Irish English in Advertising

Abstract

Abstract In order to investigate language ideological change in the Irish context, this study analyses a corpus of radio advertisements from an Irish radio channel broadcast over a 40-year period (1977–2017). While an initial examination of the corpus indicates the symbolic use of the Irish language, the use of American English, pseudo-French accents, etc., the predominant varieties exploited are Standard Southern British English and Irish English. As research shows, ideological issues associated with standard and non-standard varieties are especially visible in the colonial situation. In light of the colonial history of Ireland, and in view of the predominance of Standard Southern British English and Irish English in the corpus, the main focus of the study is therefore on changes in the exploitation of these varieties, with a focus on accent, to reveal language ideological change in the Irish context.