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

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).

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.

Medial-object perfects

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

Diese Perfekte entstehen durch Grammatikalisierung aus früheren, auch im Standardenglischen bekannten Resultativkonstruktionen (I have the hay harvested). Es handelt sich um einen Fall von kontaktinduzierter Grammatikalisierung (Heine/Kuteva 2005) unter Einfluss einer funktional (nicht jedoch formal) ähnlichen irischen Konstruktion. Ein Faktor hierbei ist die beiden Konstruktionen gemeinsame semantische Transparenz und Motiviertheit auf der Grundlage des gemeinsamen Grammatikalisierungspfades (Pietsch, forthc. a)
Nominativ-Subjekte in nichtfiniten Sätzen

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

Das irische Englisch des 19. Jahrhunderts lässt overte Nominativ-Subjekte in nichtfiniten Sätzen zu. Dieses Phänomen ist bisher in der Literatur nicht systematisch dokumentiert worden.

Diese Sätze können nicht als einfache Entlehnung aus dem Irischen verstanden werden, da das Irische eine genaue morphologische Entsprechung des relevanten Kontrasts zwischen Objekt- und Subjektformen der Pronomen nicht kennt. Dennoch ist eine Beeinflussung auf einer abstrakteren syntaktischen Ebene wahrscheinlich (Pietsch 2007a).
Präpositionale Tempus-/Aspektkonstruktionen

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

Die sogenannte After-Perfekt-Konstruktion muss im Kontext mehrerer anderer, formal ähnlicher Periphrasen mit anderen Präpositionen (for, about, on, upon) gesehen werden.

Die Attraktivität der After-Konstruktion beruht auf der Produktivität und der formal-semantischen Transparenz des zugrundeliegenden Konstruktionsmusters im Irischen (Pietsch 2007b, 2008a).
Laufende Untersuchungen

Untersuchungen laufen derzeit zu folgenden weiteren Themen:
Reflexivformen und intensivierende Pronomen

Das irische Englisch ist bekannt für seine vom Standard abweichende Verwendung von freien (nicht reflexiv gebundenen) -self-Formen zur Intensivierung.

(4) I write this letter to yourself.

Diese stehen in einem komplexen Variationsverhältnis mit dem intensivierenden Gebrauch der Objektformen me, him, her, us, them in Subjektpositionen.

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

Beide sind möglicherweise verbunden mit dem Gebrauch der kontrastiven Pronominalformen und der Reflexiva im Irischen.
Spaltsatzkonstruktionen

Im irischen Englisch werden Spaltsätze (it-clefts) weit häufiger gebraucht als im Standardenglischen. Dieses Phänomen eignet sich zur Überprüfung der These, dass syntaktischer kontaktinduzierter Wandel hauptsächlich pragmatisch markierte Konstruktionen wie zum Beispiel Fokuskonstruktionen erfasst, während die grundlegenden Parameter der unmarkierten Wortstellung nur indirekt, durch das Medium solcher pragmatisch markierter Formen, durch Sprachkontakt verändert werden.

Weitere Phänomene:
Subjekt-Verb-Kongruenz; Nullsubjektsätze; Do-Periphrasen; Inversion und Nicht-Inversion in eingebetteten Fragesätzen.

• 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)

• Michaela Hilbert (IAA): Interrogative Constructions in Varieties of English (PhD thesis, to be completed in 2008)
• Julia Davydova (T1): The Present Perfect in Varieties of English (PhD thesis, started 2007)

• 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, Isella 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.
  

• 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, Lukas Pietsch (2007): Contact-induced change and linguistic universals: The case of Irish English. Anglistentag. Münster, 24.-26. September 2007.

• 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.