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English As We Speak It in Ireland By: Patrick W. Joyce (1827-1914) |
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E text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Keith Edkins, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Transcriber's note: In this e text e breve is represented by [)e], a breve by [)a],
and o macron by [=o]. Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have
been incorporated to facilitate the use of the Vocabulary
and Index (Chapter XIII). ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND by P. W. JOYCE, LL.D., T.C.D., M.R.I.A. One of the Commissioners for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of
Ireland Late Principal of the Government Training College,
Marlborough Street, Dublin Late President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland THE LIFE OF A PEOPLE IS PICTURED IN THEIR SPEECH. London: Longmans, Green, & Co.
Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd.
1910 {v} PREFACE. This book deals with the Dialect of the English Language that is spoken in
Ireland. As the Life of a people according to our motto is pictured in their
speech, our picture ought to be a good one, for two languages were
concerned in it Irish and English. The part played by each will be found
specially set forth in Chapters IV and VII; and in farther detail
throughout the whole book. The articles and pamphlets that have already appeared on this interesting
subject which are described below are all short. Some are full of keen
observation; but very many are mere lists of dialectical words with their
meanings. Here for the first time in this little volume of mine our
Anglo Irish Dialect is subjected to detailed analysis and systematic
classification. I have been collecting materials for this book for more than twenty years;
not indeed by way of constant work, but off and on as detailed below. The
sources from which these materials were directly derived are mainly the
following. First. My own memory is a storehouse both of idiom and vocabulary; for
the good reason that from childhood to early manhood I spoke like those
among whom I lived the rich dialect {vi} of Limerick and Cork and indeed
to some extent speak it still in the colloquial language of everyday life. I have also drawn pretty largely on our Anglo Irish Folk Songs of which I
have a great collection, partly in my memory and partly on printed sheets;
for they often faithfully reflect our Dialect. Second. Eighteen years ago (1892) I wrote a short letter which was
inserted in nearly all the Irish newspapers and in very many of those
published outside Ireland, announcing my intention to write a book on
Anglo Irish Dialect, and asking for collections of dialectical words and
phrases. In response to this I received a very large number of
communications from all parts of Ireland, as well as from outside Ireland,
even from America, Australia, and New Zealand all more or less to the
point, showing the great and widespread interest taken in the subject.
Their importance of course greatly varied; but many were very valuable. I
give at the end of the book an alphabetical list of those contributors: and
I acknowledge the most important of them throughout the book. Third. The works of Irish writers of novels, stories, and essays
depicting Irish peasant life in which the people are made to speak in
dialect. Some of these are mentioned in Chapter I., and others are quoted
throughout the book as occasion requires. {vii} Fourth. Printed articles and pamphlets on the special subject of
Anglo Irish Dialect. Of these the principal that I have come across are the
following: 'The Provincialisms of Belfast and Surrounding District pointed out and
corrected,' by David Patterson. (1860.) 'Remarks on the Irish Dialect of the English Language,' by A. Hume, D.C.L.
and LL.D. (1878.) 'A Glossary of Words in use in the Counties of Antrim and Down,' by Wm.
Hugh Patterson, M.R.I.A. (1880) a large pamphlet might indeed be called a
book. 'Don't, Pat,' by 'Colonel O'Critical': a very good and useful little
pamphlet, marred by a silly title which turns up perpetually through the
whole pamphlet till the reader gets sick of it... Continue reading book >>
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