Hiberno-English#Recent past construction

File:Linguistic state of Ireland 1550-1700.png

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 more conservative today than many other dialects of English in terms of phonology and vocabulary.{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/stream/englishaswespeak00joycuoft/englishaswespeak00joycuoft_djvu.txt|title=English as we speak it in Ireland |author-link=Patrick Weston Joyce |first=P. W. |last=Joyce |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green |date=1910 |chapter=1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/englishaswespeak00joycuoft/page/5 6]}}{{cite web |url= http://thos.english.unaux.com/Hiberno.pdf?i=1 |title=English in Ireland and Irish in English – Hiberno-English as Exemplar of World English |first=Thomas |last=Christiansen |page=3 |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211020193241/http://thos.english.unaux.com/Hiberno.pdf?i=1 |url-status=live}}

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".{{cite web |url= http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Culture__Religion_in_Tudor_Ireland_1494-1558 |title=Culture and Religion in Tudor Ireland 1494–1558 |publisher=University College Cork |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080416173828/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Culture__Religion_in_Tudor_Ireland_1494-1558 |archive-date=16 April 2008}}

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.{{Refn |group=lower-alpha |According to the 1841 census, Ireland had 8,175,124 inhabitants, of whom four million spoke Irish.{{cite book |first=John |last=O'Beirne Ranelagh |title=A Short History of Ireland |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1994 |page=118 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xfx0VGIXiPYC&pg=PA118 |isbn=9780521469449}}}} 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,{{harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=121}} 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.{{Cite web |url= https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp10esil/p10esil/ilg/ |title=Irish Language and the Gaeltacht |publisher=Central Statistics Office |website=CSO.ie |access-date=29 December 2019 |archive-date=8 December 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201208225214/https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp10esil/p10esil/ilg/ |url-status=live}}

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".{{cite web | url=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100083/ | title=A German visitor to Monaincha in 1591 }} 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".{{cite web | url=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100075/ | title=Description of England and Ireland under the Restoration }} 'A Tour of Ireland in 1775', by Richard Twiss 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."https://www.exclassics.com/twiss/twiss.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}

In On Early English Pronunciation, Part V, an early dialect study on English, Alexander John Ellis included some samples of Hiberno-English dialect from the Forth and Bargy baronies in County Wexford.{{cite book|title=On early English pronunciation: with especial reference to Shakspere and Chaucer, containing an investigation of the correspondence of writing with speech in England from the Anglosaxon period to the present day means of the ordinary printing types |last=Ellis|first=Alexander John|date=1889|publisher=Truebner & Co|location=London|page=1|url=https://archive.org/details/onearlyenglishpr00elliuoft/page/n109/mode/2up?q=wexford}} Writing in the late 19th century, Ellis seems to have been unaware that English had been spoken in parts of Ireland, especially in Ulster, for centuries.{{cite journal |last=Aveyard |first=Edward |year=2022 |title=What is Dialect? |journal=Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society |volume=23 |issue=122 |pages=29 }}

{{main|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).{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=118}}
• {{sc2|KIT}} as lowered, in the general vicinity of {{IPA|[ë~ɘ~ɪ̈]}}.
• {{sc2|STRUT}} as fronted and slightly rounded, more closely approaching {{IPAblink|ɞ}}.
• {{sc2|GOOSE}} and {{sc2|FOOT}} as merged in the general vicinity of {{IPAblink|ʉ}}.
• {{sc2|MOUTH}} with a backed on-glide and fronted off-glide, putting it in the vicinity of {{IPA|[ɐʏ~ɜʉ]}}.
• {{sc2|PRICE}} as {{IPA|[ɛɪ~ɜɪ]}}, particularly before voiceless consonants.
• {{sc2|FACE}} as {{IPAblink|eː}}, though nowadays commonly {{IPAblink|eːə}} or even {{IPAblink|ɪːə}} when in a closed syllable.
• {{sc2|GOAT}}, almost always, as a slightly raised monophthong {{IPA|[o̝(ː)]}}.
• A lack of Happy-tensing; with the final vowel of happy, holy, money, etc. as {{IPAblink|e}}.
• Syllable-final {{IPA|/l/}} occasionally as "dark {{IPAblink|ɫ}}", though especially before a consonant.

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 backing and slight lowering of {{sc2|MOUTH}} towards {{IPA|[ɐʊ~ʌʊ]}}.
• The more open starting point for {{sc2|NORTH}} and {{sc2|THOUGHT}} of {{IPA|[ɑːɹ~äːɹ]}} and {{IPA|[ɑː~äː]}}, respectively.
• The preservation of {{sc2|GOAT}} as monophthongal {{IPAblink|oː}}.
• {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}}, respectively, as {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[d]}}.
• In the West, {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} may respectively be pronounced by very conservative speakers as {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/ʒ/}} before a consonant, so fist sounds like fished, castle like Cashel, and arrest like "arresht".Wells, 1982, p. 433.

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:{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=313}} the raising of dress to {{IPA|[ɪ]}} when before {{IPA|/n/}} or {{IPA|/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),{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=309}} which is popularly heard in rapid conversation, by speakers of other English dialects, as a noticeable kind of undulating "sing-song" pattern.{{cite web |url= http://www.englishireland.ie/english-courses-cork-ireland.htm |title=Learn English in Cork City & County |work=EnglishIreland.ie |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171115152428/http://www.englishireland.ie/english-courses-cork-ireland.htm |archive-date=15 November 2017}}{{cite book |title=Learn English by Living It |publisher=Language Travel Ireland / InnovationWorks |location=National Technology Park, Limerick, Ireland |date=2010}}

{{main|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.{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007b|p=180}}

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.{{cite web |last=Hickey |first=Raymond |date=2015 |url= https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/dublin.htm |title=Dublin English |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161022011849/https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/dublin.htm |archive-date=22 October 2016 |work=Irish English Resource Centre |publisher=University of Duisburg and Essen}}

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:

• {{sc2|MOUTH}} as fronted or raised {{IPA|[æʊ~ɛʊ~eʊ]}}.
• {{sc2|PRICE}} as retracted or centralised {{IPA|[əɪ~ɑɪ]}}.
• {{sc2|GOAT}} as a diphthong in the range (local to non-local) of {{IPA|[ʌʊ~oʊ~əʊ]}}.

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.{{harvnb|de Gruyter|2004|pp=91}} Known for diphthongisation of the {{sc2|GOAT}} and {{sc2|FACE}} vowels, the local Dublin accent is also known for a phenomenon called "vowel breaking", in which {{sc2|MOUTH}}, {{sc2|PRICE}}, {{sc2|GOOSE}} and {{sc2|FLEECE}} in closed syllables are "broken" into two syllables, approximating {{IPA|[ɛwə]}}, {{IPA|[əjə]}}, {{IPA|[uwə]}}, and {{IPA|[ijə]}}, respectively.{{harvnb|de Gruyter|2004|pp=83–84}}

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".{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=355}} 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,Hickey, Raymond (ed.), 2012, pp. 99–100. 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,{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=114}} 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.Hickey, Raymond (ed.), 2012, p. 102.

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".{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=29}}

Ireland's supraregional dialect pronounces:

• {{sc2|TRAP}} as quite open {{IPA|a}}.
• {{sc2|PRICE}} along a possible spectrum {{IPA|[aɪ~äɪ~ɑɪ]}}, with innovative {{IPA|[ɑɪ]}} particularly more common before voiced consonants, notably including {{IPA|/r/}}.
• {{sc2|MOUTH}} as starting fronter and often more raised than other dialects: {{IPA|[aʊ~æʊ~ɛʊ]}}.
• {{sc2|START}} may be {{IPA|[äːɹ]||en-us-r.ogg}}, with a backer vowel than in other Irish accents, though still relatively fronted.
• {{sc2|THOUGHT}} as {{IPA|[ɒː]}}.
• {{sc2|NORTH}} as {{IPA|[ɒːɹ]}}, almost always separate from {{sc2|FORCE}} {{IPA|[oːɹ]}}, keeping words like war and wore, or horse and hoarse, pronounced distinctly.
• {{sc2|CHOICE}} as {{IPA|[ɒɪ]}}.
• {{sc2|GOAT}} as a diphthong, approaching {{IPA|oʊ||en-us-o.ogg}}, as in the mainstream United States, or {{IPA|əʊ||En-uk-oh.ogg}}, as in mainstream England.
• {{sc2|STRUT}} as higher, fronter, and often rounder {{IPA|[ə~ʊ]}}.

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. 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:

• {{sc2|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 {{IPA|[ˈfɪləm]}} and form {{IPA|[ˈfɒɹəm]}}, due to the influence of the Irish language.
• The words any and many are often exceptionally pronounced with {{IPA|/æ/}}, i.e. rhyme with Annie and Danny.{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=317}}

Footnotes:

{{note|D4|1}}

In southside Dublin's once-briefly fashionable "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, the "{{IPA|/ɑː/}} and broad {{IPA|/æ/}}" set becomes rounded as {{IPA|[ɒː]}}.{{cite book |last=Hickey |first=Raymond |title=Dublin English: Evolution and Change |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |date=2005 |pages=46–48}}

{{note|SW|2}} In South-West Ireland, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} before {{IPA|/n/}} or {{IPA|/m/}} is Pin-pen merger.{{harv|de Gruyter|2004|p=84}}

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

Other notes:

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

The following diphthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:

• The {{sc2|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 {{sc2|CHOICE}} diphthong, as in boy or choice, generally starts off lower outside of Ulster.
• The {{sc2|FACE}} diphthong, as in rain or bay, is most commonly realised as monophthongal {{IPAblink|eː}}. The words gave and came often have {{IPA|/ɛ/}} instead, i.e. rhyme with "Kev" and "them".{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Footnotes:

{{note|vowelbreak|1}}

Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" local Dublin accents, {{IPA|/aɪ/}} and {{IPA|/aʊ/}} may be realised as {{IPA|[əjə]}} and {{IPA|[ɛwə]}} in closed syllables.

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: {{IPA|/ð/}} and {{IPA|/θ/}} are pronounced as stops, {{IPAblink|d}} and {{IPAblink|t}}, making then and den as well as thin and tin homophones. Some accents realise them as dental stops {{IPA|[t̪, d̪]}} and do not merge them with alveolar {{IPA|/t, d/}}, making tin ({{IPA|[tʰɪn]}}) and thin {{IPA|[t̪ʰɪn]}} a minimal pair. In Ulster they are {{IPA|[ð]}} and {{IPA|[θ]}}.{{cite book |last=Wells |first=J.C. |title=The British Isles |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1989 |isbn=9780521285407 |series=Accents of English |volume=2 |pages=565–566, 635}}
• Rhoticity: The pronunciation of historical {{IPA|/r/}} is universal in Irish English, as in General American (but not Received Pronunciation), i.e. {{IPA|/r/}} is always pronounced, even word finally and before consonants (e.g. here, cart, or surf).
• Yod-dropping after {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/s/}}, e.g. new {{IPA|/nuː/}}, lute {{IPA|/ˈluːt/}}, and sue {{IPA|/suː/}}, and Yod-coalescence after {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/t/}}, e.g. duty {{IPA|/ˈdʒuːti/}} and tune {{IPA|/tʃuːn/}}.{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007b|p=184}}Wells, 1982, p. 435.
• Lack of H-dropping and occurrence of {{IPA|/h/}} where it is permitted in Irish but excluded in other dialects of English, such as word-mediality before an unstressed vowel (e.g. Haughey {{IPA|/ˈhɔːhi/}}) and word-finally (e.g. McGrath {{IPA|/məˈɡɹæh/}}). The pronunciation haitch {{IPA|/heɪtʃ/}} for {{Vr|h}} is standard in the Republic of Ireland and among Catholics in Northern Ireland, while Protestants in Northern Ireland use aitch {{IPA|/eɪtʃ/}}.{{cite web|url=https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/428002398/Protestants_and_the_Irish_language_in_Northern_Ireland.pdf|title=Protestants and the Irish language in Northern Ireland|last=McCoy|first=Gordon|date=May 1997|accessdate=2024-06-10|page=50}}
• Syllable-final and intervocalic {{IPA|/t/}} (and sometimes {{IPA|/d/}}) is pronounced uniquely in most Hiberno-English (but not Ulster) as a "slit fricative". This is similar to {{IPA|/s/}} but without the hissy articulation.
• The phoneme {{IPA|/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.

Footnotes:

{{note|NI|1}}In traditional, conservative Ulster English, {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} are palatalised before an open front vowel.{{harvnb|de Gruyter|2004|pp=88}}

{{note|Dub|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)".

{{note|r|3}}In extremely traditional and conservative accents (e.g. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jackie Healy-Rae), prevocalic {{IPA|/r/}} can also be an alveolar flap, {{IPA|[ɾ]}}. {{IPA|/r/}} may be guttural (uvular, {{IPA|[ʁ]}}) in north-east Leinster.{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=320}}

{{note|th|4}}{{vr|θ̠}} is used here to represent the voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative, sometimes known as a "slit fricative",{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|1984|p=234}} which is apico-alveolar.{{harv|de Gruyter|2004|p=93}}

{{note|hw|5}}Overall, {{IPA|/hw/}} and {{IPA|/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 + {{Vr|r}} create combinations that are defining characteristics of Hiberno-English:

• Lack of the horse–hoarse merger: the distinction is traditionally maintained between {{IPAc-en|ɔː}} and {{IPAc-en|oʊ}} before the consonant {{IPAc-en|r}}, so that e.g. horse and hoarse do not rhyme in most Irish accents, though this is changing among younger speakers.
• {{sc2|START}} vowel realised more forward in the mouth in comparison to most varieties of English.

Footnotes:

{{note|D4|1}}In southside Dublin's "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, {{IPA|/ɑːr/}} is realised as {{IPA|[ɒːɹ]}}.

{{note|ND|2}}In non-local Dublin's more recently emerging (or "advanced Dublin") accent, {{IPA|/ɛər/}} and {{IPA|/ɜr/}} may both be realised more rounded as {{IPA|[øːɻ]}}.

{{note|er|3}}The nurse 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 {{IPA|/ɛr/}} as in earn versus {{IPA|/ʊr/}} as in urn. Contrarily, most English dialects worldwide have merged {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} before the consonant {{IPA|/r/}}. For instance, in the case of non-local Dublin, supraregional, and younger Irish accents, the merged sequence is phonetically {{IPA|[ɚː]}}. However, for those accents which retain the more conservative distinction, the distribution of {{IPA|/ɛr/}} and {{IPA|/ʊr/}} is as follows: {{IPA|/ʊr/}} occurs when spelled {{vr|ur}} and {{vr|or}} (e.g. urn and word), {{vr|ir}} after alveolar stops (e.g. dirt), and after labial consonants (e.g. fern); {{IPA|/ɛr/}} is occurs in all other situations.{{Harvcoltxt|Hickey|2007a|p=330}} There are apparent exceptions to these rules; John C. Wells describes prefer and per as {{IPA|/ɛr/}}, despite the vowel in question following a labial in both cases.{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles |location=Cambridge, New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1982 |isbn=0521297192 |page=321}} The distribution of {{IPA|/ɛr/}} versus {{IPA|/ʊr/}} is listed below in some example words:

{{col-begin}}

{{Col-2}}

{{IPA|/ɛr/}}

• certain {{IPA|[ˈsɛːɹtn̩]}}
• chirp {{IPA|[ˈtʃʰɛːɹp]}}
• circle {{IPA|[ˈsɛːɹkəl]}}
• earn {{IPA|[ɛːɹn]}}
• earth {{IPA|[ɛːɹt]}}
• girl {{IPA|[ɡɛːɹl]}}
• germ {{IPA|[dʒɛːɹm]}}
• heard or herd {{IPA|[hɛːɹd]}}
• Hertz {{IPA|[hɛːɹts]}}
• irk {{IPA|[ɛːɹk]}}
• tern {{IPA|[tʰɛːɹn]}}

{{Col-break}}

{{IPA|/ʊr/}}

• bird {{IPA|[bʊːɹd]}}
• dirt {{IPA|[dʊːɹt]}}
• first {{IPA|[fʊːɹst]}}
• hurts {{IPA|[hʊːɹts]}}
• murder {{IPA|[ˈmʊːɹdɚ]}}
• nurse {{IPA|[ˈnʊːɹs]}}
• turn {{IPA|[tʰʊːɹn]}}
• third or turd {{IPA|[tʰʊːɹd]}}
• urn {{IPA|[ʊːɹn]}}
• work {{IPA|[wʊːɹk]}}
• world {{IPA|[wʊːɹld]}}

{{col-end}}

{{note|schwa-r|4}}In a rare few local Dublin varieties that are non-rhotic, {{IPA|/ər/}} is either lowered to {{IPA|[ɐ]}} or backed and raised to {{IPA|[ɤ]}}.

{{note|horse|5}}The distinction between {{IPA|/ɔːr/}} and {{IPA|/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.

{{note|vowelbreak|6}}In local Dublin {{IPA|/(j)uːr/}} may be realised as {{IPA|[(j)uʷə(ɹ)]}}. For some speakers {{IPA|/(j)uːr/}} may merge with {{IPA|/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.{{cite book |title=A dictionary of Hiberno-English: the Irish use of English |last=Dolan |first=Terence Patrick |date=2004 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |location=Dublin |isbn=9780717135356 |page=xix |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uPo0oB19gDUC&q=decline+of+hiberno-english+words&pg=PR19 |via=Google Books |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211020193243/https://books.google.com/books?id=uPo0oB19gDUC&q=decline+of+hiberno-english+words&pg=PR19 |url-status=live}}

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.

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.

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.

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.

• the Irish {{lang|ga|ar bith}} corresponds to English 'at all', so the stronger {{lang|ga|ar chor ar bith}} gives rise to the form "at all at all".
• "I've no time at all at all."
• {{lang|ga|ar eagla go ...}} (lit. 'on fear that ...') means 'in case ...'. The variant {{lang|ga|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."

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."

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".{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1jpNgJhjJF4C&q=%22hot+news+perfect&pg=PA129 |title=A semantic and pragmatic examination ... |via=Google Books |access-date=26 November 2010 |isbn=9783878083726 |date=1986 |last1=Fenn |first1=Peter |publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211020193246/https://books.google.com/books?id=1jpNgJhjJF4C&q=%22hot+news+perfect&pg=PA129 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aPPexF5hyIkC&q=%22after+perfect%22+irish&pg=PA253 |title=Dialects Across Borders |series="Current Issues in Linguistic Theory" series |via=Google Books |access-date=26 November 2010 |isbn=9789027247872 |date=2005 |editor1-last=Filppula |editor1-first=Markku |editor2-last=Klemola |editor2-first=Juhani |editor3-last=Palander |editor3-first=Marjatta |editor4-last=Penttilä |editor4-first=Esa |publisher=John Benjamins}} 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 {{lang|ga|i ndiaidh}}, {{lang|ga|tar éis}}, and {{lang|ga|in éis}}: {{lang|ga|bhí mé tar éis}} / {{lang|ga|i ndiaidh}} / {{lang|ga|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!" {{lang|ga|Táim tar éis é a bhualadh leis an gcarr!}}
• "She's after losing five stone in five weeks!" {{lang|ga|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." {{lang|ga|Tá an carr deisithe agam.}}
• "I have my breakfast eaten." {{lang|ga|Tá mo bhricfeasta ite agam.}}

This correlates with an analysis of "H1 Irish" proposed by Adger & Mitrovic,Adger (2004) 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.[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/language.html Language: Irish Gaelic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417124822/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/language.html |date=17 April 2015}}, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website.

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.{{Cite news |title=Himself Portrait – Frank McNally on a quintessential Irish pronoun |url= https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/himself-portrait-frank-mcnally-on-a-quintessential-irish-pronoun-1.4077017 |access-date=29 August 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times}} 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." {{lang|ga|Is í féin atá ag teacht anois.}}
• "Was it all of ye or just yourself?" {{lang|ga|An sibhse ar fad nó tusa féin a bhí i gceist?}}

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, {{lang|ga|ag}}). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines {{lang|ga|ag}} 'at' and {{lang|ga|mé}} 'me' to create {{lang|ga|agam}}. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from {{lang|ga|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." {{lang|ga|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 {{lang|ga|ann}} fulfilling both meanings.

• "Is it yourself that is in it?" {{lang|ga|An tú féin atá ann?}}
• "Is there any milk in it?" {{lang|ga|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." {{lang|ga|An fear seo.}} (cf. the related {{lang|ga|anseo}} = here)
• "That man there." {{lang|ga|An fear sin.}} (cf. the related {{lang|ga|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 {{lang|ga|beir}} and {{lang|ga|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{{spaced ndash}}and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).

• Do not forget to bring your umbrella with you when you leave.
• (To a child) Hold my hand: I do not want someone to take you.

{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2021}}

The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "{{lang|ga|aimsir láithreach}}") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "{{lang|ga|aimsir ghnáthláithreach}}") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is {{lang|ga|tá tú}}, but "you are [repeatedly]" is {{lang|ga|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 {{lang|es|ser}} and {{lang|es|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." {{lang|ga|Bíonn sé ag obair gach lá.}}
• "They do be talking on their mobiles a lot." {{lang|ga|Bíonn siad ag caint go minic ar a bhfóin póca.}}
• "He does be doing a lot of work at school." {{lang|ga|Bíonn sé ag déanamh go leor oibre ar scoil.}}
• "It's him I do be thinking of." {{lang|ga|Is air a bhíonn mé ag smaoineamh.}}

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 ({{lang|ga|tú}}) and the second person plural ({{lang|ga|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 {{IPA|[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 {{IPA|[jiːz]}} and the Leinster pronunciation being {{IPA|[jɪz]}}.

• "Did ye all go to see it?" {{lang|ga|Ar imigh sibh go léir chun é a fheicint?}}
• "None of youse have a clue!" {{lang|ga|Níl ciall/leid ar bith agaibh!}}
• "Are ye not finished yet?" {{lang|ga|Nach bhfuil sibh críochnaithe fós?}}
• "Yis are after destroying it!" {{lang|ga|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" {{IPA|[lɛˈtʃi]}}, although wider English uses similar constructions such as "Up to bed you go".

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

{{original research section|reason=This appears to be a random selection of characteristics of Hiberno-English and not the result of "grammatical influences" other than Irish and older varieties of English, or at least it is written as such.|date=October 2021}}

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|reason=This is definitely "true" – although it seems to be just following the word "allowed" and not even "allow", but a fairly extensive search showed up no sources explicitly making this claim.|date=October 2021}}

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.

{{Portal|Ireland|Language}}

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{{Reflist |group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist |32em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |last=Adger |first=David |author-link=David Adger |date=2003 |title=Core Syntax: A Minimalist Approach |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199243700}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Hickey |first=Raymond |date=1984 |title=Coronal Segments in Irish English |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=233–250 |doi=10.1017/S0022226700013876 |s2cid=145672742}}
• {{cite book |last=Hickey |first=Raymond |title=Irish English: History and Present Day Forms |date=2007a |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=p3vDuPNG7nUC |access-date=March 4, 2018 |isbn=9781139465847 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210414040213/https://books.google.com/books?id=p3vDuPNG7nUC |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} (Full text not available at this URL, on preview snippets.)
• {{Cite book |last=Hickey |first=Raymond |date=2007b |url= https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/DartSpeak_EstuaryEnglish_(Hickey).pdf |chapter=Dartspeak and Estuary English: Advanced metropolitan speech in Ireland and England |editor1-last=Smit |editor1-first=Ute |editor2-last=Dollinger |editor2-first=Stefan |editor3-last=Hüttner |editor3-first=Julia |editor4-last=Lutzky |editor4-first=Ursula |editor5-last=Kaltenböck |editor5-first=Gunther |title=Tracing English through time: explorations in language variation |location=Vienna |publisher=Braumüller |pages=179–190 |access-date=16 August 2016 |archive-date=11 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911123123/https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/DartSpeak_EstuaryEnglish_(Hickey).pdf |url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Hickey |editor-first=Raymond |title=Sociolinguistics in Ireland |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2016 |location=Basingstoke |isbn=9781137453471}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hickey|first=Raymond|chapter=Irish English: Phonology|title=A Handbook of Varieties of English |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=2004 |isbn=3110175320 |editor1-last=Kortmann |editor1-first=Bernd |editor2-last=Schneider |editor2-first=Edgar W. |ref={{harvid|de Gruyter|2004}}}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite web |title=Irish English and Ulster English |url= http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d9_Ireland.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140421050911/http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d9_Ireland.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2014}}

{{refend}}

{{Wikisource|English as we speak it in Ireland}}

• {{cite news |last1=Warner |first1=Bernhard |title=How Amazon Taught Alexa to Speak in an Irish Brogue |work=The New York Times |date=July 2023 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/technology/amazon-alexa-irish.html |access-date=5 July 2023 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20230701190304/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/technology/amazon-alexa-irish.html |archive-date=1 July 2023}}

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Category:Languages attested from the 12th century

Category:Dialects of English

English

Category:British English