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identities and loyalties change. By the fourteenth century, it seems,
many of the colonists had married among the Irish and adopted the
‘manners, fashion’ and, significantly, “the language of the Irish
enemies”, in the words of a Statute of 1366. This process continued,
so that by the late fifteenth century English control was limited to a
small area around Dublin known as “the Pale”.
English control, however, was reasserted during the sixteenth
century, reflecting the monarchy’s preoccupation with territorial
boundaries. Henry VIII’s Proclamation of 1541 urged that “the
king’s true subjects” in Ireland “shall use and speak commonly the
English tongue”. The Protestant Reformation gave a new twist to
Anglo-Irish relations, since the Irish continued to practise Roman
Catholicism. Under Elizabeth I (1558–1603) England was at war
with Catholic Spain and Irish Catholicism was seen as treachery. An
English army was sent to overcome the resurgent Irish chieftains. In
the course of long and bitter fighting, the invading English defined
the enemy as the opposite of all those qualities claimed for the
Protestant English. According to the attorney general for Ireland, Sir
John Davies, in 1610 the “wild” Irish did not “build houses, make
townships … or improve the land as it ought to be”. They were also
described as filthy, long-haired and promiscuous. The Irish were
eventually defeated, and their land confiscated and awarded to fresh
colonisers. Many of these colonisers in the north-east of Ireland were
Scots, who gave rise to the linguistic area known today as Ulster
Scots. Among the other colonisers were the poorest sections of the
English population in London, encouraged to go to Ireland because
the government feared they would be “seditious” if they stayed in
England.
The new colonists of the seventeenth century clung to their
Protestant, non-Irish identities, while the Irish were resettled in the
poorer west of the country. Anti-English sentiment among the Irish
was strong enough to support any cause that threatened the British
state, especially if a Catholic power were involved in that cause. But
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by the end of the eighteenth century new democratic and nationalist
ideas had fuelled a movement for independence from English rule
which also took root among sections of the Protestant population. It
was after an uprising in 1798 that Ireland was incorporated into the
United Kingdom by the Act of Union of 1800.
It has been estimated that by 1800, English was the first
language of half the population of Ireland. In the course of the
nineteenth century Irish was increasingly abandoned. Three reasons
have been suggested for this. One of these was depopulation.
Famines in the 1840s greatly reduced the Irish-speaking population,
either by death or by emigration (principally to America). Another
reason was the introduction of universal English language education.
The final one is significant in the context of ideas linking nationalism
and language. English, not Irish, became the language of the two
institutions which claimed to speak on behalf of the Irish population:
the Catholic Church and the independence movement. The latter
gathered pace in the course of the century, culminating in the
establishment of the Irish Free State (Irish Republic) in 1922,
whereby twenty-six counties in southern Ireland gained
independence from the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland remained
part of the UK.
Before the seventeenth century, Irish was the first language of
the whole population. Today it is used as the main community and
household language of about 3 per cent of the population of the Irish
Republic, although it remains the “national” and “first official
language”. As such, it is a compulsory subject in secondary schools
and is cultivated as the language of literature, broadcasting and
government publications. English is recognised in the Irish
constitution as a “second official language”, but in practice is used
alongside Irish. Despite the fact that an overwhelming proportion of
Irish people speak English in their daily lives, they often explicitly
express loyalty to the idea of Irish as part of their “national” identity.
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Both this language loyalty and the role of Irish in the Irish
Republic today can be seen as the result of nineteenth-century
language nationalism. By 1893, three organisations had been set up
to revive the Irish language. They were largely led by literary figures
and intellectuals, often from the upper class, for whom the Irish
language was linked to the images of both an ancient literary culture
and the non-literate usage of the peasantry in the west. For these
movements, language was at the heart of Celtic culture: remove the
language, and everything else dies. In time, then, there emerged a
distinctive form of English spoken in Ireland, now known as
Hiberno-English or Irish English. As was mentioned above, this was
influenced in various ways by the Irish language, which was the first
language of many of its original speakers. Irish English gradually
became the form of English learnt by monolingual English speakers
in Ireland.
QUESTIONS
1.
Comment on the factors that influenced the spread of English.
Which of the factors seems most prominent to you? Why?
2.
Do you agree with the linguist Max Weintreich’s words that
“a language is a dialect with an army and a navy”? Give your
grounds.
3.
What are the “benefits” and “costs” of the spread of English?
4.
Do you believe that English as a worldwide language can
help to preserve ethnic cultures? Give your reasons.
5.
What is the reason to say that English hastens death of
minority languages?
EXERCISES
Ex. 1. Spend a few minutes writing down a short definition of what
you understand by the ‘English language’. Imagine you’re defining the
24
language to someone who has no conception of what it is: how would you
sum it up in a few sentences?.
Ex. 2. Have a look at the the passage below. It is an excerpt from
poems or songs. Does it look recognisably like ‘English’ to you? How
much can you understand of it? (It is followed by a translation into
standard British English.).
Wark’s dattin a ill-trikkit dug,
Unbiddibil ay, fir aa du roars.
Hit winna byd, hit nivir faetchis.
an du winds up kaain aa.
An luv, wiel hit’s a haaf-wyld kat
Du mebbie maets, bakk an foar.
Hit’ll tak dy kloo an ryv dy sokk,
Till du shæsts da bæst awa.
Naen firby a tøtak’r sænt
Wid aks da pær ta ly tagiddir.
[Work is such a mischievous dog
which never does as it’s told no matter how loud you shout at it
It won’t stay, it won’t fetch, and you end up herding the flock
yourself.
And love, well it’s a half wild cat
you feed occasionally.
It makes off with your ball of wool and tears your knitting in pieces
so you chase the creature away.
Nobody except an idiot or a saint
would expect the two of them to lie down together.]
(Jamieson, ‘Varg’, with a translation ‘The difficult and messy
business of living’ by the author)
Ex. 3. 1. Have a look at the following passage, which is written in
Old English and dates back to the late tenth century AD. If you came
across this passage with no introduction, do you think you’d recognise it
25
as English? Can you understand any of it? While reading it through,
make a note of any words that you recognise:
eac swylce seo næddre wæs geapre þonne ealle þa oðre nytenu þe
God geworhte ofer eorþan. and seo næddre cwæþ to þam wife
hwi forbead God eow þæt ge ne æton of ælcon treowe binnan
paradisum.
2. Now let’s look at another passage from approximately four
hundred years later. This is in what’s known as Middle English, and
was written around the late fourteenth century. How much of this
passage can you read?
But the serpent was feller than alle lyuynge beestis of erthe which
the Lord God hadde maad. Which serpent seide to the womman
Why comaundide God to ou that e schulden not ete of ech tre of
paradis.
3. Finally, let’s look at two more translations of the same
passage. The first is in Early Modern English and dates from the
seventeenth century. This is, in fact, a passage from one of the most
renowned translations of the Bible: the King James or Authorised
Version of 1611. The second is in Modern English, and was
translated in 1961.
Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field,
which the Lord God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?
The serpent was more crafty than any wild creature that the
LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it true that God
has forbidden you to eat from any tree in the garden?”
4. Let’s have another look at the first translation again and see
if we’re able to recognise more similarities between it and the others
than might have been apparent at first glance. It will help if you
know that the character þ, known as ‘thorn’, is used for the sound th
in words such as thin; that ð, known as “eth”, is used for the sound th
in words such as that; and that æ, known as ‘ash’, is used for the
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vowel sound in words such as nap. If you compare the words in this
translation with the equivalent words in the other translations – and if
you try speaking them out loud – you may well find that you’re able
to read much more than you originally thought.
eac swylce seo næddre wæs geapre þonne ealle þa oðre nytenu þe
God geworhte ofer eorþan. and seo næddre cwæþ to þam wife.
hwi forbead God eow þæt ge ne æton of ælcon treowe binnan
paradisum.
5. What conclusions we can draw from the way the language
has changed over the years?
Ex. 4. Read the story “Laad O Pairts” cited in “Doric for Swots”
by D. Kynoch and guess the meaning of it. Analize Doric variety of
Scots English and compare it to a standard British English. Use a
Doric dictionary if needed. Answer the questions below.
Laad O Pairts
Nyaakit as the day the howdie skelpit his dowp, Geordie haed
ae leg in ower the sink an ae fit in the nammel basin, fin, o a
suddenty, there wis a chappin at the door. Fit a fleg he got. Bit niver
myn, he thocht, he widna hae tae ging tae the door. His mither wis
ben the hoose. She wid awa tae the door; an wi him in the state he wis
in, she widna tak onybody in. He heard her openin the door. “Och, it's
yersel, Mr McKilIop.” (The meenister!) “Come awa in!”
Fit wis she thinking aboot? Geordie yarkit his fit oot o the
basin, ruggit tee the windae curtains tae hide aa the troke at the sink,
grabbit a tool fae the press an his claes aff the cheer an skelpit for aa
he wis wirth tae the curtaint wardrobe in the far neuk of the livinroom; jinkit ahin't an pullt tee the curtain jist as he saa the meenister's
haat come roon the door.
An there, he dreept and chittert, file the meenister an his
mither newsed awa aboot ae thing an another: the kirk an the kyre;
the faimly; the loons an their skweel wark. Geordie wis weel able tae
spik for himself bit thocht he'd mebbe better nae stick his heid roon
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the bit cloot hingin in front o him an say “I'm deein jist fine, thank ye
kynly”.
At laist, the meenister rase, said a gweed-wird or twaa an gaed
awa tae gie some ither body a fleg. Geordie’s mither, fin she cam
back intae the Iivin-room, wis
fair
stammygastert, fin she saa a near-
nyaakit loon faar naebody haed been afore.
“I
winnert fit haed come
ower ye”, says she “bit I haedna time tae think ower muckle aboot
it”.
It wis a moment o revelashun. Geordie made up his myn that
sic a thing wid niver happen again. “Gin iver I mak a meelyin”, he
thocht, “I’m gaan tae get masel a new mither!”
Vocabulary:
Laad O Pairts – a versatile, educated (young) man;
nyaakit - naked;
troke – clutter;
press – wall cupboard;
kyre – choir;
howdie – midwife;
skelpit – belted (note metaphorical use, and use of ‘-it’ past tense
marker);
dowp – buttocks, bottom;
fleg – scare;
ruggit tee – tugged closed;
troke – stuff, things;
jink – avoid;
dreep – drip;
skweel wark – school work;
cloot – cloth;
gweed wird – prayer (good word);
stammygaster – an unexpected shock;
Questions:
1. Fit’s the biggest fleg ye’ve haen sin the howdie skelp tyer
dowp?
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2. Dae ye myn fin meenisters eest tae veesit their
congregashuns?
3. Dae ye myn fin meenisters haed congregashuns tae veesit?
4. Are your sympathies with the man of the cloth or the man
behind the cloth?
5. Where would you hid if the minister visited today?
Ex. 5. Take a few moments to think of reasons which might lead to
English fragmenting into a family of discrete and mutually unintelligible
languages. What aspects of modern global society might prevent this from
happening?
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Topic 2. ENGLISH IN NORTH AMERICA: THE US AND
CANADIAN VARIANTS
This Lecture:
•
outlines the development of American English, attitudes to
it and ways in which General American differs from
‘standard’ British English;
•
provides a brief insight into African Vernacular English
variety of American English;
•
provides a brief insight into Southern American English
variety of American English;
•
outlines the development of Canadian English;
•
describes a selection of the distinctive features of Canadian
English at the levels of lexis, syntax and morphology.
English is the dominant language of North America, but it is
far from uniform. The United States and Canada, while sharing a
language, have developed distinct linguistic identities shaped by
history, geography, and cultural influences. American English, with
its global reach through media and technology, is often seen as the
standard, yet it varies widely across regions – from Southern drawls
to Californian slang. Meanwhile, Canadian English blends British
and American features while maintaining its own unique vocabulary,
pronunciation, and spelling conventions.
The development of American English
American English is, without doubt, the most influential and
powerful variety of English in the world today. There are many
reasons for this. First, the United States is, at present, the most
powerful nation on earth and such power always brings with it
influence. Indeed, the distinction between a dialect and a language
has frequently been made by reference to power. As has been said,
“A language is a dialect with an army”. Second, America’s political
30
influence is extended through American popular culture, in
particular through the international reach of American films (movies,
of course) and music. Third, the international prominence of
American English is closely associated with the extraordinarily
quick development of communications technology. Microsoft is
owned by an American, Bill Gates. This means a computer’s default
setting for language is American English, although of course this can
be changed to suit one’s own circumstances. In short, the increased
influence of American English is caused by political power and the
resultant diffusion of American culture and media, technological
advance and the rapid development of communications technology.
But while American English is now the most influential
variety of English, it was not always so. In the beginning, the variety
was derided by many. As will become increasingly clear through the
further information, this is a fate that befalls almost all the new
varieties of English in the early stages of their development. The
second focus is the naturalness of variation. It should be no surprise
then to learn that American English is characterized by variety.
There are too many varieties of American English to be able to
describe here and so we shall focus on just two: African American
Vernacular English (AAVE) and white Southern American English
(SAE). First, however it is necessary to consider the development of
American English, attitudes to it and ways in which the idealized
standard variety, here called General American, differs from
“standard” British English.
The first official English-speaking group to visit the Americas
arrived in 1497 under the leadership of John Cabot, but perhaps the
best-known English-speaking immigrants to America were the
English Puritans who arrived on the Mayflower, in 1621. There
followed several waves of migration to America. While many of
these migrants were from Britain, it must not be forgotten that many
were also from other countries in Europe and many were imported as
slaves from African countries during the period of the infamous
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