Irish English Corpus Linguistics

Abstract

Abstract This chapter surveys the development, evolution, and application of corpus linguistics to the study of Irish English. It notes that, while there are only two Irish English corpora, there are many corpus linguists creating and using small specialized corpora to gain both pragmatic and sociolinguistic insights into language use, especially in the context of spoken data. These include work on family and other intimate discourse; advertising; teacher and classroom discourse; Irish literature; and media discourse and Irish immigrant letters. The point is made that most studies hitherto have focused on single-word or discourse features, using a form-to-function approach. Using empirical data from the Limerick Corpus of Irish English, the chapter exemplifies how a function-to-form approaches can also be used to move beyond single item focus. The chapter asserts that corpus research on pragmatics in Irish English is flourishing and that, in the process, it appears to be helping to shape corpus pragmatics as a methodology.