The syntax of Irish English
General features
There are many non-standard features in the syntax of Irish English. Some of these are island-wide, i.e. they occur in more or less all varieties of English in both the north and south of Ireland. Others are limited to a particular dialect region and ultimately derive from a specific settlement group in Irish history. Furthermore, some categories exists in several vernacular varieties but their realisations differ, see habitual aspect below. To begin with general features are listed here, in the following section those features which are geographically confined are listed.
There has been, and still is, much discussion in Irish English studies about the sources of these non-standard features. Because these discussions are linguistically significant, a special section of the current site is devoted to these see branch on the left).
Aspectual distinctions
1) Perfective aspect with two sub-types:
Immediate perfective with the structure after + V-ing (+ O). This structure is used to convey information supposedly unknown to the hearer, hence the label ‘hot news’ perfective which is sometime used.
She is after spilling the milk.
They're after leaving off more than 20 workers.
Resultative perfective with the word Object + Past Participle. This structure implies that an action was carried out intentionally. It can contrast with the word order Past Participle + Object, as in the third and fourth sentences below.
She has the housework done.
I've the room hoovered.
Have you ‘Ulysses’ read?i.e. ‘Are you finished reading the novel?’
Have you read ‘Ulysses’i.e. ‘Did you ever read the novel?’
2) Habitual aspect (present). This can be expressed in one of three ways: (i) by does + be (often reduced on the east coast to [dq/bi]) or (ii) by bees (exclusively northern) or (iii) by inflectional -s, above all in the first and third persons (common on the east coast).
(i) / She does be reading books.(ii) / They bees up late at night.
(iii) / I gets awful anxious about the kids when they’re away.
More verbal features
3) Reduced number of verb forms. Seen and done as preterite, went as past participle, also found with some other verbs like come and use.
I wonder why he done that.
I haven’t went there for a long time now.
She come up to see her aunt when she was dyin’.
4) Greater range of the present tense
I know him for more than six years now.
5) Be as auxiliary
They’re finished the work now.
They´re not even started yet, boy.
Other sentence structures
6) Negative concord
He’s not interested in no cars.
The corporation don´t give no loans.
7) Clefting for topicalisation purposes
It’s to Glasgow he’s going.
It’s awful hard the work is.
8) For to infinitives of purpose
He went to Dublin for to buy a car.
9) Inversion in embedded questions
She asked him would he paint the house for her.
Conjunctions, adverbs, pronouns, articles
10) Till in the sense of ‘in order that’
Come here till I tell you.
11) Subordinating and (frequently concessive)
We went for a walk and it raining.
12) Singular time reference for never
She never rang yesterday evening.
13) Preference for that as relative pronoun
This is the book that I read.
The man that she met yesterday.
14) Overuse of definite article
He likes the life in Dublin.
You have to be the eighteen to get the licence.
15) ‘Now’ as intensifier
She had three children in five year now.
It was very important to her now.
Regional features
1) Lack of verbal inflection (east coast dialects mostly)
He have a new job in the glass (factory).
2) Deletion of verb forms is different types of sentence (east coast)
(i) Existential sentences
There Ø no hurry on you.
There Ø no trouble with her.
(ii) Copula deletion
She Ø a teacher in the tech.
Mi eldest daughter Ø not married yet.
(iii) Deletion of auxiliary be
I Ø not saying they´re doing great, but they´re okay.
I Ø not able to swim at all.
(iv) Deletion of lexical and auxiliary have
You Ø time enough.
They Ø not even started the building yet.