Now in the speech of newcomers to Ireland
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Bettina Migge
Abstract
Recently, people from all over the world have made Ireland their home. Their reasons for coming to Ireland and their social and linguistic profiles are varied. This study aims to investigate immigrants’ acquisition of pragmatic aspects of Irish English, as these types of features tend to be highly salient and may function as easy targets for acquisition or rejection. The pragmatic marker now, a high-frequency linguistic variable perceived as ‘emblematic’ of Irish English, is in focus. This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how levels of now use correlate with feelings of belonging to Ireland. Data for the study consist of semi-guided audio-recorded interviews with newcomers. First Ireland’s recent immigration history is briefly discussed and the social characteristics of the people in the sample, including their feelings of belonging to Ireland, are presented. Then the pragmatic marker now is discussed, and its use in the data is examined, comparing the results to previous research. Finally, the implications for research on the relationship between linguistic variation and social integration are discussed.
Abstract
Recently, people from all over the world have made Ireland their home. Their reasons for coming to Ireland and their social and linguistic profiles are varied. This study aims to investigate immigrants’ acquisition of pragmatic aspects of Irish English, as these types of features tend to be highly salient and may function as easy targets for acquisition or rejection. The pragmatic marker now, a high-frequency linguistic variable perceived as ‘emblematic’ of Irish English, is in focus. This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how levels of now use correlate with feelings of belonging to Ireland. Data for the study consist of semi-guided audio-recorded interviews with newcomers. First Ireland’s recent immigration history is briefly discussed and the social characteristics of the people in the sample, including their feelings of belonging to Ireland, are presented. Then the pragmatic marker now is discussed, and its use in the data is examined, comparing the results to previous research. Finally, the implications for research on the relationship between linguistic variation and social integration are discussed.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The Pragmatics of Irish English and Irish 17
- “I always think of people here, you know, saying ‘like’ after every sentence” 37
- A corpus-based investigation of pragmatic markers and sociolinguistic variation in Irish English 65
- Kind of and sort of 89
- A comparative study of the pragmatic marker like in Irish English and in south-eastern varieties of British English 114
- “Actually, it’s unfair to say that I was throwing stones” 135
- “’Tis mad, yeah” 156
- Turn initiators in professional encounters 176
- “And your wedding is the twenty-second <.> of June is it?” 203
- “Hurry up baby son all the boys is finished their breakfast” 229
- Pragmatic markers as implicit emotive anchoring 248
- “Sure this is a great country for drink and rowing at elections” 270
- Blathering Beauties 292
- Pragmatic markers in contemporary radio advertising in Ireland 318
- “Yeah well, probably, you know I wasn’t that big into school, you know” 348
- “There’s, like, total silence again, roysh, and no one says anything” 370
- Now in the speech of newcomers to Ireland 390
- The significance of age and place of residence in the positional distribution of discourse like in L2 speech 408
- Name index 433
- Subject index 437
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The Pragmatics of Irish English and Irish 17
- “I always think of people here, you know, saying ‘like’ after every sentence” 37
- A corpus-based investigation of pragmatic markers and sociolinguistic variation in Irish English 65
- Kind of and sort of 89
- A comparative study of the pragmatic marker like in Irish English and in south-eastern varieties of British English 114
- “Actually, it’s unfair to say that I was throwing stones” 135
- “’Tis mad, yeah” 156
- Turn initiators in professional encounters 176
- “And your wedding is the twenty-second <.> of June is it?” 203
- “Hurry up baby son all the boys is finished their breakfast” 229
- Pragmatic markers as implicit emotive anchoring 248
- “Sure this is a great country for drink and rowing at elections” 270
- Blathering Beauties 292
- Pragmatic markers in contemporary radio advertising in Ireland 318
- “Yeah well, probably, you know I wasn’t that big into school, you know” 348
- “There’s, like, total silence again, roysh, and no one says anything” 370
- Now in the speech of newcomers to Ireland 390
- The significance of age and place of residence in the positional distribution of discourse like in L2 speech 408
- Name index 433
- Subject index 437
