| Hiberno-English | |
| Also Known As: | Irish English |
| States: | Ireland |
| Region: | Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland); Great Britain; United States; Australia; Canada (diaspora) |
| Speakers: | 5+ million in the Republic of Ireland[1] 6.8 million speakers in Ireland overall. |
| Date: | 2012 European Commission |
| Speakers2: | 275,000 L2 speakers of English in Ireland (European Commission 2012) |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Germanic |
| Fam3: | West Germanic |
| Fam4: | North Sea Germanic |
| Fam5: | Anglo-Frisian |
| Fam6: | Anglic |
| Fam7: | English |
| Ancestor: | Old English |
| Ancestor2: | Middle English |
| Ancestor3: | Early Modern English |
| Script: | Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille |
| Agency: | – |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Ietf: | en-IE |
| Glotto: | iris1255 |
| Notice: | IPA |
Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland.[2] In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the dominant first language in everyday use and one of two official languages, along with the Irish language.
Irish English's writing standards, such as its spelling, align with British English.[3] However, Irish English's diverse accents and some of its grammatical structures and vocabulary are unique, including certain notably conservative phonological features: features no longer common in the accents of England or North America. It shows significant influences from the Irish language and, in the north, the Scots language.
Phonologists today often divide Irish English into four or five overarching dialects or accents:[4] Ulster or Northern Irish accents, Western and Southern Irish accents (like Cork accents), various Dublin accents, and a non-regional standard accent (outside of Ulster) whose features are shifting since only the last quarter of the 20th century onwards.
Middle English, as well as a small elite that spoke Anglo-Norman, was brought to Ireland as a result of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 12th century. The remnants of which survived as the Yola language and Fingallian dialects, which is not mutually comprehensible with Modern English. A second wave of the English language was brought to Ireland in the 16th-century Elizabethan Early Modern period, making that variety of English spoken in Ireland the oldest outside of Great Britain. It remains phonologically more conservative today than many other dialects of English.[5] [6]
Initially during the Anglo-Norman period in Ireland, English was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with largely the Irish language spoken throughout the rest of the country. Some small pockets of speakers remained, who predominantly continued to use the English of that time. Because of their sheer isolation, these dialects developed into later, now-extinct, English-related varieties, known as Yola in Wexford and Fingallian in Fingal, Dublin. These were no longer mutually intelligible with other English varieties. By the Tudor period, Irish culture and language had regained most of the territory lost to the invaders: even in the Pale, "all the common folk… for the most part are of Irish birth, Irish habit, and of Irish language".[7]
The Tudor conquest and colonisation of Ireland in the 16th century led to a second wave of immigration by English speakers, along with the forced suppression and decline in the status and use of the Irish language. By the mid-19th century, English had become the majority language spoken in the country. It has retained this status to the present day, with even those whose first language is Irish being fluent in English as well. Today, there is little more than one per cent of the population who speaks the Irish language natively, though it is required to be taught in all state-funded schools. Of the 40% of the population who self-identified as speaking some Irish in 2016, 4% speak Irish daily outside the education system.[8]
A German traveller, Ludolf von Münchhausen, visited the Pale in Dublin in 1591. He says of the pale in regards to the language spoken there: "Little Irish is spoken; there are even some people here who cannot speak Irish at all".[9] He may be mistaken, but If this account is true, the language of Dublin in the 1590s was English, not Irish.And yet again, Albert Jouvin travelled to Ireland in 1668; he says of the pale and the east coast, "In the inland parts of Ireland, they speak a particular language, but in the greatest part of the towns and villages on the sea coast, only English is spoken".[10] A Tour of Ireland in 1775 By Richard Twiss (writer) says of the language spoken in Dublin "as at present almost all the peasants speak the English language, they converse with as much propriety as any persons of their class in England"[11]
See main article: Ulster English. Ulster English, or Northern Irish English, here refers collectively to the varieties of the Ulster province, including Northern Ireland and neighbouring counties outside of Northern Ireland, which has been influenced by Ulster Irish as well as the Scots language, brought over by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster. Its main subdivisions are Mid-Ulster English, South Ulster English and Ulster Scots, the latter of which is arguably a separate language. Ulster varieties distinctly pronounce:
Western and Southern Irish English is a collection of broad varieties of Ireland's West Region and Southern Region. Accents of both regions are known for:
The subset, South-West Irish English (often known, by specific county, as Cork English, Kerry English, or Limerick English), features two additional defining characteristics of its own. One is the pin–pen merger: the raising of dress to pronounced as /[ɪ]/ when before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// (as in again or pen). The other is the intonation pattern of a slightly higher pitch followed by a significant drop in pitch on stressed long-vowel syllables (across multiple syllables or even within a single one), which is popularly heard in rapid conversation, by speakers of other English dialects, as a noticeable kind of undulating "sing-song" pattern.[13] [14]
See main article: Dublin English. Dublin English is highly internally diverse and refers collectively to the Irish English varieties immediately surrounding and within the metropolitan area of Dublin. Modern-day Dublin English largely lies on a phonological continuum, ranging from a more traditional, lower-prestige, local urban accent on the one end, to a more recently developing, higher-prestige, non-local, regional and even supra-regional accent on the other end. Most of the latter characteristics of Dublin English first emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The accent that most strongly uses the traditional working-class features has been labelled by the linguist Raymond Hickey as local Dublin English. Most speakers from Dublin and its suburbs, have accent features falling variously along the entire middle, as well as the newer end of the spectrum, which together form what is called non-local Dublin English. It is spoken by middle- and upper-class natives of Dublin and the greater eastern Irish region surrounding the city.[15]
In the most general terms, all varieties of Dublin English have the following identifying sounds that are often distinct from the rest of Ireland, pronouncing:
Local Dublin English (or popular Dublin English) is a traditional, broad, working-class variety spoken in the Republic of Ireland's capital city of Dublin. It is the only Irish English variety that in earlier history was non-rhotic; however, it is today weakly rhotic.[4] Known for diphthongisation of the and vowels, the local Dublin accent is also known for a phenomenon called "vowel breaking", in which,, and in closed syllables are "broken" into two syllables, approximating pronounced as /ɛwə/, pronounced as /əjə/, pronounced as /uwə/, and pronounced as /ijə/, respectively.
Evolving as a fashionable outgrowth of the mainstream non-local Dublin English, advanced Dublin English, also new Dublin English or formerly fashionable Dublin English, is a youthful variety that originally began in the early 1990s among the "avant-garde" and now those aspiring to a non-local "urban sophistication". Advanced Dublin English itself, first associated with affluent and middle-class inhabitants of southside Dublin, is probably now spoken by a majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s.
Advanced Dublin English can have a fur–fair merger, horse–hoarse, and witch–which mergers, while resisting the traditionally Irish English cot–caught merger. This accent has since spread south to parts of east County Wicklow, west to parts of north County Kildare and parts of south County Meath. The accent can be heard among the middle to upper classes in most major cities in the Republic today.
Supraregional Southern Irish English, sometimes, simply Supraregional Irish English or Standard Irish English,[16] refers to a variety spoken particularly by educated and middle- or higher-class Irish people, crossing regional boundaries throughout all of the Republic of Ireland, except the north. A mainstream middle-class variety of Dublin English of the early- to mid-twentieth century is the direct influence and catalyst for this variety, coming about by the suppression of certain markedly Irish features, and retention of other Irish features, as well as the adoption of certain standard British (i.e., non-Irish) features.[17]
The result is a configuration of features that is still unique. In other words, this accent is not simply a wholesale shift towards British English. Most speakers born in the 1980s or later are showing fewer features of this late-twentieth-century mainstream supraregional form and more characteristics aligning to a rapidly-spreading advanced Dublin accent. See more above, under "Non-local Dublin English".
Ireland's supraregional dialect pronounces:
The following charts list the vowels typical of each Irish English dialect as well as the several distinctive consonants of Irish English, according to the linguist Raymond Hickey.[4] Phonological characteristics of overall Irish English are given as well as categorisations into five major divisions of Hiberno-English: Ulster; West and South-West Ireland; local Dublin; advanced Dublin; and supraregional (southern) Ireland. Features of mainstream non-local Dublin English fall on a range between what Hickey calls "local Dublin" and "advanced Dublin".
The following monophthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:
| Diaphoneme | Ulster | West & South-West Ireland | Local Dublin | Advanced Dublin | Supraregional Ireland | Example words |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| flat pronounced as //æ// | pronounced as /[äː~a]/ | pronounced as /[æ]/ | pronounced as /[a]/ | pronounced as /[æ~a]/ | add, land, trap | |
| pronounced as //ɑː// and broad pronounced as //æ// | pronounced as /[äː~ɑː]/ | pronounced as /[æː~aː]/ | pronounced as /[aː]/ | bath, calm, dance | ||
| conservative pronounced as //ɒ// | pronounced as /[ɒ]/ | pronounced as /[ä]/ | pronounced as /[ɑ~ɒ~ɔ]/ | pronounced as /[ɑ]/ | lot, top, wasp | |
| divergent pronounced as //ɒ// | pronounced as /[ɔː~ɒː]/ | pronounced as /[aː~ä]/ | pronounced as /[ɔː]/ | pronounced as /[ɒ]/ | loss, off | |
| pronounced as //ɔː// | pronounced as /[ɒː~ɔː~oː]/ | pronounced as /[ɒː]/ | all, bought, saw | |||
| pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as /[ɛ]/ | dress, met, bread | ||||
| pronounced as //ə// | pronounced as /[ə]/ | about, syrup, arena | ||||
| pronounced as //ɪ// | pronounced as /[ë~ɘ~ɪ̈]/ | pronounced as /[ɪ]/ | hit, skim, tip | |||
| pronounced as //iː// | pronounced as /[i(ː)]/ | pronounced as /[i(ː)]/ | beam, chic, fleet | |||
| pronounced as //i// | pronounced as /[e~ɪ]/ | happy, coffee, movie | ||||
| pronounced as //ʌ// | pronounced as /[ʌ̈~ʊ]/ | pronounced as /[ʊ]/ | pronounced as /[ɤ~ʊ]/ | pronounced as /[ʌ̈~ʊ]/ | bus, flood | |
| pronounced as //ʊ// | pronounced as /[ʉ(ː)]/ | pronounced as /[ʊ]/ | book, put, should | |||
| pronounced as //uː// | pronounced as /[ʊu~uː]/ | pronounced as /[ʊu~ʉu]/ | food, glue, new | |||
In southside Dublin's once-briefly fashionable "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, the "pronounced as //ɑː// and broad pronounced as //æ//" set becomes rounded as pronounced as /[ɒː]/.[18]
In South-West Ireland, pronounced as //ɛ// before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// is raised to pronounced as /[ɪ]/.
Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" in local Dublin accents, pronounced as //iː// and pronounced as //uː// may be realised as pronounced as /[ijə]/ and pronounced as /[ʊuwə]/ in closed syllables.
Other notes:
The following diphthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:
| Diaphoneme | Ulster | West & South-West Ireland | Local Dublin | Advanced Dublin | Supraregional Ireland | Example words | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //aɪ// | pronounced as /[ɛɪ~ɜɪ]/ | pronounced as /[æɪ~ɐɪ]/ | pronounced as /[əɪ~ɐɪ]/ | pronounced as /[ɑɪ~ɐɪ]/ | pronounced as /[aɪ~ɑɪ]/ | bright, ride, try | |
| pronounced as //aʊ// | pronounced as /[ɐʏ~ɛʉ]/ | pronounced as /[ɐʊ~ʌʊ]/ | pronounced as /[ɛʊ]/ | pronounced as /[aʊ~ɛʊ]/ | now, ouch, scout | ||
| pronounced as //eɪ// | pronounced as /[eː(ə)]/ | pronounced as /[eː]/ | pronounced as /[eː~eɪ~ɛɪ]/[19] | lame, rein, stain | |||
| pronounced as //ɔɪ// | pronounced as /[ɔɪ]/ | pronounced as /[əɪ~ɑɪ]/ | pronounced as /[aɪ~äɪ]/ | pronounced as /[ɒɪ~oɪ]/ | pronounced as /[ɒɪ]/ | boy, choice, moist | |
| pronounced as //oʊ// | pronounced as /[oː]/ | pronounced as /[ʌo~ʌɔ]/ | pronounced as /[əʊ]/ | pronounced as /[oʊ~əʊ]/ | goat, oh, show | ||
The consonants of Hiberno-English mostly align with the typical English consonant sounds. However, a few Irish English consonants have distinctive, varying qualities. The following consonant features are defining characteristics of Hiberno-English:
pronounced as //ð// and pronounced as //θ// are pronounced as stops, pronounced as /d/ and pronounced as /t/, making then and den as well as thin and tin homophones. Some accents, realise them as dental stops pronounced as /[t̪, d̪]/ and do not merge them with alveolar pronounced as //t, d//, i.e. making tin (pronounced as /[tʰɪn]/) and thin pronounced as /[t̪ʰɪn]/ a minimal pair. In Ulster they are pronounced as /[ð]/ and pronounced as /[θ]/.[20]
The pronunciation of historical pronounced as //r// is universal in Irish English, as in General American (but not Received Pronunciation), i.e. pronounced as //r// is always pronounced, even word finally and before consonants (e.g. here, cart, or surf).
| Diaphoneme | Ulster | West & South-West Ireland | Local Dublin | Advanced Dublin | Supraregional Ireland | Example words | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //ð// | pronounced as /[ð]/ | pronounced as /[d]/ | pronounced as /[d̪]/ | this, writhe, wither | |||
| syllable-final pronounced as //l// | pronounced as /[l]/ or pronounced as /[ɫ]/ | pronounced as /[l]/ | pronounced as /[l]/ or pronounced as /[ɫ]/ | ball, soldier, milk | |||
| pronounced as //r// | pronounced as /[ɻ]/ | pronounced as /[ɹˠ]/ | pronounced as /[ɹˠ]/ or pronounced as /[ɾ]/ | pronounced as /[ɻ]/ | pronounced as /[ɹˠ]/ or pronounced as /[ɻ]/ | rot, eerie, scary | |
| syllable-final pronounced as //r// | pronounced as /[ɹˠ]/ or pronounced as /[∅]/ | car, shirt, here | |||||
| intervocalic pronounced as //t// | pronounced as /[ɾ]/, pronounced as /[ʔ]/, or pronounced as /[∅]/ | pronounced as /[θ̠]/ or pronounced as /[ɾ]/ | pronounced as /[ʔ(h)]/ | pronounced as /[ɾθ̠]/ | pronounced as /[θ̠]/, pronounced as /[ʔ]/, or pronounced as /[ɾ]/ | battle, Italy, water | |
| word-final pronounced as //t// | pronounced as /[t]/ or pronounced as /[ʔ]/ | pronounced as /[θ̠]/ | pronounced as /[ʔ]/, pronounced as /[h]/, or pronounced as /[∅]/ | pronounced as /[θ̠]/ or pronounced as /[ʔ]/ | cat, get, right | ||
| pronounced as //θ// | pronounced as /[θ]/ | pronounced as /[t]/ | pronounced as /[t̪]/ | lethal, thick, wrath | |||
| pronounced as //hw// | pronounced as /[w]/ | pronounced as /[ʍ]/ | pronounced as /[w]/ | pronounced as /[ʍ]/ or pronounced as /[w]/ | awhile, whale, when | ||
In traditional, conservative Ulster English, pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ// are palatalised before an open front vowel.
Local Dublin features consonant cluster reduction, so that plosives occurring after fricatives or sonorants may be left unpronounced, resulting, for example, in "poun(d)" and "las(t)".
In extremely traditional and conservative accents (e.g. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jackie Healy-Rae), prevocalic pronounced as //r// can also be an alveolar flap, pronounced as /[ɾ]/. pronounced as //r// may be guttural (uvular, pronounced as /[ʁ]/) in north-east Leinster.
is used here to represent the voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative, sometimes known as a "slit fricative", which is apico-alveolar.
Overall, pronounced as //hw// and pronounced as //w// are being increasingly merged in supraregional Irish English, for example, making wine and whine homophones, as in most varieties of English around the world.
The following vowels + create combinations that are defining characteristics of Hiberno-English:
| Diaphoneme | Ulster | West & South-West Ireland | Local Dublin | Advanced Dublin | Supraregional Ireland | Example words | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //ɑːr// | pronounced as /[ɑɻ~ɑɹ]/ | pronounced as /[æːɹ~aɹ]/ | pronounced as /[äːɹ~ɑɹ]/ | car, guard, park | |||
| pronounced as //ɪər// | pronounced as /[iːɹ~iɚ]/ | fear, peer, tier | |||||
| pronounced as //ɛər// | pronounced as /[(ɛ)ɚː]/ | pronounced as /[ɛːɹ~eɹ]/ | bare, bear, there | ||||
| pronounced as //ɜːr// | pronounced as /[ɚː]/ | pronounced as /[ɛːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[ɚː]/ | irk, girl, earn | |||
| pronounced as /[ʊːɹ]/ | work, first, urn | ||||||
| pronounced as //ər// | pronounced as /[ɚ]/ | doctor, martyr, pervade | |||||
| pronounced as //ɔːr// | pronounced as /[ɒːɚ~ɔːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[äːɹ~ɑːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[ɒːɹ~oːɹ]/ | for, horse, war | |||
| pronounced as /[oːɚ~oːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[ɔːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[ɒːɹ]/ | pronounced as /[oːɹ]/ | four, hoarse, wore | |||
| pronounced as //ʊər// | pronounced as /[uːɹ~uɚ]/ | moor, poor, tour | |||||
| pronounced as //jʊər// | pronounced as /[juːɹ~juɚ~jɚː]/ | cure, Europe, pure | |||||
In southside Dublin's "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, pronounced as //ɑːr// is realised as pronounced as /[ɒːɹ]/.
In non-local Dublin's more recently emerging (or "advanced Dublin") accent, pronounced as //ɛər// and pronounced as //ɜr// may both be realised more rounded as pronounced as /[øːɻ]/.
The mergers have not occurred in local Dublin, West/South-West, and other very conservative and traditional Irish English dialects, including in Ulster, all of which retain a two-way distinction between pronounced as //ɛr// as in earn versus pronounced as //ʊr// as in urn. Contrarily, most English dialects worldwide have merged pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //ʊ// before the consonant pronounced as //r//. For instance, in the case of non-local Dublin, supraregional, and younger Irish accents, the merged sequence is phonetically pronounced as /[ɚː]/. However, for those accents which retain the more conservative distinction, the distribution of pronounced as //ɛr// and pronounced as //ʊr// is as follows: pronounced as //ʊr// occurs when spelled and (e.g. urn and word), after alveolar stops (e.g. dirt), and after labial consonants (e.g. fern); pronounced as //ɛr// is occurs in all other situations. There are apparent exceptions to these rules; John C. Wells describes prefer and per as pronounced as //ɛr//, despite the vowel in question following a labial in both cases. The distribution of pronounced as //ɛr// versus pronounced as //ʊr// is listed below in some example words:pronounced as //ɛr//
pronounced as //ʊr//
In a rare few local Dublin varieties that are non-rhotic, pronounced as //ər// is either lowered to pronounced as /[ɐ]/ or backed and raised to pronounced as /[ɤ]/.
The distinction between pronounced as //ɔːr// and pronounced as //oʊr// is widely preserved in Ireland, so that, for example, horse and hoarse are not merged in most Irish English dialects; however, they are usually merged in Belfast and advanced Dublin.
In local Dublin pronounced as //(j)uːr// may be realised as pronounced as /[(j)uʷə(ɹ)]/. For some speakers pronounced as //(j)uːr// may merge with pronounced as //ɔːr//.
A number of Irish language loan words are used in Hiberno-English, particularly in an official state capacity. For example, the head of government is the Taoiseach, the deputy head is the Tánaiste, the parliament is the Oireachtas and its lower house is Dáil Éireann. Less formally, people also use loan words in day-to-day speech, although this has been on the wane in recent decades and among the young.[23]
| Abú | pronounced as //əˈbuː// | pronounced as //əˈbˠuː// | Interjection | Hooray! Used in sporting occasions, especially for Gaelic games – Irish: Áth Cliath abú! 'hooray for Dublin | ' | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amadán[24] | pronounced as //ˈɒmədɔːn// | pronounced as //ˈamˠəd̪ˠaːnˠ// | Noun | Fool | ||
| Fáilte | pronounced as //ˈfɑːltʃə// | pronounced as //ˈfˠaːlʲtʲə// | Noun | Welcome – often in the phrase Irish: céad míle fáilte 'a hundred thousand welcomes' | ||
| Flaithiúlach[25] | pronounced as //flæˈhuːləx// | pronounced as //ˈfˠlˠahuːlˠəx// | Adjective | Generous | ||
| Garsún[26] Garsúr[27] | pronounced as //ˈɡɑːrsuːn// pronounced as //ˈɡɑːrsuːr// | pronounced as //ˈɡaɾˠsˠuːnˠ// pronounced as //ˈɡaɾˠsˠuːrˠ// | Noun | Boy | ||
| Gaeltacht | pronounced as //ˈɡeɪltəxt// | pronounced as //ˈɡeːl̪ˠt̪ˠəxt̪ˠ// | Noun | Officially designated region where Irish is the primary spoken language | ||
| Grá[28] | pronounced as //ɡrɑː// | pronounced as //ɡɾˠaː// | Noun | Love, affection, not always romantic – 'he has a great grá for the dog' | ||
| Lúdramán[29] | pronounced as //ˈluːdrəmɑːn// | pronounced as //ˈlˠuːd̪ˠɾˠəmˠaːnˠ// | Noun | Fool | ||
| Plámás[30] | pronounced as //ˈplɑːmɑːs// | pronounced as //ˈpˠlˠaːmˠaːsˠ// | Noun | Smooth talk, flattery | ||
| Sláinte[31] | pronounced as //ˈslɑːntʃə// | pronounced as //ˈsˠl̪ˠaːn̠ʲtʲə// | Interjection | "[To your] health!/Cheers | " |
Another group of Hiberno-English words are those derived from the Irish language. Some are words in English that have entered into general use, while others are unique to Ireland. These words and phrases are often Anglicised versions of words in Irish or direct translations into English. In the latter case, they often give meaning to a word or phrase that is generally not found in wider English use.
| Arra[32] / och / musha / yerra[33] | Interjection | Irish: Ara / Ach / Muise / (conjunction of Irish: a Dhia, ara) | "Yerra, sure if it rains, it rains." | |
| Bockety[34] | Adjective | Irish: Bacach (lame) | Unsteady, wobbly, broken | |
| Boreen | Noun | Irish: Bóithrín | Small rural road or track | |
| Ceili/Ceilidh pronounced as //ˈkeɪli//[35] | Noun | Irish: Céilí | Music and dancing session, especially of traditional music | |
| Colleen | Noun | Irish: Cailín | Girl, young woman | |
| Fooster | Verb | Irish: Fústar[36] | to busy oneself in a restless way, fidget | |
| Gansey[37] | Noun | Irish: Geansaí[38] | Jumper (Sweater) | |
| Give out[39] | Verb | Irish: Tabhair amach | Tell off, reprimand[40] | |
| Gob | Noun | Irish: Gob | Animal's mouth/beak (Irish: béal = human mouth) | |
| Gombeen | Noun | Irish: Gaimbín | Money lender, profiteer. Usually in the phrase 'Gombeen man' | |
| Guards[41] | Noun | Irish: Garda Síochána | Police | |
| Jackeen[42] pronounced as //dʒæˈkiːn// | Noun | Nickname for John (i.e. Jack) combined with Irish diminutive suffix Irish: -ín | A mildly pejorative term for someone from Dublin. Also 'a self-assertive worthless fellow'.[43] Derived from a person who followed the Union Jack during British rule after 1801, a Dublin man who supported the crown. | |
| Shoneen[44] | Noun | Irish: Seoinín (diminutive of Irish: Seán 'John') | An Irishman who imitates English ways | |
| Sleeveen[45] | Noun | Irish: Slíbhín | An untrustworthy, cunning person | |
| Soft day[46] | Phrase | Irish: Lá bog (lit.) | Overcast day (light drizzle/mist) |
Another class of vocabulary found in Hiberno-English are words and phrases common in Old and Middle English, but which have since become obscure or obsolete in the modern English language generally. Hiberno-English has also developed particular meanings for words that are still in common use in English generally.
| Amn't[47] | Verb | "Am not" or used instead of "aren't" | ||
| Childer[48] | Noun | Child | Survives from Old English, genitive plural of 'child'[49] | |
| Cop-on[50] | Noun, Verb | shrewdness, intelligence, being 'street-wise' | Middle English from French French: cap 'arrest' | |
| Craic / Crack[51] pronounced as //kræk// | Noun | Fun, entertainment. Generally now with the Gaelic spelling in the phrase – 'have the craic' from earlier usage in Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England with spelling 'crack' in the sense 'gossip, chat' | Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: cracian via Ulster-Scots into modern Hiberno-English, then given Gaelic spelling[52] | |
| Devil[53] | Noun | Curse (e.g., "Devil take him")[54] [55] Negation (e.g., for none, "Devil a bit")[56] [57] | middle English | |
| Eejit[58] pronounced as //ˈiːdʒɪt// | Noun | Irish (and Scots) version of 'idiot', meaning foolish person[59] | English from Latin Latin: idiōta; has found some modern currency in England through the broadcasts of Terry Wogan | |
| Hames[60] | Noun | a mess, used in the phrase 'make a hames of'[61] | Middle English from Dutch | |
| Grinds[62] | Noun | Private tuition[63] | Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: grindan | |
| Jaded[64] | Adjective | physically tired, exhausted[65] Not in the sense of bored, unenthusiastic, 'tired of' something | Middle English English, Middle (1100-1500);: jade | |
| Kip[66] | Noun | Unpleasant, dirty or sordid place[67] | 18th-century English for brothel | |
| Mitch | Verb | to play truant[68] | Middle English | |
| Sliced pan[69] | Noun | (Sliced) loaf of bread | Possibly derived from the French French: pain 'bread' or the pan it was baked in. | |
| Yoke[70] | Noun | Thing, object, gadget[71] | Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: geoc | |
| Wagon/Waggon[72] | Noun | an unpleasant or unlikable woman[73] | Middle English | |
| Whisht[74] | Interjection | Be quiet[75] (Also common in Northern England and Scotland) | Middle English |
In addition to the three groups above, there are also additional words and phrases 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 Irish English.
| Acting the maggot[76] | Phrase | To behave in an obstreperous or obstinate manner | ||
| Banjaxed[77] | Verb | Broken, ruined, or rendered incapable of use. Equivalent in meaning to the German German: kaputt | ||
| Bogger | Noun | Someone from the countryside or near a bog | ||
| Bowsie | Noun | a rough or unruly person. Cf. Scots Scots: Bowsie[78] | ||
| Bleb[79] [80] | Noun, verb | blister; to bubble up, come out in blisters | ||
| Bucklepper[81] | Noun | An overactive, overconfident person from the verb, to bucklep (leap like a buck) | Used by Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney[82] | |
| Chiseler[83] | Noun | Child | ||
| Cod | Noun | Foolish person | Usually in phrases like 'acting the cod', 'making a cod of himself'. Can also be used as a verb, 'I was only codding him' | |
| Culchie[84] | Noun | Person from the countryside | ||
| Delph[85] | Noun | From the name of the original source of supply, Delft in the Netherlands. See Delftware. | ||
| Feck | Verb, interjection | "Feck it!", "Feck off"[86] | ||
| Gurrier[87] | Noun | a tough or unruly young man[88] | perhaps from French French: guerrier 'warrior', or else from 'gur cake' a pastry previously associated with street urchins. Cf. Scots Gurry[89] | |
| Jacks | Noun | Similar to "jakes" as used in 16th-century England. Still in everyday use, particularly in Dublin. | ||
| Messages | Noun | |||
| Minerals[90] | Noun | From mineral Waters | ||
| Mot | Noun | Girl or young woman, girlfriend | From Irish Irish: maith 'good', i.e. good-looking.[91] | |
| Press[92] | Noun | Cupboard | Similarly, hotpress in Ireland means airing-cupboard. Press is an old word for cupboard in Scotland and Northern England. | |
| Rake | Noun | many or a lot. Often in the phrase 'a rake of pints'. Cf. Scots Scots: rake[93] | ||
| Runners[94] | Noun | Also 'teckies' or 'tackies', especially in and around Limerick. | ||
| Sallow | Adjective | Of a tan colour, associated with people from southern Europe or East Asia. | ||
| Shops | Noun | Newsagents (or small supermarket) | E.g. "I'm going to the shops, do you want anything?" | |
| Shore[95] | Noun | Stormdrain or Gutter. Cf. Scots Scots: shore[96] | ||
| Wet the tea[97] /The tea is wet[98] | Phrase | Make the tea/the tea is made | ||
| Noun | That man / that woman |
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 suburban areas and among the younger population.
Another feature of Hiberno-English that sets it apart is the retention of words and phrases from Old and Middle English that are not retained otherwise in Modern English.
Reduplication is an alleged trait of Hiberno-English strongly associated with Stage Irish and Hollywood films.
Irish has no words that directly translate as 'yes' or 'no', and instead repeats the verb used in the question, negated if necessary, 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".
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, especially in Ulster English.
Irish indicates recency of an action by adding "after" to the present continuous (a verb ending in "-ing"), a construction known as the "hot news perfect" or "after perfect".[99] [100] 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 Irish: i ndiaidh, Irish: tar éis, and Irish: in éis: Irish: bhí mé tar éis / Irish: i ndiaidh / Irish: 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,[101] in a deliberate parallel to the status of German as a V2 language.
Recent past construction has been directly adopted into Newfoundland English, where it is common in both formal and casual register. In rural areas of the Avalon peninsula, where Newfoundland Irish was spoken until the early 20th century, it is the grammatical standard for describing whether or not an action has occurred.[102]
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 can imply status or even some arrogance of the person in question.[103] Note also the indirectness of this construction relative to, for example, She's coming now. This reflexive pronoun can also be used in a more neutral sense to describe a person's spouse or partner – "I was with himself last night" or "How's herself doing?"
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, Irish: ag). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines Irish: ag 'at' and Irish: mé 'me' to create Irish: agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from Irish: 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, many Hiberno-English speakers use the term "in it" where "there" would usually be used. This is due to the Irish word Irish: ann 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 Irish grammar for Irish: beir and Irish: tóg. English usage is determined by direction; a 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 elseand a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).
The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "Irish: aimsir láithreach") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "Irish: aimsir ghnáthláithreach") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is Irish: tá tú, but "you are [repeatedly]" is Irish: bíonn tú. Both forms are used with the verbal noun (equivalent to the English present participle) to create compound tenses. This is similar to the distinction between Spanish; Castilian: [[wikt:ser|ser]] and Spanish; Castilian: [[wikt:estar|estar]] in Spanish or the use of the "habitual be" in African-American Vernacular English.
The corresponding usage in English is frequently found in rural areas, especially County Mayo and County Sligo in the west of Ireland and County Wexford in the south-east, inner-city Dublin and Cork city along with border areas of the North and Republic. In this form, the verb "to be" in English is similar to its use in Irish, with a "does be/do be" (or "bees", although less frequently) construction to indicate the continuous, or habitual, present:
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 (Irish: tú) and the second person plural (Irish: 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 pronounced as /[jiː]/; 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 "yiz", may be used. The pronunciation differs with that of the northwestern being pronounced as /[jiːz]/ and the Leinster pronunciation being pronounced as /[jɪz]/.
The word ye, yis or yous, otherwise archaic, is still used in place of "you" for the second-person plural, e.g. "Where are yous going?" Ye'r, Yisser or Yousser are the possessive forms.
The verb mitch is very common in Ireland, indicating being truant from school. This word appears in Shakespeare (though he wrote in Early Modern English rather than Middle English), 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, while in Dublin it is often replaced by "on the hop/bounce".
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" pronounced as /[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. It is also used in the manner of the Italian 'prego' or German 'bitte', for example, a barman might say "Now, Sir." when delivering drinks.
So is often used for emphasis ("I can speak Irish, so I can"), or it may be tacked onto 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 and the counties of Ulster.
Sure/Surely is often used as a tag word, emphasising the obviousness of the statement, roughly translating as but/and/well/indeed. It can be used as "to be sure" (but 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." 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. In Ulster, the reply "Aye, surely" may be given to show strong agreement.
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 British English would use "shall" or American English "should" (as in "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.
Once is sometimes used in a different way from how it is used in other dialects; in this usage, it indicates a combination of logical and causal conditionality: "I have no problem laughing at myself once the joke is funny." Other dialects of English would probably use "if" in this situation.