LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.03 (11) [E]

Fri Nov 4 00:11:58 UTC 2005

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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03 November 2005 * Volume 11
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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.03 (03) [A/E/LS]

Paul Finlow-Bates wrote:
"First, being derived from an early ME, I'm surprised that there seems to be
no obvious Norse influence, given that was really the first Germanic
language prevalent in Ireland, and considering how strongly it affected
northern English speech. Perhaps Norse was pretty well extinct in Ireland by
the time English speakers arrived."

Norse seems to have had a relatively short life in Ireland. Though many
areas were exposed to Norse settlement - most famously Dublin - settlers
appear to have assimilated into the local population within a few
generations. There are a number of loanwords from Norse into Irish which
attest to an essentially coastal and maritime commercial community (for
example, _margadh_ "market" and _acair_ "anchor"), and a fair proportion of
Irish families are of Norse origin (for example, Ó Dubhghaill "descendant of
the dark foreigner", Mac Suibhne "son of Sven", Mac Amhlaoibh "son of
Olaf"). The district north of Dublin is _Fine Gall_ "fair haired
foreigners", meaning Norse territory.

The relative lack of Norse in Yola may be accounted for because Yola derives
from, or is cognate with, south western English dialects which to some
extent escaped Norse influence. As I understand it, Yola is most closely
related to - if not descended from - the Early Middle English spoken in the
Gower ("little England beyond Wales") peninsula in 1169. The peasants who
formed the bulk of the invading army spoke this fragment of South West
English; their leaders spoke Anglo-Norman. I understand Flemish also had a
role in the Gower.

"Secondly, to what extent has this influenced modern Irish accents, at least
some of them? I recall reading many years ago that Ulster speech can be
divided into areas influenced by SW England on one hand, and the
Anglo-Scottish border region on the other. I sometimes think I hear a hint
of both in the English of Northern Ireland."

It is accepted that Yola is the substrate of south east Wexford
Hiberno! -English. Having never visited the area I cannot say if the accent
and dialect of the Yola area is still appreciably any different to the rest
of Wexford but I would imagine it must contain some traces, no matter how
minimal. It is also accepted that the differing Englishes and Scots
varieties spoken by settlers planted in Ulster in early seventeenth century
contributed to separate dialect and accent areas there (for example, north
Antrim, settled by Lowland Scots, is - or was - Scots-speaking, whereas the
accent and dialect of Portadown betrays the English areas its colonisers
originated from).

Overall, Hiberno-English retains archaic features of English (such as the
retention of [e:] where most other Englishes have [i:]) current in England
at the time that English gained a substantial foothold in Ireland, in the
late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Unlike in Scotland, where the
Gaelic speakers of the Highlands learnt a fairly standard form of Scottish
English - not Scots - Irish speakers in Ireland learnt (and continue to
learn) local Hiberno-Englishes, except where they choose to cultivate a
"Dublin 4" or "RTÉ Hiberno-English" accent.

Jo Thys wrote:
"In Limburgish sentences often start with 'chem' too, which is considered a
contraction of 'ich hem', i have (?). e.g. 'chem 'm gesin' (i have seen
him). 'Chan' on the other hand is considered a contraction of 'ich goan', I
go, e.g. 'chan vessen' (I go fishing (now)). Maybe the theories did make a
mistake and not the writer."

That could be. I am no expert on Yola, just a lonely observer of it. I have
seen a few other excerpts (no of which were written by native speakers,
incidentally, all being put down rather hastily by interested outsiders),
including a poem about our dear Thommeen and his hurling prowess (which I
must get my hands on and reproduce here), and that is my upper limit of
knowledge of the language.

I first thought Ms Browne's letter "to Ireland" was written by someone who
had acquired knowledge second hand - either from native speakers on her
estate or through local historians (perhaps being one and the same).
Militating against this are the sorts of minor orthographical consistencies
inherent in anyone attempting to transcribe a hitherto unwritten (or at
least un-standardised) language. (Just look at my wild attempts at
Nottingham English.)

The apparent mistake of "ing" versus occasional (and presumed incorrect)
"yn" for "in" might be an attempt to represent stress; "chan" might very
well be a contraction of "ich gan" and so not a calque on Irish at all - "I
go" is no worse a signing off than "I am". Certainly, Browne was trying to
represent something with all those vowels, indicating care and aforethought.
Unfortunately, she left us no key with which to understand her orthography
or the etymologies behind the words she used, so we seem quite,
frustratingly, lost.

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Críostóir. 

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