Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the dominant first language in everyday use and, alongside the Irish language, one of two official languages (with Ulster Scots, in Northern Ireland, being yet another local language).
Irish English's writing standards, such as its spelling, align with British English. However, Irish English's diverse accents and some of its grammatical structures and vocabulary are unique, including certain notably conservative phonological features and vocabulary: those that are no longer common in the dialects of England or North America. It shows significant influences from the Irish language and, in the north, the Scots language.
Phonologists today often divide Irish English into four or five overarching dialects or accents: Ulster or Northern Irish accents, Western and Southern Irish accents (like Cork accents), various Dublin accents, and a non-regional standard accent (outside of Ulster) whose features have been developing since only the last quarter of the 20th century onwards.
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.
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".
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. 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, 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.
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". 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". '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."
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. 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.
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:
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 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: the raising of dress to [ɪ] when before /n/ or /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), which is popularly heard in rapid conversation, by speakers of other English dialects, as a noticeable kind of undulating "sing-song" pattern.
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.
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.
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:
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. Known for diphthongisation of the GOAT and FACE vowels, the local Dublin accent is also known for a phenomenon called "vowel breaking", in which MOUTH, PRICE, GOOSE and FLEECE in closed syllables are "broken" into two syllables, approximating [ɛwə], [əjə], [uwə], and [ijə], respectively.
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". 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, 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, 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.
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".
Ireland's supraregional dialect pronounces:
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:
Footnotes:
^1 In southside Dublin's once-briefly fashionable "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, the "/ɑː/ and broad /æ/" set becomes rounded as [ɒː].
^2 In South-West Ireland, /ɛ/ before /n/ or /m/ is raised to [ɪ].
^3 Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" in local Dublin accents, /iː/ and /uː/ may be realised as [ijə] and [ʊuwə] in closed syllables.
Other notes:
The following diphthongs are defining characteristics of Irish English:
Footnotes: ^1 Due to the phenomenon of "vowel breaking" local Dublin accents, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ may be realised as [əjə] and [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:
Footnotes:
^1 In traditional, conservative Ulster English, /k/ and /ɡ/ are palatalised before an open front vowel.
^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)".
^3 In extremely traditional and conservative accents (e.g. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jackie Healy-Rae), prevocalic /r/ can also be an alveolar flap, [ɾ]. /r/ may be guttural (uvular, [ʁ]) in north-east Leinster.
^4 ⟨θ̠⟩ is used here to represent the voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative, sometimes known as a "slit fricative", which is apico-alveolar.
^5 Overall, /hw/ and /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 + ⟨r⟩ create combinations that are defining characteristics of Hiberno-English:
Footnotes:
^1 In southside Dublin's "Dublin 4" (or "Dortspeak") accent, /ɑːr/ is realised as [ɒːɹ].
^2 In non-local Dublin's more recently emerging (or "advanced Dublin") accent, /ɛər/ and /ɜr/ may both be realised more rounded as [øːɻ].
^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 /ɛr/ as in earn versus /ʊr/ as in urn. Contrarily, most English dialects worldwide have merged /ɛ/ and /ʊ/ before the consonant /r/. For instance, in the case of non-local Dublin, supraregional, and younger Irish accents, the merged sequence is phonetically [ɚː]. However, for those accents which retain the more conservative distinction, the distribution of /ɛr/ and /ʊr/ is as follows: /ʊr/ occurs when spelled ⟨ur⟩ and ⟨or⟩ (e.g. urn and word), ⟨ir⟩ after alveolar stops (e.g. dirt), and after labial consonants (e.g. fern); /ɛr/ is occurs in all other situations. There are apparent exceptions to these rules; John C. Wells describes prefer and per as /ɛr/, despite the vowel in question following a labial in both cases. The distribution of /ɛr/ versus /ʊr/ is listed below in some example words:
^4 In a rare few local Dublin varieties that are non-rhotic, /ər/ is either lowered to [ɐ] or backed and raised to [ɤ].
^5 The distinction between /ɔːr/ and /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.
^6 In local Dublin /(j)uːr/ may be realised as [(j)uʷə(ɹ)]. For some speakers /(j)uːr/ may merge with /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.
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.
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".
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.
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". 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 i ndiaidh, tar éis, and in éis: bhí mé tar éis / i ndiaidh / in éis X a dhéanamh, nuair a rinne mé Y.
A similar construction is seen where exclamation is used in describing a recent event:
When describing less astonishing or significant events, a structure resembling the German perfect can be seen:
This correlates with an analysis of "H1 Irish" proposed by Adger & Mitrovic, 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.
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. 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?"
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, ag). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines ag 'at' and mé 'me' to create agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from Tá ... agam. This gives rise to the frequent
Somebody who can speak a language "has" a language, in which Hiberno-English has borrowed the grammatical form used in Irish.
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 ann fulfilling both meanings.
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.
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).
Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of British English because it follows the Irish grammar for beir and 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 – and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).
The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "aimsir láithreach") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "aimsir ghnáthláithreach") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is tá tú, but "you are [repeatedly]" is 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 ser and 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:
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 (tú) and the second person plural (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 [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 [jiːz] and the Leinster pronunciation being [jɪz].
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" [lɛˈtʃi], although wider English uses similar constructions such as "Up to bed you go".
For influence from Scotland, see Ulster Scots and Ulster English.
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".
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.