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Present and future horizons for Irish English

Many forms of English exist in Ireland which illustrate language scenarios relevant to today's anglophone world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2011

Raymond Hickey
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Extract

The English language was first taken to Ireland in the late twelfth century and enjoyed a modest position in late medieval Irish society, a position which betrayed no sign of the later dominance of English in Ireland as in so many countries to which the language was taken during the period of English colonialism. The fate of the English language after initial settlement was determined by the existence of Irish and Anglo-Norman as widely spoken languages in the country. Irish was the continuation of forms of Celtic taken to Ireland in the first centuries BCE and the native language of the great majority of the population at the time settlers from Britain first arrived in Ireland. Anglo-Norman was the form of French used by the nobility in England and particularly in the marches of south and south-west Wales, the region from which the initial settlers in the south-east of Ireland came.

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Original Article
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English Today , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 3 - 16
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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