so rare in English that in the time of the formation of Irish English the retention

from early English could not have had any impact on the process (see Table 5

showing gradual decrease of frequencies of the pattern in earlier Englishes).

This idea can be supported by Pietsch (2009) saying that, “… it [language

contact with Irish] seems to have happened at a relatively late date during the

development of Hiberno-English, surfacing in the written record only about the

mid-19th century” (37).

10 The modern English perfect is generally agreed to derive historically from an older transitive

‘split’ perfect which consists of ‘have’ form and an EN-participle placed after the object noun phrase. This construction is often interpreted as referring to a state of completion (‘I had him in a state of being bound’). The ‘have’ of this older perfect is usually assumed to be a full lexical verb denoting possession and the participle to be a complement of the object noun phrase (Harris, qtd. in Heine and Kuneva, 2006)

39

Table no. 5 Frequencies of perfects with mid-position object in the Helsinki

Corpus (Filppula, 1999: 113)

Period N N/ 10,000

OE III 68 2.7

ME I 56 5.0

ME II 56 5.7

ME III 53 2.9

ME IV 21 1.0

EModE I 4 0.2

EModE II 2 0.1

EModE III 2 0.1

The discussion in the chapter shows that the MOP is a feature of Irish

English which was strongly influenced by the Irish language. This is proved by

the evidence of the substratal parallel as well as by the fact that although there

existed similar pattern in earlier English, it disappeared from StE before it could

exercise any influence on the Irish English pattern.

4.3.1.4 The Be Perfect

As regards its usage, it is “the intransitive counterpart of the resultative

medial-object perfect described above, and is used with verbs of motion or

change such as go, change, leave or die” (Filppula, 2008: 330).

I think the younger generations are gone idle over it. (Filppula, 2008: 330)

40

The meaning of the ‘be perfect’ (BEP), is one “which resembles that of

MOP: the focus is clearly on the end-point or result of some prior activity or

event” (Filppula, 1999: 117). In the structure are preferred verbs with dynamic

meaning.

Regarding its origin, according to several studies (Hickey 2007, Filppula

1999, and others) it is clearly of early English origin which is supported,

according to Filppula (1999: 118) “by the fact that it is not at all hard to find

occurrences in EModE usage.” Filppula et al. (2008) explains that such

construction when ‘be’ is used instead of ‘have’ in perfective aspect is an old

Germanic feature and English is from the Germanic language group.

However, the pervasiveness of the be perfect in especially earlier IrE

texts, coupled with the existence of a direct Irish parallel, has led some

researches to suggest that the IrE usages are based, or have at least

been influenced, by the Irish construction. (Filppula et al., 2008: 186)

Some authors, such as Kallen (qtd. In Filppula et al., 2008) and Filppula

(1999), also note the more frequent usage of this construction in IrE than in

other varieties of English. According to Filppula’s (1999) data from his HE

corpus the occurrences of this construction are more common in the rural

areas. On this basis the reinforcing substratal influence, at least in the sphere of

the preservation of the construction in Ireland, has to be admitted.

41

4.3.1.5 The Extended-now Perfect

The extended-now perfect is the last type of the Irish English perfects. It

“refers to events or states initiated in the past but continuing at the moment of

utterance” (Filppula, 2008: 330).

I’m not in this [caravan] long… (Filppula, 2008: 330)

Filppula (1999) explains that although it has the form of present tense, it

expresses present perfect tense. Filppula (1999: 123) describes features of

ENP,

a) reference to a state, event or activity which has been initiated in the

past and which leads up to the moment of utterance (or to some other

point of time-orientation in the past in those cases where the past tense

is used); b) obligatory presence of a time adverbial expressing

duration…; c) use of the present or past tense, including the

corresponding progressive and passive forms…

As to the origin of this form of the perfect, there exist parallels in Irish as

well as in EModE and thus there is a dispute over its origin. Some researches

such as Harris (qtd. in Filppula 1999: 124-125) advocate superstratal origin

admitting only reinforcing influences of Irish. Although Filppula (1999) admits

the possibility of some superstratal influence, for him it is only a marginal

phenomenon in EModE, and fully supports the idea of the Irish origin claiming

42

that the Irish parallel has “similar semantic and formal characteristics” (125).

Further he argues for the Irish origin by referring to the regional distribution of

this feature. The occurrences of the pattern are more frequent “in the areas

adjoining the Gaeltachtaí than in the east…” (Filppula 1999: 128). Filppula

(1999: 128) adds that the Irish origin supports one more thing, namely “the

clear parallel in another Celtic-influenced [Hebridean English] variety of

English.”

4.3.2 Present Habitual Aspect

Habitual aspect refers to “an action which occurs repeatedly” (Hickey,

2007: 213) whether in the past or present time. This chapter deals with the

present habitual aspect and with the means it can be expressed by in Irish

English. Hickey (2007: 213) divides present habitual aspect into a durative

habitual, that “characterises a repeated action and which typically lasts for a

certain length of time” (Dahl 1985: 95-102 qtd. in Hickey 2007), and an

iterative habitual that “stresses the action”. In StE the habitual aspect can be

expressed by means of the present tense forms – simple present for iterative

and continuous present for durative - that are often accompanied by adverbs

such as always, often, frequently, etc. (Hickey, 2007: 213). Besides standard

forms, Irish English can express the present habitual aspect by other means.

According to Hickey (2005: 28, 2007: 214-232) these are:

43

a) the “suffixal –s on lexical verb stems” expressing the iterative habitual;

occurs in southern Ireland

I gets all mixed up with the buttons on the recorder. (Hickey 2007: 214-215)

b) do (es) be expressing the durative habitual; occurs in southern Ireland

She does be reading books. (Hickey, 2005: 28)

c) be (es) expressing the durative habitual; occurs in northern Ireland

They bees up late at night. (Hickey, 2005: 28)

As regards the origin of the specific features of the habitual aspect in

Irish English, the chapter only deals with the last two types because of the lack

of information concerning the first type: as far as I am aware of, the first type

of the habitual is only mentioned by Hickey (2005, 2007) who, in addition, does

not offer any explanation of its origin.

Concerning the second type, Hickey (2007) discusses both possibilities of

origin – superstratal and substratal. As argument for superstratal origin he

states the text by John Michelburne called Ireland Preserved, or the Siege of

Londonderry (1705). The habitual in the text is expressed by two different

forms, namely by the form do + lexical verb which occurs also in the south-

west England, and by do be + infinitive form. Hickey (2007) claims that the

second form could be “intermediary” between the habitual do + lexical verb

and the present-day Irish English form of the habitual does be + V-ing. He

further explains,

44

The implication of instances such as a) above is that do + lexical verb

had habitual uses in Early Modern Irish English. If this interpretation is

correct, then the source of this do + lexical verb habitual would have

been south-western British input to the east of Ireland which then spread

to the rest of the country.” (220)

As for the be (es) habitual, Hickey (2007) sees the main problem in the

fact that there are scarcely any written records of this form before the middle

of the 19th century and may be possibly derived from the do (es) be habitual

“which had become established in other varieties of Irish English prior to this”

(Hickey, 2007: 226). Hickey also mentions that some studies state the possible

Scots origin rather than Irish. This favours the fact that the feature occurs in

the north of Ireland and Scots could have worked as an element “that continues

a distinction from old English between generic wesan and habitual beon”

(McCafferty 2007, qtd. in Hickey 2007: 227). On the other hand, there is not

enough written evidence for such claims and in addition, this statement can

also contradict the existence of the feature (although rare) also in the south of

Ireland (Hickey, 2007: 231).

Filppula et al. (2008: 190) supports the substratal origin of both types –

do (es) be and be (es) – when stating that there exist Irish parallels. For be

(es) “the plausible source is the ‘consuetudinal’ (i.e. habitual) present of the

early Modern Irish ‘substantive’ verb ‘be’, the 3rd person singular forms of which

were bídh… and bí … ” (2008: 190). He also adds that the existence of the

special form in the habitual aspect in the Irish language

45

can be used to explain why the Irish learners of English should have

carried over this feature into their English; the adoption of be/bees/be’s

as a habitual aspect marker would have been further facilitated by close

phonetic resemblance between the Irish and English ‘be’ words…” (190)

As for the do (es) be form Filppula et al. (2008) states that although

there is no direct parallel in Irish, the substratal origin cannot be excluded. He

argues that the form in which auxiliary do is followed by be was never used in

the earlier or dialectal form of English.

On the other hand, the early Modern Irish verbs had a so-called

dependent form ending in –(e)ann, which was used for the present

indicative of verbs and, as Bliss (1972) argues, had a syntactic

distribution very similar to the uses of the auxiliary do in English: those

contexts which in English required do required the dependent ending in

early Modern Irish, and vice versa, with some minor exceptions.

(Filppula, 2008: 191)

However, Filppula et al. (2008) argues that this feature is only typical of

a small group of other varieties (including Irish English) of English and Irish

connection “is obvious for a large part of these varieties” (191). An argument

supporting the substratal origin is also offered by Todd (1999): she uses both

types discussed as extended present tense markers in Irish English on the basis

of the Irish language. English distinguishes between such sentences as:

46

Mary is going to school. (Todd, 1999: 95)

Mary goes to school. (Todd, 1999: 96)

“The Celtic languages, on the other hand, make a tripartite distinction … thus

adding a nuance to the distinction made in English” (Todd, 1999: 96 – 97) as it

is in the following examples:

Téann Máire ar scoil. Goes Mary to school. (Todd, 1999: 97)

Tá Máire ag dul ar scoil. Be Mary at go to school. (Todd, 1999: 97)

Bíonn Máire ag dul ar scoil. Be + habitual Mary at go to school. (Todd,

1999: 97)

This ability of the Irish language can be seen in Irish English which Todd (1999:

97) explains, “Irish speakers used to such fine distinctions, expected their

English to provide similar nuances…” And while English distinguishes between

two types of present tense, namely present simple and present continuous

tense, Irish English has more possibilities:

Mary goes to school. (Todd, 1999: 97)

Mary is going to school. (Todd, 1999: 97)

Mary biz/ bees going to school. (Todd, 1999: 97) – meaning regularity

Mary does be going to school. (Todd, 1999: 97) – meaning both regularity and

habitualness

47

She further explains that the English language

is usually described as a Germanic language with a large Romance

element… However, such constructions [i.e. forms of present simple and

continuous tenses] are not a feature of Germanic or Romance languages

and, although Old English developed the ability to use ‘progressive

structures’, the development does not seem to have occurred in other

Germanic dialects. (Todd, 1999: 98)

Todd (1999) sees as an interesting fact that out of the languages spoken by

“Anglo-Saxons, Latin-using clerics, Vikings and Norman French” it is only

English that makes this grammatical distinction “but is a marked feature of the

Celtic tongues” (98). She (1999: 98) asks a question whether it could be “that

English speakers borrowed such a distinction from the Celts, who previously

lived throughout Ireland and Britain.”

To sum up, from the argumentation above it can be concluded that a

certain amount of a substratal influence on Irish English has to be admitted.

4.4 Irish English Use of Prepositions

The use of prepositions is richer in Irish English in comparison with

standard uses: prepositions occur in structures which are obsolete or not used

at all in StE; however, on the other hand, they reflect the parallel usage in the

Irish language. Indeed, the Irish English prepositions are another area where is

48

a clear substratal influence. This feature is generally agreed to be based on the

Irish parallel,

There is also general consensus among HE scholars that the

prepositional of HE reflects to a great extent the corresponding Irish

usages… The heavy leaning on Irish is explained by the special role that

prepositions play in Irish syntax.” (Filppula, 1999: 218)

In the following sections 4 types of prepositions are discussed: a) on, b) in, c)

with and d) of. Although this grammatical structure is also dealt by Hickey

(2007), the categorization of individual sections is based on Filppula (1999) who

describes the phenomenon in greater detail.

4.4.1 The Preposition on

Filppula (1999) explains that Irish English on has several functions as its

counterpart ar in Irish. Table 6 identifies four categories where on occurs in

Irish English (Filppula, 1999: 219):

49

Table 6 Categories of non-standard occurrences of on in Irish English

The origin of the first structure can be explained comparison of an Irish

sentence with an Irish English one: bhuail Seumas mo ghadhar orm with James

struck my dog on me, “where on me corresponds to the Irish prepositional

pronoun orm and means to ‘to my detriment, in violation of my right’” (Joyce,

1910/1988: 27, qtd. in Filppula 1999: 220). The third type can also by directly

derived from an Irish parallel, namely from the Irish idiom cé’n t-ainm atá ort?

with a meaning What name is upon you? (Bliss, 1979: 309, qtd. in Filppula

1999: 221). Further he (1999: 222) explains, that the sentence stated in 3) has

a “‘theme-rheme’ structure” placing “the (typically) personal ‘logical’ subject …

11 Dativus incommodi – “the dative denoting a person to whose … disadvantage something is

done…” (Mathesius and Vachek, 1975: 126-127)

1.

To imply a disadvantage of some kind or another from the point of view of the referent (also known under the heading ‘dativus incommodi’11 (Hayden and Hartog, qtd. in Filppula 1999: 219))

Someone took three hundred pounds on him. (Hickey, 2007: 247) 2.

To express various physical and mental sensations, states or processes, most often negative, often used with be, go and come

…in America is quite = the climate is fright on you. New York is a fright in the heat now. (Filppula, 1999: 220)

3. To expres some type of possession or another, often ‘inalienable’ type, expressing an inherent physical or other inherent property of the referent

… But I can’t think the name that was on him. (Filppula, 1999: 221) 4.

Miscellaneous non-standard uses of on

… So anyway didn’t the lots, the lots fell on Shanahan, he had to go. (Filppula, 1999: 222)

50

in the position of the rheme … and cast in the form of a prepositional phrase in

direct imitation of the corresponding Irish pattern … StE favours the opposite

strategy…”. The fourth type has often very similar meaning to ‘dativus

incommodi’ as in the cases mentioned above.

Concerning the origin, the examples of the fourth type can be found in

some southwestern BrE dialects (Filppula, 1999: 223-224), however, all the

remaining uses were found only exceptionally or not at all in the BrE dialect

corpora. Consequently, he concludes that these usages of ‘on’ have “roots in

the corresponding Irish system”. Another evidence of the Irish origin of non-

standard uses of ‘on’ Filppula (1999: 224) states the existence of similar

patterns in HebE.

4.4.2 The Preposition in

Under this heading there are stated seven types of specific uses of the

preposition ‘in’ in Irish English which shows Table 7 (Filppula, 1999: 226-231).

51

Table 7 Categories of non-standard occurrences of in in Irish English

From the categories above, it is obvious that most of the uses is

connected with the prepositional phrase ‘in it’ which has its Irish parallel ann

meaning ‘in-it’ or ‘in existence’ in Irish and thus Filppula (1999) concludes, that

especially the categories “with the pattern ‘in it’ in its existential and other

related meanings” are based on the Irish parallel. Although some occurrences

of the phrase are also found in Filppula’s BrE dialect database, however, he

(1999) explains that there is a vast difference between the frequencies of

occurrences in corpora from IrE dialects and in combined corpora from BrE

dialects in favour for IrE dialects. As regards the sixth type, Filppula (1999)

1. To denote concrete location in some place

…There was acres and miles of land just for to live in it. (Filppula, 1999: 227)

2. The notion of location in the metaphorical sense, i.e. existence

There used to be a hotel in it. (Hickey, 2007: 247)

3. The focus on the presence of somebody or something in some place

… well, I didn’t know them. I wasn’t in this part of the world, when they were in it. (Filppula, 1999: 228)

4. To express some inherent quality or property of something

President Kiely’ could have been shell-shocked, you know? And that was, this was the kink that was in him… (Filppula, 1999: 229)

5. To denote an involvement Mrs. F: And then it sort of died out, and then the man that was in it, a certain Defoe that was in it, he sold the licence, you see. (Filppula, 1999: 229)

6. Use of ‘in’ instead of some other preposition

But they = they killed a few lads in = in = that day. They saw ‘em runnin’, like, = an’ they shot ‘em. (Filppula, 1999: 230)

7. Use of ‘in’ in connection with the verb ‘live’

… That was desperate … they lived in hard work. (Filppula, 1999: 231)

52

clarifies some of the usages of ‘in’ instead of some other preposition: in

Roscommon dialect ‘in’ can be used “in connection with psychical sensations”

(Henry, qtd. in Filppula 1999: 230); further ‘in’ can stand for ‘into’ which is

possibly caused by the lack of distinction between ‘in’ and ‘into’ in Irish.

Concerning the seventh category, Filppula (1999) believes that it may be based

on some Irish parallel, but he has no evidence for this.

4.4.3 The Preposition with

The situations where the preposition with is used a non-standard way in

IrE shows Table 8.

Table 8 Categories of non-standard occurrences of with in Irish English

1. To express the duration of a state or an activity

Hugh Curtin is buried with years… (Filppula, 1999: 232)

2. To express agency in passive constructions

And it … was sold on err = with an auctioneer. (Filppula, 1999: 234)

3. To indicate the means or instrument with which an action is performed … He must have got hit with a car or something, I think. (Filppula, 1999: 234)

4. To express the cause of a state, event or action

… he could hardly free the teeth = from each other with the cold. (Filppula, 1999: 235) -> because of the cold

5. To denote possession and physical attributes The money is with them. (Filppula, 1999: 236) -> they have plenty of money

53

All the specific uses above can be derived from the Irish preposition ‘le’

denoting temporal meaning, agency, instrumentality and causality. Filppula

(1999: 237) states that “the temporal and causal ones are most likely due to

direct influence from the corresponding Irish prepositional patterns.” The

agentive and instrumental uses have also superstratal parallels in earlier

English. However, on the basis of his survey Filppula (1999) he found no

occurrences in the last EModE subperiod of the Helsinky corpus and scant

occurrences in BrE dialects, which as he claims is an argument against

superstratal influence. The use of ‘with’ in the last category is according to

Henry and Moyland (qtd. in Filppula, 1999: 236) derived from the possessive

use of Irish ‘le’.

4.4.4 The Preposition of

Filppula (1999) focuses on the ‘attributive of’ which he describes as “the

connection of ‘of’ to form a certain kind of NP structure consisting of two nouns

joined by ‘of’. The first noun, although most often itself modified by an

adjectival attribute, assumes the function of a kind of adjectival attribute to the

second noun with a clearly intensifying force” (238)

There was two Learys and two Murphys, Lawlor, Curtis and Hehir; seven men.

And by all accounts they were all big giants o’ men.

54

Filppula (1999: 238) says that although this feature of ‘of’ can be also

seen in other dialects in the British Isles, in Irish English it “appears to be

particularly well-developed and productive…” Joyce (1910/1988: 42, qtd. in

Filppula 1999: 239) offers the Irish parallel in the form of construction such as

‘amadán fir’ meaning ‘a fool of a man’ and adds that “it is far more general

among us, for the obvious reason that it has come to us from two sources

(instead of one) – Irish and English.” Moylan (1996, gtd. in Filppula 1999: 239)

states that many of the functions of ‘of’ “are consistent with those of Ir. ‘de’”

such as in amadán de shuine meaning ‘a fool of a person’. To support the Irish

origin of this feature Filppula states the existence of the pattern in Hebridean

English.

All in all, from the discussion above is obvious that Irish again played an

important role in formation of this type of usage of ‘of’ which is especially

supported by the presence of a similar pattern in HebE and by the existence of

an Irish English equivalent.

55

Conclusion

Irish English generally adopted many features from Irish – whether

phonological, linguistic or stylistic ones. The study offers an account of few

peculiarities of the Irish English grammar. It explains that the formation of

these special structures was caused by the influence of the Irish language

which has played an important role in lives of the Irish. The thesis discusses

nuances in distinguishing between several perfective aspects that Irish English

enables thanks to the substratal influence. Further it shows an extensive use of

the prepositions to convey certain meanings: in StE it would be seen as

incorrect, however, a nearer look at the Irish system explains such treatment of

the prepositions. Similarly, the thesis clarifies the Irish overuse of the definite

article and what is called unbound reflexives. Although in many of the cases

concerned a possible superstratal influence can be argued, there still is a strong

evidence for at least reinforcing substratal influence.

The aim of the paper was to reveal the way the Irish speak and at the

same time to explain a reason of a non-standard usage of English which is a

hundreds of years lasting influence of the Irish language.

56

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