H5: Hiberno-English: Variation and Universals in Contact-Induced Language Change

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Peter Siemund (English Department)

Researchers: Kalynda Beal, M.A.

Student assistants: Kerstin Koch, Johann Schmalstieg. Former assistants: Julia Davydova (now Project T1), Susanne Flach

Former researchers: Lukas Pietsch

Abstract

The project deals with the diachronic grammar of Irish English (Hiberno-English) as an historical contact variety of English. Its aim is to assess the role of universal mechanisms of language change in the specific situation of language contact, thus contributing to the study of universal patterns of language contact. The project works on the basis of a corpus of private letters, mostly written by and to Irish emigrants, dating from the late 17th to the early 20th century. In addition, the Irish situation is studied in comparison with other, younger contact varieties of English.

Corpus and methods

The corpus of historical Irish-English texts we have compiled since 2003 comprises:

c.600,000 words
c.1,000 individual texts
by c. 400 writers

From this text base, relevant examples illustrating some 80 phenomena of non-standard grammatical usage are excerpted and collected in a database. Comparative analysis of their distribution patterns across speaker groups, periods and geographical areas provides us with evidence regarding the processes of linguistic innovation and spread involved.

Some phenomena that have been identified as particularly relevant under a contact-linguistic perspective are subjected to in-depth qualitative analysis regarding their distribution in the corpus, historical scenarios of their origins and conditioning patterns on their usage. Results are interpreted functionally and related to cross-linguistic typological regularities.

Previous results

Medial-Object Perfects

(1) I have my dinner eaten
("have eaten my dinner")

Perfects of this type arose through grammaticalisation out of earlier stative/resultative constructions that are also marginally possible in Standard English (I have the hay harvested). This is likely to constitute a case of �contact-induced grammaticalisation� (Heine/Kuteva 2005), influenced by a functionally (though not formally) similar Irish construction. One decisive factor in this contact-induced effect is the high degree of semantic transparency and iconic motivatedness characteristic of both constructions, which reflects a common grammaticalisation path (Pietsch, forthc. a).

Nominative subjects in non-finite constructions

(2) What is the cause of we not getting the possession of this farm?

19th-century Irish English systematically allows overt nominative-marked subjects in non-finite clauses, such as infinitive and gerund constructions. This phenomenon has so far hardly been documented in the literature.

These clauses cannot be understood as instances of strightforward structural transfer from Irish, since Irish does not have an exact morphological correlate to the relevant case contrast between subject and object forms in the first place. Nevertheless, structural influence on a more abstract level is likely (Pietsch 2007a).

Prepositional tense/aspect constructions

(3) The captain is after arriving
("has just arrived")

(4) They are for writing soon
("intend to write")

The so-called after perfect construction, a well-known feature of Irish English, needs to be considered in the context of several other formally similar verbal periphrases involving other prepositions (for, about, on, upon), which have not been thoroughly documented in the literature so far. The attractivity of the after construction is partly due just to the existence of this common pattern, which constituted a semi-productive pattern already in English, and to a higher degree in Irish (Pietsch 2007b, 2008a).

Current studies

We are currently investigating the following phenomena, among others:

Reflexives and intensifying pronouns

Irish English is known for its use of free (non-bound) -self forms for focussing and intensifying.

(5) I write this letter to yourself.

These use types stand in a complex relation with other strategies of intensification, involving the object forms me, him, her, us, them in subject position.

(6) I heard that him and his family came out to Melbourne

Both types can probably be linked with the use of contrastive pronoun forms and reflexives in Irish.

Cleft constructions

In Irish English, it-clefts are used much more frequently than in Standard English. This phenomenon can serve as a test case for the hypothesis that syntactic contact-induced change is likely to proceed via pragmatically marked constructions such as focus-marking devices, whereas the fundamental parameters of unmarked clause patterns are affected only indirectly, through the medium of such pragmatically marked use types.

Further phenomena

Subject-verb agreement, null subject clauses, do periphrases, inversion and non-inversion in embedded interrogatives.

Academic theses

Lukas Pietsch: English in Ireland: Grammar in language contact (Post-doctoral thesis, in preparation)
Julia Davydova (TP T1): Preterite and Present Perfect in Irish English: Determinants of Variation. (M.A. thesis, 2007)
Kalynda Beal: Cleft Constructions in Irish English (PhD thesis, started 2008)
Susanne Flach: The Definite Article in Irish English (M.A. thesis, 2008)

Publications

Davydova, Julia (2007a): Preterite and present perfect in Irish English: Determinants of variation (Universität Hamburg, Arbeiten zur Mehrsprachigkeit 84).
Pietsch, Lukas (2005): Re-inventing the "perfect" wheel: Grammaticalisation and the Hiberno-English medial-object perfects. (Universität Hamburg, Arbeiten zur Mehrsprachigkeit 65).
Pietsch, Lukas (2007a): Nominative subjects of non-finite constructions in Hiberno-English. In: Jochen Rehbein, Christiane Hohenstein, Lukas Pietsch (eds.), Connectivity in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 165-184.
Pietsch, Lukas (2007b): The Irish English "After Perfect" in context: Borrowing and syntactic productivity (Universität Hamburg, Arbeiten zur Mehrsprachigkeit 82).
Pietsch, Lukas (2008a): Prepositional aspect constructions in Hiberno-English. In: Peter Siemund, Noemi Kintana (eds.), Language contact and contact languages. Amster�dam: Benjamins. 213-236
Pietsch, Lukas (forthc. a): Hiberno-English medial-object perfects reconsidered: a case of contact-induced grammaticalisation. Studies in Language.
Pietsch, Lukas (forthc. b): What has changed in Hiberno-English: Constructions and their role in contact-induced change. In: Esther Rinke, Gisella Ferraresi (eds.), The role of language contact in language change.
Rehbein, Jochen, Christiane Hohenstein, Lukas Pietsch (eds.) (2007): Connectivity in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Siemund, Peter (2004): Substrate, superstrate and universals: Perfect constructions in Irish English. In: Bernd Kortmann (ed.), Dialectology meets typology. Berlin: de Gruyter. 401-434.
Siemund, Peter (2006a): Independent developments in the genesis of Irish English. In: Hildegard Tristram (ed.), The Celtic Englishes IV. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag. 283-305.
Siemund, Peter (2007a): Pronominal gender in English: A study of English varieties from a cross-linguistic perspective. London: Routledge.
Siemund, Peter (2008a): Linguistic universals and vernacular data. In: Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola (eds.), Vernacular universals versus contact-induced language change. London: Routledge.
Siemund, Peter (2008b): Non-reflexive itself. In: Gabriele Diewald, Thomas Stolz (eds.), Grammaticalization and grammatical categories.
Siemund, Peter (2008c): Language contact: Constraints and common paths of contact-induced change. In: Peter Siemund, Noemi Kintana (eds.), Language contact and contact languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins
Siemund, Peter, Alexander Haselow (2008): Newfoundland English morpho-syntax: Universal aspects and trends. Anglistik.
Siemund, Peter, Noemi Kintana (eds.) (2008): Language contact and contact languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Siemund, Peter, Lukas Pietsch (2008): Contact-induced change and linguistic universals: The case of Irish English. In: Klaus Stierstorfer et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Anglistentag 2007, Münster. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.

Conference talks

Davydova, Julia (2007): Preterite and present perfect in Irish English. International Colloquium on Convergence and Divergence in Language Contact Situations, Universität Hamburg, 18.-20. Oktober 2007.
Pietsch, Lukas (2004a): A linguistic melting pot: preliminary observations on dialect mixture and contact features in a corpus of Irish emigrant letters. International Colloquium on Multilingualism and Diachronic Change. Hamburg, April 2004.
Pietsch, Lukas (2004b): The conditioning of verbal concord variation in English dialects. 39. Linguistisches Kolloquium. Amsterdam, August 2004.
Pietsch, Lukas (2004c): Case-marking in Irish English nonfinite clause constructions. International Colloquium on Connectivity in Multilingual Settings. Hamburg, November 2004.
Pietsch, Lukas (2006a): What has changed in Hiberno-English: Constructions, "usage patterns" and/or discourse preferences. 39. Jahrestagung der Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE), Bremen, August 2006.
Pietsch, Lukas (2006b): Identifikation von dialektalen Sprechergruppen in einem heterogenen Korpus. Workshop über korpusbasierte und quantitative Methoden in der Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung, SFB 538, Hamburg, 25. März 2006.
Pietsch, Lukas (2006c): "We do be often wondering": Hiberno-English habitual constructions and models of contact-induced language change. International Colloquium on Language Contact and Contact Languages, Hamburg, 7. Juli 2006.
Pietsch, Lukas (2007c): Contact-induced grammatical change in Hiberno-English: Constructions, parameters, or what else? 6th Conference of the International Society of Bilingualism (ISB), Hamburg, Juni 2007.
Pietsch, Lukas (2007d): Borrowing verbal periphrases in Irish English: The role of construction-based grammatical representation. 18th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL), Montreal, August 2007.
Pietsch, Lukas (2007e): Backwaters of standardisation: Letter writing as a channel of language contact and change in Ireland. 18th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL), Montreal, August 2007.
Pietsch, Lukas (2007f): Irish English: paths of contact, paths of transmission. International Colloquium on Convergence and Divergence in Language Contact Situations, Universität Hamburg, 18.-20. Oktober 2007.
Siemund, Peter (2005): Innovation and grammaticalization. Contact-induced developments in the history of Irish English. VIIth International Conference of Historical Linguistics. University of Wisconsin - Madison, 01.-05. August 2005.
Siemund, Peter (2006b): Linguistic universals and vernacular data. World Englishes: Vernacular Universals vs. Contact-Induced Change. An International Symposium. University of Joensuu Research Station in Mekrijrvi, North Karelia, Finland. 01.-03. September 2006.
Siemund, Peter (2006c): Pronominal gender in English. Amsterdam Gender Colloquium: An International Workshop on Grammatical Gender. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 15.-16. September 2006.
Siemund, Peter (2007b): Linguistic universals and varieties of English. International Conference on Linguistic Variation in Europe (ICLAVE 4) Nikosia, 17.-19. Juni 2007.
Siemund, Peter (2007c): Pronominal gender in English. A study of English varieties from a cross-linguistic perspective. 40th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea. Joensuu, 29. August - 01. September 2007.
Siemund, Peter (2007d): On the fluidity of grammatical categories. Non-reflexive itself. Workshop "Grammatikalisierung und grammatische Kategorien". Universität Bremen, 30. Juni 2007
Siemund, Peter, Michaela Hilbert (2007): Linguistic universals and varieties of English. International Workshop "Linguistic Universals and Language Variation (UniVar)". Universität Hamburg, 13.-14. Juli 2007.
Siemund, Peter, Lukas Pietsch (2007): Contact-induced change and linguistic universals: The case of Irish English. Anglistentag. Münster, 24.-26. September 2007.

References

Filppula, Markku (1999): The grammar of Irish English: Language in Hibernian style. London: Routledge.
Heine, Bernd, Tanja Kuteva (2005): Language contact and grammatical change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.