The Language of Irish Literature in English

Abstract

Abstract Works containing dialect can be examined in an attempt to reconstruct vernacular features for different regions at various times, while bearing in mind questions concerning the reliability of written representations (rendering these explicit helps to prepare the ground for later linguistic analysis). In Irish English literary texts a range of phonological and morphosyntactic traits are in evidence, including lexical and discourse-pragmatic features, especially in literature from the nineteenth century. Enregistered features of Irish English are apparent in literary texts, and serve to express a specifically Irish identity. Data is provided by corpora of literary works, and enable a data-driven, sociolinguistically aware analysis of the language of Irish literature. The issue of translation of Irish and English texts (in both directions) to gain insights into the specific nature of Irish English as a literary medium is also considered.