Cover not available
Part of
Corpus Interrogation and Grammatical Patterns
Edited by Kristin Davidse, Caroline Gentens, Lobke Ghesquière and Lieven Vandelanotte
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 63] 2014
► pp. 105–128

can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English

A case of ‘imperfect learning’?

| Liverpool Hope University

This paper discusses the status of can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English in comparison to English English through means of a corpus study of personal letters. Analysis of the data reveals that the use of be able TO is conditioned by the combination of time reference and polarity in the English English data but not in the Irish English data. Thus, the data suggest that some writers of nineteenth-century Irish English failed to acquire the subtle differences between can and be able to present in English English. I propose that the increased use of be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English is the result of imperfect learning through perceived similarity (cf. Thomason 2001 and De Smet 2012).

Published online: 14 November 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.63.09hat
References
van der Auwera, J. & Plungian, V
1998 Modality’s semantic map. Linguistic Typology 2: 79–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Britain, D
2009 Supralocal regional dialect levelling. In Language and Identities, C. Llamas, & D. Watt (eds), 193–204. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Coates, J
1983 The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
2011 Grammatical variation in Irish English. English today 27: 39–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Smet, H
2012 The course of actualization. Language 88: 601–633. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dennett, M
1990 The Cherry Valley chronicles: Letters from Thomas Buckley and family 1845–1875. Saddleworth: Saddleworth Historical Society.Google Scholar
Dollinger, S
2008 New-dialect Formation in Canada. Evidence from the English Modal Auxiliaries [Studies in Language Companion Series 97]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doyle, A
2001a Verb-particle combinations in Irish and English. In Language Links: The Languages of Scotland and Ireland, J.M. Kirk, & D.P. Ò Baoill (eds), 81–99. Belfast: Queen’s University.Google Scholar
2001b Tá “sorry” orm, ach níl sé suas chugat féin. In An Aimsir Óg 2000, M. Ó Cearbhaill (ed.), 275–279. Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim.Google Scholar
eDIL
2007 Electronic dictionary of the Irish language. [URL] (11 November 2011).Google Scholar
Facchinetti, R
2000 The modal verb shall between grammar and usage in the nineteenth century. In The History of English in a Social Context. A Contribution to Historical Sociolinguistics, D. Kastovsky & A. Mettinger (eds), 115–133. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Fennell, B.A. & Butters, R.R
1996 Historical and contemporary distribution of double modals in English. In Focus on the USA [Varieties of English around the World G16], E.W. Schneider (ed.), 265–288. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Filppula, M
1999 The Grammar of Irish English. Language in Hibernian Style. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, D
1994 Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Migration to Australia. Cork: Cork University Press.Google Scholar
Fogg, P.W
1796 Elementa Anglicana; Or, the Principle of English Grammar, Vol. 2. Stockport: J. Clarke.Google Scholar
Fritz, C
2004 A Corpus of Oz Early English (COOEE). Berlin: Free University of Berlin.Google Scholar
2007 From English in Australia to Australian English – 1788–1900. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
van Hattum, M
2012 Irish English Modal Verbs from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Centuries. PhD dissertation, University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Hickey, R
2002 A Source Book for Irish English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003a How and why supraregional varieties arise. In Insights into Late Modern English, M. Dossena, & C. Jones (eds), 351–373. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2003b Motives for Language Change. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Irish English: History and Present-day Forms. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Modal verbs in English and Irish. In Language Contact meets English Dialects: Studies in Honour of Markku Filppula, E. Penttilä, & H. Paulasto (eds), 259–274. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
2012 Varieties of English: Supraregionalization. In English Historical Linguistics. An International Handbook, L. Brinton & A. Bergs (eds), 2060–2076. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Joyce, P.W
1910 English as We Speak it in Ireland. Dublin: Wolfhound.Google Scholar
Kirk, J.M., & Kallen, J.L
2006 Irish Standard English: How celticised? How standardised? In The Celtic Englishes IV, H.T.C. Tristram (ed.), 88–113. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam.Google Scholar
2008 ICE-Ireland. Queen’s University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.Google Scholar
McCafferty, K
2011 Victories fastened in grammar: Historical documentation of Irish English. English Today 27: 17–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, K. & Amador-Moreno, C.P
Under construction.Corpus of Irish English Correspondence (CORIECOR). Bergen: University of Bergen and University of Extremadura. DOI logo
McQuillan, P
2009 Modals in Irish. In Modals in the languages of Europe, B. Hansen, & F. de Haan (eds), 71–105. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Milroy, J., Milroy, L., Hartley, S. & Walshaw, D
1994 Glottal stops and Tyneside glottalization: Competing patterns of variation and change in British English. Language Variation and Change 6: 327–357. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milroy, L., Milroy, J., Docherty, G., Foulkes. P. & Walshaw, G
1999 Phonological variation and change in contemporary English: Evidence from Newcastle upon Tyne and Derby. Cuadernos de Filologia Inglesa 8: 3–46.Google Scholar
Montgomery, M
1995 The linguistic value of Ulster emigrant letters. Ulster Folklife 41: 26–41.Google Scholar
Nagle, S
1993 Double modals in early English. In Historical Linguistics 1989. Papers from the 9th International Conference on Historical Linguistics [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 106], H. Aertsen & R.J. Jeffers (eds), 363–370. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ó Cuív, B
1986 Irish language and literature, 1691–1845. In A New History of Ireland, Volume IV, T.W. Moody & W.E. Vaughan (eds), 374–423. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Ó Máille, T.S
1964–66 Focla NuaGhaeilge agus a bhfréamh. Éigse 11: 85–99.Google Scholar
Ó Siadhail, M
1989 Modern Irish. Grammatical Structure and Dialectal Variation. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palmer, F.R
1990 Modality and the English Modals, 2nd edn. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Perkins, M.R
1983 Modal Expressions in English. London: Frances Printer.Google Scholar
Schneider, E.W
2003 The dynamics of new Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth. Language 79: 233–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stenson, N
1993 English influence on Irish: The last 100 years. Journal of Celtic Linguistics 2: 107–28.Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G
2001 Language Contact. An Introduction. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G. & Kaufman, T
1991 Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Traugott, E.C
1972 The History of English Syntax. New York NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Uí Bheirn, Ú.M
2004 Corpas na Gaeilge. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.Google Scholar
Veselinović, E
2006 How to put up with cur suas le rud and the bidirectionality of contact. In The Celtic Englishes IV, H.L.C. Tristram (ed.),. 173–90. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam.Google Scholar
Visser, F.T
1973 An Historical Syntax of the English Language: Syntactical Units with Two Verbs and with More Verbs, 3.2. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Wagner, H
1959 Das verbum in den Sprachen der Britischen Inseln. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Wallis, S
2006 ICECUP 3.1. Survey of English Usage, University College London.Google Scholar
Webster, N
1789 Dissertations on the English Language: With notes, Historical and Critical to Which is Added, by Way of Appendix, an Essay on a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Dr. Franklin’s Arguments on That Subject. Boston MA: Thomas and Company.Google Scholar
Yáñez-Bouza, N
2011 ARCHER: Past and present (1990–2010). ICAME Journal 35: 205–236.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

van Hattum, Marije
2023. Irish English in the nineteenth century. In The Oxford Handbook of Irish English, ► pp. 57 ff. DOI logo
WERNER, VALENTIN & ROBERT FUCHS
2017. The present perfect in Nigerian English. English Language and Linguistics 21:1 ► pp. 129 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 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.