The Loaded Weapon (Ireland and English) SOE, Chapter 5; CEEL pp. 336-339)

1. The Loaded Weapon(Ireland and English)SOE, Chapter 5; CEEL pp. 336-339) --Ireland and its language history --Features/influence of Irish English

2. What are the Irish known for? • St. Patrick • The patron saint and national apostle of Ireland • Credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland • He wrote: • the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography • Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians

4. Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies. • As a boy he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

5. Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family and became a priest. • Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

7. Saint Patrick is also known for driving the snakes from Ireland • Snakes in Ireland? Probably a symbol of putting an end to pagan practices in Ireland There are different accounts of Saint Patrick's death • One says that Patrick died in Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. • Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey.

8. Shamrock: said have been used by St. Patrick torepresent the Trinity.

9. Blarney and the Blarney Stone • Blarney • The “gift of gab” or eloquence in speech • Blarney Stone • The stone is believed to be half of the Stone of Scone which originally belonged to Scotland. Scottish Kings were crowned over the stone, because it was believed to have special powers.The stone was given to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in return for his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.

10. Queen Elizabeth I wanted Irish chiefs to agree to occupy their own lands under title from her. It is said that Cormac used his eloquent excuses to placate Queen Elizabeth I and her advancing army while still keeping his Gaelic loyalties • The Queen eventually grew tired of his fast-talking and said: "This is all Blarney, he never means what he says, he never does what he promises!"

11. Kissing the Blarney Stone

12. History of Political Struggles:English occupation in Ireland • 1171: Henry II and a group of Anglo-Norman knights invaded Ireland and imposed English rule • 1172: the Pope decrees that Henry II is feudal lord of Ireland • The Anglo-Normans who stayed in Ireland did not spread their language or ways of living. The areas under English control/rule—known as “The Pale”—was small

13. 1366: Statues of Kilkenny forbid intermarriage of English and Irish. Gaelic was culture unsuccessfully suppressed. • 1558-1603: (Reign of Elizabeth I) Policy of Plantation to encourage English settlement. • During this time there was a good deal of Catholic opposition to the Reformation. Series of struggles introduced more Protestants.

14. 1690: Battle of the Boyne • The armies of King William III defeated the Catholic James II, who fled to France. The victory is commemorated annually on July 12 by Protestants in Northern Ireland. • New Anglo-Irish ruling class— The Ascendancy

15. Quote from your book The Anglo-Irish performed a sort of linguistic imperialism in this country, largely because to be Protestant, to be able to speak English, to be culturally linked with England, meant better status and better prospects of promotion. Adherence to the Protestant cause did great damage to the traditional Irishness of this country. For centuries, to be linked to the Ascendancy was a meal ticket, a linguistic meal ticket. --Lord Henry Mountcharles (SOE, p. 174)

16. More dates • 1804: Act of Union makes Ireland part of the United Kingdom • 1916: A failed Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare • 1921: Independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the United Kingdom. • 1948: Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth • 1973: Ireland officially joined the European Community • 1999: Good Friday Agreement, a new coalition government was formed with the British government formally transferring governing power to the Northern Irish Parliament

17. Northern Ireland • Northern Ireland is composed of 26 districts. Together they are commonly called Ulster, though the territory does not include the entire ancient province of Ulster. It is slightly larger than Connecticut. • David Trimble, Protestant leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, became first minister. The government has been suspended four times since then; it has remained suspended since Oct. 14, 2002.

18. Ulster and Ireland

19. History of Ulster In the early seventeenth century Ulster was settled by people from Britain In what is usually referred to as "the Plantation of Ulster." These people came mainly from the Scottish Lowlands By the end of the century there were over 100,000 Scots and 25,000 English in the Province. From these people emerged a new strain of Ulstermen the "Ulster Scots" or the "Scotch Irish"

20. The Mid-Ulster dialect of English spoken in Northern Ireland shows influence from both the West Midlands of England ans Scotland thereby giving it a distinct accent compared to Hiberno English along with the use of such Scots words as wee for 'little' and aye for 'yes'.

21. There are supposedly some minute differences in pronunciation between Protestants and Catholics, the best known of which is the name of the letter h, which Protestants tend to pronounce as "aitch", and Catholics tend to pronounce as "haitch"

22. Ulster in America During the years 1717 to 1770 over 250,00 Ulstermen left home with their families to settle in America. These people did not emigrate solely of their own free will but rather for social and economic reasons. 

23. American Presidents of Direct Scots Irish descent Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Simpson Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. 

24. What to take from this short history? • The long-standing war between the Anglo-Saxons and the Gaelic-speaking Celts can be seen in the following differences: • Irish English (Anglo-Irish descent) vs. Hiberno English (Gaelic descent) • Religious lines between Roman Catholic (Irish) and Protestant (English) • Political advantages of being Protestant • So…why is the title of the chapter on Irish and English called “the loaded weapon”?

25. History of the English in Ireland • Long-standing differences between the two groups, even if they are both speaking English. • Accent, pronunciation, place names all have political significance

26. Features of Irish English • Youse for you plural Did youse kids hear that? (Irish English) Did you kids hear that? (Standard English) • be after and an ing-participle, as in: She's after selling the boat means that she just sold the boat

27. Positive anymore Anymore, I just can't get out of bed in the morning means at present or nowadays • Sentence final but to mean so I don’t want it but (Irish English) So I don’t want it (Standard English)

28. The verb to be I be walking or She bees walking mean that it is a habitual action (i.e., done most of the time) and as a subordinate clause marker It only struck me and you when going out the door (Irish English) It only struck me when you were going out the door. (Standard English)

29. Pronunciation features: rhymes Her thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey Dost sometimes counsel take – and sometimes tea God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm

30. Irish in America Due to the the religious prejudice of Protestant Masters to the Catholic Irish, plus political subordination, many Irish had no alternative by to emigrate to the United States for relief. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish were never less than a third of all immigrants.

31. By 1840, the Irish constituted nearly half of all entering immigrants. In years after 1860, Irish Immigration persisted. More than 2.6 million Irish came in the decades after 1860 . Those Irish who did continue to flow into the U.S. tended to settle in the already existing Irish communities, where Catholic Churches had been built, and cultural traditions were carried out.

32. Irish in America The 2000 United State Census reports 30,528,492 persons claiming Irish ancestry, 10.8% of the total American population.  This is over 7 times the population of Ireland itself, which was 4 million in the year 2003. Irish-Americans are the largest ancestral group in Washington DC, Delaware, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The states with the largest Irish-American populations are: 1. California- 2,611,4492. New York- 2,451,0423. Pennsylvania- 1,981,1064. Florida- 1,645,5855. Illinois- 1,511,569

33. Chance to raise your score: available on-line English 121: Chance to Raise your Score This assignment is for anyone who wants a chance to get an extra 50 points. It is due on Thursday, November 10 and must be typed, double-spaced, and printed out. The internet opens new venues for the promotion of minority languages, dying languages, dead languages, artificial languages, and more. Choose a language that falls into ONE these categories (e.g., Manx, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, Scots, any number of American Indian Languages, Klingon, Esperanto) and explore the resources that are now available for that language on the Web. In a 3-4 page paper: • Motivate why you have selected the particular language • Describe your findings • Speculate about their implications for the vitality of this language • Relate your findings to one or more issues that we have discussed in class • Provide a list of references to write the paper (a minimum of 5 references) • Edit your paper carefully.