Chapter 8
Grammatical variation in nineteenth-century Irish Australian letters
A large section of the early settler population in Australia came from Ireland and many of these individuals wrote back home
reporting on conditions in the colony and/or advising relatives and friends on emigration. This private correspondence shows a large number
features known from present-day vernacular varieties of Irish English but also some features which have disappeared in the meantime. Given the
authenticity of the letters examined here an investigation is particularly useful when tracing the development of specific features in the past two centuries.
Virtually all such features were not adopted into the emerging supraregional form of Australian English, the precursor of the present-day
homogenous variety. One of the main assumptions here is that the specifically Irish features were stigmatised as indexical of low-status
emigrants and hence avoided by following generations Irish-descent Australians.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data
- 3.Phonological evidence
- 3.1Unraised Middle English long mid vowel
- 3.2Raised short /e/
- 3.3Evidence of SERVE-lowering
- 3.4Short vowel ~ /r/ metathesis
- 3.5ER-retraction
- 3.6OL-diphthongisation
- 3.7Pre-rhotic /a/-raising
- 3.8Remaining phonological features
- 4.Grammatical evidence
- 4.1Second person plural pronouns
- 4.2Non-standard verbal concord
- 4.3Irregular past forms
- 4.4Syntactic features
- 4.4.1Habitual aspect
- 4.4.2Immediate perfective with after
- 4.4.3Lack of present perfect
- 4.4.4For to infinitives
- 4.4.5Main clause word order of questions in sentential complements
- 4.4.6Lack of indefinite article
- 4.4.7
Copula and auxiliary be deletion
- 4.4.8Auxiliary be for have
- 4.4.9Comparatives with than what
- 4.4.10Subordinating and
- 4.4.11Topicalisation strategies
- 4.4.12Negative concord
- 5.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
References (80)
References
Auer, Anita, Daniel Schreier, Richard J. Watts (eds) 2015. Letter Writing and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, S. J. 1966. The Australian Language. Second edition. Sydney: Currawong Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bermejo-Giner, Maria G. and Michael Montgomery 1997. Regional British English in the nineteenth century: Evidence from emigrant letters. In: Alan Thomas (ed.) Issues and Methods in Dialectology. Bangor: University of North Wales Press, pp.167–183.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bernard, John R. 1969. On the uniformity of spoken Australian English, Orbis 18: 62–73.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bonness, Dania J. 2015. “How is her eyes [?] are they still closed [?]”. Subject–verb agreement in nineteenth-century Irish English. Token: A Journal of English Linguistics, 5–36.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bradley, David 2003. Mixed sources of Australian English, Australian Journal of Linguistics 23.2: 143–150. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bradley, David 2008. Regional characteristics of Australian English: phonology. In: Kate Burridge and Bernd Kortmann (eds) Varieties of English. Vol. 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.111–123.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Britain, David and Andrea Sudbury 2002. “There’s sheep and there’s penguins”: Convergence, “drift” and “slant” in New Zealand and Falkland Island
English. In: Mari C. Jones and Edith Esch (eds) Language Change: The Interplay of Internal, External and Extra-Linguistic Factors. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.209–240. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burridge, Kate 2010b. The development of standard Australian English. In: Andy Kirkpatrick (ed.) The World Englishes Handbook. London: Routledge, pp.132–149.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burridge, Kate and Simon Musgrave 2014. “It’s speaking Australian English we are”: Irish features in nineteenth-century Australia. Australian Journal of Linguistics 34.1: 24–49. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cochrane, G. R. 1989. Origins and development of the Australian accent. In: Collins and Blair (eds), pp.177–186.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Collins, Peter and David Blair (eds) 1989. Australian English. The Language of a New Society. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.
Collins, Peter and Pam Peters 2008. Australian English: morphology and syntax. In: Kate Burridge and Bernd Kortmann (eds) Varieties of English. Vol. 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.341–361.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corbyn, Charles Adam 1854/1970. Sydney Revels (the Eighteen-Fifties) of Bacchus, Cupid and Momus; being choice and humorous selections from scenes at the Sydney
Police Office and other public places, during the last three years. [Presented by Cyril Pearl] Sydney: Ure Smith.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cox, Felicity 2012. Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cox, Felicity and Sallyanne Palethorpe 2012. Standard Australian English. The sociostylistic broadness continuum. In: Raymond Hickey (ed.) Standards of English. Codified Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.294–317. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Filppula, Markku. 1999. The Grammar of Irish English: Language in Hibernian Style. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fitzpatrick, David 1994. Oceans of Consolation. Personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia. Cork: Cork University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fritz, Clemens 1996. Early Australian Letters. A linguistic analysis. MA thesis, University of Regensburg.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fritz, Clemens 2000a. Language, change and identity. The Irish in nineteenth century Australia. In: Tadgh Foley and Fiona Bateman (eds) Irish-Australian Studies. Papers delivered at the Ninth Irish-Australian Conference, April 1997. Sydney: Crossing Press, pp.57–66.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fritz, Clemens 2000b. The Irish in Australia: Aspects of linguistic accommodation. In: Hildegard L. C. Tristram (ed.) Celtic Englishes II. Heidelberg: Winter, pp.57–74.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fritz, Clemens 2007. From English in Australia to Australian English. Bern: Peter Lang. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hammarström, Göran 1980. Australian English. Its Origin and Status. Hamburg: Buske.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harris, John 1993. The grammar of Irish English. In: James Milroy and Lesley Milroy (eds) Real English. The Grammar of the English Dialects in the British Isles. London: Longman, pp.139–186.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Henry, Alison 1992. Infinitives in a for-to dialect. Natural language and linguistic theory 10: 279–301. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2001. ‘The South-East of Ireland. A neglected region of dialect study’, in: Kirk, John and Dónall Ó Baoill (eds) Language links: the languages of Scotland and Ireland. Belfast Studies in Language, Culture and Politics, 2. Belfast: Queen’s University, pp.1–22.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2003a. How do dialects get the features they have? On the process of new dialect formation. In: Raymond Hickey (ed.) Motives for language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.213–239. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2004a. The development and diffusion of Irish English. In: Raymond Hickey (ed.) Legacies of Colonial English Studies in Transported Dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.82–120.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2004b. A Sound Atlas of Irish English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2007. Irish English: History and Present-day forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2008. Feature loss in nineteenth century Irish English. In: Terttu Nevalainen, Irma Taavitsainen, Päivi Pahta and Minna Korhonen (eds) The Dynamics of Linguistic Variation: Corpus Evidence on English Past and Present. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.229–243. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2010a. The Englishes of Ireland. Emergence and transportation. In: Andy Kirkpatrick (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes. London: Routledge, pp.76–95.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2010b. Irish English in early modern drama. The birth of a linguistic stereotype. In: Hickey (ed), pp.121–138.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2010c. Attitudes and concerns in eighteenth-century English. In: Raymond Hickey (ed) Eighteenth-century English. Ideology and Change. Cambridge: University Press, pp.1–20.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond 2012. Irish. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 90: 973–999. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Horvath, Barbara 2008. Australian English: phonology. In: Kate Burridge and Bernd Kortmann (eds) Varieties of English. Vol. 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.625–644.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ihalainen, Ossi 1994. The dialects of England since 1776. In: Robert W. Burchfield (ed.) English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development. Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.197–274.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kerswill, Paul and Peter Trudgill 2005. The birth of new dialects. In: Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens and Paul Kerswill (eds) Dialect Change: Convergence and Divergence in European Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.196–220. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kiesling, Scott 2004. English input to Australia. In: Raymond Hickey (ed.) Legacies of Colonial English Studies in Transported Dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.418–439.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kirk, John M. and Jeffrey L. Kallen 2008. ICE-Ireland: A User’s Guide. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kniezsa, Veronika 1997. A nineteenth-century report on the pronunciation of Australian English. Dialectologia et Geolinguistica 5: 65–77. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lonergan, David 2003. An Irish-centric view of Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics 23.2: 151–159. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McCafferty, Kevin 2014. “I dont care one cent what [Ø] goying on in Great Britten”: Be-deletion in Irish English. American Speech 89.4: 441–469. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McCafferty, Kevin 2017. Irish English in emigrant letters. World Englishes 36.2: 176–190. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Minkova, Donka 1982. The environment for open syllable lengthening in Middle English, Folia Linguistica Historica 3: 29–58.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mitchell, A. G. 2003. The story of Australian English: Users and environment. Australian Journal of Linguistics 23.2: 111–128. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mitchell, A. G. and A. Delbridge 1965. The Pronunciation of English in Australia. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montgomery, Michael B. 1995. The linguistic value of Ulster emigrant letters. Ulster Folklife 41: 26–41.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montgomery, Michael B. 1997. Making transatlantic connections between varieties of English. The case of plural verbal –s. Journal of English Linguistics 25: 122–141. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montgomery, Michael 2001. British and Irish antecedents. In: John Algeo (ed.) English in North America. The Cambridge History of the English Language. Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.86–153.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
O’Brien, John and Pauric Travers (eds) 1991. The Irish Emigrant Experience in Australia. Dublin: Poolbeg.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
O’Farrell, Patrick 1984. Letters from Irish Australia. Sydney: New South Wales University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pietsch, Lukas 2015. Archaism and dialect in Irish emigrant letters. In: Auer, Schreier and Watts (eds), pp.223–239.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Poynter, John 2014. The Audacious Adventures of Dr Louis Lawrence Smith. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ramson, William S. 1970. Nineteenth-century Australian English. In: William S. Ramson (ed.) 1970. English Transported: Essays on Australian English. Canberra: National University Press, pp.32–48.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ray, John 1674. A Collection of English Words not Generally Used. London: Printed for Christopher Wilkinson. Reprinted in 1969 by The Scolar Press (Menston).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schneider, Edgar W. 2007. Postcolonial English. Varieties around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Simpson, Jane 1996. Early language contact varieties in South Australia. Australian Journal of Linguistics 16.2: 169–207. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stenbrenden, Gjertrud Flermoen 2016. Long-Vowel Shifts in English, c.1050–1700. Evidence from Spelling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Taylor, Brian 2003. ‘Englishes in Sydney around 1850’, Australian Journal of Linguistics 23.2: 161–184. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Troy, Jakelin 1992. “Der mary this is fine cuntry is there is in the wourld”: Irish-English and Irish in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
Australia. In: Thomas E. Dutton, Malcolm Ross and Darrell Tryon (eds) The Language Game: Papers in Memory of Donald C. Laycock. Canberra: Australian National University, pp.459–477.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Trudgill, Peter 2004. New-Dialect Formation: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Turner, George 1972. The English Language in Australia and New Zealand. Second edition. London: Longman.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Turner, George 1994. English in Australia. In: Robert W. Burchfield (ed.) English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development. Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.277–327.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Hattum, Marije. 2015. “Queensland for Ever and Augus un ballybug go braugh”: The expression of identity in nineteenth-century Irish emigrant
letters. In: David Evans (ed.) Language and Identity. Discourse in the World. London: Bloomsbury, pp.105–122.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yallop, Colin 2003. A. G. Mitchell and the development of Australian pronunciation. Australian Journal of Linguistics 23.2: 129–142. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Musgrave, Simon & Kate Burridge
2023.
Irish Influence on Australian English. In
The Oxford Handbook of Irish English,
► pp. 541 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.