Put Hungarian on It: Irish-Englis h/ Hiberno-English 5 December, Gula Marianna

1. Put Hungarian on It: Irish-English/Hiberno-English 5 December, Gula Marianna

2. “It was good gas alright” “It’s a fine day like” “It do be raining”

3. English as the Irish speak it is not homogeneous, varieties, yet common names: • brogue in the past [possibly from Irish bróg [shoe]: “There is a view that Irish people used to speak English unintelligibly (as a result of linguistic contamination from Irish syntax and vocabulary) and the effect was as if they had a shoe on their tongue” (Dolan 42) “Sconce: An Irishman! Sir, I should not suspect that, you have not the least bit of the brogue about you. Captain: Brogue! No, my dear; I always wear shoes; only now and then when I have boots on” (Thomas Sheridan: The Brave Irishman) • Irish-English the current PC term, used by linguists today in preference to Hiberno-English, which has been used for a long time

4. Is Hiberno-English a language or a dialect/a variety of English? Frank McGuinness Someone Who’ll Watch over Me (1992)

5. Michael [Englishman]: Honestly, the Irish have the most attractive accent but their coarseness is so self-defeating. Without it, I do believe they would have the most beautiful dialect of English. Edward [Irishman]: Dialect? Michael: Hiberno-English can be quite a lovely dialect. Those Elisabethan turns of phrase, those syntactical oddities, which I believe owesomething to Gaelic, the sibilants – Edward: You called it a dialect. Michael: It is a dialect. Hiberno-English. Edward: What I speak is not a dialect of English. Michael: Then what do you call it? Portuguese? Edward: Call my language what you like. It is not a dialect.

6. Michael: You are a profoundly ignorant man. Edward: Am I? Listen, times have changed, you English mouth, and I mean mouth. One time when you and your breed opened that mouth, you ruled the roost, your ruled the world, because it was your language. Not any more. We’ve taken it from you. We’ve made it our own. And now we’ve bettered you at it. You thought that you had our tongues cut out, sitting crying in a corner, lamenting. Listen. The lament’s over. We took you and your language on, and we won. Not bad for a race that endured eight hundred years of oppression, pal, and I speak as a man who is one generation removed from the dispossessed” (30-31)

7. Hiberno-English, a linguistic consequence of British colonisation of Ireland • “the most attractive accent” → difference in pronunciation • “those Elisabethan turns of phrase” → lexical differences • “those syntactical oddities” → grammatical differences • “owe something to Gaelic” → a crucial reason for the differences

8. Owing something to Gaelic: syntactical oddities James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922)

9. — Do you understand what he says? Stephen asked her. — Is it French you are talking, sir? the old woman said to Haines. Haines spoke to her again a longer speech, confidently. — Irish, Buck Mulligan said. Is there Gaelic on you? — I thought it was Irish, she said, by the sound of it. Are you from the west, sir? — I am an Englishman, Haines answered. — He's English, Buck Mulligan said, and he thinks we ought to speak Irish in Ireland. — Sure we ought to, the old woman said, and I'm ashamed I don't speak the language myself. I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows. — Grand is no name for it, said Buck Mulligan. Wonderful entirely. (U 1.424-36)

10. Is it French you are talking, sir? → Gaelic influence on word order, cleft sentences: e.g. “It’s meself was the brave singer”; “Is it out of your mind you are?” • I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows. → lack of agreement between noun and verb • Mulligan’s question “Is there Gaelic on you?” (mirror translation from Irish “An bhfuil Gaeilgeagat?”) → HE abounds in loan/mirror-translations from Gaelic, evinced, among others, in the widespread (often idiomatic) use of prepositional phrases: “What’s on you, Garry?” (U 12.704) [a mirror translation of the Irish Cád is agat?] NB! Gaelic: an Indo-European, but not a Germanic language (like English), Irish is one of the Celtic languages

11. “We’ve taken it from you. We’ve made it our own.” Brief Historical Overview

12. The decline of Irish and the spread of English in Ireland 1500: whole country was Irish speaking. 1800: estimated 2 million monoglot Irish speakers 1.5 million bilingual 1.5 million monoglot English speakers 1851: 1.5 million monoglot Irish speakers (Famine) 1891: the Irish language appeared to be on the point of extinction: ca 85 % of population monoglot English speakers 1950s: last of the monoglot Irish speakers dies

13. Tudor plantation in the 16th century→ plantation schemes encouraging English settlers in the South → Elisabeth I defeating the Irish chiefs → new influx of Protestant settlers mainly from Scottish Lowlands James I → further Scottish settlers in the North Cromwellian settlement of the 1650s → transfer of native population to Connacht By the end of 17th century English spoken by mostly Protestant landowners  Irish by the Catholic tenants and servants  Catholic tenants and servants learning the English of the masters~Settlers picking up the Gaelicised Irish of the native Irish Jonathan Swift: A Dialogue in Hibernian Stile & Irish Elegance castigating planters’ English: “Pray, how does he get his health?” (What sort of health has he?) “ Pray lend me a loan of your news paper till I read it over”

14. 1700-1831: hedge schools for Catholics: language of instruction is mostly English, but the instructors often self-taught, relying on books for grammar and syntax and often guessing the pronunciation of difficult words  Two noteworthy features of HE: • stress postponement, primary stress appearing later than in RP: “discipline”, “lamentable”, “architecture”; see also “Belfast” (two different pronunciations) • Tendency towards malapropism (use of wrong word oruse of a word in a meaning it does not have in standard English: “rheumatic wheels” for “ pneumatic wheels” (Joyce, “The Sisters”) “transtesticle” for a “transvestite” (Mrs Brown’s Boys) “Bald Pat who is bothered mitred the napkins. Pat is a waiter hard of hearing…” (Joyce, Ulysses)

15. “those Elisabethan turns of phrase” James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

16. “-To return to the lamp, he said, the feeding of it is also a nice problem. You must choose the pure oil and you must be careful when you pour it in not to overflow it, no to pour in more than the funnel can hold. -What funnel? Asked Stephen. -The funnel through which you pour the oil into the lamp. -That? Stephen said. Is that called a funnel? Is it not a tundish? -What is a tundish? -That. The … the funnel. -Is that called a tundish in Ireland? I never heard the word in my life. -It is called a tundish in Lower Drumcondra, said Stephen laughing, where they speak the bestEnglish. … He thought: -The language in which we are speaking is his before it is mine. How different are the words home, Christ, ale, master, on his lips and on mine! I can not speak or write these words without unrest of spirit. His language so familiar and so foreign, will always be for me an acquired speech. I have not made or accepted its words. My voice holds them at bay. My soul frets in the shadow of his language.”

17. “13 April: That tundish has been on my mind for a long time. I looked it up and found it English and good old blunt English too. Damn the dean of studies and his funnel! What did he come here for to teach us his own language or to learn it from us? Damn him one way or the other.” Archaic English words preserved in HE: tundish (used in 1385 first) crack: “You are missing the crack” (Translations); ME word

18. Distinguishing Features of Hiberno-English Hybridity, linguistic inventiveness • Phonology (Pronunciation) • Vocabulary • Grammar

19. Pronunciation: • “You can’t beat a good pint” (Flann O’Brien, At Swim-Two-Birds);-tea/[tay], ate/[ait], sea/[say], Peacock [Paycock] • “r” after vowels audible: “car”, “purse”, “here” • “t” and “d” are usually dental (alveolar in RP) • fricatives appear as plosives (thanks/tanks; thirty/tirty) → some words may sound the same (“three” and “tree”) • Some consonant clusters have been influenced by the Gaelic sound system: /s/ may become non-voiced before /t, n, l/: stop • Guardian, violence: [oi] instead of [ai] • firm, film [extra sound added, becoming two syllable words] • idiot / eejit “Will you shut up you aul eejit you?” (Translations) -

20. Vocabulary • Gaelic influnce • Words used in a different sense than in standard English

21. Gaelic influence: • blather: talk nonsense. “Estragon: Ah stop blathering and help me off with this bloody thing” (Beckett, Waiting for Godot) • garda: the police • smithereens(broken bits after a smash): It broke to smithereens. • bosthoon: Ir bastún: idle, foolish, good-for-nothing person: “Only a bosthoon would do something like that” • Shillelagh: cudgel: “Finnegan’s Wake” (song): “Shillelagh law did all engage” • spalpeen: rascal • the suffix “-een” attached to an English word: girl + een • wee + English word: wee baby • Some Gaelic words/phrases becoming part of Standard English vocabulary: galore/ go leor (plentiful): “And there are songs and dances galore”; shamrock/seamróg (the white trefoil), whiskey /uisce beatha -

22. Words used in a different sense than in Standard English • gas: “It was good gas alright” “He is a gasman”. • crack: “The crack was mighty”. • bold: naughty • cog: cheat

23. Grammar Back to those syntactical oddities, which owe something to Gaelic

24. Widespread (often idiomatic) use of prepositional phrases: “What’son you, Garry?” “Arrah, give up the bloody codding, I’ve a thirst on meI wouldn’t sell for half a crown” (Ulysses) “This man has no body on him at all” (AS2B) “Had he drink on him?” (Translations) “You were sixteen and not a titty to your name” (Mrs Brown’s Boys, sitcom) His back’s at him. (hurts) She stole my book on me.

25. 2. Word order: cleft sentences: “Is it French you are talking, sir?” It’s a lovely girl she is now. It wasn’t to make trouble I went. It was himself I wanted.

26. 2. Tenses: In place of the present prefect (continuous) I am after having my tea. I didn’t have my tea, yet. I am sitting here waiting for you for the last hour. She is dead these ten years.

27. 3. Do be do be (copula and auxiliary) It do be raining. She do be tired. I do be at my lessons every evening from 8 to 9. It does be colder at nights. My father bees always at home in the morning (especially in the North).

28. 4. Distinctive imperative constructions: Letyou look after the cows and I will see to the horses. Let you stay here a while. 5. “And” used a subordinate clause marker: He came in and I writing a letter. (while) 6. Expressing a wish: That you may soon get well. 7. Reversal of standard English syntax: “Innocence that is” It’s a fine day that 8. Come all yous.

29. Discourse patterns: • Questions are rarely answered with a straight yes or no, but recapitulate the auxiliary: Will you ask John for me? I will./I will not. • Rhetorical questions are usual: Now isn’t he a fine looking fellow? “I turned around to let him have the weight of my tongue, when who should I see doging along Stony Batter only Joe Hynes” (Ulysses) • Replying to a question with another question: A: Can you tell me where’s the post office? B: Would it be stamps you are looking for? “

30. Varieties within Hiberno-English Southern HE & Northern HE Rural HE and urban HE Within regional varieties: sociolects

31. How to translate Hiberno-English? Examples from Joyce’s Ulysses

32. – Érti, amit mond? – kérdezte Stephen. – Uram, franciául beszél? – kérdezte az öregasszony Hainestől. Haines még hosszabb prédikációt intézett az asszonyhoz magabiztosan. – Írül – mondta Buck Mulligan. – Nem járatos a kelta nyelvben? – Gondoltam, hogy írül beszél – mondta –, a fülemmel úgy éreztem. Ön nyugatról származik, uram? – Angol vagyok – válaszolta Haines. – Ő angol – mondta Buck Mulligan –, és azt gondolja, hogy nekünk, íreknek, írül kell beszélni Írországban. – Úgy bizony, úgy is kellene. Szégyellem, hogy én nem beszélem a nyelvet. Hallottam olyanoktól, akik ismerik, hogy csoda egy nyelv. Csoda, az nem szó! – jegyezte meg Buck Mulligan. – Csodálatos! (Szentkuthy, 1974)

33. – Érti, amit mond? – kérdezte Stephen. – Francia a beszédje az úrnak? – kérdezte az öregasszony Hainestől. Haines még hosszabb beszédet intezett az asszonyhoz magabiztosan. – Ír – mondta Buck Mulligan. – Hát nem él a gael nyelvvel? – Gondoltam, hogy írül beszél – mondta –, olyannak hangzott. Nyugatról való az úr? – Angol vagyok – válaszolta Haines. – Ő angol – mondta Buck Mulligan –, és azt gondolja, hogy írül kellene beszélnünk Írországban. – Úgy bizony, úgy is kéne. Szégyellem, hogy én magam nem beszélem a nyelvet. Hallottam pedig mán azoktul, akik beszélik, hogy csuda egy nyelv az. – Csuda, az nem kifejezes! – jegyezte meg Buck Mulligan. – Valami gyönyörűséges. (2012 version)

34. “Arrah, give up the bloody codding, I’ve a thirst on meI wouldn’t sell for half a crown” (Ulysses) Akkora szomjúság van rajtam, hogy fél koronáért se adnám (2012 version)

35. “Ta an bad ar an tir. Taim in mo shagart. Put beurla on it, littlejohn”(U 9.365). Ta an bad ar an tir. Taim in mo shagart.Ken Yed O Fol Ro Oets Poets.(Szentkuthy) Ta an bad ar an tir. Taim in mo shagart.Ezt anglítsd meg, Littlejohn.(2012 version)

36. BLOOM (in caubeen with clay pipe stuck in the band, dusty brogues, an emigrant'sred handkerchief bundle in his hand, leading a black bogoak pig by asugaun, with a smile in his eye) Let me be going now, woman of the house,for by all the goats in Connemara I'm after having the father and mother ofa bating. (with a tear in his eye)(U 15.1960 )

37. Szentkuthy: BLOOM (kelta kalap a fején, agyagpipa mellétűzve, poros bakancsban, a kivándorlók vörös batyujával a kezében, szalmakötélen fényes fekete disznót vezet, szemében mosoly)Engedj immár utamra, ház asszonya, mert Connemara minden bakjára esküszöm, olyan cirkumdedérót kapok, hogy a síromban is csuklok tőle. (Könnyel a szemében) 2012 version: BLOOM (ír barett a fején, agyagpipa mellétűzve, poros bocskorban, a kivándorlók vörös batyujával a kezében, szalmakötélentőzegfekete disznót vezet, szemében mosoly) Erissz utamra, ház asszonya, mer’ Connemara minden bakjára esküszöm, úgy elazsnakoltak, hogy hóttomig emlegetem.(Könnyel a szemében)

38. Synge parody

39. Joyfully he thrust message and envelope into a pocket but keened in a querulous brogue: —It’s what I’m telling you, mister honey, it’s queer and sick we were, Haines and myself, the time himself brought it in. ‘Twas murmur we did for a gallus potion would rouse a friar, I’m thinking, and he limp with leching. And we one hour and two hours and three hours in Connery’s sitting civil waiting for pints apiece. He wailed: —And we to be there, mavrone, and you to be unbeknownst sending us your conglomerations the way we to have our tongues out a yard long like the drouthy clerics do be fainting for a pussful. Stephen laughed. Quickly, warningfully Buck Mulligan bent down. —The tramper Synge is looking for you, he said, to murder you. He heard you pissed on his halldoor in Glasthule. He’s out in pampooties to murder you. —Me! Stephen exclaimed. That was your contribution to literature. (U9.556-72)

40. Táviratot-borítékot nagy vígan zsebébe dugta, de siratónő módjára lamentált tovább kelta hangnemben: – És vala pediglen mint imigyen, míszterek és miniszterek, a szédülettől hányat hatva, de pro rundó hányattatva, Haines és én, amaz időben, mikor említette. És sötétben járt a hír, hogy mindokádva logikálva valami mérget adtak, így kell hogy értsem, amitől kinőtt a kékszakálla, pfúj a buja sánta lába. És mi ott ültünk egyórát és kétórát és háromórát Connerynél nyájasan vártuk egyfőre eső pintjeinket. Fölsírt. – És mi csak ottvagyunk, hogy vagyunk, mavrone, és ti megmaradtok unbekannsissimo küldözgetve a konglomerációitokat, hogy kilóghat kilométerre a nyelvünk, mint a betörülközött klerikusoké szent révületben Szent Piáért. Stephen nevetett. Buck Mulligan felvillanyozva, óva intve lehajolt: – Az a csirkefogó Synge rád les, azt mondja, hogy meggyilkoljon. Meghallotta hogy lepisáltad várkapuját Glasthuléban. Pomponpantuflijában les rád, hogy megöljön. – Engem! – kiáltott fel Stephen. – Ez a te adalékod az irodalomhoz. (Szentkuthy)

41. Táviratot-borítékot nagy vígan zsebrevágta, de nyafogó sopánkodásba kezdett ízes kiejtéssel: – Elmondom én tenéked, kedves uram, a nyavalya rágott minket, Hainest meg engem, amaz időben, mikor ez megjött. Úgy morogtunk egy huncut kortynyi italért, hogy egy szerzetes is felserkent volna belé, úgy hiszem, akármilyen ernyedt légyen a bujálkodástól. És mi ott ültünk jólnevelten, egy órát és két órát és három órát Connerynél, és vártuk per koponya pintjeinket. Siránkozott: – És ahogy ott leledzünk, ó mavrone, és ahogy te megfosztván minket látásodtól elküldéd a te konglomerációidat, nyelvünk kilógván egy yardnyira, akár a korhely klerikusoké, teljes aléltságban várván a kortynyi piát. Stephen nevetett. Buck Mulligan hirtelen, figyelmeztetőleg lehajolt: – Az a csavargó Synge keres, azt mondta, hogy meggyilkoljon. Meghallotta, hogy lepisáltad háza ajtaját Glasthule-ban. Fűzött bocskorában les rád, hogy meggyilkoljon. – Engem! – kiáltott fel Stephen. – Ez a te hozzájárulásod az irodalomhoz. (2012 version)