Hiberno-English

"Irish English" redirects here. Not to be confused with British rule in Ireland, Irish migration to Great Britain, List of English words of Irish origin, or Anglo-Irish people.

Hiberno-English (/haɪˈbɜːrnoʊ -, hɪ-/;^[3][4] from Latin Hibernia: "Ireland")^[a] or Irish English (IrE),^[5] also formerly Anglo-Irish,^[6] is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland).^[7]

Hiberno-English
Irish English
Native to	Ireland
Region	Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland); Great Britain; United States; Australia; Canada (diaspora)
Native speakers	5+ million in the Republic of Ireland^[1] 6.8 million speakers in Ireland overall. (2012 European Commission)^[2] 275,000 L2 speakers of English in Ireland (European Commission 2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English Hiberno-English
Early forms	Old English Middle English Early Modern English
Writing system	Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille
Official status
Regulated by	–
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
IETF	en-IE
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Speech example

An example of a man with a non-local Dublin accent (Dara Ó Briain).

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Speech example

An example of a woman from Connacht with a supraregional Irish accent (Mary Robinson).

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Speech example

An example of a man with a new Dublin accent (Donal MacIntyre).

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Irish-Latin-English phrase book written in 1564 by Irishman Sir Christopher Nugent for Elizabeth I of England.

In the Republic of Ireland, English is one of two official languages, along with the Irish language, and is the country's de facto working language. Irish English's writing standards, such as its spelling, align with British English.^[8] However, Irish English's diverse accents and some of its grammatical structures and vocabulary are unique, with some influences deriving from the Irish language and some notably conservative phonological features: features no longer common in the accents of England or North America.

Phonologists today often divide Irish English into four or five overarching dialects or accents:^[9][10] Ulster accents, West and South-West Irish accents (like Cork accents), various Dublin accents, and a non-regional standard accent expanding since only the last quarter of the twentieth century (outside of Northern Ireland).

History

Old English, as well as Anglo-Norman, was brought to Ireland as a result of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland of the late 12th century; this became the Forth and Bargy dialect, 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, and it remains phonologically more conservative today than many other dialects of English.^[11][6]

Initially, Norman 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 remained of speakers 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".^[12]

However, the Tudor conquest and colonisation of Ireland in the 16th century led to the 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.^[b] 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 percent of the population who speaks the Irish language natively,^[14] 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.^[15]

Ulster English

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:

• An ordinarily grammatically structured (i.e. non-topicalised) declarative sentence, often, with a rising intonation at the end of the sentence (the type of intonation pattern that other English speakers usually associate with questions).^[16]
• KIT as lowered, in the general vicinity of [ë~ɘ~ɪ̈].
• STRUT as fronted and slightly rounded, more closely approaching [ɞ].
• GOOSE and FOOT as merged in the general vicinity of [ʉ].
• MOUTH with a backed on-glide and fronted off-glide, putting it in the vicinity of [ɐʏ~ɜʉ].
• PRICE as [ɛɪ~ɜɪ], particularly before voiceless consonants.
• FACE as [eː], though nowadays commonly [eːə] or even [ɪːə] when in a closed syllable.
• GOAT, almost always, as a slightly raised monophthong [o̝(:)].
• A lack of happy-tensing; with the final vowel of happy, holy, money, etc. as [e].
• Syllable-final /l/ occasionally as "dark [ɫ]", though especially before a consonant.

West and South-West Irish English

Main article: South-West Irish English

West and South-West Irish English here refers to broad varieties of Ireland's West and South-West Regions. Accents of both regions are known for:

• The backing and slight lowering of MOUTH towards [ɐʊ~ʌʊ].
• The more open starting point for NORTH and THOUGHT of [ɑːɹ~äːɹ] and [ɑː~ä], respectively.
• The preservation of GOAT as monophthongal [oː].
• /θ/ and /ð/, respectively, as [t~tʰ] and [d].
• In the West, /s/ and /z/ may respectively be pronounced by older speakers as /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ before a consonant, so fist sounds like fished, castle like cashle, and arrest like arresht.^[17]

South-West Irish English (often known, by specific county, as Cork English, Kerry English, or Limerick English) also features two major defining characteristics of its own. One is the pin–pen merger:^[18] the raising of DRESS to [ɪ] when before /n/ or /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),^[19] which is popularly heard in rapid conversation, by speakers of other English dialects, as a noticeable kind of undulating "sing-song" pattern.^[20]

Dublin English

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 supraregional) accent on the other end, whose most advanced characteristics only first emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s.^[21] The accent that most strongly uses the traditional working-class features has been labelled by linguists as local Dublin English. Most speakers from Dublin and its suburbs, however, 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, spoken by middle- and upper-class natives of Dublin and the greater eastern Irish region surrounding the city. A subset of this variety, whose middle-class speakers mostly range in the middle section of the continuum, is called mainstream Dublin English. Mainstream Dublin English has become the basis of an accent that has otherwise become supraregional (see more below) everywhere except in the north of the country. The majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s (led particularly by women) has shifted towards the most innovative non-local accent, here called new Dublin English, which has gained ground over mainstream Dublin English and which is the most extreme variety in rejecting the local accent's traditional features.^[22] The varieties at either extreme of the spectrum, local and new Dublin English, are both discussed in further detail below. 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:

• MOUTH as fronted and/or raised [æʊ~ɛʊ~eʊ]. Aitch being pronounced as haitch or h-adding is not uncommon in Dublin English, and "harass" being pronounced as a homophone of "Harris" are also common features of Dublin English.
• PRICE as retracted and/or centralised [əɪ~ɑɪ].
• GOAT as a diphthong in the range (local to non-local) of [ʌʊ~oʊ~əʊ].

Local Dublin English

Local Dublin English (or popular Dublin English) here refers to 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.^[10][23] Known for diphthongisation of the GOAT and FACE vowels, the local Dublin accent is also known for a phenomenon called "vowel breaking", in which MOUTH, PRICE, GOOSE and FLEECE in closed syllables are "broken" into two syllables, approximating [ɛwə], [əjə], [uwə], and [ijə], respectively.^[24]

New Dublin English

Evolving as a fashionable outgrowth of the mainstream non-local Dublin English, new Dublin English (also, advanced Dublin English and, 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".^[25] New 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.^[21] It has replaced (yet was largely influenced by) moribund D4 English (often known as "Dublin 4" or "DART speak" or, mockingly, "Dortspeak"), which originated around the 1970s from Dubliners who rejected traditional notions of Irishness, regarding themselves as more trendy and sophisticated;^[26] however, particular aspects of the D4 accent became quickly noticed and ridiculed as sounding affected, causing these features to fall out of fashion by the 1990s.^[27] New 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 also heard among the middle to upper classes in most major cities in the Republic today.

Standard Irish English

Supraregional Southern Irish English (sometimes, simply Supraregional Irish English or Standard Irish English^[28]) 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. As mentioned earlier, mainstream Dublin English of the early- to mid-twentieth century is the direct influence and catalyst for this variety,^[29] 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.^[30] 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 new Dublin accent (see more above, under "Non-local Dublin English").^[31]

Ireland's supraregional dialect pronounces:

• TRAP as quite open [a].
• PRICE along a possible spectrum [aɪ~äɪ~ɑɪ], with innovative [ɑɪ] particularly more common before voiced consonants,^[23] notably including /r/.
• MOUTH as starting fronter and often more raised than other dialects: [aʊ~æʊ~ɛʊ].
• START may be [äːɹ] ⁱ, with a backer vowel than in other Irish accents, though still relatively fronted.
• THOUGHT as [ɒː].
• NORTH as [ɒːɹ], almost always separate from FORCE [oːɹ], keeping words like war and wore, or horse and hoarse, pronounced distinctly.
• CHOICE as [ɒɪ].
• GOAT as a diphthong, approaching [oʊ] ⁱ, as in the mainstream United States, or [əʊ] ⁱ, as in mainstream England.
• STRUT as higher, fronter, and often rounder [ə~ʊ].

Overview of pronunciation and phonology

The following charts list the vowels typical of each Irish English dialect as well as the several distinctive consonants of Irish English.^[9][10] Phonological characteristics of overall Irish English are given as well as categorisations into five major divisions of Hiberno-English: Ulster; West & South-West Ireland; local Dublin; new Dublin; and supraregional (southern) Ireland. Features of mainstream non-local Dublin English fall on a range between "local Dublin" and "new Dublin".

Monophthongs

The following monophthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:

• STRUT is typically centralised in the mouth and often rounder than other standard English varieties, such as Received Pronunciation in England or General American in the United States.
• There is a partial trap-bath split in most Irish English varieties (cf. Variation in Australian English).
• There is inconsistency regarding the lot–cloth split and the cot–caught merger; certain Irish English dialects have these phenomena while others do not. The cot-caught merger by definition rules out the presence of the lot-cloth split.
• An epenthetic schwa is often inserted between sonorants, e.g. film [ˈfɪləm] and form [ˈfɒɹəm], due to the influence of the Irish language.
• The words any and many are often exceptionally pronounced with /æ/, i.e. rhyme with Annie and Danny.^[32]

Diaphoneme	Ulster	West & South-West Ireland	Local Dublin	New Dublin	Supraregional Ireland	Example words
flat /æ/	[äː~a]	[æ]		[a]	[æ~a]	add, land, trap
/ɑː/ and broad /æ/	[äː~ɑː]	[æː~aː]		[aː]^1		bath, calm, dance
conservative /ɒ/	[ɒ]	[ä]		[ɑ~ɒ~ɔ]^4	[ɑ]	lot, top, wasp
divergent /ɒ/	[ɔː~ɒː]	[aː~ä]		[ɔː]	[ɒ]	loss, off
/ɔː/				[ɒː~ɔː~oː]^4	[ɒː]	all, bought, saw
/ɛ/	[ɛ]^2					dress, met, bread
/ə/	[ə]					about, syrup, arena
/ɪ/^4	[ë~ɘ~ɪ̈]	[ɪ]				hit, skim, tip
/iː/	[i(ː)]^3	[i(ː)]				beam, chic, fleet
/i/	[e~ɪ]^[23]					happy, coffee, movie
/ʌ/	[ʌ̈~ʊ]		[ʊ]	[ɤ~ʊ]	[ʌ̈~ʊ]	bus, flood
/ʊ/	[ʉ(ː)]	[ʊ]				book, put, should
/uː/		[ʊu~uː]^3			[ʊu~ʉu]	food, glue, new

Footnotes:

^1 In southside Dublin's once-briefly fashionable "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, the "/ɑː/ and broad /æ/" set becomes rounded as [ɒː].^[27]

^2 In South-West Ireland, DRESS before /n/ or /m/ is raised to [ɪ].^[33]

^3 Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" in local Dublin accents, /iː/ and /uː/ may be realised as [ijə] and [ʊuwə] in closed syllables.

Other notes:

• In some highly conservative Irish English varieties, words spelled with ⟨ea⟩ and pronounced with [iː] in RP are pronounced with [eː], for example meat, beat, and leaf.
• In words like took where the spelling ⟨oo⟩ usually represents /ʊ/, conservative speakers may use /uː/. This is most common in local Dublin and the speech of north-east Leinster.

Diphthongs

The following diphthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:

• The MOUTH diphthong, as in ow or doubt, may start more forward in the mouth in the east (namely, Dublin) and supraregionally; however, it may be further backwards throughout the entire rest of the country. In Ulster, the second element is particularly forward, as in Scotland.
• The CHOICE diphthong, as in boy or choice, generally starts off lower outside of Ulster.
• The FACE diphthong, as in rain or bay, is most commonly monophthongised to [eː]. The words gave and came often have /ɛ/ instead, i.e. rhyme with "Kev" and "them".^{[citation needed]}

Diaphoneme	Ulster	West & South-West Ireland	Local Dublin	New Dublin	Supraregional Ireland	Example words
/aɪ/	[ɛɪ~ɜɪ]	[æɪ~ɐɪ]	[əɪ~ɐɪ]^1	[ɑɪ~ɐɪ]	[aɪ~ɑɪ]	bright, ride, try
/aʊ/	[ɐʏ~ɛʉ]	[ɐʊ~ʌʊ]	[ɛʊ]^1		[aʊ~ɛʊ]	now, ouch, scout
/eɪ/	[eː(ə)]	[eː]	[eː~eɪ~ɛɪ]^[34]			lame, rein, stain
/ɔɪ/	[ɔɪ]	[əɪ~ɑɪ]	[aɪ~äɪ]	[ɒɪ~oɪ]	[ɒɪ]	boy, choice, moist
/oʊ/	[oː]		[ʌo~ʌɔ]	[əʊ]	[oʊ~əʊ]	goat, oh, show

Footnotes: ^1 Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" local Dublin accents, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ may be realised as [əjə] and [ɛwə] in closed syllables.

Consonants

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:

• Th-stopping: /ð/ and /θ/ are pronounced as stops, [d] and [t], making then and den as well as thin and tin homophones. Some accents, realise them as dental stops [t̪, d̪] and do not merge them with alveolar /t, d/, i.e. making tin ([tʰɪn]) and thin [t̪ʰɪn] a minimal pair. In Ulster they are [ð] and [θ].^[35]
• Rhoticity: The pronunciation of historical /r/ is universal in Irish English, as in General American (but not Received Pronunciation), i.e. /r/ is always pronounced, even word finally and before consonants (e.g. here, cart, or surf).
• Yod-dropping after /n/, /l/ and /s/, e.g. new /nuː/, lieutenant /luːˈtɛnənt/, and sue /suː/, and Yod-coalescence after /d/ and /t/, e.g. duty /ˈdʒuːti/ and tune /tʃuːn/.^[36][37]
• Lack of haitch-dropping and occurrence of /h/ where it is permitted in Irish but excluded in other dialects of English, such as word-medially before an unstressed vowel (e.g. Haughey /ˈhɔːhi/) and word-finally (e.g. McGrath /məˈɡɹæh/). The name haitch /heɪtʃ/ for ⟨h⟩ is standard.
• Syllable final and intervocalic /t/ is pronounced uniquely in most Hiberno-English; the most common pronunciation is as a "slit fricative".
• The phoneme /l/ is almost always of a "light" or "clear" quality (i.e. not velarised), unlike Received Pronunciation, which uses both a clear and a dark "L" sound, or General American, which pronounces all "L" sounds as dark.

Diaphoneme	Ulster^1	West & South-West Ireland	Local Dublin^2	New Dublin	Supraregional Ireland	Example words
/ð/	[ð]	[d]		[d̪]		this, writhe, wither
syllable-final /l/	[l] or [ɫ]	[l]	[l] or [ɫ]			ball, soldier, milk
/r/^3	[ɻ]	[ɹˠ]	[ɹˠ] or [ɾ]	[ɻ]	[ɹˠ] or [ɻ]	rot, eerie, scary
syllable-final /r/			[ɹˠ] or [∅]			car, shirt, here
intervocalic /t/	[ɾ], [ʔ], or [∅]	[θ̠] or [ɾ]^4	[ʔ(h)]	[ɾθ̠]^4	[θ̠], [ʔ], or [ɾ]^4	battle, Italy, water
word-final /t/	[t] or [ʔ]	[θ̠]	[ʔ], [h], or [∅]	[θ̠] or [ʔ]		cat, get, right
/θ/	[θ]	[t]		[t̪]		lethal, thick, wrath
/hw/^5	[w]	[ʍ]		[w]	[ʍ] or [w]	awhile, whale, when

Footnotes:

^1 In traditional, conservative Ulster English, /k/ and /ɡ/ are palatalised before an open front vowel.^[38]

^2 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)".^[33]

^3 In extremely traditional and conservative accents (e.g. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jackie Healy-Rae), prevocalic /r/ can also be an alveolar flap, [ɾ]. /r/ may be guttural (uvular, [ʁ]) in north-east Leinster.^[39]

^4 ⟨θ̠⟩ is used here to represent the voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative, sometimes known as a "slit fricative",^[40] which is apico-alveolar.^[41]

^5 Overall, /hw/ and /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.^[41]

Vowels + ⟨r⟩ combinations

The following vowels + ⟨r⟩ combinations are defining characteristics of Hiberno-English:

• Lack of horse–hoarse merger, i.e. distinction between /ɔːr/ and /oʊr/, so that e.g. horse and hoarse don't rhyme in most Irish accents.
• START vowel realised more forward in the mouth in comparison to most varieties of English.

Diaphoneme	Ulster	West & South-West Ireland	Local Dublin	New Dublin	Supraregional Ireland	Example words
/ɑːr/	[ɑɻ~ɑɹ]	[æːɹ~aɹ]		[äːɹ~ɑɹ]^1		car, guard, park
/ɪər/	[iːɹ~iɚ]					fear, peer, tier
/ɛər/	[(ɛ)ɚː]	[ɛːɹ~eɹ]^2				bare, bear, there
/ɜːr/^3	[ɚː]	[ɛːɹ]^3		[ɚː]^2		irk, girl, earn
		[ʊːɹ]^3				work, first, urn
/ər/	[ɚ]^4					doctor, martyr, pervade
/ɔːr/^5	[ɒːɚ~ɔːɹ]	[äːɹ~ɑːɹ]		[ɒːɹ~oːɹ]		for, horse, war
	[oːɚ~oːɹ]	[ɔːɹ]	[ɒːɹ]	[oːɹ]		four, hoarse, wore
/ʊər/	[uːɹ~uɚ]^6					moor, poor, tour
/jʊər/	[juːɹ~juɚ~jɚː]^6					cure, Europe, pure

Footnotes:

^1 In southside Dublin's "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, /ɑːr/ is realised as [ɒːɹ].

^2 In non-local Dublin's more recently emerging (or "new Dublin") accent, /ɛər/ and /ɜr/ may both be realised more rounded as [øːɻ].

^3 The NURSE mergers have not occurred in local Dublin, West/South-West, and other very conservative and traditional Irish English which retain a two-way distinction, /ɛr/ versus /ʊr/, unlike most English dialects which have merged historical /ɛr/, /ɪr/ and /ʊr/ to /ɜr/, [ɚː] in the case of non-local Dublin, supraregional, and younger Irish accents. The distribution of /ɛr/ and /ʊr/ is as follows: /ʊr/ occurs when spelled ⟨ur⟩ and ⟨or⟩ (e.g. urn and word), ⟨ir⟩ after alveolar stops (e.g. dirt), and after labial consonants (e.g. fern); /ɛr/ is occurs in all other situations.^[42] There are apparent exceptions to these rules; John C. Wells describes prefer and per as /ɛr/, despite the vowel in question following a labial.^[43] The distribution of /ɛr/ versus /ʊr/ is listed below in some example words:

/ɛr/ certain [ˈsɛːɹtn̩] chirp [ˈtʃʰɛːɹp] circle [ˈsɛːɹkəl] earn [ɛːɹn] earth [ɛːɹt] girl [ɡɛːɹl] germ [dʒɛːɹm] heard or herd [hɛːɹd] Hertz [hɛːɹts] irk [ɛːɹk] tern [tʰɛːɹn]

/ʊr/ bird [bʊːɹd] dirt [dʊːɹt] first [fʊːɹst] hurts [hʊːɹts] murder [ˈmʊːɹdɚ] nurse [ˈnʊːɹs] turn [tʰʊːɹn] third or turd [tʰʊːɹd] urn [ʊːɹn] work [wʊːɹk] world [wʊːɹld]

^4 In a rare few local Dublin varieties that are non-rhotic, /ər/ is either lowered to [ɐ] or backed and raised to [ɤ].

^5 The distinction between /ɔːr/ and /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 new Dublin.

^6 In local Dublin /(j)uːr/ may be realised as [(j)uʷə(ɹ)]. For some speakers /(j)uːr/ may merge with /ɔːr/.

Vocabulary

Loan words from Irish

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.^[44]

Example loan words from Irish

Word	IPA (English)	IPA (Irish)	Part of speech	Meaning
Abú	/ə'buː/	/əˈbˠuː/	Interjection	Hooray! Used in sporting occasions, espec. for Gaelic games – Áth Cliath abú! – 'hooray for Dublin!'
Amadán^[45]	/'ɒmədɔːn/	/ˈamˠəd̪ˠaːnˠ/	Noun	Fool
Fáilte	/'fɑːltʃə/	/ˈfˠaːlʲtʲə/	Noun	Welcome – often in the phrase Céad míle fáilte 'A hundred thousand welcomes'
Flaithiúlach^[46]	/flæ'huːləx/	/ˈfˠlˠahuːlˠəx/	Adjective	Generous
Garsún^[47] Garsúr^[48]	/'gɑːrsuːn/ /'gɑːrsuːr/	/ˈɡaɾˠsˠuːnˠ/ /ˈɡaɾˠsˠuːrˠ/	Noun	Boy
Gaeltacht	/ˈɡeɪltəxt/	/ˈɡeːl̪ˠt̪ˠəxt̪ˠ/	Noun	Officially designated region where Irish is the primary spoken language
Grá^[49]	/ɡrɑː/	/ɡɾˠaː/	Noun	Love, affection, not always romantic – 'he has a great grá for the dog'
Lúdramán^[50]	/'luːdrəmɑːn/	/'lˠuːd̪ˠɾˠəmˠaːnˠ/	Noun	Fool
Plámás^[51]	/'plɑːmɑːs/	/'pˠlˠaːmˠaːsˠ/	Noun	Smooth talk, flattery
Sláinte^[52]	/'slɑːntʃə/	/ˈsˠl̪ˠaːn̠ʲtʲə/	Interjection	[To your] health!/Cheers!

Derived words from Irish

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.

Example words derived from Irish

Word or Phrase	Part of Speech	Original Irish	Meaning
Arra^[53]/ och / musha / yerra^[54]	Interjection	Ara / Ach / Muise / (conjunction of "A Dhia, ara")	"Yerra, sure if it rains, it rains."
Bockety^[55]	Adjective	Bacach (lame)	Unsteady, wobbly, broken
Boreen	Noun	Bóithrín	Small rural road or track
Ceili/Ceilidh /ˈkeɪli/^[56]	Noun	Céilidhe	Music and dancing session, especially of traditional music
Colleen	Noun	Cailín	Girl, young woman
Fooster	Verb	Fústar^[57]	to busy oneself in a restless way, fidget
Gansey^[58]	Noun	Geansaí^[59]	Jumper (Sweater)
Give out^[60]	Verb	Tabhair amach (lit.)	Tell off, reprimand^[61]
Gob^[62]	Noun	Gob	Animal's mouth/beak (Béal = human mouth)
Gombeen^[56]	Noun	Gaimbín	Money lender, profiteer. Usually in the phrase 'Gombeen man'
Guards^[63]	Noun	Garda Síochána	Police
Jackeen^[64] /dʒæˈkiːn/	Noun	Nickname for John (i.e. Jack) combined with Irish diminutive suffix "-ín"	A mildly pejorative term for someone from Dublin. Also 'a self-assertive worthless fellow'.^[65] Derived from a person who followed the Union Jack during British rule after 1801, a Dublin man who supported the crown. See Shoneen
Shoneen^[66]	Noun	Seoinín (diminutive of Seán – 'John')	An Irishman who imitates English ways – see Jackeen
Sleeveen^[67]	Noun	Slíbhín	An untrustworthy, cunning person
Soft day^[68]	Phrase	Lá bog (lit.)	Overcast day (light drizzle/mist)

Derived words from Old and Middle English

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.

Example Hiberno-English words derived from Old and Middle English

Word	Part of speech	Meaning	Origin/notes
Amn't^[69]	Verb	"Am not" or used instead of "aren't"
Childer^[70]	Noun	Child	Survives from Old English, genitive plural of 'child'^[71]
Cop-on^[72]	Noun, Verb	shrewdness, intelligence, being 'street-wise'^[56]	Middle English from French cap 'arrest'
Craic / Crack^[73] /kræk/	Noun	Fun, entertainment. Generally now^[citation needed] 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 cracian via Ulster-Scots into modern Hiberno-English, then given Gaelic spelling^[74]
Devil^[75]	Noun	Curse (e.g., "Devil take him")^[76]^[77] Negation (e.g., for none, "Devil a bit")^[78]^[79]	middle English
Eejit^[80] /ˈiːdʒət/	Noun	Irish (and Scots) version of 'idiot', meaning foolish person^[81]	English from Latin Idiōta; has found some modern currency in England through the broadcasts of Terry Wogan
Hames^[82]	Noun	a mess, used in the phrase 'make a hames of'^[83]	Middle English from Dutch
Grinds^[84]	Noun	Private tuition^[85]	Old English grindan
Jaded^[86]	Adjective	physically tired, exhausted^[87] Not in the sense of bored, unenthusiastic, 'tired of' something	Middle English jade
Kip^[88]	Noun	Unpleasant, dirty or sordid place^[89]	18th-century English for brothel
Mitch	Verb	to play truant^[90]	Middle English
Sliced pan^[91]	Noun	(Sliced) loaf of bread	Possibly derived from the French word for bread (pain) or the pan it was baked in.
Yoke^[92]	Noun	Thing, object, gadget^[93]	Old English geoc
Wagon/Waggon^[94]	Noun	an unpleasant or unlikable woman^[95]	Middle English
Whisht^[96]	Interjection	Be quiet^[97] (Also common in Northern England and Scotland)	Middle English

Other words

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 the language in Ireland.

Example Hiberno-English words of disputed or unknown origin

Word	Part of speech	Meaning	Notes
Acting the maggot^[98]	Phrase	To behave in an obstreperous or obstinate manner
Banjaxed^[99]	Verb	Broken, ruined, or rendered incapable of use. Equivalent in meaning to the German "kaputt"
Bogger	Noun	Someone from the countryside or near a bog
Bowsie^[56]	Noun	a rough or unruly person. Cf. Scots Bowsie^[100]
Bleb^[101]^[102]	Noun, verb	blister; to bubble up, come out in blisters
Bucklepper^[103]	Noun	An overactive, overconfident person from the verb, to bucklep (leap like a buck)	Used by Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney^[104]
Chiseler^[105]	Noun	Child
Cod^[56]	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^[106]	Noun	Person from the countryside
Delph^[107]	Noun	Dishware	From the name of the original source of supply, Delft in the Netherlands. See Delftware.
Feck	Verb, interjection	an attenuated alternative/minced oath (see feck for more details)	"Feck it!", "Feck off"^[108]
Gurrier^[109]	Noun	a tough or unruly young man^[110]	perhaps from French guerrier 'warrior', or else from 'gur cake' a pastry previously associated with street urchins. Cf. Scots Gurry^[111]
Jacks	Noun	Bathroom/toilet	Similar to "jakes" as used in 16th-century England. Still in everyday use, particularly in Dublin.
Messages	Noun	Groceries
Minerals^[112]	Noun	Soft drinks	From mineral Waters
Mot	Noun	Girl or young woman, girlfriend	From the Irish word 'maith' meaning good, i.e. good-looking.^[113]
Press^[114]	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 rake^[115]
Runners^[116]	Noun	Trainers/sneakers	Also 'teckies' or 'tackies', especially in and around Limerick.
Shops	Noun	Newsagents (or small supermarket)	E.g. "I'm going to the shops, do you want anything?"
Shore^[117]	Noun	Stormdrain or Gutter. Cf. Scots shore^[118]
Wet the tea^[119]/The tea is wet^[120]	Phrase	Make the tea/the tea is made

Grammar and syntax

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.

The other major influence on Hiberno-English that sets it apart from modern English, in general, is the retention of words and phrases from Old and Middle English.

From Irish

Reduplication

Reduplication is an alleged trait of Hiberno-English strongly associated with Stage Irish and Hollywood films.

• the Irish ar bith corresponds to English "at all", so the stronger ar chor ar bith gives rise to the form "at all at all".
  • "I've no time at all at all."
• ar eagla go … (lit. "on fear that …") means "in case …". The variant ar eagla na heagla, (lit. "on fear of fear") implies the circumstances are more unlikely. The corresponding Hiberno-English phrases are "to be sure" and the very rarely used "to be sure to be sure". In this context, these are not, as might be thought, disjuncts meaning "certainly"; they could better be translated "in case" and "just in case". Nowadays normally spoken with conscious levity.
  • "I brought some cash in case I saw a bargain, and my credit card to be sure to be sure."

Yes and no

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".

• "Are you coming home soon?" – "I am."
• "Is your mobile charged?" – "It isn't."

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.

• "This is strong stuff, so it is."
• "We won the game, so we did."

Recent past construction

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".^[123][124] The idiom for "I had done X when I did Y" is "I was after doing X when I did Y", modelled on the Irish usage of the compound prepositions i ndiaidh, tar éis, and in éis: bhí mé tar éis / i ndiaidh / in éis X a dhéanamh, nuair a rinne mé Y.

• "Why did you hit him?" – "He was after giving me cheek." (he had [just beforehand] been cheeky to me).

A similar construction is seen where exclamation is used in describing a recent event:

• "I'm after hitting him with the car!" Táim tar éis é a bhualadh leis an gcarr!
• "She's after losing five stone in five weeks!"

"Tá sí tar éis cúig chloch a chailleadh i gcúig seachtaine!"

When describing less astonishing or significant events, a structure resembling the German perfect can be seen:

• "I have the car fixed." Tá an carr deisithe agam.
• "I have my breakfast eaten." Tá mo bhricfeasta ite agam.

This correlates with an analysis of "H1 Irish" proposed by Adger & Mitrovic,^[125] 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.^[126]

Reflection for emphasis

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.^[127] 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?"

• "'Tis herself that's coming now." Is í féin atá ag teacht anois.
• "Was it all of ye or just yourself?" An sibhse ar fad nó tusa féin a bhí i gceist?

Prepositional pronouns

There are some language forms that stem from the fact that there is no verb to have in Irish. Instead, possession is indicated in Irish by using the preposition at, (in Irish, ag.). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines ag "at" and mé "me" to create agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from Tá … agam. This gives rise to the frequent

• "Do you have the book?" – "I have it with me."
• "Have you change for the bus on you?"
• "He will not shut up if he has drink taken."

Somebody who can speak a language "has" a language, in which Hiberno-English has borrowed the grammatical form used in Irish.

• "She does not have Irish." Níl Gaeilge aici. literally "There is no Irish at her".

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 ann (pronounced "oun" or "on") fulfilling both meanings.

• "Is it yourself that is in it?" An tú féin atá ann?
• "Is there any milk in it?" An bhfuil bainne ann?

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.

• "This man here." An fear seo. (cf. the related anseo = here)
• "That man there." An fear sin. (cf. the related ansin = there)

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

• "John asked me would I buy a loaf of bread." (John asked me to buy a loaf of bread.)
• "How do you know him? We would have been in school together." (We were in school together.)

Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of British English because it follows the Irish grammar for beir and 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 else – and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).

• Don't forget to bring your umbrella with you when you leave.
• (To a child) Hold my hand: I don't want someone to take you.

To be

The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "aimsir láithreach") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "aimsir ghnáthláithreach") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is tá tú, but "you are [repeatedly]" is bíonn tú. Both forms are used with the verbal noun (equivalent to the English present participle) to create compound tenses. This is similar to the distinction between ser and 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:

• "He does be working every day." Bíonn sé ag obair gach lá.
• "They do be talking on their mobiles a lot." Bíonn siad ag caint go minic ar a bhfóin póca.
• "He does be doing a lot of work at school." Bíonn sé ag déanamh go leor oibre ar scoil.
• "It's him I do be thinking of." Is air a bhíonn mé ag smaoineamh.

From Old and Middle English

In old-fashioned usage, "it is" can be freely abbreviated 'tis, even as a standalone sentence. This also allows the double contraction 'tisn't, for "it is not".

Irish has separate forms for the second person singular (tú) and the second person plural (sibh). Mirroring Irish, and almost every other Indo-European language, the plural you is also distinguished from the singular in Hiberno-English, normally by use of the otherwise archaic English word ye [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 [jiːz] and the Leinster pronunciation being [jɪz].

• "Did ye all go to see it?" Ar imigh sibh go léir chun é a fheicint?
• "None of youse have a clue!" Níl ciall/leid ar bith agaibh!
• "Are ye not finished yet?" Nach bhfuil sibh críochnaithe fós?
• "Yis are after destroying it!" Tá sibh tar éis é a scriosadh!

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" [lɛˈtʃi].

For influence from Scotland, see Ulster Scots and Ulster English.

Other grammatical influences

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".^{[citation needed]}

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.

See also

•  Ireland portal
•  Language portal

• English language in Europe
• Highland English
• Kiltartanese
• Languages of Ireland
• Manx English
• Regional accents of English
• Welsh English

Notes

1. Hiberno-English in Ulster Scots: Airish Inglish, and in Irish: Béarla na hÉireann.
2. According to the 1841 census, Ireland had 8,175,124 inhabitants, of whom four million spoke Irish.^[13]

References

1. "Ireland Population (2021) – Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
2. English (Ireland) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
3. "Definition of 'Hiberno-'". collinsdictionary.com.
4. "Hiberno-English". merriam-webster.com.
5. Hickey (2007a)
6. Christiansen, Thomas. "English in Ireland and Irish in English – Hiberno-English as Exemplar of World English" (PDF). p. 3. (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
7. . DRAPIer. IE: DHO. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
8. Hickey, Raymond (ed.) (2012). Standards of English: Codified Varieties Around the World. United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press. pp. 99–100.
9. de Gruyter 2004, pp. 90–93
10. Hickey, Raymond. A Sound Atlas of Irish English, Volume 1. Walter de Gruyter: 2004, pp. 57–60 16 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
11. P. W. Joyce (1910). "1". English as we speak it in Ireland. London Longmans, Green. p. 6.
12. , University College Cork, archived from the original on 16 April 2008
13. Ranelagh, John O'Beirne (1994), A Short History of Ireland, Cambridge, p. 118, ISBN 9780521469449{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
14. Hickey (2007a:121)
15. "Irish Language and the Gaeltacht – CSO – Central Statistics Office". www.cso.ie. from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
16. Hickey (2007a:118)
17. Wells, 1982, p. 433.
18. Hickey (2007a:313)
19. Hickey (2007a:309)
20. "Learn English in Cork City & County" 15 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Language Travel Ireland: Learn English by Living It. Language Travel Ireland, InnovationWorks, National Technology Park, Limerick, Ireland. 2010.
21. Hickey (2007b:180)
22. Hickey, Raymond (2015). Dublin English 22 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Irish English Resource Centre. University of Duisburg and Essen.
23. de Gruyter 2004, pp. 91
24. de Gruyter 2004, pp. 83–84
25. Hickey (2007a:355)
26. Hickey (2007a:357)
27. Hickey, Raymond. Dublin English: Evolution and Change 1 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. John Benjamins Publishing: 2005, pp. 46–48
28. Hickey, Raymond (ed.), 2012, pp. 99–100.
29. Hickey (2007a:114)
30. Hickey, Raymond (ed.), 2012, p. 102.
31. Hickey (2007a:29)
32. Hickey (2007a:317)
33. (de Gruyter 2004, p. 84)
34. Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English: Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 425.
35. Wells, J.C. (1989). The British Isles. Accents of English. Vol. 2. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 565–66, 635. ISBN 9780521285407.
36. Hickey (2007b:184)
37. Wells, 1982, p. 435.
38. de Gruyter 2004, pp. 88
39. Hickey (2007a:320)
40. Hickey (1984:234)
41. (de Gruyter 2004, p. 93)
42. Hickey (2007a:330)
43. Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English 2: The British Isles, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 321, ISBN 0-521-29719-2
44. Dolan, Terence Patrick (2004). A dictionary of Hiberno-English: the Irish use of English. Dublin, IE: Gill & Macmillan. p. xix. ISBN 978-0-7171-3535-6. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
45. "Easy Irish". IE: Raidió Teilifís Éireann. from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
46. "Fear of being perceived as misers runs deeper than our pockets". Irish Independent. Independent.ie. 19 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013.
47. "Drizzle fails to dampen cheerful O'Rourke". The Irish Times. 5 May 2007. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
48. "Nuacht a hAon". IE: Raidió Teilifís Éireann. from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
49. Edwards, Steven Roy, Irish English terms, from the original on 11 May 2013, retrieved 30 April 2013
50. "Seanad Eireann – 25/May/2005 Order of Business". Debates.oireachtas.ie. 25 May 2005. from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
51. "Plámás and the Art of Flattery ~ Gatherings from Ireland # 92". SOCIAL BRIDGE. 15 March 2013. from the original on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
52. Gifford, Don; Seidman Robert J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. London, England: University of California Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-520-25397-1. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
53. McCafferty, Kate (2002). Testimony of an Irish slave girl. Viking. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-670-03065-1. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
54. Hickey, Raymond (2005). Dublin English: evolution and change. p. 145. ISBN 978-90-272-4895-4. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
55. "bockety : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
56. . Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
57. "fooster : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
58. Leslie, Catherine Amoroso (2007). Needlework through history: an encyclopedia. Westpost, CT, USA: Greenwood Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-313-33548-8. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
59. The form gansey 4 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, from Garnsey, a form of Guernsey, where the style of fisherman's jersey originated.
60. "Service with a snarl". The Irish Times. 29 November 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
61. "Give out definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
62. Hickey (2007a:364)
63. "'I didn't expect to lose a son. The guards took their eye off the ball'". The Irish Times. 21 August 2010. from the original on 3 September 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
64. "Mon, Jun 09, 1997 – Challenge led to a hooker revival". The Irish Times. 6 June 1997. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
65. Simpson, John; Weiner, Edmund (1989). "Oxford English Dictionary, second edition". Oxford: Clarendon Press. from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2021. Irish dim. of JACK n.: A contemptuous, self-assertive, worthless fellow.
66. "Shoneen definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. from the original on 29 April 2021.
67. "sleeveen : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
68. "'Soft day' will become thing of the past – expert". The Irish Times. 9 September 2008. from the original on 13 November 2011.
69. "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. 11 March 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
70. Healy, Alison (4 March 2010). "A 'win-win situation' as Travellers design their own homes". The Irish Times. from the original on 9 February 2011.
71. New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd ed. via Apple Mac Dictionary
72. Collins, Oisin (25 February 2012). "Irish need more cop-on when it comes to driving hands-free". JOE.ie. from the original on 13 June 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
73. O'Driscoll, Emma (27 March 2009). "We'll have fun and we'll have the craic but when we hit the field we mean business". Independent.ie. from the original on 23 July 2021.
74. "Crack definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. from the original on 7 May 2021.
75. Old English deofol 23 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
76. "Haughey cloud returns to mar Bertie's horizon". The Irish Times. 10 January 1998. from the original on 13 November 2011.
77. Cf.Scots deil tak... 4 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
78. "A vine romance in Rioja country". The Irish Times. 25 September 2010. from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
79. Cf. Scots deil a bit 4 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Also in A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by Eric Partridge.
80. . Mad Eejits. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
81. "Eejit definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. from the original on 2 May 2021.
82. "The Raw Sessions: how to make a hames of a simple idea | On The Record". www.irishtimes.com. from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
83. "Make a hames of definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
84. "40% of higher maths students take grinds". The Irish Times. 17 August 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
85. "grind : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
86. "Ronnie 'tired and jaded' after win". Irish Examiner. 30 April 2013. from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
87. "jaded : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
88. "Reports from Broombridge……". Come here to me!. 11 January 2012. from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
89. "kip : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
90. "mitch : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
91. "Brennans Family Pan – Brennans Sliced Pan | Brennans Bread". Brennansbread.ie. from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
92. Siggins, Lorna. "'A loveable-hateable class of a yoke'". The Irish Times. from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
93. "Yoke definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
94. "Wagon's Den? You got that right". independent. from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
95. "wagon : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
96. "Wed, Jan 16, 2002 – Alone Again, naturally Unfringed Festival 2002". The Irish Times. 1 January 2002. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
97. The Irish meaning "be quiet", is an unlikely source since the word is known throughout England and Scotland where it derives from early Middle English whist 6 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (cf. Middle English hust 6 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine and Scots wheesht 4 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine)
98. "Sat, Mar 07, 2009 – RTÉ set to clash with Ryan over his salary". The Irish Times. 3 March 2009. from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
99. "Labour's Burton says Ireland is 'banjaxed' – RTÉ News". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 28 November 2010. from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
100. . Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
101. Terence Patrick Dolan (2004). A dictionary of Hiberno-English: the Irish use of English. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7171-3535-6. from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
102. Cf. Scots blab/bleb 4 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
103. "Sat, Jan 04, 2003 – Heroic stoic of the island". The Irish Times. 1 January 2003. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
104. Terence Brown, The Literature of Ireland: Culture and Criticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p.261; James Fenton, "Against Fakery: Kingsley Amis" in The Movement Reconsidered: Larkin, Amis, Gunn, Davie and their Contemporaries, (Oxford: OUP, 2009), p.107
105. O'Carroll, Brendan (2000). The Chisellers (9780452281226): Brendan O'Carroll: Books. ISBN 0452281229.
106. . Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 11 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
107. "Top tables". The Irish Times. 5 June 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
108. "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. 20 January 2010. from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
109. Brennan, Michael (8 November 2012). . Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013.
110. "gurrier : Oxford Dictionaries Pro". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
111. . Archived from the original on 4 June 2013.
112. "Educating Rory lays foundations for a Hollywood blockbuster". The Irish Times. 1 June 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
113. "Mot". Oxford Dictionaries Pro. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013.
114. "Bertie's role in the kitchen press". The Irish Times. 5 October 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
115. . Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
116. "Sole searching". The Irish Times. 11 May 2010. from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
117. Dolan, Terence Patrick (2004). A Dictionary of Hiberno-English. Dublin, Ireland: Gill & Macmillan. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-7171-4039-8. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
118. . Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
119. Dolan, Terence Patrick (2004). A Dictionary of Hiberno-English. Dublin, Ireland: Gill & Macmillan. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-7171-4039-8. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
120. O'Brien, Kate (1953). Needlework through history: an encyclopedia. Harper. p. 37. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
121. "Making space in my brain to love new films". The Irish Times. 11 January 2011. from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
122. "Present Tense " Your handy guide to Irish cultural etiquette". The Irish Times. 11 January 2008. from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
123. Fenn, Peter (1986). A semantic and pragmatic examination ... ISBN 978-3-87808-372-6. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2010 – via Google Books.
124. Filppula, Markku (2005). Dialects across borders: selected ... ISBN 978-90-272-4787-2. Retrieved 26 November 2010 – via Google Books.
125. Adger (2004)
126. Language: Irish Gaelic 17 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website.
127. "Himself Portrait – Frank McNally on a quintessential Irish pronoun". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 August 2023.

Bibliography

• Adger, David (2003). Core Syntax: A Minimalist Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924370-0.
• Hickey, Raymond (1984). "Coronal Segments in Irish English". Journal of Linguistics. 20 (2): 233–250. doi:10.1017/S0022226700013876. S2CID 145672742.
• Hickey, Raymond (2007a). Irish English: History and Present Day Forms. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139465847. from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
• Hickey, Raymond (2007b). "Dartspeak and Estuary English: Advanced metropolitan speech in Ireland and England". In Smit, Ute; Dollinger, Stefan; Hüttner, Julia; Lutzky, Ursula; Kaltenböck, Gunther (eds.). Tracing English through time: explorations in language variation (PDF). Vienna: Braumüller. pp. 179–190. (PDF) from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
• Hickey, Raymond, ed. (2016). Sociolinguistics in Ireland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-45347-1.
• Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W., eds. (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110175320. from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2015.

Further reading

• (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2014.

External links

 

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

English as we speak it in Ireland

• Everyday English and Slang in Ireland
• Warner, Bernhard. "How Amazon Taught Alexa to Speak in an Irish Brogue". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.