English As We Speak It in Ireland

EF

alect of the English Langua

a good one, for two languages were concerned in it-Irish and English. The part played by each will b

Some are full of keen observation; but very many are mere lists of dialectical words with their meanings. Here for the firs

t indeed by way of constant work, but off and on as detailed below. The sourc

m childhood to early manhood I spoke-like those among whom I lived-the rich dialect of Limerick

which I have a great collection, partly in my memory and partly

f 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

asant life in which the people are made to speak in dialect. Some of these are ment

ial subject of Anglo-Irish Dialect. Of these the p

rrounding District pointed out and co

of the English Language,' by A

rim and Down,' by Wm. Hugh Patterson, M.R.I.A. (18

tle pamphlet, marred by a silly title which turns up perpetually

by D. A. Simmons. (1890.) This List was annotated by me, at the request of Mr. Simmons,

h in Ireland by myself, printed in 'Th

esiding in Liverpool); published in 'The Irish Ecclesiastical Record' f

): published in 'The Fortnightly Review' (1909: April and May). A thoughtful and valuable essay. Miss Hayden knows

published in Irish newspapers within the last twenty years or so, nea

ich I am indebted for much information, and which will be found acknowledged through this book: for it touches my subject in many places. In this Introduction Mr. Lowell remarks truly:-'It is alwa

use so far as served my purpo

ish expression, or anything bearing on the subject, came before me-from memory, or from reading, or from hearing it in co

k at the book. But all the materials were mixed up-three-na-haila-'through-other'-and before a line of the book

my initials. I have neither copied nor avoided these-in fact I did not refer to them at all while working at my book-and naturally many-perhaps most-of them reappear here, prob

English; such as break:-'Poor Tom was broke yesterday' (dialect: dismissed from employment): 'the bowl fell on the flags a

and accordingly I have avoided technical and scient

ression, it is not meant that the expression is confined

W

: Marc

NT