As with the section on the history of Hiberno-English, what is covered here is merely an introduction to the topic.
The vocabulary of Hiberno-English to this day includes many words that are no longer in general use in British English. The use of these distinctive words is declining, most noticeably in the face of influence from Global English over the past decade. Many of the words cited in the archive (and more extensively in the dictionary) are used only by the older age group. ‘Delph’ is still used for crockery, ‘shore’ for a sewer or an open drain, ‘mitch’ for playing truant, ‘bring’ for ‘take’, ‘galluses’ for braces, and so forth. Interestingly though, some words which were last in general use in British English centuries ago are still current in Ireland, even among the younger generation. A good example of this is the noun ‘bowsie’, meaning ‘a disreputable drunkard, a lout, a quarrelsome alcoholic’, which is still in use by all ages, as my own research and writers such as Roddy Doyle testify (see Dolan, Dictionary of Hiberno-English, s.v. ‘bowsie’).
In addition to words classified as ‘obsolete’ or ‘dialectal’ Hiberno-English includes many words taken from Irish, for example, a fool is called ‘an ommadhawn’ (Irish ‘amadán’), or a left-handed person is called ‘a kithouge’ (Irish ciatóg). Often the Irish diminutive suffix ‘-ín’ is attached to a word, for instance, ‘girleen’ (a little girl).
The verbal system of Hiberno-English is substantially enriched by the influence of Irish. For example, ‘I’m after having my dinner’ Irish ‘Tá me tar éis mo dhinnéar a ithe), which means ‘I’ve just had my dinner’. Another instance of Irish influence is to be found in such expressions as ‘I do be here every day’ (Irish ‘Bím anseo gach lá’), which reflects the richness of the verbal forms of Irish which can express the habitualness of an action or state (see Dolan, Dictionary of Hiberno-English, s.v. ‘do, do be’). There are many other examples of an Irish substratum in Hiberno-English verbal forms. Irish syntax, too, is to be found in such expressions as ‘She came in and I writing a letter’, where the ‘and’ + ‘pronoun’ formation, which is regarded as a solecism by the terms of formal English Grammar, is legitimate by reference to Irish Grammar.
The pronunciation of Hiberno-English also reflects the sounds of Irish. For instance, the insertion of a vowel, known as an'epenthetic (= inserted) vowel', in such words as 'film' (pronounced 'fillum'), or 'worm' (pronounced 'worrum'). In general, Irish people use the vowels and consonants of the Irish Language in pronouncing Hiberno-English. |
