How the Irish Speak English: A Conversation with T. P. Dolan

Abstract

Professor T. P. Dolan is a lexicographer and regular contributor to programs on Irish radio and television, who has made the term Hiberno-English widely known in Irish society. has thus been hugely influential in making the Irish more aware of the features that make their English different from other Englishes. Hiberno-English is nowadays very much a sign of identity for many, a form of English that sets the Irish apart from other native speakers of English. Professor Dolan is also the director of www.hiberno-english.com, which is, as he describes it 'a living museum' or 'living laboratory of HE vocabulary and syntax', where people from all over the world can log questions about the English of Ireland. T. P. Dolan, profesor, lexicografo y colaborador habitual en diferentes programas de radio y television, ha conseguido dar a conocer el termino Hiberno-ingles a una gran parte de la sociedad irlandesa. Gracias a el, en parte, los irlandeses son mas conscientes de las caracteristicas que hacen que el ingles que hablan sea diferente de otras variedades. El hiberno-ingles es en la actualidad un signo de identidad para muchos, una forma de expresion que diferencia a la irlandesa de otras culturas anglo-parlantes. El profesor Dolan dirige tambien la pagina web www.hiberno-english.com, 'un museo viviente', o 'un laboratorio de vocabulario y sintaxis hiberno-inglesa', como el mismo lo describe, en el que cualquiera puede enviar preguntas sobre el ingles que se habla en Irlanda. It is a great pleasure to sit down and talk to someone with whom I share similar research interests. I suppose we should start by defining what Hiberno-English is. What is Hiberno-English? it the same as IrE? Hiberno-English (HE) is the technical term for the Irish use of English. It is a term used, first of all, in the early nineteenth century by the poet Tennyson, and it's been in use ever since then, by very distinguished authors, writers and scholars such as Seamus Heaney (he uses it in his introduction to his great translation of Beowulf). The term Irish English is a misnomer, because it works on the principle that 'Irish English' is similar to Australian English, American English or Canadian English, which it isn't. English was transported to these countries, but did not mix with the a the native languages. In Ireland, Hiberno-English means that you have two languages in kind of unruly shotgun marriage together, fighting all the time over the centuries, for syntax, pronunciation, vocabulary, idiom. 'Hiberno-English', therefore, exactly symbolises this very healthy connexion between the two disparate and independent languages. So, for you, Hiberno-English is more a contact vernacular than a colonial variety of English ... Yes, it is. It's two languages in contact, two languages in equal contact as both have very, very strong backgrounds, both have powerful grammars, and both have very powerful literatures as well, so both have the prestige of being independent languages. In other countries, this is not the case. English never had to fight another language. In comparison with all of those other varieties of English, what is different about the English spoken in Ireland? First of all, the pronunciation is quite different, because it retains the pronunciation of the English language in its earlier forms, for example, meat is pronounced like mate Very many of the older pronunciations of English are retained in HE, but much more important, we find English consonant and vowels removed and replaced by Irish vowels and consonants, so 'th' in the word thought is often pronounced as [t], thus making it sound like taught. There are many other examples, initial 's' in stairs is sometimes pronounced as 'sh', film is pronounced as fillum. The grammar is particularly different; we say in HE things such as I'm after having my dinner, Is it there that you're going?, He came in and I writing my letter, all of which are based on the grammar of the Irish language. …