Irish English Part 6 doc

244 The emergence of Irish English mean acceptance across the thirty-two counties was 22 per cent. The seven coun- ties with a score higher than 25 per cent were Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Armagh, Kerry, Kilkenny. Donegal had 19 per cent acceptance and the core Ulster Scots counties of Antrim and Down showed only 5 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. The latter score lends credence to the view that the stressed reflexives of Irish (see section 4.2.4)were responsible, via transfer, for the rise of unbound reflexives in Irish English. In her consideration of contact English, Sabban (1982: 357–79) looks at the similar use of unbound reflexives in Scotland. She also compares the situation with that in Irish English (1982: 375) and points out that in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic similar reflexive pronouns occur. However, she does not consider why the personal pronoun does not co-occur with the reflexive pronoun in either Scottish or Irish English, apart from suggesting that the pronoun is deleted so that speakers do not have to decide on whether to use I or me in the first person (Sabban 1982: 379). Other non-standard reflexives The pronominal base for reflexives in English varies across person and number. The first and second persons have a possessive pronoun as base, i.e. my-, your-, our-,but the third person has a oblique form of the personal pronoun, i.e. him-, her-, it-, them Because of this situation, analogical formations which use a possessive pronoun as base for the third person are common in dialects of English, i.e. hisself and theirself/theirselves arefound.In Irish English, only the plural shows this analogical form (though there is one instance of hisself in Boucicault’s The Colleen Bawn, 1860). (148) Theirself as analogical formation a. after that they feed away theirself. (TRS-D, M64–1, M) b. And if they wanted to go out in the night they could go theirself . (WER, F55+) c. They carry theirselves decent. (MLSI, M75+, Gurteen, Co. Laois) 4.4.2.4 Resumptive pronouns A pronoun is said to be resumptive when it occurs towards the end of a sentence and points back to a noun mentioned in an earlier clause, typically the main clause of the sentence in question. Resumptive pronouns are distinct from anaphoric pronouns which are used to avoid repeating a proper noun – such as someone’s name – in the same stretch of discourse. They do, however, share a function with anaphoric pronouns in that they add cohesion to a discourse, especially in cases where the grammatical structure might be ambiguous or where speakers do not have a full command of the language they are using. Some languages use resumptive pronouns regularly while others, such as English, are sparing in this respect. For that reason, resumptive pronouns represent non-standard usage in English. Some instances found in the author’s data collections are given in (149). 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 245 (149) Resumptive pronouns a. He was the fella that the others were trying to get him to take the offer from the brewery too. (WER, M50+) b. I told him to buy a small bike that he could put it into the house. (WER, F55+) c. And the little one, she do be measuring herself. (WER, F85+) d. It’s the sort of place people would be interested in going to it. (WER, M50+) e. The house where you are in it now. (TRS-D, C41, M) f. If you had a horse that he had a touch of it (SADIF, M60+, Bruff, Co. Limerick) In the current context the status of resumptive pronouns in Irish is of particular interest. Here they are often used to remove ambiguity regarding referents in a sentence, as in the following (author’s examples). (150) a. An fear a mhol na buachaill´ı. [the man (⁄) that praised the boys (⁄)] ‘The man that praised the boys.’ / ‘The man that the boys praised.’ b. An fear ar mhol na buachaill´ı´e. [the man () that praised the boys () him] ‘The man that the boys praised.’ In such sentences the only way of recognising subject and object (unless the context provides sufficient information) is by placing a resumptive pronoun at the end which refers back to the object. 36 Because of this disambiguating function in Irish, resumptive pronouns are found in many contexts (McCloskey 1985: 65), as in the following cases which are translations of (149 d,e) above. (151) a. Sin an saghas ´aite a mbeadh suim ag daoine dul ann. [that the type place that would-be interest at people go in-it] ‘That’s the sort of place people would be interested in going to.’ b. An teach a bhfuil t´u anois ann. [the house that is you now in-it] ‘The house you are in now.’ Such usage provided a clear model (Filppula 1999: 195) for speakers in the lan- guage shiftsituation and mostlikely led to theappearance of resumptive pronouns in Irish English. The transfer was probably also supported by the occurrence of sentence-final prepositions in English which semantically and prosodically link up with the prepositional pronouns of Irish as in the following instance. (152) An fear a raibh m´eagcaint leis. [the man that was I at talk-VN with -him] ‘The man I was talking to.’ 36 This function in Irish has been recognised by some authors, such as Filppula (1999: 188–90) who points this out in his discussion of Irish parallels to English examples in his data. 246 The emergence of Irish English ..    Non-standard uses of prepositions are common in Irish English. Of these, some stem from fixed phrases or specific words in Irish while others are of a more gen- eral nature in that the preposition is not bound to certain lexical elements (verbs, nouns, adjectives). These two situations are illustrated in the following examples. (153) a. They look too much on the television. (TRS-D, C41, M) Breathna´ıonn siad an iomarca ar an teilif´ıs. [look they the excess on the television] b. My brothers are gone with years now. (CCE-W, M75+) T´amochuid dearth´aireacha imithe le blianta anois. [is my part brothers gone with years now] c. D isdead with a long time now. (CCE-S, M60+) T´aD marbh le tamall fada anois. [isD dead with time long now] The first sentence above shows on in English, deriving from ar ‘on’ in Irish, which is used for the prepositional complement of breathnaigh ‘look’ (or the identical verbs f´each/amharc in Munster and Ulster respectively). The second sentence illustrates the use of le ‘with’ for measurements of time. This preposition has amuch wider range in Irish than in English and this, coupled perhaps with a greater scope in input varieties of English (see the detailed discussion in Filppula 1999: 231–38 37 ), has led to many non-standard uses in present-day Irish English. (154) a. Your man was knocked down with a car last April. (WER, M50+) b. God, Ray, I’m killed with the heat. (DER, M60+) c. The mother has been badly this year with the Krohn’s. (WER, M50+) d. I didn’t see you with a long time. (MLSI, M60+, Fanore, Co. Clare) The meanings covered by this use of with include ‘by’ and ‘because of, due to’ and are attested historically, as the following instances from mid-nineteenth-century drama and prose illustrate. (155) Non-standard uses of with in nineteenth-century literature a. I’m nearly killed with climbin’ the hill Maddened with the miseries this act brought upon me. (Dion Boucicault, The Colleen Bawn, 1860) b. that you will ever again be insulted with the presence of Beamish Mac Coul. (Dion Boucicault, Arrah na Pogue, 1864) c. You are mad with fright. (Dion Boucicault, The Shaughraun, 1875) d. and never mind that deep larning of his – he is almost cracked with it Some of them, being half blind with the motion and the whiskey, turned off the wrong way This is the happy day with me; and the blush still would fly acrass her face . . . (William Carleton, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, 1830–3) 37 In contrast to the rest of Filppula’s book, the treatment here is somewhat laboured in the opinion of the present author. The examples which Filppula discusses, such as the seven instances on p. 232, all have with in English deriving from le ‘with’ in Irish. Indeed, none of the examples which he quotes would have any other preposition but le ‘with’ in Irish. 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 247 Use of in it Irish shows an idiosyncratic use of ann ‘in it’, a prepositional pronoun in the third person singular, to indicate existence (Filppula 1999: 226–31). This is probably a metaphorical extension of the literal meaning of the locative expression, similar to German da sein ‘to be there’, which was metaphorically extended in a like manner, cf. Dasein (n) ‘existence’. In (156) a selection of attestations is offered from speakers in Irish-speaking areas or in those which were so until recently. Translations of the English sentences are given to show what the Irish equivalent would be like. The lexicalised use of ‘in-it’ for existence is found throughout Ireland, as shown by the examples from Dublin and Scots-settled Ulster (Laggan area) below. (156) Use of in it to denote existence a. There’s work in it. (TRS-D, C41, M) T´a obair ann. [is work in-it] b. There used to be a hotel in it. (TRS-D, C41, M) Bh´ıodh ´ost´an ann. [was hotel in-it] c. I don’t know, there’s a few in it. (TRS-D, C41, M) N´ıl a fhios agam, t´ac´upla ceann ann. [is not know at-me, is couple one in-it] d. There are plenty of jobs in it. (TRS-D, M7, M) T´a mor´an jabbana ann. [is much jobs in-it] e. The only thing is in it, they’re new. (DER, M35+) There’re never no functions in it. (TRS-D, U18-2, F) Substratum influence in this usage of in, especially in combination with it, would appear to have been operative during language shift. Authors who have dealt with the matter, such as Filppula (1999: 231), readily concede this source. Expression of relevance with on A less clear-cut case is presented by the use of on to express relevance. In Irish English this is found abundantly, as the following examples show. (157) Use of preposition on to express relevance a. Someone took three hundred pound on him. (TRS-D, L19-2, F) b. Well for you,J ,’cause the deal is gone on us. (WER, M50+) c. And then, he might come home on me. (WER, M50+) d. You know, sometime they all come home together and then they take over the whole house on you. (WER, F55+) It is obvious from just a small sample of occurrences that on + personal pronoun is used to express a negative effect on the person referred to. This usage is known from varieties of English outside Ireland (see the discussion in Filppula 1999: 219–26); consider such sentences as They stole the car on him. Here the use of on is often an alternative to the possessive pronoun which might not be appropriate or accurate in every context, e.g. where the car is not the speaker’s 248 The emergence of Irish English butone which he/she was responsible for. It is this option of indicating relevance, but not necessarily possession, which gives added justification to the use of on + personal pronoun. Other languages have similar devices to realise similar semantics. German, for instance, allows the use of the dative to indicate relevance (what is called the Pertinenzdativ ‘the dative of relevance’, von Polenz 1969), e.g. Er ist mir abgehauen [he is me- run-off] ‘He ran away on me.’ The use of on with the experiencer of an action is established in English and can be seen with such verbs as impose on s.o., have mercy on s.o., inflict sth. on s.o., call on s.o. Historically, there were verbs which took on, like wait on, do on, look on, which have either changed their preposition (look on > look at), dropped it (believe on > believe)orlost their compound meaning (wait on = ‘serve, attend to’; do on 38 = ‘do wrong to’). Despite these and other historically attested uses of on with verbs, an examina- tion of the subbranch of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts (covering eighty-one texts within the time span 1500–1710) had only one instance of on to express negative relevance: But the humour of that time wrought so much on him, that he broke off the Course of his Studies (Gilbert Burnet, Some Passages of the Life and Death of John Earl of Rochester11680). Significantly, the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Sampler did not contain any examples. However, there are verbs and verbal phrases which take on expressing nega- tive relevance, for example to be hard on s.o., bring on s.o., and these are attested historically, e.g. and thairfoir hes God justly brought this on me (The Confessioun of John Habroun, 1567). Such uses may well have converged with the use of ar ‘on’ in Irish, as seen in the following examples, the third of which allows for a literal and a metaphorical interpretation. (158) Use of preposition on to express relevance in Irish a. M´uchadh an tine uirthi. [was-extinguished the fire on-her] b. Theip an sc´eim nua air. [the new scheme failed on-him] c. Thit an dr´eimire orm. [fell the ladder on-me] Such convergence would then favour the use of on in post-shift Irish English. Certainly by the late nineteenth/early twentienth century,on + personal pronoun had become a widespread meansof expressing negative relevance, as the following attestations from literature show. (159) Use of on for relevance in nineteenth-/early twentieth-century literature a. and called me a skinflint; they have made it a common nickname on me . (William Carleton, The Evil Eye or The Black Spector) b. He’s after dying on me, God forgive him, and there I am now. (John Millington Synge, In the Shadow of the Glen, 1903) 38 This combination is still found in Irish English where more standard varieties of English would have do to,e.g.What did she do on you? ‘What did she do to you?’ 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 249 c. Maybe she’d wake up on us, and come in before we’d done. (John Millington Synge, Riders to the Sea, 1904) d. D’ye want to waken her again on me, when she’s just gone asleep? (Sean O’Casey, The Plough and the Stars, 1926) e. God, I’d be afraid he might come in on us alone. (Sean O’Casey, The Silver Tassie, 1928) The transfer of on + personal pronoun led to usages in Irish English which are largely negative in meaning. Furthermore, there are cases where there may well have been different usage previously. For instance, ‘to welcome’ in present-day Irish is f´ailte a chur roimh dhuine [welcome to put before someone]. However, Carleton has the set phrase to put the failtah on him, her, etc. ‘to welcome him, her, etc.’, which, given the use of failtah as an eye-dialect rendering of Irish f´ailte ‘welcome’, would imply that the preposition used in his Irish (early nineteenth century) then may well have been ar ‘on’. An important issue here is chronology. Various historical texts, such as those in A Corpus of Irish English, show that the use of on + personal pronoun to express relevance is a relatively late phenomenon, not becoming evident in the textual record until later in the nineteenth century (see examples in (159) above). Writers such as William Carleton, John and Michael Banim or Dion Boucicault have few examples and Maria Edgeworth has none. Instances of on + personal pronoun before the late nineteenth century are where it is necessary as an obligatory prepositional complement of the verb. (160) Use of on for relevance in eighteenth-century literature a. myWife Shall settle on me the remainder of her Fortune. (William Congreve, Wayofthe World, 1700) b. Now may all the Plagues of marriage be doubled on me if ever I try to be Friends with you any more. (Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, 1777) c. that I am reveng’d on her unnatural Father. (Richard Brinsley Sheridan, St Patrick’s Day, 1775) The attestations of on + personal pronoun to express relevance with writers like Synge and O’Casey all show an essential feature: the prepositional phrase is optional. Consider the instances of wake(n) in (159c, d) above: in the sentences from both Synge and O’Casey the prepositional phrase with on can be deleted without rendering them ungrammatical. This is also true of the sentences in (157) from the author’s data collections. An explanation can be given for this which has recourse to the language- shift situation. The native speakers of Irish, who were acquainted with uses like Theip an sc´eim nua air [the new scheme failed on-him], transferred this to the English they were learning by adding the prepositional phrase expressing relevance to existing sentence structures in English. This is a case of additive transfer where an elementfromthe outset language is added to the targetproviding 250 The emergence of Irish English a further semantic feature, in this case relevance of an action to a person in the discourse. Furthermore, this additive transfer took place to express negative or positive relevance of an action to an individual. This explains why in the nineteenth century there are instances of on + personal pronoun which are literal translations from Irish and possibly positive in connotation. But later the use of on + personal pronoun settled down to the expression of negative relevance in the twentieth century, much as the after-perfective had settled down to past reference some time before. The current feature was also captured in A Survey of Irish English Usage by testing the acceptance of the sentence The fire went out on him. The rate was consistently high with a mean of 79 per cent. There was no significant geographical variation with the core Ulster Scots counties, Down and Antrim, scoring 76 per cent and 85 per cent respectively. The test sentence He crashed the car on her showed a mean score of 61 per cent. The somewhat lower value compared to the other sentence can probably be accounted for by its potential ambiguity. The high acceptance of on when expressing negative relevance in Ulster can be linked to a similar usage of the preposition in Scottish English. Here, as elsewhere (see sections 4.4.1.4.1 and 4.4.2.3 above), a comparison with the data and analysis offered by Sabban (1982)isuseful.In asection dedicated to this preposition (1982: 447–54), she considers the use of air ‘on’ in Scottish Gaelic and possible transfer to English during language shift. Her conclusion is that substrate influence is most probably the source of the wider range of uses in which on + personal pronoun occurs in contact English (see her table of corpus samples indicating negative relevance, 1982: 457). Sabban’s claim is further supported by the fact that the preposition occurs in contexts in which other elements point to Gaelic influence, e.g. the use of a verb of motion and a definite article in a sentence like Th`ainig an t-acras orra ‘The hunger came on them’ (1982: 448). Afew other instances of prepositional usage are noticeable in Irish English. As with the cases above, some of these can be traced to Irish. For instance, the common use of outside with of would seem to derive from Irish: Taobh amuigh den teach [side out of the house] ‘Outside of the house.’ Other non-standard prepositional uses are not related to Irish but would appear to stem from input varieties of English, e.g. the use of off rather than from in sentences like She gets a lift off another woman on the way back (WER, M50+). Oblique pronouns and the expression of relevance In the data collections examined here there are cases where an oblique personal pronoun is used to express the relevance of an action to the speaker. Semanti- cally, this strategy is similar to that where on + pronoun is found. However, the relevance expressed is not necessarily negative as is ususally the case with on + pronoun. Examples are He did me wrong with all that talk (RL, M55+); Igotme 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 251 enough money for the weekend (WER, F55+), We don’t sow us mangolds (MLSI, M85+, Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly). ..  The use of the definite article in Irish English shows considerable differences compared to other varieties of English (Sand 2003). By and large it tends to be used more than in more standard forms of English. It is possible to offer a classification of the contexts which favour its appearance (see Filppula 1999: 56–77 for a discussion as well as Amador 2006: 61–73). Generic, impersonal and abstract contexts trigger the definite article, as do references to parts of the body, bodily ailments and next of kin/relatives. Units of measurement and numeric references often trigger the use of the definite article as well. Cer- tain fixed expressions which contain the definite article are found repeatedly, especially ‘the ol’N’where the noun can be a part of the body, e.g. He’s got a bit frail now, the ol’ back is gone (DER, M35+). In such phrases the adjec- tive old is pronounced [o l] or [aul]. The deletion of the final stop is indicated in writing by an apostrophe. Some authors spell the word owl’ to suggest the diphthong [au]. (161) Overuse of definite article 1. Generic and impersonal reference a. You’d need the wellies when crossing them fields. (RL, M55+) b. And he gave it all up to go on the sea. (TRS-D, L19-2, F) c. Do you like sugar in the tea? (DER, M60+) d. The youth now isn’t inclined to take on anything. (TRS-D, M19, M) e. I remember asking the girl to get the wheelchair for you. (WER, M50+) f. I’d iron the few shirts for him. (WER, F85+) g. Cars would be beeping the horn passing. (DER, M60+) h. S has the car so he can bring the kids to the school. (WER, F55+) i. The husband said, she was getting out of the bed that night. (WER, M50+) j. They don’t know the comfort up in them new houses. (WER, F85+) k. M.’s the perfect clown, he is. (DER, M35+) 2. Abstract nouns, including languages and objects of study a. Well, I think she likes the languages. (WER, F55+) b. I always found the Irish hard going, Ray. (DER, M60+) c. If you go out in the world the Irish is no good to you. (TRS-D, M7, M) d. Now the kids have to do the biology from sixth class on. (WER, F55+) e. God, I’m parched with the thirst. (DER, M35+) f. I think the drink is a bit of a problem for your man. (WER, M50+) g. They all have the longing for Ireland. (TRS-D, M7, M) h. The youth doesn’t want to work. (MLSI, M65+, Birr, Co. Offaly) 3. Parts of the body, diseases, afflictions a. There’s nothing done by the hand anymore. (TRS-D, M64-1, M) 252 The emergence of Irish English b. tilling and sowing the seed with the hand. (TRS-D, M64-1, M) c. Iwas out there and I got the bladder done. (DER, M60+) d. I need the cap to keep the ol’ head dry. (WER, M50+) e. It nearly broke the leg on me. (DER, M60+) f. I always had problems with the ol’ back. (DER, M60+) g. I had a bout of the flu the past few weeks. (WER, M85+) h. The arthritis does be bothering her a lot these days. (WER, M50+) i. That was the time she had the cancer. (WER, F50+) j. ’Twas the heart attack which got him in the end. (WER, M50+) 4. Relatives, spouses, in-laws a. Go in now to see the mother. (WER, M50+) b. The husband said, she was getting out of the bed that night. (WER, M50+) c. He lucky he have the wife there. (WER, M50+) d. The father-in-law was over for the Christmas meal. (DER, M35+) 5. Days of the week, months, seasons, occasions a. So we went into town on the Saturday. (WER, F55+) b. And then they could be up late in the night playing music. (DER, M35+) c. No, they take four samples in the month. (TRS-D, M64-1, M) d. Well, how did the Christmas go for you? (DER, M35+) e. Will you be back in the summer? (WER, M50+) f. She does be out all the day. (WER, M55+) g. I’ve given up celebrating the wedding anniversary by now. (WER, F55+) h. The father-in-law was over for the Christmas meal. (DER, M35+) 6. Units of measurement, quantifiers a. Would they be all the one? I suppose they would. (DER, M60+) b. Listen, Ray, I’m telling you, that isn’t the half of it. (DER, M60+) c. ’Tis he have to be the twenty-one. (WER, M50+) d. He have buses and taxis here in town so he have the few bob. (WER, M50+) e. Would the both of youse get off out of here! (DER, M35+) f. Well, you see, the both of them have to work to do the mortgage like. (DER, M60+) 7. Institutions, buildings a. It’s overby the Clover Meats. [factory] (WER, M50+) b. C started at the college last autumn. (WER, F55+) c. The young ones are going to the school already. (WER, F55+) In A Survey of Irish English Usage the acceptance of the definite article in non- standard contexts was markedly high. For instance, the test sentence He likes the life in Galway showed a mean score of 83 per cent with values not far from this for counties in Ulster, Antrim in fact achieving 95 per cent (see table 4.32). 254 The emergence of Irish English Table 4.33. Highest acceptance figures (80%+) in A Survey of Irish English Usage for the test sentence She never rang yesterday evening County Score N Total County Score N Total Galway 91% 49 54 Sligo 86% 19 22 Antrim 90% 37 41 Kerry 83% 20 24 Derry 89% 16 18 Tipperary 83% 35 42 Belfast 88% 28 32 Cork 81% 68 84 Clare 88% 14 16 Mayo 81% 30 37 Donegal 88% 37 42 Meath 81% 30 37 Down 87% 33 38 is the result of transfer from Irish in Ireland and Gaelic in Scotland during the language shift process in both countries. ..    Narrow time reference with never In standard varieties of English, the temporal adverb never covers a fairly large span of time, e.g. He never visited us when he was living in Dublin.However, in many varieties never can also have a much narrower range (Beal 1993). This is true of Irish English as can be seen in the sentence No, he never turned up yesterday after all his talk (WER, M50+). Irish does not seem to be the source of this usage, especially as the adverb riamh ‘never’ is used for greater time spans. Narrower time references are usually expressed using other adverbs. (162) a. N´ı raibh s´e riamh i Sasana. [not was he never in England] b. N´ıor th´ainig s´ear´eir ar chor ar bith. [not came he last-night at turn at all] In ASurvey of Irish English Usage the acceptance of narrow time reference was tested with the sentence She never rang yesterday evening. The results show a high acceptance across the entire country with the core Ulster Scots areas, Antrim and Down, among the six counties with the highest rates (see table 4.33). Ulster usage Three adverbial features are specifically northern in their occurrence. The first of these is the use of whenever in the sense of ‘when’ (Montgomery 1997: 219). (163) Whenever I was released from prison. (Belfast, M40+) The second is the use of from in the sense of ‘since’ (Harris 1984b: 132) and could be derived from a longer phrase like ‘from that time on’/‘from the time that’ through ellipsis. [...]... appropriate equivalent to Irish Ce´ rd at´ t´ a l´amh? [what that-is you     reading] a a u e 280 The emergence of Irish English Table 4.38 Convergence scenarios in the history of Irish English 1a Source 1 (English) independent of source 2 (Irish) English development Irish What are you reading? C´ard at´ t´ a l´amh? e a u e [what that-are you     reading] Outcome in Irish English: continuous verb... it is common in Irish English, both in synchronic data and in historical records, e.g Wait till I 266 The emergence of Irish English Table 4.34 Highest acceptance figures (80%+) in A Survey of Irish English Usage for the test sentence Come here till I tell you County Score N Total County Score N Total Cavan Antrim Armagh Donegal Limerick 94% 93% 89% 88% 85% 16 38 17 37 22 17 41 19 42 26 Derry Offaly... continuous verb phrases maintained b Source 1 (English) independent of source 2 (Irish) older English input Irish Are ye ready? An bhfuil sibh r´idh? e [       are you-    ready] Outcome in Irish English: distinct second-person-plural pronoun maintained 2 Source 1 (English) provides form and source 2 (Irish) semantics English input (periphrastic/emphatic) Irish B´onn s´ amuigh ar an bhfarraige... assuming Irish influence in the range of clefting in the present tense in Irish English The Irish verb is [ s] is similar to English it’s [ ts] and would have provided speakers in the shift scenario with a readily available equivalent to the clefting device they knew from their native language 4.4 .6. 4 Negation There are several respects in which negation in Irish English varies from that in standard English. .. indicated in Irish by the same adverb, e.g roimh an tine ‘in front of the fire’ and romhainn ‘before-us, ahead-of-us’ (compound prepositional pronoun) In Irish English, both the spatial meaning of ‘in front of’ and the prospective temporal meaning of ‘ahead of’ are expressed by before, mostly probably by transfer of the greater range of roimh in Irish 2 56 The emergence of Irish English ( 166 ) Use of before... many other varieties of English, scholars have been slow to attribute it solely to influence from Irish For instance, Filppula (1999: 270) is more cautious here than elsewhere is attributing influence to a particular source In his opinion both English input and Irish have contributed to the 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 269 present-day distribution The range of clefting options in Irish is large indeed... ‘four conservative rural British English dialects’, there was only one instance of subordinating and (from Somerset) He furthermore points out that Hebridean English shows a similar construction to that found in Irish (Filppula 1999: 205; 1997a), a fact which he sees as supporting the substrate hypothesis for the Irish English attestations  264 The emergence of Irish English d Poh! gammon, and so many... Schoole, 162 7) b and so it will serve in part, as a general direction for all (T Langford, Plain and Full Instructions to Raise all Sorts of Fruit-Trees 169 9) c I can subsist no longer here; for to borrow will spoile all (Correspondence of the Haddock Family, 165 7–1719) In south-eastern Irish English such bare quantifiers were recorded This may well be an archaic feature of speech in this part of... examples in both Irish and Irish English which are presented by Corrigan 2000b: 85, 91) The NP is furthermore commonly realised by a pronoun in the nominative Examples of and + NP + VERB (present participle) – the most common type in Irish English – where the NP is subject, are extremely rare in English outside Ireland, the following two being virtually the only examples in the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts... He does live in the west [is-       he out on the sea] Outcome in Irish English: habitual is established, He does be out on the sea 3 Failed convergence: Source 1 (dialectal English) shares feature with source 2 (Irish) English input Irish They were a-singing Bh´ siad ag canadh ı [were they at singing] Outcome in Irish English: A-prefixing does not establish itself or Ce´ rd at´ a l´amh agat? . probably by transfer of the greater range of roimh in Irish. 2 56 The emergence of Irish English ( 166 ) Use of before in early nineteenth-century Irish English; examples from Carleton, Ned M’Keown 1 discussion of Irish parallels to English examples in his data. 2 46 The emergence of Irish English ..    Non-standard uses of prepositions are common in Irish English. Of. those in later Irish English in that the clause intro- duced by and is the final one in the sentence. This fact may well be due to an 4.4 The grammar of Irish English 263 influence from Irish where